Alaskan Odyssey ~ Trout Bum For A Month

[DRIFTER_016]

I orginally posted this as an addition to Solopaddlers Alaskan post but Mike said it needed to be posted on it's own. So here we go.

 

 

This years trip started out like the previous five trips. Leave Yellowknife at dawn and start the 3000km trip to South Central Alaska. My route heads south to the McKenzie HWY where I turn west onto the Laird HWY which is 700km of dirt!!!

 

Pulling into Fort Liard to gas up and had to deal with rush hour traffic!!

 

On the ALCAN in Northern BC heading into the Northern Rockies.

 

Once I'm on the Kenai Peninsula this is home

 

As Mike said the Sockeye returns were down 1/2 million fish so there was a lot less food in the water for the Upper Kenai bows and dollies. This is one of those fish that was malnourished.

 

Here's Eric (Alaska's Simms & Sage rep) with another skinny trout.

 

This day with Eric turned out to be one of my most exciting and memorable days ever. We had walked into this hole from the Highway. Not a long journey but a portion is through some bear infested bush. As we were heading out, just about step up onto the bank about 10 yards away a brown bear was coming our way just stepping over a downed tree. By the time she noticed us and stopped she was about 5 yards away!!!

So there we were 15 feet from the biggest bear I have ever seen!!! I had my fishing rod in my right hand and my left on the bear spray in it's holster. Luckily she was not agressive and I never even removed it from it's holster. It was very cool to be that close to a bear that was estimated at 10 feet and 100 pounds (by some of the local guides, I guessed it at 800 or so pounds but I didn't bring my scale )

I wish I was able to get a photo when she was standing in front of the log but didn't have a free hand at the time.

 

In 2003 I met alot of people who had never seen center pin gear and spent alot of time explaining it's use and extolling it's virtues for fishing rivers. One of the first I explained the gear to my a fellow named Paul. I met him on the Anchor River while steelhead fishing. He was fishing the top of a run and I asked if he minded if I dropped in below him. He said go ahead. I made a couple of drifts and he asked about my setup. I showed him how I could fish water that he couldn't using his fly gear. I flipped my float under some over hanging willows protecting the undercut bank across from me, the float moved down stream a bout 15 feet before dissapearing beneath the surface!!! Minutes later I had a 34" buck steelie at my feet. Little did I know what I had done to this poor fellow!!! I met him again the following year and he had a center pin!!!! This was the beginning of the corruption of the Alaskan fly fisher. I call Paul patient zero. LOL

Now 5 years later there are CP fishermen starting to show up here and there. Paul was a fly fishing guide and instructor and had fly fished for more than 30 years. He has now sold all his fly rods and replaced them with 13 and 15 foot float rods.

 

My first day of fishing on the Kenai in 2003 was with a guide named Guy Quinten. We went out a couple of times after that initial guided trip as he wanted to see this strange gear I told him I would use after our fly fishing trip. He was amazed at the super long drag free drifts. We reunited this year and I spent some time teaching him how to cast and handle the outfit. Hehehe.............another fly fisherman converted!!!!

 

Thankfully not all the upper river fish were as anorexic as those first couple.

 

Another of my Alaskan friends, this is Mike and his Golden Retriever Buddy.

 

While sitting in our pontoons taking a break we heard come branches snap behind us..........BEAR.....nah Moose.

 

Next day in the same spot

 

A little while later a family of otters came out of the same spot.

Another friend Tony spends the summers fly in guiding in south central and winters guiding heli skiers in Valdez.........rough life huh?

 

Tony and I had our own bear encounter. We were fishing on an island and this 500-600 pounder repeatedly tried to come and see us, but he finally got tired of us yelling at him and left.

 

Here's a couple of new friends Chuck from Anchorage who I had been in contact with on another board prior to this years trip.

 

And Ricky, a friend of Chuck's who has completed the Iditarod dog sled race 4 times. Both he and Chuck are transplanted Western Newyorkers. Go figure.....

Edited October 13, 2008 by DRIFTER_016

[drwxr]

nice adventure with great pics, i bet you had a blast. thanks for sharing.

[the spirit of fishing]

Great report!

Those skinny trout sure look odd.

Awsome part of the continent-I hope to get there one day.

Thanks for sharing.

[fishindevil]

Amazing fishing report/trip !! those rivers look soooo,niceeee.. .and so much wildlife too,glad to hear about everyone getting to know center pin fishing as well,thanks for sharing,man all that scenery,im not sure i would ever want to come back home !!! do the big salmon run those rivers as well,where you were fishing?? cheers

[DRIFTER_016]

Amazing fishing report/trip !! those rivers look soooo,niceeee.. .and so much wildlife too,glad to hear about everyone getting to know center pin fishing as well,thanks for sharing,man all that scenery,im not sure i would ever want to come back home !!! do the big salmon run those rivers as well,where you were fishing?? cheers

 

 

The river is the Kenai and yes it does get a ton of salmon.

The salmon season starts in May when the first run of Kings come in. Next In June the Sockeye salmon start to return. Followed by the second run of Kings in July and the second run of sockeye in August. In even years like this year the river sees a large run of Pink salmon. Finally in late August the Silver salmon start to return. The world record King (97#) came from this river. The second run Sockeye and Silvers are larger than the first run fish.

This trip we caught Silvers to about 17 pounds all other salmon are pretty much done by September and not worth fishing for, unless you like boots.

[canadian_copper]

NICE TO SEE YOUR LIVIN THE LIFE UP THERE DAVE!!!GREAT REPORT

[Leecher]

Awesome report and pics DRIFTER_016

 

Sure is scary stuff when encountering a big brown bear

 

Thankfully you did not have to use the spray and never been in real danger..... must of been an adrenaline rush

 

Again, great report and thanks for sharing

Leechman

Edited October 14, 2008 by Leechman

[ehg]

Lots of things that make humans seem small in your report.

Mountains, huge brown bears, moose, and super long dirt highways.

Great pictures

[b2kptbo]

Very cool, great pic's, thanks for the report...

Edited October 14, 2008 by b2kptbo

[ccmtcanada]

I saw these in Mike's report....but man...fantastic report and pics. He was right, it did deserve a thread of its own!

[azanier]

Nice trout