Almost Perfect

Very few people understand a Steelheader’s mentality and if you think about it who could blame them. To sit and reason as to why a person would fish Alaska in October in the first place and secondly how that person would be happy after not catching anything is futile at best. Sure it would have been nice if the one grab of [...]

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Rebirth

Alaskan winters are an ultimate test of endurance for fly fishers. The snow consistently arrives in October and lingers until May. With each start of spring there is a sense of rebirth and a blank slate. The cleansing quality of melting snow encompasses nearly every aspect of nature. The intermittent cold gusts of wind are in constant competition with [...]

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Ghost Fishers

Spring in Alaska is slowly trickling along away from the now half-year long winter. The April snowstorm two days prior that left mouths agape and 8 inches of white is losing ground to steamy, wet pavement. The season’s first trip has been set and nothing can keep us away from the river. The popularity of our sport in [...]

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Pre-Season…

February is coming to a close and the temps outside read a balmy 31 degrees. This winter has been mild with the big rivers south of town staying relatively open. Even the local small creeks are showing their welcome ripples. A gathering is in the works for yet another fly tying, beer sipping session. Yes, [...]

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Mid-season float…

Our annual July float trip is in the books and it was grins all around. We ate like kings, swung spey and switch rods for 2 days and enjoyed stretching out in B’s new camper. The fishing was tough with abnormally high water from glacier melt-off. Fortunately, the dollies made up for the absence of trout. The fishing felt like [...]

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The Best Post Ever… ‘Yokanga, Notes From’

I am headed for an adventure myself this weekend of which I will post next week. Until then, here is a snippet from RP’s latest and to-date the greatest blog post ever. Read the full post below: …I got off my rock and gave chase as quickly as I could, which was not quick. The fish [...]

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Socked in…

  The re-opener was an epic display of old-time Alaska. Thousands of black-gray backs of schooled salmon in packs of 30 to 50 as far as the next bend. Fortunately, there were still trout to be had via the properly waked dry in-between the intermittent upstream rushes of first run sockeye. The salmon run is the earliest [...]

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Wait for it…

Every year, the culmination leading up to the yearly trout re-opener is a flashback to my childhood and its ’are we there yet’ days of family fishing trips. My family went fishing every year for as far back as I can remember. Fittingly, my July birthday was celebrated each year in either a tent or camper next to the [...]

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Fresh Start…

It’s spring in Alaska. Just like that, the snow is gone on the lowlands. As seasons go, spring and fall are short windows that disappear as soon as they reveal their offerings. This spring however has started off early and remarkably well. The multiple temps in the 60’s match last summer’s warmest few days. As [...]

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New Season

Early Spring Spey. Here is a re-post from last spring to get us in the swing of things… The dreaming days are nearly over. The long grip of winter is showing signs of breaking. Rivers are starting to see light. Drop by drop, the ice and snow melt to provide more room for trout and later the returning salmon. [...]

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