This is a halibut I caught while fishing offshore on a charter boat in Homer, Alaska. It is not as expensive as you might think to take one of these charters out. But BEWARE, if you take one of those less expensive charters, those boats tend to be crowded. I have always caught my limit on a crowded charter though. I just wait until most of the other customers are tired and stop fishing. Most people can take halibut fishing for about 45 minutes, and then they are completely exhausted. Just remember that Homer is the halibut fishing capital of the world for a reason. The reason is in the photo here!

This is a photo of a nice dolly varden trout I caught while on a float trip down the Kenai River with Alaska Troutfitters. I had a great time with this guide. We caught so many fish. This fish was caught at the outlet of Kenai Lake, in fact, we were only about 100 yards off of the bridge.

This was caught using a bead. If you have fished in Alaska for trout, you have probably used beads. We were fishing in late August.

This is a photo of a red salmon I caught during the 2012 season. It was caught using casting tackle. The rod was an 8-foot long Lake Fork Outfitters medium heavy casting rod. I was using a three way rig and a Russian River fly.

There were thousands of these tomato looking things in the river that day. I was fishing in the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers. There is a ferry that will take you across the river for a fee. If you can get to this area for the second half of July or the first part of August, it would really be worth your while.

Fishing From The Bank

Being down here in Louisiana has made me think. First of all, this is the first time since I was 23 that I don't own a boat, secondly, even if I did own a boat, it would not be down here!

This fact prompted me to remember my roots, and that is bank fishing. Because of this, I dug way back into my memory banks and put together an article that blends the two parts of my life, as a bank angler and as a boat angler.

i hope you enjoy this article. You can find it here

Crappies at Shabbona Lake

It felt good to get out on my old boat that I sold to Shabbona's Lakeside and fish for some crappies with my good buddy Denny Sands last Friday!

Here is a photo of one of the crappies we caught.

The crappies were caught over a crib on the south shore close to the entrance of the no motor zone.

I can't wait to go down to Louisiana and fish for some redfish and bass! Then it is back to Alaska just in time for the salmon run!

Essential Equipment List For Duck Hunting

I realize that this blog is entitled Jay's Fishing Page, but I can't get enough hunting as well. I am absolutely obsessed with BOTH of the important outdoor sports; HUNTING AND FISHING!

One thing I am really going to miss about Illinois is the waterfowl hunting. I loved the goose hunting around Chicago, and I could never get enough of the duck hunting in the Illinois River Valley.

Just look at this photo, these guys are collecting their decoys after a morning hunt. Wow, does this bring back memories. Except when I hunted ducks, I usually had on heavy winter parkas.

If you are new to duck hunting, or you regularly buy gifts for a waterfowler, I encourage you to check out this article.

The article can be found by clicking here

Some Walleye Advice For Shabbona Lake in April

With walleye record weekend fastly approaching, you might want some tips. It is not going to be easy for you guys to catch walleyes on Shabbona Lake in April, but it can be done. Here are some ideas:

1) I would try slow trolling along the dam face with fathead minnows. This is only possible if you have a large portion of the shoreline to yourself. I would use just a sinker and a minnow on a hook. I think the best method would be to use a bottom bouncer and a 6-10 foot lead, depending on how practiced you are on this presentation. Use your trolling motor and keep yourself moving at a very slow pace. Bounce your bottom bouncer up and down on the bottom to keep it on the bottom at the depth changes. Experiment with depths from 6 - more than 20 feet . The thing about this is, don't give up. It is going to be slow going.

2) If I wanted a really big walleye, I would sit in the deep trees and wait. I think the best place to sit is area 24. If you are not familar with area 24 on the lake map, go into Shabbona's Lakeside Bait, Tackle and Boat Rental and buy yourself a lake map. It has a fish by numbers feature. I would sit in shallow water and cast out to deep water with a fathead minnow and a slip bobber. Use as many rods as you are allowed to use and have your minnows at different depths. Sit in one spot for about an hour, and then move to another spot.

3) The rock piles on Old Indian Road always hold walleyes. Move up and down the road bed until you see one of the pyramid shaped rock piles on your locator. If there are walleyes holding on it, you will see them lying about a foot above the bottom of the lake. Once you see the fish, throw out your structure marker. Put your minnow under a slip bobber right into the face of the walleyes. You want this minnow swimming around as close to the fish as you can place it. Fish are opportunistic feeders and if you place a juicy minnow in their faces, they will eat.

Good luck guys! I hope you catch a big one next weekend.

The Iditarod

I realize that the Iditarod has nothing to do with fishing, but it is interesting nonetheless. These pics were taken in Anchorage, the town where I live.

Dallas Seavey won the race this year. This is one of his dogs!

More of the Seavey dogs! They are ready to go! The City of Anchorage didn't need to put much snow on the streets this year for this event!

This is Dallas Seavey, this year's winner. He is a nice guy. I talked to him for several minutes this day. His father and grandfather also ran the race against him.

I couldn't resist taking this photo. This is such a cool carving. Look at the belly on this thing!

This dog screams, "LET ME OUT!"

The official starting line!

And there off!

This was an exciting day going to the Ceremonial Launch of Iditarod 2012!

The Ice Is Melting

The ice is melting up here finally, but we still have a long way to go before any open water fishing is going to take place. I am going to be in Illinois for the last week of April. I am going to stop by Shabbona's  Lakeside on Friday afternoon to have a beer and talk with the Sand's for a while! Then I will be in Louisana for training for a whole month! OMG it is going to be HOT. We Alaskans don't like hot weather!

Been Ice Fishing a Few Times

This is what the arctic char we have been catching through the ice look like. They have ranged in size from 2 - 10 pounds. The ice has been thick. It is a pain with the snow being 4 feet deep and the ice being 2 - 4 feet thick. But, it is warming up and I hope to catch some bigger fish soon.

Fishing In Alaska

I realize that it has been months since I have posted anything here. Please be patient with me because I am going to begin fishing in Alaska soon, and there will be some great photos of salmon, trout and even some halibut.