Phil Lilley

Yes- educate us on your neck of the woods. What was the forum? Give us a link back to it and I'll repay the favor. And we always love fish pics!

I've actually tied on flies in the dark... just to see if I could. Not bragging... may be a little strange to try. I put the fly in my mouth and then thread the line using my fingers and tongue. It does take a while. Tying the knot is easy- I don't do a complicated knot. I could write out an article in on night fishing- or use one I have already- and add the light thing along with other etiquette issues and put it on the windshield of each vehicle on a weekend night. Don't hold me to it... but don't be surprised to find something on your truck. I could use the OAF dots to make sure they stick.

<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFalv8XmgKA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFalv8XmgKA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFalv8XmgKA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object> <object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2twMznJHc3E?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2twMznJHc3E?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2twMznJHc3E?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object> <object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e3rU41ju4M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e3rU41ju4M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e3rU41ju4M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object> Chonda was the best!

I missed it. I'll read it later today.

You're exactly right. Didn't mean to single out anyone.

I saw that. And you're right- I don't have any say what's advertised thru outsidehub.com. Surprised they'd spend the money to advertise in the lower 48. It's not that politics are looked down here... it's just that you guys can't have a civil conversation about it. We'd have to change the name of the forum to OAF Beatdown.

This fishing report will be much like the last one. Not much has changed except our generation schedule is much more unpredictible. SWA posts a schedule on their internet site each day but that's beginning to be unreliable to some degree. Then when they run water, it's up and down all during the day and night. Each hour, the numbers run from 25 to 70 mw which translates to 3 to 5 feet of water in the upper end. Of course, downstream that's not as much water flow but when they pick up flow, it knocks lose moss from the bottom and for the following 30 minutes or so, it's hard to keep it off your line, fly, hook or lure. No real big deal... the upside is our trout usually start feeding when they increase flows. Saying that, fishing has been pretty good this past week but those pesky little rainbows are still showing up on our lines. Some rainbows we're seeing are as small as 5 inches long! They're kinda cute but . . . that's not what most of us are after. I'm sure they make good brown trout bait! May be that's what we should be using for big trout- rainbow colored flies and lures. Wait . . . that's what we use! In the mornings, there's quite a few rainbows midging the surface especially around floating leaves. In the fall when the leaves start dropping, leaves form a line towards the middle of the lake. Rainbows are draw to these leaves and feed on midges and other tiny insects on the surface. I target these trout with either my fly rod or spin cast equipment and throw a small spinner or a jig and float. When fly fishing, I use a zibra midge under an indicator, black or red in size #14. The point is to keep whatever you're using close to the surface where the trout are holding and feeding. Look for midging rainbows from the Landing clear up past Lookout. The most popular live bait has been Gulp and night crawlers. We're still using one white egg plus another color like pink, orange or yellow. Still using air injected night crawlers and worms are catching larger rainbows on average. Four-pound line is still ok to use. If they're running water, use just enough weight to get to the bottom and that's all. Too much weight and you won't be able to feel the bite from bouncing on the bottom. In the trophy area, there's a bunch of rainbows but again, lots of them are smaller than 10 inches. It's fun, non-stop action at times with an occasional larger rainbow being caugh and releasedt. You can see quite a few trophy rainbows swimming around but it seems they've gotten an education this summer. Steve Dicky has been guiding later in the day and reports when they run water, he's catching bigger trout on scuds drifting them on the bottom from Lookout down through the flats. So it seems these larger rainbows are waiting for generation to eat. Stands to reason, scuds are shaken from the gravel when the water starts and are easy pickin's. Gray, tan or brown have been the colors of choice and with water