Recently, I put down a deposit on a trip of a lifetime, a Fly-In Fishing trip to Alaska. This is a trip I have wanted to do for a long time and has been cancelled a couple of times. My Dad, brother and I were supposed to go a couple of years ago but when my Dad got his cancer diagnosis we had to cancel. The real kick in the teeth, for that trip, came a week after his funeral when one of the guides I booked called me to see if my Father and I wanted to re-schedule. He felt terrible after I told him that wouldn’t be happening. Susan and I had made plans to go this past summer but once again fate kicked me in the nuts and that trip didn’t happen. Now it’s just me, I’m flying in by myself to fish at a lodge on The Alagnak River. I will be with a group of other people but I’ll be free to do whatever I want, or whatever the guide tells me I can do.
Since this trip is next August I have plenty of time to get the gear together I am going to need. Thanks to my severance check I was able to go on a spending spree. I picked up all the rods and reels I will need to tackle just about any fresh water fish in North America. I still have to pick up a dry bag and carry on rod case but I have time. What I really need to get started on is an arsenal of Alaska Flies.
Fortunately they gave me a list of suggested flies.
Because of my affection for egg sucking leeches I already have one type out of the way. It’s everything else I need to tie up. My imitations have always been about flash and matching the local food source. Now the prominent color appears to be pink and a fair amount of flies imitating the flesh of decomposing salmon. Sounds disgusting I know but when in Rome…..
So without further adieu I give you the first of many Alaska flies.
My First Flesh Fly imitation. Thankfully it doesn’t smell like a rotten salmon.
This one is Called a Chum Slumber. Don’t quite understand the name but it is very pink. It is an easy tie though. Gotta appreciate that.
Next up, Hareball Leeches in Fucia and Flo. Pink. Stay Tuned.
Anyone reading this might wonder why I led off with this. I’ll get to that and trust me, it is appropriate.
Earlier this week my friend and fellow handliner Dave, asked me if I want to head up to the Manistee River for one last crack at the trout before the season closed. Like I need to be asked? Friday night found us headed up 127 to his own version of the Holy Waters. We would be fishing an area that is flies only and the legal minimum length for a Brown Trout was 18 inches. Not that this mattered since neither of us were planning on keeping anything but an 18 inch Brown is an impressive fish. There were smaller size restrictions for Rainbows and Brookies but in all the years that Dave has fished here he has never caught either. In other words it was Browns or nothing. This was fine with me since I have yet to catch a Brown on a fly. Caught plenty of the lake run version but never a true river Brown.
After breakfast Saturday morning we drove up to our first spot of the day. We were the only fishermen there, not surprising since Opening Day of the Archery Deer Season was the next day. There was lots of Quad traffic on the roads as hunters checked on blinds but for us there wasn’t a sign of anyone on the river. Once we got our gear in order we made our way down to the river’s edge. Dave was casting small soft hackles and headed upstream. As for me I was going big. I broke out my 6wt, 11-6 Redington Prospector and a 3 inch Olive Sculpin pattern I tied up for this purpose. I could have scaled down and given myself a better chance of catching any trout but I wanted something to brag about. The stretch I was fishing had a lot of bends to it so I had to move from one side to the next so that I could swing my fly through the deeper runs and holes. Fortunately for my vertically challenged self, the water levels were down a bit and I could you wade from side to side without much issue. Trout Unlimited had created a lot of holding habitat in the past and I was concentrating my efforts towards those sunken logs, especially the ones in the shade. It was chilly morning so the sun felt good but I would have welcomed a little cloud cover. Nevertheless I went through my usual routine. Cast, swing, drift, dangle, take two steps, repeat. Of course while I was doing this I was studying the next run, checking out the scenery, listening to the birds and generally just relaxing. I’ve had to much unnecessary drama in my life the last week and I really needed to unwind. It never ceases to amaze me how time on the water can make all my problems just disappear.
How can any self respecting Brown refuse that?
