You're still ok in my book.

Find a gal who will trade help with grammar for help with spelling.

Doc,

The pics are absolutely awsome, Thanks. I am interested in the diver set up on the first pic. Was he in a boat and beached to land the fish or was he using the diver from the bank?

You guys are just too observant!

Although a lot of my pics are highly suggestive that the fish were caught from the bank, the vast majority of our Kenai kings are caught from a boat. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have no secret rigging for fishing Jet Divers from shore.

I've found over the years that it's damn near impossible to get a good C&R pic from your own boat, especially of big fish. The very best boat shots are the ones taken from another vessel.





Unless you happen to be fishing with a buddy in another boat who wants to forgo his own fishing time to shadow you for what could be a LONG fight, those shots just don't happen very often.

So we choose to pull ashore for our C&R pics. I'm usually able to compose a much nicer shot with greenery and water... not to mention you don't have to worry about your boat drifting into the pack below you!

If you elect to do the shore-side pic thing, you'll need to pull over onto a gently sloping beach/bar. Unless you are in very calm frogwater, do not net the fish prior to pulling ashore. Dragging a fish... curled in the bag... under power... in full current... is VERY stressful on big fish (as well as the guy trying to hang on to the net!). Not only does that literally crush a fish tight against the mesh, but it also greatly reduces your ability to maneuver your boat.

I recommend giving the fish plenty of leash during the final moments of the battle, allowing it to strip line against the reel drag as you motor directly to your nearby landing site. If the landing site is some distance downriver, simply free-drift with the fish on tether with just enough tension to keep the hook buried. Once the boat is beached, have the angler jump out, finish the fight, and slide the fish ashore.

Awesome pics you guys...I think my next trip will be to Alaska...I hope you don't mind giving some advise when it comes...Thanks again for the pics...

Thanks for the xtra pics and tips.

Doc, you take some really great pics. I've always been impressed with the amount of thought you put into backgrounds etc. That time makes all the difference in the quality of the finished product. I need to adopt this attitude. I take lots of pics but they never turn out that great. My wife has made comments about how I never consider the background etc. Guess I need to listen.

those are fantastic pictures..sounds like you had a great day...

Brand new issue of FishAlaska Magazine came in the mail today.

Damn, that's a pretty fish on the cover!

I saw that Doc. Boy, when I grow-up I want to be just like you. Pretty soon you'll be pro-staff for all the major tackle vendors and you're not even a hot shot guilde! Great pic!

Beezer

Hey Doc is there a picture of the cover that you are talking about on the net?

Look for it here in the next couple of weeks:

FishAlaska Magazine

There is now...

It's interesting to see so much discussion about writing and grammar with grammar consistently misspelled....People who live in glass houses..

Congrats to you Doc, and your brother. I was jazzed to see it on the newstand at my Fred Meyer, and now a copy on my nightstand. I always thought it would make a great cover shot.

Francis, lets see if you can take another cover shot this coming Summer.


SeaDNA,
My grammer and spehlling is always parfect. But then again I don't work as an edititor. And its not the spehling that drives me crazy, itz the 3rd grade reading level of most fishing magazines. I've only complained once about anybody on this board's spelling. And it was worse then the crap I just wrote. (Referring to the crap in this post, not the crap in my previous 855 postings).

And although it is generally considered rude to point out overlooked typos and such, I also think it is equally rude to expect a few hundred people to spend 30 seconds of their life reading something you wrote but didn't at least proofread even once.

How's it workin' for ya?

I think I got some bait in my eye.

My wife tells me that stings.

Next time your at the tanning salon getting your hairy back tanned and your hairy palms waxed, steal those little eye goggles. That way at least one of you won't go blind.

They sometimes let you keep the used wax. I'm going to make a hairy Chia Pet out of mine.

With a launch velocity of 1,100 ft/sec I'm guessing those goggles might shatter.