Phil Lilley

It's becoming an annual event. Last year, we had a nice weekend of fishing and fellowship. It proved to be a healing process for many of the veterans who attended. We have a handful of fishing guides who are donating their time and talents but we need more anglers who would be willing to take a vet fishing Saturday, Sunday or both days. You don't need a boat - we have plenty. Unfortunately, we have no rooms left for the event here at the resort, if you're coming from out of town. We will feed you - breakfast, lunch and dinner. And you will have a good, warm feeling when you leave. So who wants to help? Post questions. PM answers.

We were talking . . . we'd like to bring some sockeye home with us but the problem is that sockeye will be spawning and dying when we're there in September, at least at Naknek, so what do we do? I emailed Jim, my friend who owns Naknek River Camp on the Naknek River, where my cabin is, and he said he could call Heidi at Diamond Lodge and buy some from her. She would store it till we get there. 150 pounds would do us - 50 pounds each. So we're set. BUT - I threw a wrench in the mix. I said we should THINK about flying over to Kodiak Island instead of to the cabin at King Salmon and fish for silvers which run in September. This would add expense to the trip but we could explore the island and camp. So Bill's researching. Here at the Landing, we started carrying a new wader line called Hendrix. I sent my Orvis waders in for repair or replacement cause they're leaking AGAIN. I've had bad luck with the guide waders from Orvis but at least they stand behind their product. If you're floating a remote river in Alaska, you better take an extra pair of waders. I now have one. I'm not buying a new pair of wading boots. The pair I have, Orvis, are about 4 years old and have seen alot of use. The felt soles have been glued back on a couple of times. I ripped one off the other day and glued a new one on. It's taken several sessions but I think it's on good. I'll have to test it before leaving. Boots are another item you don't want to be without in the bush. We have a 800 pound limit on the bush plane flying from Kotzebue to the river. That's including camping and cooking gear, fishing gear, clothes and food. 400 of that will be US. We'll have to weigh everything closely, before we leave as well as after we pick up our food in Anchorage. We'll use water purifier kits and drink water from the river. I was thinking . . . haven't asked Bill yet but I assume we're cooking using butane. September can be a rainy time in AK and there's not a whole lot of trees where we're going so depending on dry wood for a cooking fire wouldn't be wise. That adds to our weight. Sat Phone - we're weighing that option. Found a place to rent a phone for $59 per week but I'm not sure we'll need one. A GPS - yes. If this river was alittle wilder, I would say yes to the sat phone but it's very tame. Shouldn't have any problems floating. Bears - another thing. But there's aren't as many bears as, say, where we go in southwest Alaska. So we'll decide shortly. Bill's been trying out jackets - fleece water proof, windproof. He's ordered and received 2 so far. He likes one. He brought it over and showed me- it was nice. It's a riding jacket - motorcycle riding. Reinforced elbows and shoulders. Has a hood. It's nice, especially for the price - $89. I'm still looking. I have a nice windproof Orvis fleece - I think that will do me. It was misplaced till this week. Cameras - I have my Optio. It's still a great camera. Waterproof. Been through a lot. I have a video mini DV that's 3 years old but I'd like to get a HD. I have some leads. I want to document this trip as best as I can.

I'll take pics tomorrow and post them.

It's a local publication. I saw it yesterday on the front page - a kayak that looks exactly like it.

Anyone have any advice on how to remove minor scratches from sunglasses? These are prescription sunglasses. Thanks

Is this the kayak featured in this month's Both sides of the Bridge publication?

When we started trading about July 1, we bought Ford and rode it alittle. Sure wish we would have stayed with it. It was at $9 and now it's approaching $13. Ford has really done well in this economy. They should be commended. Hopefully we'll sell at 13.65 and make 3%.

Up to $38. We've bought and sold BP several times and made 2-5% each time. We have a few shares right now- will sell at 39.15 - may be today.

Man, I hope the spammers are catching on . . . using real names to get thru me. One nice thing is that I can ban them - they can't re register using the same ip. That slows them down.

Bill and I are flying out of Branson, mid afternoon on August 29th and flying to Anchorage, AK. We'll arrive there at that evening - there's a 3 hour difference in their time and central time. Bill booked a book at the Microtel Airport Inn for $167. Our flights costs $1591.82 round trip. We get up the next morning and go shopping. We'll need to buy staple items such as meats for 2-3 dinners as well as other items we don't want to take up on the plane. There will be other items that we'll share later when we have our list. We leave for Kotzebue mid afternoon. It's a 4 hour flight with one stop. We are using Jim Kincaid, an outfitter and pilot in Kotzebeu. We will fly from there to the Kelly River. It will be a 30 mile float and we'll fish for ocean run Andromous char and grayling. These char average over 15 pounds and will grow to over 25 pounds. Grayling are good sized too. We're taking one shot gun for ptarmigan and bear protection, as well as bear spray. We are getting our gear together and ordering supplies and clothing we need, but we have most of everything. Bill has great camping gear including bags and tents. We've scouted out dried foods. Everything is coming together. We've considered, or really are still considering renting a Sat Phone but we're not sure we need to go to that expense. The river is class I so no danger there. Not many bears. But it is remote - not many other people or planes flying over. I'll let Bill add to this entry. It's his idea to start this blog, hoping to help those who may consider taking a trip like this in the future.