running, #12 and #14's are working but then it's off, go smaller - #14 and #16's. Number 16 black zebra midges are also working under an indicator. Target midging rainbows on the shallow flats and set the indicator shallow (6 inches) or fish them in the channel and set the indicator deeper (3-5 feet deep). Micro jigs are also working. We're using 6x tippet or 2-pound test, setting the float 4-5 feet deep and using tan, olive or black 1/2 micros. They've been taking the jigs gently (is that a fishing term?!), barely moving the float so watch closely and be quick on the set. And the most important thing---look for chop on the water! We chased riffled water most of the day the other day cause that's where we could get bit. Fish always feed better under a choppy surface verses a smooth, slick surface. That goes for almost all game fish. Below the dam, we're seeing more and more brown trout show up for the dance. No huge browns yet but quite a few good trophies at or over 20 inches. There are also some equally large rainbows up there too and some of our guys are catching them. Bruce Omans of High Ridge spent a week fly fishing for trophies and struck gold several times. He told me he loves to sight fish and it looks like he's successful at it! Now what exact fly(s) he's using I'm not sure of but I do see a large, dark streamer hanging out of at least one fish's mouth. These trout see allot of small scuds and midges but not as many bigger streamers in comparison. Something to think about. Night fly fishing is picking up. With the arrival of the brown trout, also arriving are higher numbers of anglers. I went last night with two good friends and were not surprised when we arrived to see a dozen cars in the parking lot. Walking down to the water, we were greeted by a line of guys wading all along the area between outlets #1 and #2. We found a place alittle bit aways from the crowds and started fishing about 10:30 pm. I tied on a #6 brown hibernator, Duane had on 2 flies in tandem--a white bunny leech and a white cone head leech and Mona Cheri has on . . . well I'm not sure to tell you the truth. But we all caught fish- all rainbows and all less than 19 inches. We were startled (understatement!!) by the horn at midnight which pretty much ended our night. The fly I was using, the hibernator, had a small bead for weight but even with the bead, the fly didn't sink that fast. There's always a bit of slow current up there so when I made my cast either staight across the current or angled downstream at a 45 degree angle, I let it set for a count of 10 or more before starting my retreive. About half my strikes came before I started stripping and they were hard takes. The other strikes came within the first 3-5 strips. My strips were slow and I paused inbetween each one. I did touch bottom but not very often. Hope this detail helps. One other thing I will mention. I couldn't help but notice that anglers last night were shining their lights in the water looking for trout. Also when they had to adjust or tiw on a new fly, they weren't careful where their light was pointing. Fish are spooked of night at night. When leaving at time and no one is around, I take my light and look around in the shallow water below the dam just to see what's out there. Fish, in particular big fish, always dart around when I hit them with my light. Some completely leave the area. These night hallogen lights are very bright and throw out a beam that can be seen for many yards around and throw in a little fog and you're lighting up the whole area around you even if you're not pointing it in the water. My advice--turn your back to the lake and keep your light close to you when you're tying a new fly on. Be observant where your light is pointing when walking around and don't shine it over the lake and especially don't point it out over the lake at other anglers. There's enough ambiant light down there you can see bodies in the dark and usually when you're walking close to someone in the dark, they will click their light on for a second to give you a heads up where they are.

There was a fly reel in the middle of the road leaving the hatchery lot last night. It's not an expensive reel but I'm sure someone needs it for today's fishing. If you lost one, shoot me a email and identify it and I'll leave it in the resort office for you to PICK up.

Forgot to mention... In the olden days, the rule on the water was-- keep your light low and close to you and off the water. Even when we used to pull down to the parking lot, we'd turn our lights off so no to shine it down over the lake. Last night people were shining their light in the water constantly, looking for fish I guess. I really don't care if you do it... but I bet a hundred bucks you diminish the chances of catching those fish you find with your light by hitting them with a beam of light, especially these new halogen lights.

