Phil Lilley

For your marriage sake, we won't tell you.

You would have to put alittle orange flash in it... something else I have to have Leonard tie for the shop. Nice pics! Thanks!!

Seasons- Season opening on the Naknek River is June 10. At that time, rainbows can be fished for in the river. The lake had lake trout and northern pike but we haven't fished for them... yet. The rainbows are just too big and wild in the river so it's hard to leave them for something else. The salmon fry stay in the lake after spawning all winter and migrate out into the ocean after the ice-out. They fill the river in June and July and the rainbows take advantage of their size and numbers. It's like a white bass feeding frenzy- first the gulls find the smelt, then the rainbows, and they attack the smelt like there's no tomorrow. Everything is on the surface in full view and of course that makes it more exciting. June is the best time for the migration but they are still in the river in August. When we were there last summer, Aug 4-16, we saw and caught rainbows surfacing on smelt. Naknek is known for it's huge rainbows, growing up to 24 pounds. Landing a rainbow in the 15 pound range is common. Hooking one bigger is also common but landing it is another thing entirely. We use 7-8 wt fly rods, floating line and streamers and cast to feeding schools of rainbows, either while wading or from a boat. One can also use spinning gear. I took some swimming minnows up with me and did well. Wooly buggers, clousers and other streamers work. Small to medium crank baits would work well too. And fight! I caught several 15-18 inches rainbows that tore me up. The largest rainbow of my trip was 27 inches and weight about 8 pounds. It took me 15 minutes to land him. He made over 10 runs and I had him on a spinning rig and 6 pound line. I can't imagine whata 15 pound rainbow will feel like. Later in the season, rainbows pick up the pace when the eggs and flesh really get going. We caught rainbows drifting egg patterns in the big river as well as drifting eggs in the smaller rivers like Brooks and Margot (early to mid August). We also caught a good number of Dolly Varden. In late August into September, rainbows and dollies really kick it up a gear, gordging themselves on flesh and eggs from the millions of salmon now dropping eggs. This is again when we see 10-20 pound rainbows and 8-12 pound dollies. King salmon start coming up the river mid June. They'll get up to 80 pounds. Use to top 120 pounds but commercial fishermen all but eliminated that larger king gene pool years ago. Jim will have to elaborate on the kings because I didn't experience that part of last season. I did see remenants of the run- big red fish laying on the flats in fast water... and I mean big. Every fish I say was well over 36 inches in length. One client foul hooked a king while wading and held it for over 20 minutes. But he had no chance with it and finally broke off. Sockeye start just alittle after the kings. Sockeye are the most numerous salmon in the system. They crowd everthing, literally taking over the river and the feeder streams soon after. Just like the kings and silvers, they are silver when they enter the river, wild and strong... and excellent tasting. Soon after, they turn red before spawning in late July through the month of August. We found a huge number still in the rivers in mid August. They average 10-12 pounds each and can grow to over 16 pounds. They are mean and aggressive and won't come to the net willingly. Silvers are the last salmon to enter the race to the beds. I was impressed with their fight... most of which is out of the water- tail-walking, dancing, racing- whatever you want to call it. A hundred yard run is not uncommon. If you're wading, gotta break it off or you loose your entire fly line and backing. Another great tasting fish early before turning red and but still good after it turns. You'll find silver spawning well into September. Jim will have to cover Chum Salmon- I'm not educated on Chums. Pink Salmon, or Humpies, make their run every 2 years. We won't see any pinks in 2007. Bears? Did I mention bears? If you don't like them, early to mid June is the time to go. They aren't down from their sleeping quarters yet, but in late June and then throughout the summer, bears abound. We see them around camp in late June, then they migrate to the rivers to start their annual feast. My experience with the brown population is that they don't care too much about people, ignoring them for the most part. They don't like it when you catch a fish or mess with their cubs so we keep our distance and make noises and don't fish around them. We aren't allow to carry firearms (National Park) but do carry a BIG can of bear maze. It's effective inside 9 feet. Shall I say more?! I'll leave you with a few images. I hope you can swing a trip with us. What I like about this Alaska offer is that we are able to offer it 'on the cheap', giving people a chance that could otherwise not afford the more expensive packages. Smelt salmon Silver Salmon 25 inch dolly varden

