Phil Lilley

One thing I didn't mention about the silver fishing on Yantarni in my blog post... The owner says fly fishing for silvers using TOPWATER flies is awesome! Poly wogs I guess is the most well known fly for silvers but about anything that makes a good wake becomes a target for these bruts. We've caught, or should I say hooked, alot of silvers on the Naknek. At the hookset, these bright silver bullets are airborn, ripping off line so fast it will smoke most reels. If you don't have a good rod and heavy line, you'll get spooled most of the time. Now imagine a violent topwater take and again, the water exploding, seeing nothing but silver. That is Yantarni silvers. Bill says these Pacific silvers are some of the largest silvers, if not the largest in Alaska. There is only one other camp that we know of close to where this is located. They have a wonderful site with lots of images. Bill said they're about 30 miles away. http://www.alaskawildernesssafari.com/

Not sure what all to share at this point in time. It is Friday evening. Bill and I are sitting in Anchorage waiting on our first of 3 flights tonight- it's going to be a long night. But at this point, we don't know what the sale of Yantarni is. The owner is entertaining another party- today as a matter of fact- which was a surprise to us. We thought we were the only ones in the hunt. Regardless, we are thinking and planning on moving on this in August and will be recruiting serious anglers to come to this magical place. Here's a few things we have learned about Yantarni Bay. It's been around for quite a while. It was developed as an oil exploration camp, not sure how far back but at least in the 70's. After the oil company left, the permit was sold to the present owner and he developed it as a fishing camp. It has a gravel runway that has been cut in two by the river- 1200 feet on one side and 1400 feet on the other- plenty of room of a 206 or even a Beaver. The camp itself is about a half mile from the beach, which is riddled with driftwood and other treasures, we're told. Beachcombing is a popular activity where things like Japanese glass fishing net balls are found each year. The camp area is protected by the bay with sharp rocky cliffs and islands are visible from the beach on both sides. Pink, Chum and Silver Salmon run these rivers and stack up in the mouth of the river making surf fishing excellent. You were also told hallibut cruise into these shallow waters, espeically on into the spawn when dead salmon carcases start flowing out of the river into the bay to be eaten. So- hallibut on the fly!? We looked at a couple of inflateable boats today to keep at camp with 15 hp motors just to get out and fish the bay for halibut and other fish like rock fish- maybe?! There at the camp, the main river is Yantarni Creek but within a short distance there are 2 other creeks flowing into this creek which offers salmon fishing too. If one creek gets blown out by rains, we just move to another creek where all the salmon crowd into until the muddy water runs out. We talked to one person today that knew alot about the camp and the fishing. He said, simply- our problem will be it's just too easy! There's no challenge which may be a problem with some anglers. 6 days of catching silvers ONE EVERY CAST may get boring to some and that may be true. He said we'll have to figure out ways to make it TOUGHER for clients to find and hook fish. Strangely enough, I understand this. It gets like that on Taneycomo but it's hard to compare our rainbows to 10-15-20-25 pound silver salmon 5 minutes out of the ocean. Other problems are lost flies, lost line and broken gear. Oh yea- sore arms. There are other creeks and rivers that flow into the bay all around us. Some are within the range of our 4-wheelers and others only can be reached by helocopter. Helo-fishing will be included during some peak weeks and offered as an option during other weeks- that's our idea so far. The creeks have sea-run dolly varden also. They reportedly get to be around 20-24 inches, not the 30+ inches we're used to on the Naknek. No rainbows. The dollies should be easy to catch using our bead method. They do color us pretty in September. The camp was blown all over the place when we flew over. They said the camp sees winds over 100-120 mph in the winter. All the inportant parts are stored in the building and it was in good shape. The weather ports each have 3 twin beds, supplied with sheets and pillows, a table and chairs and a small wood burning stove. The shower tent has a nice shower with unlimited hot water and a lav. The camp has one out house. The dining tent has an incredible kitchen setup- all stainless steel tables, sinks and stove/oven, refrig and freezers. Table is set with table cloth and cloth napkins- fancy even for us! The camp has 4, 4-wheelers with personell carts for transportation up and down the creek as well to the beach. That's how everyone gets around. We could be booking 3 weeks this fall for operation - Aug 23-30, Aug 30-Sept 6 and Sept 13-20. We may add Aug 16-23 for primarily pinks and chums but we're not sure. The rate has been $4795 per client from King Salmon in the past but we're not thinking quite that high to start this year. We'll wait and see how we stand before we set the rate. It takes a week to set camp up and a week to tear is down. Can't think of anything else. It's hard to imagine Bill and I have been given the chance to at least look at this place and dream. If we don't get it, it's been a great opportunity and we've made some new friends to boot. We're leaving it in God's hands. We prayed that He would shut the door if it wasn't for us. So far it's been wide open. We both want to honor God is this venture.... in all we do. It's only by His grace and blessings we have gotten to do the things we have- we give Him glory for that.

G- if you look back at some of our adventures up here, you'll see we're on first-name basis with some of the animals you're referring to. Seriously. The bears are part of what we're up here for. Bill and I are sitting in Anchorage Terminal waiting on our first of 3 flights. I'm bored. I think I'll write some in my blog. You can read more there.