Met Duane and Mona Cheri at the pavilion at 10 pm last night. About 9 cars in the lot and another 5 in the upper lot meant the lake would be fairly full of bodies. We walked up to #1 and saw that was a fact. We found a place and dove in (not literally). I had a on a brown hibernator, Duane had a tandem white bunny, the bottom one was conned for weight. Mona had on a san juan with a glow stick indicator but quickly switched to something else- didn't see or ask what it was. We all caught trout- all rainbows. Duane had at least one nice one and my largest was about 18-19 inches. My strikes came best when I would let the fly sit after casting for a count of at least 10, then a slow steady retrieve. They blew the horn at midnight. They tied on glow sticks and scuds and I watched. Videoed a couple of small rainbows they caught. <object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvJXCfoMtys?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvJXCfoMtys?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvJXCfoMtys?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object> <object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z_SI7QBL9M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z_SI7QBL9M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z_SI7QBL9M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object> <object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NgiESgrfnk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NgiESgrfnk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NgiESgrfnk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object>

Thank you for helping me spread the word about my groundbreaking comedy show “Stand Up 4 Marriage: Comedy Night for Couples”—a full night of comedy with four of the biggest names in the business. As a token of my appreciation, I have a special offer to those who have purchased tickets, and to the ones who would like to purchase tickets, in addition to the $10 off discount already given to you! I would like to include a FREE TICKET TO MY “YAKOV SMIRNOFF LIVE SHOW” in Branson during the 2010 season. Here’s how to take advantage of this special offer: 1. Purchase a ticket to the October 9 Stand Up 4 Marriage event from the Juanita K. Hammons box office. If a ticket has already been purchased, then proceed to the next step. 2. Call the Yakov Smirnoff Branson theatre box office (417-336-3838) for reservations for my show (see www.yakov.com for schedule). 3. Present the ticket stub from the Stand Up 4 Marriage event to the box office at the Yakov Smirnoff Branson theatre and get a free ticket to my live show. It’s as easy as 1—2—3! PLEASE LET YOUR EMPLOYEES KNOW THAT THEY CAN GET $10 OFF THE “GENERAL ADMISSION” PRICE BY CALLING THE NUMBER ON THE WEB PAGE AND GIVING THE BOX OFFICE THE CODE OF “LAUGH 10.” Here is the link with more information http://www.yakov.com/stand-up-4-marriage/ and attached is an article from Saturday’s Springfield News Leader that featured me and comedian Chonda Pierce. Love and Laughter, Yakov PS You’re helping to spread laughter throughout the Ozarks. And remember, a happy employee makes a business more profitable!

http://mychristiancare.org/medi-share/ We've been with this company for at least 10 years. They've done a fine job covering several hospital stays, even when one of them they could have denied because of a doctor's misdiagnosis. This topic has the possibility to go political... don't go there. This could be a great thread to help people talk about good alternatives WITHOUT bashing the President or politicians. Thanks

Might try spinner baits...

Bruce- are you seeing other anglers catch trout like you're catching? See other trout like these in the lake you're not catching? I'm amazed seeing so many rainbows like the ones caught here in the last 6 months.

Water temp has to drop down into the 40's usually. Surface water has to be colder than the lower levels of the lake (the bottom). Don't look for it before early December.

We'll need to get out one night this week, Bruce. Been dying to go. Maybe Wednesday night. Want to get out in the boat if the water is running.

It's really pretty simple... easy or not, a new place fishing a new way, you'll frustrate your self trying to figure out the lake and especially the generation patterns. Right now they're running water at varied speeds all during the day which is frustrating even the most experienced guides. Have to change what we're doing on an hourly basis. If you can afford a guide, hire one for a half day the first day you're here and you'll have an idea what to do for the rest of your trip. I would suggest Brett Rader, Chuck Gries, Steve Dicky or Bill Babler... and there are a few others too.

This forum was started in 2005. The website was started in 1997. I had a simple forum for a while but it was invaded by a few guys who all they wanted to do is bash everyone and I couldn't control what was posted. So I took it down and looked for a real forum format. Thus, OAF was created.

Without reading the recent reports (I may be repeating what others are saying), I've heard from very good sources that the smallmouth are gorging themselves in the dam area. Cranks and other fall time baits (I don't want to give away one lure because I don't have permission). Big smallies and lots of them. Regular smallmouth banks. Fish spitting up crawdads when reeled in. Recent reports- as recent as yesterday mid day.