Would you ever use our 4 lb line - 1/8th oz jigs - trout rigs on these bass? Seems like they'd be more sensitive than big bass rods.

Oh yea... if you decide to go fishing in a boat at night, there's lots of shallow water in upper LT and there's also could be anglers wading so go slow. Well . . . darkness, fog . . . I guess you'll be going slow anyhow. Nevermind.

Generation patterns are still fairly consistent here on Lake Taneycomo. The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers has been shutting the water off about 10 p.m. and leaving it off all morning the next day until early to mid afternoon. Then officials are running quite a bit of water, up to four units, until it is shut down again at 10 p.m. Fishing after the water comes on has been difficult, so your best time to catch trout is definitely in the mornings. Our lake water is very clear this time of year, and our trout have become somewhat finicky, so we’re having to drop to two-pound line, such as when fly fishing and jig and float fishing. When using bait and lures we’re still using three-pound line. But even if you are fishing bait, this is something to consider if you’re not being as successful as you’d like to be. Consider dropping to two-pound line and see if you get more bites. Injected night crawlers have been catching the best trout lately, much better than Power Bait. Injecting air in the night crawler makes them float off the bottom, allowing the trout to see your bait much faster and thus drawing more strikes overall. We use what is called a blow bottle, available at most bait shops. The best areas are around Short Creek down to Cooper Creek and then down by Monkey Island. If you like using Power Bait, Gulp eggs using one pink and one white egg on a #8 hook has been best. Our guides have been catching some really nice rainbows and a few browns up in the trophy area – above Fall Creek – this past week on several lures. Of course, you can only use flies and lures between Fall Creek and Table Rock Dam, and you have to release all rainbows between 12 and 20 inches in length. Also, the water at and above Fall Creek, when the water is off (no generation) is shallow. If you don’t know the channel, you can hit bottom very easily, and very often. Jig and float technique using two-pound line, a float and a small micro jig or a small marabou jigs has been very productive until the water comes on after noon. We’re setting the jig four to five- feet deep and fishing the channel dropoff or main channel. The best jig colors have been tan, olive, sculpin, black, brown and white. Special colors are brown with an orange head, sculpin/orange with an orange head and ginger with a brown head, 1/125th-ounce marabou jigs. Also throwing a jig using no float, or straight line using a 3/32nd to 1/16th-ounce jig, working it, but you can get away with four-pound, especially if the water is running. If it is running, go to an 1/8th-ounce jig. Colors are sculpin, brown, white, ginger, olive, olive-black and purple. Fly fishing from a boat you can use a jig and float with the same rig that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. I was out the other day when the wind was really blowing, which is a little strange for July. I tied on a chili pepper, an oversized crackleback basically, and stripped in up on the flats above the Narrows, probably in no more than a foot of water. The rainbows really liked it. I bet a wooly or a soft hackle would have drawn the same attention. They like moving targets when the surface of the water is choppy. They’ve also liked a scud fished on the bottom in the gravel—a #12 or #14 gray scud. They’ve also been taking a tan or olive scud. If you catch them rising on midges, try offering them a #16 or #18 olive or black zebra midge under a palsa indicator about a foot deep. Also strip a soft hackle over the top of their heads when they’re rising. They can’t stand that! Night fishing . . . has been nothing short of great lately. If you’ve never done it, it’s best to hire one of our guides to show you the ropes. It’s truly a different experience. I did venture out the other night in my boat to fish with a friend who happens to write for a Kansas City news publication. It was only the second time I’d ever tried this—getting out at night in a boat in the fog. I’ve night fished many times from my boat but always in the spring or fall when there’s no fog. Fog just isn’t fun to maneuver in and it’s, well, wet and cold. But our results cause me to wonder whether I should put up with the wet and cold more often! We caught trout often. And nice ones. We put in at the dam and drifted down to Fall Creek, then fished at Short Creek before heading back to the resort. We fished black 1/8th-ounce jigs exclusively, but I believe they would have hit other colors, too. There wasn’t any guessing when you got a bite—they really hammered the jig. Gauging how far we were from the bank and trees was the only difficulty we had, but we mastered that pretty well.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/24/2104681/trout-fisherman-catches-big-rainbows.html

There are a couple of places to stay close to the dam. Couple of cabins behind River Run owned by Danna. I think you can rent them at River Run's shop. Also a couple of places on the south side of the dam. Then there's Fall Creek at 165 and Fall Creek Rd. Water off in the am's. Good fishing. Kids can splash in the water all they want . . . does NOT bother the fish. They're used to the foot traffic. And it's not that cold, esp for kids. Come fish off our dock- it's been alittle slow down here though - although I heard the stocking boat was out today.