After about an hour of this and no action I was beginning to question my strategy of Go Big or Go Home. I hadn’t heard from Dave so I had no idea if he was doing any better. I know there were some decent fish in the area. When we first started we spooked a 20+ inch fish from under a log near our entry point. I kept at it though, thinking eventually something would take a swipe at my fly. During this interlude of me questioning my tactics I noticed two birds hauling ass my way. I couldn’t tell what they were at first until the trailing bird finally caught the lead bird. A goshawk had just exploded a Robin directly in front of me and landed in the tag alders on my right. I stood there in amazement of what I had just seen and watched the feathers all around me float down to the river. That was when it happened, my cast was now in the “dangle” mode and an over zealous brown grabbed my sculpin. Now normally, when I’m swinging streamers, I try to wait until I feel the weight of the fish to set the hook. That way I know he has turned and once I apply pressure I can usually hook the fish in the corner of the mouth. This hit was not when I was expecting it so of course I set the hook and let the 11′ – 6″ rod do it’s thing and by that I mean it proceeded to yank that little 7 inch Brown completely out of the water and send him flying upstream and back into the water right next to me. By then he came unhooked and swam away trying to figure out what the hell just happened to him. One second he thought he was going to get himself an easy meal and the next he is flying through the air like a bird. I just stood there for a moment taking it all in and feeling a little ashamed at what I had just done. I know better than that.
After that the rest of the morning was pretty uneventful. Dave managed to land a few smaller fish and I managed nothing. We spent the rest of the day continuing to work our way upstream. We found one spot that was rather interesting. When we first got there we could see some fish holding in a pool behind a blow down. We were trying to figure out how to get to them when we began to question if they were even trout. Eventually we saw the forked tails and realized they were suckers. When we turned around to leave I spotted a pair of Adirondack chairs at the edge of the river. Someone must have brought them down so we took advantage of that person’s hard work and generosity and sat there for a bit to take in the scenery. After a bit we hit the river or at least Dave did. I headed downstream but most of the area was too deep for me to wade or to mucky. After about half an hour of trying to find a spot to fish I just gave up and went back to the car. I grabbed my book and sat in one of the stream side chairs and read while Dave fished. He managed to hook into a better fish but it got tangled up in some logs (the beavers were really active on this stretch) and lost it.
Dave’s First Manistee Brookie
The suckers
Dave’s Brown
The rest of the day provided very little action. We made one more stop just before dark. There were several hatches going on of Ephrons, Blue Wing Olives and something so small I had no idea what it was. We did see a few fish rise to this but nothing to get to excited about. I did manage to catch a wood turtle here, I almost stepped on him as I was walking upstream. He was covered in tan colored leeches, which of course I had nothing resembling that in my fly box. We fished until dark and then called it a day. A warm meal and bed sounded pretty good right now. We planned on trying again in the morning anyways.
He doesn’t look impressed.
Sunday morning found us even farther upstream but on the same river. The section I was going to work had a long bend in the river, almost 300 yards of sunken logs on the left downstream side and all in the shade. I figured I had to get something here. In order to increase my chances I cheated a little. I tied a 12 inch dropper line onto my sculpin and attached a #12 soft hackle. If I can’t go big I figured I could at least catch something small. This time though I vowed to not send anything small flying through the air. I waded in and started my routine once again. Unfortunately the only action I had was a small 5 inch brown that grabbed my dropper fly. As promised I didn’t send him flying, I just merely skipped him along the surface as I lifted my rod. As I reached down to pick him up he came off and quickly swam for the nearest cover. I did see a few bigger fish as I worked my way around an island but they wanted nothing to do with what I had to offer, the snobs. Dave didn’t have much luck either so after we got out of our waders we packed up and headed home. Not the most successful trip in terms of fish caught but I learned a lot about this section of river, found some new access points and tucked them away in my memory for future dates. One of these times I’ll time it right and actually catch a fish worth bragging about.
Muskrat Adventures 