For those of you who haven't already heard, Dean Nelsen (Boone) decided late this past spring to move on to other things and is no longer with MSTPA. As for the operation of MSTPA, things are proceeding as always. Inland aviation that we had been working with in the past is doing our flying with MSTPA's airplane. Other than not having an office in Aniak everything is running as before.

As for the daily operation, not much has changed. Jody Massey returned this season, and to finish off the crew: guide, Spencer Pape and cook, Greg Needham have joined us for the season. Now, on to more interesting things, the fishing.

At this time I will save most of the details for the annual news letter and just hit on the high notes. To start the season, once again we experienced very high water conditions. I'm talking water in the trees again, so we made a move up river to start the season. Up river we found the water to be quite a bit higher than normal but at least not totally flooded. The season started with some great guest, but very slow fishing. Although we really had to work for the few fish we caught , we were seeing some really good fish. We did not realize it at the time but it was a sign of good things to come. The fishing picked up and the big fish numbers have been great. With a little less than half the season left to go, we have already exceeded last seasons big fish numbers. At this time we have boated 3 fish exceeding the fifty inch mark, 48 fish over 47 inches, and boated another 480 fish over the forty inch mark. As I said, this is with six weeks of fishing to go and with a few less fisherman than last season. What has really been impressive is the weight that these fish are carrying this year. According to the fish and game biologist in this area, the high water the last two springs has actually been very good for the pike. Although it makes fishing tough at times, it has provided excellent spawning conditions and provided an abundance of bait fish. So, needless to say we are very excited with the numbers and quality of fish we have seen this season.

On to the salmon fly outs. We are still doing fly outs for salmon, however, the news is rather grim at this time. To start the season, federal fish and game had already decided to close the fishery for Chum and King salmon on federal waters on both the Kuskokwim and Yukon drainage. Now remember this is prior to the runs even starting. It appears that fearing a poor run, they felt that catch and release by sport fishing might possibly decimate the salmon runs. However, they still felt that there was an ample supply of fish to continue the use of nets for the subsistence fishing. It just amazes me that the majority of the money for all of the federal and state projects for fishing and hunting comes from the licenses and taxes on the sport fisherman and hunter. However, when it comes down to it, sport fishing and hunting, with all the revenue it creates on the state and federal level, always seems to finish at the bottom of the pile. Something is just wrong with this picture.

On to other things. Another factor in the salmon fishing this season was a late spring break up. The water remained high and muddy and the Kings were a bit late showing up. At this time,
the silvers are just starting to show up in any numbers and they are about two weeks behind schedule. Hopefully they will continue to improve and we can finish with a bang.

So far its been a great season with some really good people aboard and some terrific pike fishing. We will be publishing a newsletter again this season and I hope to have it on the web page by mid October. At this time we are taking bookings for the upcoming season and looking forward to more great pike fishing in 2002. We will be making a few minor changes in next years trips, and will get that published as soon as possible,. So, if you're interested in pursuing that trophy northern of a lifetime give us a call. I'll look forward to hearing you soon. In the meantime, good luck and good fishing.

Leon Randermann