Why wouldn't you do that much? I'm flying tonight... ALL night.

We didn't get to land and walk around unfortunately and things were happening so quick Bill didn't get alot of pics taken but I did let the video roll most of the time so after we get home I'll see if I can get some of it online... The following pics were taken last fall. There are more but none are great- they don't show the essence of the place. There's an airstrip that been cut in half by the river but either portion is plenty of runway for a plane plus you can land on the beach. The camp is about a half mile from the ocean.

No fishing... we drove to Homer today- put about 500 miles on the rental car. Kenai River was already packed with drift boats and waders. Guess there's a few kings moving in. The day was gorgeous. Homer was nice. Long day. Fly out tomorrow night and back home Saturday.

All the talking and work is done. We're waiting on a word from the owner on if and how this will play out. Here's a hint... go read my blog. I posted my thoughts on this venture some time back. Sorry- it really wasn't a secret. Bill and I had an INCREDIBLE helicopter flight from King Salmon 125 miles south to Yantarni Bay and the camp yesterday. Crossing the tundra, lakes and mountain range was .... words can't describe. But coming into view of the ocean was breath taking. I shot video of it. Bill took pics. We'll share them when I get them formated.

I saw Duane this morning but didn't bring this contest up - I should have. Better pray I don't get eaten by a bear before I get back to hand you the money!!

You might try jigs... but you're limited to whatever is out in front of the dock which mainly are stockers. Have to head to the trophy area to really have a chance at bigger trout.

Be back Saturday.... my mistake. That puts a hurt on my cleanup efforts on Taney. I'll have someone cover. We will probably forgo the potluck lunch at the shelter though. In Anchorage. Leave for King Salmon in about an hour. Then to points unknown... about 125 south. In a helicoper no less!

It was a great time. Thanks to all those who helped.

Bill and I are leaving for a top secret mission today. We will arrive in a remote, undisclosed location in SW Alaska tomorrow to check out what possibly could be a good fishing hole. We'll be home Friday. Ta Ta...

It's seasonal. We always have alot of moss this time of year. Great for the bugs!

And you caught in on....

Throw your jigs... they work as good as when the water is running. No float. Sculpin has been best color.

Oh I think Micheal Kyle might get it now... unless creek wader pays all his relatives to get on the site and turn pages tomorrow.

We have a map at the office and people on the dock that can show you exactly what to look out for. Come on by.

Take the lake, the boat and the fishing out of the equation and you still have an angry person who yells at the drop of a hat. It wasn't you... it wasn't the fishing. It was his problem. You just was his target for 30 seconds. Be like water on a duck... let it roll off your back.

Had a trip this morning. Got out at 7:30 am. Had a son and dad from Louisiana and yes they were cajun! Fun morning for sure. Got to Andy's House and started in. Micro jigs under a float, just like the 2 previous mornings. But this time they didn't take. I thought- good slow movement of the water downstream... lots of rainbows swimming around. Ten-fifteen minutes past and nothing so I handed them my other rigs- 3/32nd oz sculpin jigs. The water was moving faster for sure and I thought- they aren't supposed to run water this morning! Wrong. They lied. One unit came on and the moss started flowing. Judd caught a couple of rainbows before it got too bad. Boated to Big Hole. Tried drifting a San Juan, scud, threw jigs some more- caught a couple but not up to my expectations. So down we went to the resort and picked up a couple boxes of night crawlers. Boated back up, not quite all the way to Fall Creek. Tied on a #6 hook and a #7 split and drifted down the middle. At first it was ok, picking up one here and there. But the last hour it got good and they finished their limit of nice rainbows plus releasing a bunch more. Good morning. Paul and Judd went home with a nice mess of trout. As I cleaned some of the rainbows, I saw lots and lots of scuds in several of them- about #14's. And these were rainbows caught below Fall Creek.

Well, on the front page of oaf.

No- water is coming on around noon- 1 pm everyday this week. Check the SPA schedule site- link is at the top of the page,

Boated again to the narrows this morning at 6 am. Had Scott Gamm, his brother and son in tow. Fish didn't want to bite quite as good as yesterday but it wasn't bad. They liked olive micros instead of the tan ones this am. Caught a decent number of rainbows... 6x tippet and fished 3 feet deep. Scott and Ben

Thanks for sharing your product with us. One suggestion - in your posting and esp in your signature, change from www.bulletbodder.com to http://bulletbobber.com. It will make it a clickable link instead of having to copy and paste.

Took Kenny Kaiser, an outdoor writer, this morning. We got out at 6 am and beat everyone to the lake. Not real foggy but we had to take our time getting up to Lookout. Fly rods and tan micro jigs... man the trout were all about that! The lake was moving ever so slowly downstream so we drifted along for 2 hours before hitting the narrows. Boated back up alittle bit and fish another hour. Never slowed down. Caught more than 50 rainbows and this one brown. We stayed in the channel and used 6x tippet, fishing the micros 4 feet deep under a palsa indicator. Man some of these trout really fight hard for their size. Nothing over 15 inches- lots of fun! My streak continues fishing with writers... they bring me good luck.