The following are real live reports made by your truly elsewhere of fishing in the last two weeks:
Well it’s finally time for my first Alaska fishing report of the season. Thought I would get out a couple of Fridays ago as the weather had warmed, the grass was greening up, the trees were budding out……….then this transpired:
Nothing like 18 inches of snow right before May begins….that’s weird even this far north…somehow I’m trying to reconcile this with global warming….not sure how it fits in, though. Finally got nice again and was able to get up to our early season river about 100 miles north….the Talkeetna. Had to drive by this gosh awful picture (I do it everyday on the way to work):
The scenery we have to put up with. Then I was greeted by these Talkeetna White-Headed Woodpeckers giving us the evil eye:
(Okay…they are not really woodpeckers.) We got up to the river about 8 in the morn to find it high and a bit off color…..not the best things for early season trout fishing but, hey…we were out of the house. We threw the old raft on the back of a jet boat which ran us about 5 miles up river where we started fishing back down. My friend Mike had been up here a few days ago and caught a few rainbows and dollies but we were not holding out for a phenomenol day this early in the season. The weater was fabulous…..got clear up to 50 degrees….had to take off my thermals and jacket due to overheating, hehe…..so it was just great to be out. Additionally this was my first go round with a recently reconstructed shoulder (in December)…..it held out pretty darn good but is a bit sore tonight. Anyways we fished down the first 4 hours and had only picked up two fish….me a small dolly and Jon this nice little rainbow:
The coastal rainbows are spectacularly colored on the Talkeetna…..you’ll never see more spots on a trout. We got on a nice run where we stopped for shore lunch after a couple of missed hits. Up to lunchtime the 3 of us had used 16 different flies, with trailers with very little success…it was getting frustrating. So after inhaling lunch we decided to hit this long run one more time (we had fished it for an hour before lunch with no fish). Being unusually frustrated myself I switched to my old spring “confidence” fly….the old moss colored 4 inch sculpin pattern….the other guys told me the water was too cold for this to work well….water was about 38 degrees….very chilly, plus you had to constantly dodge large ice floes floating down the river. So started at the top of the run again and about 10 casts in this lovely dolly showed up:
The very next cast I hooked and lost another fish…..wow….two in a row I was ecstatic. Next cast…..yes….you guessed it….another dolly varden brought to the net:
About this time Jon and Mike were sprinting to the raft to switch over to moss colored sculpins…..imagine that. For the next 1 ½ I just hammered the fishes in this run landing a dozen and farming a few more:
About this time Mike picked up a nice dolly and a couple other fish but I seemed to have the magic sculpin:
Turned out to be a pretty nice trip for early season…..at least we got to go fishing. Saw a couple of otters and beavers were everywhere with there little nervous chewing habits:
Wouldn’t take much to get that big old cottonwood to come down. Anyways it was nice getting out….making sure the recently refurbished body parts were in correct working order and having a great time with friends.
Should be more fishing soon……until then everyone have great fishin!!
Brian
Alright…..now we’re smoking…..got to go fishing for the second Friday in a row. Summer must be here….we just move right on past spring and fall here in Alaska. Was able to get up north into the Matanuska Valley again….fished a few river systems south of last week…..we split time at the mouth of the Kashwitna and then up at the “secret” spot on Sheep Creek….had to swear a blood oath not to reveal this last one.
Had a bout of insomnia the night before and didn’t sleep at all before leaving on Friday….insomnia sucks!! During the wee morning hours I found my cat at the foot of the bed evidently getting ready for the fall college football season a little early:
What a smart kitty…..we know she’s a Trojan fan like Daddy. Anyway hopped in the car and drove 65 miles north to Willow to meet Mike. When I got there he said his raft trailer had suffered a serious malfunction the night before…the wheel struts on one side had broken completely. Therefore we would have to hoof it all day….good thing I have been doing the old cardio workouts at lunch the last few months.
