Phil Lilley

Thanks JD for the entries... excellent. I relived the whole week.

They are private but you can get to them thru Fall Creek Properties. There's a RV park there it appears. There's no gate to get in FC so I'm sure you can find the access and walk down. The bar is frequently waded and it's good fishing. Just have to put up with boats and guides who like to fish this narrow channel. The flats, though, have fish on them and aren't targeted by boaters usually.

There's the Green that runs into Flaming Gorge Res. and then there's the tailwater below the lake, also the Green. The tailwater is where I fished. It's in NW Colorado but I think it might border Utah and cross a bit. Not sure.

We meet and visited with John and Barbara Gerlach while at Brooks. They were there with friends photographing bears. They just finished a book - Digital Nature Photography: The Art and the Science Here's a link to it on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Nature-Photo...e/dp/0240808568 Here's a link to their site - http://gerlachnaturephoto.com They host photo tours all over the world but the one that intrigued me was the one into Yellowstone Park and, as she described it, "to scenic views you'll never see on your own." I'm getting the book- if not just for her awesome images. She showed us a copy at the lodge.

Don't know if you've seen the google ad for the Green River or not but it's a great read. I fished it a dozen years ago and I tell you, if you go and not catch a fish, it's well worth the trip. The canyon and river is breathtaking. I'd recommend the trip to anyone.

The only places you'll actually hike would be Idavain and Brooks. Brooks is easy- a good road- about a mile. Idavain is a mile plus along a well used path (yes bear). If it rains alot, the paths around camp will be wet and soggy. I wouldn't take sandals or tennis shoes at all. Take a pair of light weight rain proof boots for around camp. Less clothes the better. If I were going, I'd take 2-3 pair of fleece pants, a pair of jeans, long sleeve shirts and a couple fleece jackets. That's it. Jeans are for going to Eddies one evening- you could even wear fleece. Take the full body bug suit back... buy a simple head net. Coleman makes one - http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-827b360t-Ins...t/dp/B0009PUSZI like this one or even smaller. Tom Burckhardt has a net he used for turkey hunting that was tighter on his head. Personally, I wouldn't wear one. Too distracting. I put up with the bugs. You'll only have mosquitoes, no white sox so deet will keep them off you.

I left a couple of thousand up there. Jim's selling them for 50 cents or something like that. Wolly buggers I mean. Spin- jigs. Don't over complicate it. You'll probably take more tackle that you'll use. Jim will supplement what you don't have.

No eggs. Kings just got up there and won't start laying for another 2-3 weeks. They killed sockeye on simple black, olive, white or purple woolly buggers in #8's and #10's. You don't need to take anything else for sockeye. Rainbows- smelt patterns. These are baitfish ranging from 2 to 4 inches. They are rainbow-style, big eyes and silver. Anything to match them should work. Also leech patterns. Same colors as sockeye woolies. Wooley bugger will work but they have to be long. Articulated leeches should be good. But you have to get those down 8-10 feet up by camp. Down in the rapids not so deep. There they can be smaller. Deer Hair Mice. Jim said they waded King Salmon River this week and killed the rainbows on bug DHM. That'd be fun. Kings- not sure what to tell you. Have to get down- 6-8 feet. Bigger and flashy the better. Grayling- #8-#10 elk hair caddis worked for us. They're not that picky. Brooks rainbows- same as sockeye.... wooly buggers. Don't make it any more complicated than that. Leader- sockeye didn't care. We started with 6 lb Vanish and ended with 14lb. Rainbows- 6 lb vanish would work at Brooks and faster water I'd use 8. They did catch the biggest rainbows on spin cast- 2 lb line up by camp- black, sculpin, olive or white jigs in 1/8th oz fished bouncing the bottom. I think 4 lb would work fine... the Dudley's are fanatics. Take deet- bugs are bad.

Terry- we didn't stop at the island. We drifted on down to Lookout before stopping. There was a v-bottom boat there when we passed up but they left right before we got to them. I saw them net a trout. I think they were fishing jigs too.

Great showing... wish I'd been there. I was up there but on the water. Made one drift from the cable bouncing jigs off the bottom and caught a few. Stopped at Lookout and fished till dark. Tons of rainbows there. White was the color of the evening. 4 units running for most of the afternoon. That's why it took so long for the water to drop out. When they run that much water for 8-9 hours, it takes a long time to drain. Oh yea- I was fishing with a friend who's family was leaving today and I hadn't taken him fishing... thus the reason I couldn't make the school. Summer's a busy time! Lots of obligations.

Wish I had to time to go... sounds like alot of fun. I love to fish at night. Putting in at K wouldn't be the best place would it? It's a long run and I've gotten turned around on BS in the dark before. Put in at Elbow?

March Brown Spider, JJtroutbum Partridge & Orange, Flysmallie JV Hen & Brown Olive, Danoiark (Dan Sears) Gold & Partridge Soft Hackle, Steve Smith Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle, Randall Barron Poor Man's Spey, Mrs Ducky (Tami Kashirsky) Glass Bead Soft Hackle, DeepDiver75 Olive Flymph, The Caddis

mainly largemouth.

