I took a sea kayaking trip to Alaska this last July, mostly for adventure, but this being Alaska, I was hoping for some good fly fishing to boot. Well, it certainly was adventurous, but the fishing left something to be desired. I was amazed and I must admit, a bit envious, of NorCal Bob’s post on his recent AK trip, but I had a GREAT time, in spite of the marginal fishing.
We took a boat from Juneau that dropped us off at the head of Oliver Inlet, on the Top of Admiralty Island (also known as “Kootznoowoo” to the local Tlingit people, which means “fortress of the bears.”) It certainly lived up to its name!
Here is the small tram, which runs from Oliver Inlet to the head of Seymour Canal, across the muskeg swamp.
The next day was cloudy (typical weather) but a beautiful start to our trip.
Heading down Seymour Canal in our sea kayaks.
A scenic waterfall along the canal.
It was pretty cool to see so many bald eagles, but after a while, it was almost as exciting as a pigeon, since there were so many of them and you saw them all the time.
The third day we saw lots of humpback whales, which summer in Seymour Canal. Here was one that we got real close to…on accident.
There was al lot of other sea life, but this critter didn’t seem to like any the flies I chucked at it, so I just took a picture instead
We finally found a likely looking stream and I pounded the water hard, but to no avail. We were a bit too early for the salmon run, so all of the trout, char and salmon were still in the salt and not in the streams. Yes, I know the purple paddling pants make me look like Barney, but they kept me dry.
Here’s the same creek, further upstream, past a likely looking bear cave and tons of nasty devil’s club. Wheee…
Another humpback. If I’d known what pattern they might’ve been rising to, I would’ve chucked a few krill flies at ‘em. Imagine catching and releasing something like this!
The day after, we saw a pod of orca (killer whales) but they weren’t interested in us and blew by us pretty quickly. Quite an awesome sight.
Here’s another real fishy looking stream further down the coast, but alas, still no fish. I was quite surprised, since this was such a nice looking and VERY remote stream. Not even one strike. Phooey!
A breaching humpback, again making me wish for a “whale fly” of some kind.
More Alaskan “pigeons.”
After paddling over 20 miles one day, we were greeted by Ursus Arctus on a likely beach we thought about camping on. We decided to log a bit more distance to stay away from these two. Yikes!
After finding a place to camp, I decided to try my luck in the salt, right near the shore. I caught this tiny dolly varden on my first cast.
A few casts later, I caught a small coastal cutthroat as well.
The next day, as we neared our ultimate goal of Pybus Bay, we could see the clouds drawing moisture up off of the ice fields. Yep, that night, it rained…HARD.
We also saw signs of the locals on the beach we camped on that night.
We took a hike a saw several of the aforementioned locals near this stream. I’m glad Mr. Mossberg, Mr. Kimber and Mr. Smith & Mr. Wesson were along for the trip, too.
We finally reached my friend’s cabin on Pybus Bay and the next day we took their skiff out for some salt water bait dunkin’, since the streams still weren’t happening. Here’s a fat sculpin I C&Red.
I also caught a huge sun star, which I naturally released. How many anglers can say they caught one of those…even if it was on accident?
We finally got into a bunch of flounder…or perhaps young halibut…we weren’t too sure, but we did keep enough of them have a nice fish fry that night. I must say, it was a nice change from freeze-dried food.
Another really nice looking stream with…you guessed it…no fish. It was pretty unnerving to walk along the stream with the shoulder high grass on the bank. We thought a bear could’ve been just about anywhere along there. We made a LOT of noise as we walked along and checked out the stream.
Another sign of the locals, right near the cabin.
Our intrepid crew of adventurers (I’m the one with the rod tube, still not giving up hope.)
Our transportation back home to Juneau
After it was all said and done, we paddled well over 100 miles in six days, saw almost 20 bears, dozens of whales, scores of eagles and caught a handful of fish…mostly on bait. All the same, I had a fantastic time and I will be back. I love Alaska. The next time my focus will be on FLY FISHING and not kayaking, so I will plan the time I’m there and the streams accordingly.
I've got another report from another state with LOTS of fish porn, but I'll post it later.
Cheers!
--FlyGuy (Dave)
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