I'm on the dock this morning. It got colder last night than I thought it would. At 9 pm it was still warm and humid last night but this morning it's cold and crisp... alittle icy going down the runways. I boated to Short Creek yesterday at 4 pm in hopes of catching 4 rainbows worthy enough for the frying pan. Still had a zebra midge on from the other day- black #16 with a nickel bead- pulled up onto the gravel bar and started watching for rises. It wasn't long- I hooked a small rainbow and released it. Most of the rainbows we've been seeing in that area have been about 9 inches- too small for my frying pan. I did hook one rainbow for a couple of seconds that would have been good. Saw it flash and felt the heaviness but the hook pulled out. After a half-dozen small rainbows, I headed for Fall Creek. There I found the same- midging rainbows all over the bar. And they were larger in size. I had no trouble putting 4 12-inch rainbows in the livewell, releasing more than a dozen others. Never changed flies. Moved back and forth on the bar and fished the edges primarily. Had the whole lake to myself practically... it seemed... especially later in the evening. I've found alot of midging rainbows early and late. This technique works anywhere, anytime.

Cajunangler- We have some of the best smallmouth bass fishing in the country around here and hopefully some of the guys here can point you in the right direction in the coming months. Yes, we need rain. That has played a part in slow fishing but you should still be able to land a few trophy brownies, esp in the streams. I'm a huge jig fan myself. Welcome. You'll have to share some of your cajun experiences with us sometime. I was just talking to a friend that we should take a redfish outing sometime.

An email to me I guess. We can go over details, dates and such. phil at lilleyslanding.com I just found out that if you put your email anyplace on a website, spiders will find it and put you on mass email lists. I always wondered why some people write their email like I wrote it above.

We have a special rates as a lodge in King Salmon- we book that flight for you. A flight the first week of June from MCI to Anchorage is $533 which is about the same as last summer. Our rate from Anchorage to King Salmon was $389 last season and shouldn't change much.

Not sure about TR but on BS they have always produced walleye. I've talked to several old timers that say that's all they use. I've done fair using them but I don't get down there much.

Here's the openings we have presently - Whole camp June 9-16, 16-23, 23-30. 2 spots June 30-July 7, July 21-28 and July 28-August 4. Whole camp open for July 14-21. The best rainbow fishing would be in June (especially early June before the salmon come in) and September, but the fishing stays good all summer. The Kings start around the middle of June and run through July, The sockeye (which are delicious and hard fighters) start into the river during the last week of June and run all of July and most of August. Silvers come in mid August and run thru mid September.

Well, I finally made a committment to host 3 weeks on the Naknek River in King Salmon, Alaska next summer. I am taking reservations now for the dates of June 9-16, 16-23, 23-30. The camp can hold up to 8 clients for these 3 weeks. Rainbow and dolly fishing is at it's best during June. Rainbows up to 20 pounds and Dollys up to 10 pounds are commonly hooked... but hard to land. Fly or spin fishing- wade or boat- your choice. Also, boated trips over to remote creeks feeding Naknek Lake are on the agenda. See our website at http://naknekrivercamp.net for details. Costs are $1695 per week per person which includes lodging, meals, all transportation from King Salmon, use of a boat when not fishing with the guides (me and Jim). Questions?

Sorry I didn't go. I knew it would be a good night. Thanks for the report Leonard.

I'm curious about winter fishing on Stockton. At what point would we see winter patterns emerge for bass, crappie and walleye? Does the lake need to turn over before we can identify constant patterns?

