Intrepid angler and guest Mark Bonsack sent the following message as a comment. I replied with an email stating that I would like to use his comment for a post. It has taken Mark a little while to shake off the burden of being such a good sport on the river last June. This fish could have and should have (Kirk might have a different opinion) ended up on Mark’s line. Mark, lets hope you secured some serious Fishing Karma points for the future.
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Mark's Protestation
Hi Fred,
Well, where to begin? I think we have been fishing with you and Stacy now for 11yrs and it is the highlight of our annual AK trip. As you know, the Middle Kenai is my favorite stretch for huge rainbows and one of the few places sight fishing is extremely effective. I think you and I may have altered the way you now approach the fishing from the very moment you gave me that ginormous, prehistoric, only a mother could love sculpin fly (if you can call it that) and the shark feeding frenzy commenced shortly thereafter. It was an epic day for rainbows over 24″. I lost count after 25 but place that as the #1 best fishing day ever and that’s a lot of days fishing. But I really must protest! Per your post June 16 on your blog, how do you let something like that happen?!
One of Mark's friends...Eric's son Troy...Showing how its done.
Each year I come up with 9 friends to fish and spend a week. You have been gracious enough to accommodate some of my most inexperienced friends both with expert instruction, and putting them on fish. I have watched as they try to cast, which resembles someone with a buggy whip swatting at flies more than fly casting and yet they come away all smiles at the end of the day. But come on!
On the day in question, one of my friends Kirk was all set to sleep in rather than go float the middle river. His whiny little school girl voice kept saying something to the effect of he was too tired to catch fish…yeah I know, if that’s not the stupidest thing ever! It has actually taken me this long to even be able to write about this travesty. But I digress. After much peer pressure and questioning of his sexual orientation, Kirk arose and grumbled his way out the door. The water was unusually clear as you will probably remember and the fish accordingly spooky, but we still were having a fantastic day landing fish. As we approached my favorite spot on that float, we observed the usual 8-10 big rainbows staged against the bank. Now this spot is my favorite because there is only room for one angler at a time to fish and the rest of the crew get a front row seat to the action. It is key for the observers to give directions to the angler as to distance, stripping etc as well as getting to watch the take. We let a good friend of mine Steve, from Boise, take the first cast as this was his first trip to AK and the Kenai. He promptly hooked a 28″ rainbow that went ballistic and hauled him downstream. Ok, good, my turn. After a couple casts, Steve’s fish was wrapped on a log so I gave up the “spot” to lend a hand and take pictures. By the time I got there you had Steve’s fish free and my job was camera boy. It was his largest rainbow by far and I still hear his story every time I see him. But what followed is clearly criminal. Kirk is yelling for us to come back upstream because he’s got a “big one” on. Yeah right. This is the guy who landed a 15lb king and swore it was 30lb+. So we headed back upstream after releasing Steve’s fish and got there just in time to see troutzilla porpoise 15′ in front of us! I think we all must have looked like deer in the headlights! After maybe 10 minutes, the question became whether you were going to be able to “fold” this behemoth into your Frabill. My hats off for a beautiful net job, although I must admit my inner selfishness was not on your side! Of course I’m kidding…Anyway that was 35″ of the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen, battle scars, hook jaw and all, landed by the most undeserving individual to have ever fished the state of AK. Again Fred, how did you let this happen?! Didn’t you tell him we have rules?! Doesn’t Kirk understand the concept of paying your dues? What about the countless hours of casting and refining your techniques to float the perfect presentation in front of those picky trout whales? And yet here comes this greenhorn from Idaho, whose fly casting prowess resembles a Swahili tribesman trying to keep the bugs away from his face, catching the fish of a lifetime! Sigh.
Well, as you wrote, the bar has been set high for next year. I am looking forward to improving my 31″ best with you and Stacy as are the rest of the guys. I think it is a testament to both of you that anyone from 7-70 can come up and fish with you guys with little or no experience and have a great opportunity to catch a fish that would make even the most seasoned angler’s eyes water. See you in 2012!
Tight lines.
Mark Bonsack
Seattle, WA
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Thanks Mark. We’ll see what happens.