We hit the mouth of the Kashwitna River hoping to find not only trout but perhaps a very early king salmon holding there. There weren’t any kings we could see….maybe next week…but we did find several rainbows and a nice grayling. This first rainbow trout was my first about 6 casts into the morning….it was going to be hard to beat:
Measured from the butt of the flyrod it was around 23 or so inches:
Caught 3 or 4 more rainbows at this area…then it went dead:
So we moved upriver about a quarter mile to the next good run. At first I had been using my trusty moss colored sculpin pattern but had switched for a couple hours to a few other things which just weren’t panning out. Switched back to ole mossy in this hole and promptly took 5 rainbows in 5 casts:
Caught a few more over the next hour or so then the fish decided it was siesta time. We hopped in the truck and drove north to the next drainage north, Sheep Creek. There we moved through ever lousier roads to “the secret spot”…..oh yeah. It was a beautiful holding hole way up stream….the kings spawn heavily there but they were no where to be found….not yet anyway. But the rainbows were setting up there….waiting. We nailed several in this hole the first 30 minutes and I farmed one that was well….really, really big….she jumped and threw ole mossy right back at me….probably 26-27 inches. We did manage some nice bows here though:
And another of the last one against the rod:
Then things quieted down in this hole so we hoofed it upstream, not easy wading, about half a mile and fished it back down. We caught a couple more fish but decided to call it a day as I knew all the extraneous exercise would be haunting me later. Could barely stay awake on the ride home despite the always beautiful scenery:
Had to slap myself silly to stay awake from not sleeping the night before. Got home and collapsed into a very sore and tired mass on the bed for a few hours….till my wife got home and beat me into the shower because I was “gamey”. How come I can’t every smell it when I am “gamey”? Took a hot shower and returned to the sheets for several more hours of blissful sleep.
Hopefully the kings will be there next Friday……
Brian
Yesterday morning my work schedule fell completely apart so I decided to head up to one of the local rivers to assuage my pain and perhaps catch a rainbow or two as consellation for missing a fun packed day doing root canals (you guys know you want one). Coincidentally my fishing gear “just” happened to be in the car so I was ready to go….imagine that….gives deep meaning to the boy scout motto, “Be Prepared”. While driving north on the Parks Hwy the weather was fabulous…..was nearly 60 degrees….like a tropical heat wave here in Alaska this time of year. My car windows were rolled down to celebrate the beautiful morning. As I pulled into the parking space, and with great taste, accessorized myself for the river..... a guide whom I know, was just coming back from the fishing the mouth of this river and when asked, told me he hadn’t had much action. This was not to deter me….after all I really had nothing else to do.
So armed with my trusty Loomis 5wt fly rod I headed down to the confluence of the two rivers I was by. No one around at all….looking directly north, hanging over the Big Susitna River, was a beautiful, and rare due to weather, view of Mt. McKinley. As I made the first few casts with my weighted sculpin visions of 25” rainbows danced in my head (which, according to my wife, contains a tiny, four-lobed brain just like the fish). But rainbows were not to be. As a matter-of-fact, my fishing day lasted exactly 6 casts. When the 6th was cast I let the fly quarter downstream and as I did some very minor, but sharp, stripping the fly locked solidly onto something. Of course, there is lots of wood in this stretch of water but this thing bolted like a racehorse downstream. My initial reaction was “YEAH”….big bow…..but about halfway into my backing I realized this was much larger. A few seconds later, a mighty jump and my suspicions were confirmed….my first king salmon of the year! Having fished hard over more than the last 4 decades I assessed the situation rapidly……..and knew I didn’t have a hope in heck of landing this fish on the gear I was using….5wt with 10 lbs tippet (which, because I’m an idiot, I had not even retied from my previous trip.
After 20 minutes, a few more spectacular jumps, I had actually gained half of my line back and had managed to keep this fish out the submerged logs hidden everywhere. But about this time my recently reconstructed rod holding shoulder was burning, getting numb and quickly becoming useless (which the wife says about me frequently). I kept switching hands just to give it a break. Finally at the 30 minute mark I allowed myself to actually believe this behemoth might be mine as I had worked her into shallow water. She made a couple of massive wallows in the skinny water and I was finally able to beach her….I dropped the rod, rushed down and carried her onto the bank…..yeah baby!!
She measured in at 42 inches and nearly 40 lbs. Of course I may have to cancel the next few days of work due to an inoperable shoulder BUT it was worth it. Thanks for indulging an old man.
Brian
Favoured: 0
Thanks for the great pics. 