They're taking one of the bridges out at this exchange so if you're planning a trip to Branson, take another route. Traffic is supposed to be backed up for miles. If you're coming from the west, take James River Express, highway 60 and loop south of Springfield. Not sure about people from the east... but I'd avoid this intersection at all costs. Driving 20-30 miles out of the way is much better than sitting in traffic for 2-3 hours.

We were in one of our pontoons. When you said docks above RB I thought you may have been up where we were. Did you get a water temp?

Did we see you out yesterday? We made it down as far as the gold mine.

This morning our water is brown. I was over at my nefew's last night and it rained but it must have rained alot harder here. They'll need to run some water today to wash it out. Otherwise, the fishing has been pretty good for most. I've seen alot of rainbows cleaned anyhow. Maybe Billy-Bob has some insight.

Pretty cool... the cameraman needs a unipod! He's into the music way too much Thanks for sharing.

catfish- the camp site is http://naknekrivercamp.com There should be some pics there. There's not much to the camp... the neighbors have placed some annoying containers close to Jim's property line and then there's the "Pink Palace" which is close to the cabin which looks terrible. Takes away from the "great outdoors" theme of the place. But until they're moved, we can't do much about it. Jim calls is a "camp" for a reason. It's not fancy. The fishing is the best part of the package. But in time, the camp will improve.

I netted it, put in the live well immediately to keep alittle bit cause I don't like to net a fish, take pics and then release. The livewell was aerated very well with the same water it was caught in. I know browns get stressed easier than almost any other fish but this one must have had a heart attack or something. It didn't make it.

Took the girls to Belks to shop and me, Coy and Joe Howry went bass fishing. We'd done well across from Blue haven last June so we started there, throwing sinkos. Me and Coy texas rigged them and Joe went wacky. Joe hooked the only fish of the afternoon- a 22 inch brown. Nice fish but it didn't live. I put it in the live well and had it under aeration for a couple of hours, thinking it'd be the best thing for it after such a long fight. But it never revived. Very puzzling. Well I shouldn't count it out yet- it's in the minnow tank now but there's not much movement. The water in the area was quite cold- I'd say in the upper 50's. No bass. Several near hookups. He was out of the water less than 30 seconds for the pic.

huh?!

I had lunch with Bill and Becky yesterday... Bill had the AK bug bad, as you can tell. Some other interesting things about Naknek and King Salmon. Naknek is geared totally around fishing. When we arrived in May, there were few people wandering around, few cars and trucks on the road. But as mid June rolled around, the airport filled with young and old from all over the world in route to the canneries in Nakenk. They'll work 6-8 weeks, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for good money. I've heard as many as 20,000 but that number is very hard to believe seeing the size of Naknek. None have transportation so they walk the road and hitch rides. I picked up several on my trips into town, most didn't speak english. Most were eastern European or Russian. There aren't any car lots, no movie houses, one grocery store, one all purpose store called the "Odd Duck", one hardware store and one automotive store, all owned by the same company- native owned. You see the taxi service all over the place and they keep busy. One place to buy gas in Naknek and 2 in King Salmon. There are 2 marine shops in Naknek that are quite interesting to walk thru. They're geared towards commercial fishing- big ships and big fishing. These places are well stocked, esp at the beginning of the season and extremely busy. Back to fishing- I cannot express how awesome the rainbow fishing is here. It almost gets looked over from the salmon fishing. We didn't get a chance to fly fish in the "rapids" for them but it looked inviting the 2 or 3 times we boated thru the area. As we drifted over the flats (couldn't run them because even in me jet, it was too shallow), we spotted numerous rainbows in the 30 inch range darting away from the boat. Drifting a black wooly (leach) would have been deadly I bet. Bill's right about one thing... there's way too much to explore in an area like this. The lake is still untamed by from anglers. The few times we went out on the lake to fish, I promise you we were the ONLY boat on the whole lake. Take a look on google earth and see how big this lake is. It's the #2 largest in AK. Talked to one guy who said they fished one day up in the Bay of Islands and caught big rainbows and big lake trout at will throwing spoons against the banks. We did well throwing spinners catching northern pike and I hooked one laker. Wish we went back. In the Bay of Islands, there's a cabin you can stay in free of charge (if no one else is there) for up to 3 nights. There's nothing else there. Locals spend the week there after the salmon season (August) for their vacations. The islands shelter the lake from winds. There's NO other lodge, houses- nothing within 40 miles of the place except Brooks which is about 20 miles south by water. The water is no pure and clear, I drank a bunch- best tasting water ever! Just a note- not to put a hard sell on the camp- but Jim is already starting to fill up his camp for 2008. I'm really pushing to raise his rates... sorry but $1695 is ridiculously cheap. His closes competitor in KS is $1999 and they offer no hot meals or guided trips. The closes outfitter who does what he does is $3495 and they're not in a good location at all. NRC is smack dab right in the middle of the BEST rainbow fishing on the river. Even at $2495, which is what I want him to charge, it's a fantastic deal for what you get. He just needs to upgrade general amenities (bath, dining hall, paths, cabins). But who am I?

Kinda messy... but it was picked up before I left. I threw up some shelves and hangers for clients but will do a better job when I get back. Ran out of trim board so there's a couple of doors without. Will put carpet remnant down and paint the exposed floor. No boats pics are of yet.