I have to tell you, I've had some of the best bass fishing trips on Table Rock in January and February fishing a grub along pea gravel banks and transision banks. May be I was totally ignorant and got lucky but it seemed to be a given that they would bite on sunny, 50-60 degree days. I'd use a medium weight spinning outfit with 6 lb line, 1/8th oz lead heads with a dark grub- olive or smoke and work it slow on the bottom. I took Ron Waterman, a guy who used to have a fishing show out of KDEB (Fox, Springfield), out to do a winter bass show and we caught the tar out of bass (at least I did). Ron couldn't get the hang of it... actually he had a hard time with trout too but that was Ron. Anybody else have any winter secrets for catching bass on Table Rock?

At what point could we start finding crappie on Table Rock this winter? I've alwasy been told if you know what you're doing you can catch them all winter along the bluffs. Is it better after the lake turns over?

Really?! I'll have to make sure to try a Sunday/Monday trip this winter. I need to see new waters this winter.

After much consideration... and I really hate deleting posts... I'm going to remove the post in question. I don't like to edit what's said on this forum but when something is aledged about someone without improper identification and therefore merit, it shouldn't be allowed to stand whether it's true or false. If everthing we've done is posted on a forum like this, whether know or unknown, we'd all be incredibly embarrased and ashamed... especially me!

Roaring River, catch and release season. Beaver tailwater may be.

Forgot to mention- there was a guy fishing an olive #10 wooly bugger below #2 and doing real well. Didn't see him catch anything huge but he was catching fish... and in the mouth every one! I boated up to Short Creek this evening and caught a dozen small rainbows on a #16 red zebra under an indicator 18 inches deep. They were midging around leaves in the water.

No but it had to go 15-18 lbs. Very heavy fish.

Drove to the dam at noon today to find one unit running again! Can't catch a break. But it was dropping out and was down by 1:30 so I can't complain too much. Not many people fishing. I stepped down below #2 about 70 feet and had plenty of trout to cast to. I tried the G-Bug ginger #20 first and hooked several small trout. Hook kept pulling out so I didn't bring to hand. But it was good to see fish eating my flies. Took this pics of 2 gents with nice browns. Helped one guy release a 30 inch male at #3 before the water was completely down. He took a brown measuring 25 inches home. Saw a good number of dark male rainbows moving up already... it's going to be a great winter season.

I have. They are willing to look at the issues but right now they're swamped with the hatchery addition and other coldwater hatchery problems (low flow) so they put me off till next year. I'm thinking about stirring it up again after the first of the year.

The muslim's I've met were very passionate people, family oriented and hard working. One guy converted to Christianity and became just as passionate about Christ. This was back in the mid 70's. Anyhow- looking at the US from a 3rd world view, you can see why many are cinical about the west. They see all the west as "christian" and they see the porn, crime, corruption, hypocrisy. They know history and see again the killing in the name of God. It's understandable how they feel and why they want to kill us. We are the great satan. But talk to missionaries who live among the people in Iran and Iraq and you'll find they forgive easily if they see in the flesh Christians who are truely living out a life of sacrifice, risking their lives to bring Christ's love to them.

This is a scud I tied this am... been trying to figure out how it was tied for some time. I woke up thinking about how it was tied and I think I've figured it out. I don't consider myself a good tier- I don't tie that much. But the key was the duck flank and marabou pulled over the back. Vince and I tied last night over at his house, tying Brett's G-Bug and Soft Shelled Scuds. The G-Bug isn't that hard... marabou tail, slightly dubbed body and ostrich hurl body. Tied in small sizes this fly flat catches fish. But the soft shell had us baffled. We did find out that if you dubbed a body with rabbit, squirrel or antron and then tied a long-fibered piece at the back and pulled it over the back, tying it off at the front, you could then wrap either wire or mono for ribbing and the ribbing wouldn't dissappear into the dubbing. Then pick out the fibers from the bottom or top- whatever your preference. Anyhow, this morning I tried tying in some marabou, then fibers from a pheasant wing, then the ostrich herl. Dubbed the body, brought the marabou over, brought the pheasant over and then palmered the ostrich. I showed Vince via email and he thought I had it.

You're right. Hopefully we can get MDC to address some of these issues.

Now did the fish fight? Good, not good? I found that the crowds had thinned yesterday while I was there mid day. The browns aren't done but I think the anglers are.