I'm not sure if I should report this trip or not . . . but it'll come out in the KC Star this weekend I think. Fished with Brent Frazee last night. He wanted to catch a brown fishing at night. I told him he was a little early but we'd try. I wanted to try something I hadn't done but once before - night fishing from a boat in the summer in the fog. We got to the ramp about 10:20 pm last night. I had not called to see what the water was doing cause I was going regardless. I was surprised to see it running though. I called- 2 units at 704 ft. Put in and pushed off= called again is it was 1 unit so I knew it was shutting down. Dropped the trolling motor- batteries dead. Mental note: check the batteries after the son-in-law borrows the boat. We started- Brent throwing a F-7 black/silver rapala and I was throwing a dark 1/8th oz jig. Fog wasn't too bad- I could see the tree tops. The moon was half so we had plenty of light. No action till we got almost down to Lookout Island. Brent caught a couple of rainbows and so did I. Below the island it got good. I was hooking more trout on the jig so I handed him a rod with a black jig and he started catching rainbows too. It was great - lake was dropping out and we had plenty of current to move us downstream. Fish were nailing our jigs. But we needed a picture fish. It didn't take long. I hooked one and said it was a nice one. Brent got the camera and started shooting. It was a pretty 18 inch rainbow. After a few pics, it swam away. Further down, almost to the Narrows, I hooked another heavy rainbow. This time I didn't lift it out of the water- Brent was to take pictures of the fish splashing on the surface. So I held the line and tried to get it to thrash- line broke, no good pics. It was pushing 20 inches. We boated back up a ways and drifted that area again and caught more rainbows but no big ones. Was getting late so I boated down to Short Creek to try for a brown in the deeper water. Only small stockers there- pecking at the jigs. I had given up and was ready to head in. We were just talking, fishing what I'd call the flats below the mouth of the creek when I hooked a very heavy fish. I was very, very aggressive, pulling hard. I worked it in and Brent started flashing away. We got good pics of this rainbow - I measured it over 22 inches. How did this rainbows survive the most fished area on the lake? He had to of passed on tons and tons of power bait in his lifetime. Great night - should be a good article. Can't wait to see the pics!

Thanks for joining.

Great story - thanks for post it. Had to point this guy out in the pic -- he looks like he's up to something!

I like this one too.... http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/clothes-workwear/mens/mens-outerwear/75007.aspx?feature=product_2

Brian- I don't EVEN like the looks of that Simms jacket so, no, I'm not going to spend the big bucks for it. If I ever win one in a contest, I'll give it to you.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Mountain-Hardwear-WindStopper-Tech-Large-Black-/230500018446?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_CSA_MC_Outerwear&hash=item35aadf290e#ht_500wt_1154 http://www.amazon.com/WINDSTOPPER-Tech-Jacket-Mountain-Hardwear/dp/B001EN1OQG/ref=sr_1_57?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qlEnable=1&qid=1279579123&sr=1-57 http://cgi.ebay.com/NWT-Mountain-hardwear-mens-windstopper-tech-jacket-Med-/320563170904?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Men_s_Athletic_Apparel&hash=item4aa30dce58#ht_500wt_1154 http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Mountain-Hardwear-WindStopper-Tech-Large-Black-/230500018446?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_CSA_MC_Outerwear&hash=item35aadf290e#ht_500wt_1154 http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,2635U_Columbia-Sportswear-Anchorage-Explorer-Fleece-Jacket-For-Men.html and this one http://www.dealsonthefly.com/ is very tempting!

Thom did a great job describing what you need to do. I'm assuming you mean outlets 1 and 2. If they are running more than one unit, you can run to the dam and drift these areas.

Mountain Hardwear - anyone own a Mountain Hardwear jacket. Found very good reviews.

Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I'm looking for a good windproof fleece jacket. Exclude Orvis and Patagonia.

Selling a jacket I bought up in Alaska. Hardly worn, never washed. Heavy, quality. It's large but has long sleeves. Hooded (fleece also). http://www.grundens.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=99 $75. I paid over $150 for it.