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 Alaska: Big Rainbow Trout, Giant Char & Tons Of Grizzly Bears
Posted by kodiakcommando on August 06, 2007
(2473 reads)
Another day off in the 49th state gives me the choice of hopping on a plane and going fly fishing or staying at the lodge and doing laundry, I think I will go fly fishing! One of the cool things I can do here is if weight and weather allow I can hop on a plane already Taking a guide and clients out and fish on my own for my day off. Obviously clients come first and get the good water first but There is plenty of water and most clients are average fly fisherman at best leaving plenty of fish behind them! Today I am heading to the American river in Katmai National park, More specifically the Upper middle part as it is a long river and only parts can be coverd in a day. The first thing you will notice about this part of the river is it is classic pocket water fishing. For the most part it is shallow and fast so you must pick apart the river to find holding trout. I hop of the plane and hike 30 minutes to the river. I was really hoping for good weather so I could throw dries as the american in my opinion is the best dry fly fishing in alaska hands down and can rival anywhere in the west. Anyone who says alaska doesn't have good dry fly fishing has never fished here. There can be huge caddis hatches and big fish will crash them. I had one client this year use a size 12 elk hair caddis all day and catch 10, yes 10, rainbows between 23 and 26 inches. However the weather was pretty poor for dry fly fishing and when I got to the river the sockeye salmon were pairing up which was a first for this year. I knew from the number of pairs and trout sitting behind pairs that it was time for a bead. I was somewhat exited as when the fish get on eggs the fishing turns absolutely stupid however nothing beats getting big fish on the surface. I rig up my setup and cast in a big slick and
wham a big fish slams it and tears up the water. It is a big char, probably 4 pounds or so! The american is not only loaded with trout but char as well. Char can get a bad rap for the simple fact they are not bows but these fish are still hot and can get to 14 pounds on this river! I work my way down to another slick and pull out 3 bows on 3 casts all around 17 inches. As far as Bristol bay rainbows American fish are smaller on average than many rivers like the Moraine, Naknek, Kvichiak, Kukakalek and so on and top out at around 27 inches however These american fish are just simply amazing fighters, pound for pound they may be the strongest. They run hard and fast and jump like crazy. The real thing that makes them fun is the way they change directions, constantly going up, down around rocks, slow or fast. Keeping a tight line on these fish is a supreme challenge. I continue to work my way and continue to catch fish, it's aboslutely ridiculous. Every cast to good looking water yeilds 2 to 3 bows and/or char! In fact after a while i'm exclusively sight fishing to bigger fish just to keep my self interested! Of course it's worth noting that during my fishing there are bears everwhere, probably saw 25 different ones and most are fishing for salmon right on the river so i'm pretty damn close. However they are so interested in salmon they hardly notice me, exept for when I foul hooked a big sockeye 40 feet from a bear which then charged after my fish in distress which happened to be 15 feet from me, lets just say i snapped the line on purpose real quick! Besides the bears I also saw lots of eagles and a pair of nesting perigan falcons with their young ones which was very cool. At the end of the day I have no Idea how many fish I caught, probably around 50 trout and char, saw tons of wildlife and besides my co worker and his 2 clients never saw another human soul. I'm glad I chose that over the Laundry!
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Re: Alaska: Big Rainbow Trout, Giant Char & Tons Of Grizzly Bears
by jeremy on August 06, 2007 http://www.fliesandfins.com | | those char are awesome. what a day, it sounds like you had. i would love to step off a float plane onto the american river with not another soul in site and cast to virtually limitless numbers of world class fish. someday. lot's of bears feasting on the sockeye salmon huh .. probably smart that you broke one off and let the bear have it .... once again, an amazing fish tale from alaska. what is your take on the gold mining in bristol bay alaska? i hear that the silt and runnoff could really damage the fishery ... i hope people will realize that the real gold are those fish .. there are very few places left in the world with such pristine and bountiful fisheries and wildlife ... it would be a shame to ruin the last frontier in the name of the mighty dollar or gold in this case. i could understand if it were 100 years ago ... but, alaska really is the last frontier, and when that's gone ... that's it ... i hope that proper management and regulations help to at least minimize the impact ... curious to see what someone like you who lives there has to say about the topic ... |
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Re: Alaska: Big Rainbow Trout, Giant Char & Tons Of Grizzly Bears
by joey on August 06, 2007 http://www.fliesandfins.com | KC-
You truly live in big fish country. Cool fish tale. Watch out for those bears. |
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Re: Alaska: Big Rainbow Trout, Giant Char & Tons Of Grizzly Bears
by waterwhippa on August 06, 2007 | K-dak,
That place and its fish are Wicked! Thanks for posting, i could stare at those pics all day. |
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Re: Alaska: Big Rainbow Trout, Giant Char & Tons Of Grizzly Bears
by jinxed247 on August 06, 2007 http://www.jumpcut.com/flyfishing247 | | I'll say it again...you are one lucky sob. Thanks for sharing and for not getting eaten by the bears! |
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Re: Alaska: Big Rainbow Trout, Giant Char & Tons Of Grizzly Bears
by Boz on August 07, 2007 http://www.maineriverguides.com | | Looks like you had one hell of a day off. Those are some beauties. Hope your packing some "heat" in the Big bear country... |
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