Phil Lilley

Courtois' website?

If you have the time and $$$, clinic are good, even for the experienced. I went to my first last spring even after I've been a caster for 35 years and learned alot.

Done- OzarkAnglers now has a facebook group. Search for it.

Wish I could make it... can't get away from the big city... Doesn't your hair get caught in the strings?

We have some friends in town. They have teenage girls and they brought boyfriends... oh boy! Anyhow, everyone wanted to go on a pontoon ride this afternoon so we headed to Fall Creek about 2 pm. High sun, some wind and 2 units. They drifted Gulp eggs, some white/pink, some white/orange. First drift to the old Sun Valley they caught 10 rainbows. Next one was much slower. Not bad I thought!! Novice anglers and not the best time of day to fish. So I'd say fishin's pretty good. Coy and I boated down lake to bass fish. We usually do one evening while he's here. Stopped several places below Branson only to find cold water. Finally boated all the way to Bull Creek and started on the left side going up. Got a tick on a sinko first cast... and wouldn't you know it I didn't get another bite till the very last. We worked the lilly pads but only drew a couple of takes.

Wish them the best. Just not my cup of tea.

Not sure if we're going to book for this year... still working on logistics. Little time to get it all done. But 2010 for sure.

I think it was 95+ and humid but not bad this evening.

Just got off the water... 2 units and I thought we'd kill them. Caught a few but they were hitting short. White 1/8th oz jigs along the bluff bank below Lookout.

Haven't really been out fishing since I've been back. Working tirelessly the last 3 days on logistics for Bill and I's Alaska deal. Let me tell you, it's not easy doing anything in Alaska and add NOT being from there and NOT being there adds to the difficulty. Taney's generation schedule is sporadic at best. The SWPA's schedule is of no help either- it's been wrong most of the week so far. But with the water off, fishing continues to be very good- wading below the dam, boating the trophy area and below. Bill has had several trips this week and caught them. He's had to adjust his fishing to the conditions. Yesterday the rain- it washed alot of stuff in the lake from the creeks so he drifted night crawlers from Fall Creek down and did well. Today he fly rodded and set the indicator deep deep with a #16 silver scud and drifted from Lookout down and did well. Nice rainbows- big and fat. My reports all sound about the same... that's because nothing major has happened to change things. Fortunately, fishing was stayed real good and hopefully will for weeks to come. This warm spell may mean more generation but we'll see. It's pushing 100 today and they're not running 4 units like you'd think. But they surely could!

We have been seeing alot of nice rainbows in the trophy area. The first fish was caught below Fall Creek though. XKHP's was in the trophy area and all those do have to go back. Might watch the finger in the gills though... we want them to swim away healthy.

I can do that.

We got the camp! Now we need money! Money! Money! Well, we need bookings. I think I can speak for Bill and say our heads are swimming and spinning as bad as mine was after the helo ride last week- or was that my stomach?! I have a do to list a mile long. And Bill's fishing everyday. We're still working on the basics- What we're going to call the place exactly. Yantarni will be in there for sure since it has history. Silver Salmon are the headliner. If you've read my blog entry you know most of what there is to know about the camp, the surroundings, the fishing. There have been some pretty heavy hitters stay at this place and say Yantarni is by far the most incredible place to fish in the world. I can't wait to see it but before then we have alot of work to do and spots to book. We want to offer the trip at lower-than-usual rates this season since we're so close. Have to know this- everything is expensive up there and there's alot of flying involved which is double expensive. Questions? I'm working on a website but we have few pics- they are all posted on my facebook account right now but will be other places shortly.

Kind of a lousey fishing report...

I'll be darn!! I didn't know. We had another reception this afternoon or I would have gone. Wish I was up there in a boat... bet the fish went wild! Should have pushed some BIG trout out of the protected area too- for a short time.

Clint was at the shelter from 10-10:20 am Saturday but didn't see anyone. He left some bags on the table there under a rock for anyone who came by. He called me- we were still in Minneapolis waiting on our flight home. Thanks for the help though. Sorry you didn't meet with them them. Next time I'll be more organized and actually HERE for it.

Update.... We are now in Minniapolis... missed our flight so we're here till 1ish. Still get to fly into Branson- yea!! Just spending MORE time in an airport - YUK! Could be worse.

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.