# Traded in the skiff for ----



## ifsteve (Jul 1, 2010)

Headed up to chase silvers in four weeks. Can't wait to get bent. Thanks for the report.


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

Don't break a 6wt! ;D ;D ;D

Good Fishing!!!


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## shiprock8 (Sep 23, 2013)

Great report and it looks like you got some lifetime memories out to your trip to AK. Using a 6wt on 40lb jack crevalle is a bit caviler, not to mention your chances of over stressing the fish are much greater. Part of being a conservation minded fisherman, is knowing how to have your fun without hurting the fish, unless, of course, your are going to eat it. If, in fact, you caught a 40lb jack on a 6wt, I would consider your self lucky, not smart.


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

I would consider you not knowing the circumstances on the jack crevalle, so I'll go over them.  Buddy broke our two 9wts off of Pecks Lake and I used the only rods we had left, the 6s used for spanish.  Was not intentional, and we stayed on top of the fish with the boat putting maximum pressure on the fish.

The AJs are smaller fish, 20/25lbs, teased off the wrecks with live shad (menhaden) and are fought no more than 7 to 12 minutes, mostly straight off the drag with very little bending of the rod.

Point remains that even in the current in AK, the fish are quite amazing, but it takes an angler error to break a 6wt or any other rod bigger or smaller on the salmon in the 6 to 20lb range.  

We used to, and still do on occasion, have folks tells us what you can and cannot catch an albie on,  or a 120lb class tarpon on, or a sail or marlin on, and the list goes on and on, therefore I  revert back to a  quote from Gene Hill ----- "a man should never boast about his equipment and ability, as one is obvious and the other is about to be".  I say a guide or expert, should not judge an angler/sport before lines get wet and come taut, then equipment and ability will be obvious. 

Please don't take me as argumentative, and I'd enjoy participating on this on another thread, or here, if you choose, but we have been blessed with amazing rods, reels, and techniques over the last 2 decades (how I wish I was 41 instead of 61 to put it to use longer) that allow 6wts to no longer be a toy in a farm pond or trout stream.

My thanks for your concern over the stressing of the fish as that is always paramount with me and the folks I fish with, but having a guide, old young or in between, "guarantee" that silvers/chums/humpies will break a 6wt, was last week, and is today, bull.  I knew that going in, the young guide knows it now, and I think it will be a lesson that serves him well as he ages and realizes that even you and I don't know everything.  I know it helped me to realize that when I was about 24/25. 

Good Fishing!!!

PS    Definitely "lucky" on the jack, lucky that the rod was there, lucky to have an excellent boat handler, lucky my sometimes questionable knots stayed snug til the end, and lucky to have put good money into one of the best drags ever made and placed inside a Tibor Everglades (I took off the smaller Islander that was hanging on the 6wt for spanish, that was the "smart" part of the equation).


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## erikb85 (Jun 13, 2014)

You dirty dog, you.


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## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

An amazing trip. I took a 5wt and an 8wt with me. I wish I would have had a 10WT. Thoes big fish get into the current and you have to sprint off down the bank to keep them on! I cant wait to go back


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

skiffin, the silvers are late, you may hit it right on the head or just a tid past middle of the run. The Alagnak was by far our best silver bite and seemed most folks looking for 'bows were heading to the American, but stuff changes daily.

Good Fishing!!!


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## shiprock8 (Sep 23, 2013)

Thanks for the explanation SOBX and fish on brother!


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

Thanks brother, back at ya! 

Good Fishing!!!


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## Shadowcast (Feb 26, 2008)

Beautiful fish!!


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

I grew up fishing for those guy's relatives in MI. I used a 7wt almost exclusively for many years. Then I switched to an 8wt and lever looked back. I even made spinning rods from the 8wt fly blanks and they were amazing.

Glad to hear you had a great time.


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