Debris from the plane carrying three National Park Service employees in Katmai National Park was located on the park’s rugged northern coast yesterday evening. From the park Director: Katmai National Park Superintendent Ralph Moore called me last night to say that he was notified by a local helicopter pilot, Sam Egli, that he had spotted portions of the aircraft, including a section with identifying tail numbers, on a narrow section of beach northwest of Sukoi Bay. It appears that strong east winds have recently washed debris from the aircraft ashore. The single engine floatplane, a deHavilland Beaver operated by Branch River Air Service in King Salmon, carried the pilot and three National Park Service maintenance employees and has been missing since August 21. The NPS has conducted an exhaustive search for the missing aircraft, with over 60,000 miles flown. The area were the debris was spotted yesterday evening had been flown the day before by an NPS pilot. The employees who were on board the aircraft were Mason McLeod, 26, and two brothers, Neal Spradlin, 28; and Seth Spradlin, 20. The pilot was Marco Alletto, 47, from King Salmon. Egli reported to the park that there were no indications of survivors, although he was unable to land at the beach. Katmai staff is meeting this morning with military search and rescue coordinators to develop a plan to safely reach and investigate the site. Weather in the region is poor today. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the families who also learned of this last night as well as with Katmai's staff who are coping with the loss of their friends and co-workers. As the site is investigated and more information becomes available, we will keep you informed. *** Sam Egli is the pilot that flew Bill and I around last summer. He pilots a Bell-Jet Helicopter and has done allot of filming for the show, "The Deadliest Catch".

Drove to the dam this morning- got out at 8 am. No generation. Not that many people there fishing. Started above #2 and worked the slow moving current with a scud, then a thread midge. No takers. Moved down below rebar and tried the same plus soft hackles- nothing. Chop on the water - still nothing. Got one bite. Saw a few caught- the fish just weren't hungry. Back out in my boat at 3. Didn't do that good till I switched to my little brown jig under a float. Caught a few nice rainbows before heading in.

If you don't like to fly, don't even think about taking a trip like this one. All together we took 12 flights, including the bush plane ride from Kotzebue to the Kelly River. By the time we landed on the gravel bar next to the river, we were ready to be out of the air – despite the incredible scenery. It was two hours to Denver, six hours to Anchorage (overnight), more than two hours to Nome, 45 minutes on to Kotzebue and an hour in a 206 to the headwaters of the Kelly. It was a long haul. We did upgrade on the long flight and got good seats, with extra seats beside us –a big plus. If you ever fly to Anchorage, spend the extra bucks and get a seat with extra room - it's worth it. We needed to pick up our satellite phone in Anchorage before heading to the airport. We asked the hotel desk clerk about the shuttle, but she said by the address she knew a cab would only cost $10. Naive tourists we were! We called a cab and headed out to -- the other side of town! We sat in the back of the cab and watched that ticker click off $2.50 every minute or so and thought, "How much is this sat phone going to cost us?" Little did we know. As we got closer to the address, the cab driver was confused. So we drove around the block, and then again. I said, "Let me go in this building and ask." I found out it was down the street, so I ran over and went in. Of course, the phone wasn’t ready, plus it wasn’t the right phone, so I spent over 20 minutes on what was supposed to be a quick turn-around. Heading back to the street, I saw Bill sitting on the curb with all our stuff piled up behind him. I should have taken a picture! “Our epic float trip in remote Alaska starts here!” The same cabbie came back by, picked us up and took us back across town tot the airport. Bill may have to correct me, but I think the cab ride cost us $100, about what the sat phone cost us for the week. With no other issues, we made it to the airport and boarded for Kotzebeu. Neither of us had been to Nome or Kotzebue, Alaska, so it was exciting to visit both cities. We were disappointed, though, that we weren’t getting off the plane at Nome on our stop. But the quick stop there carried us to our final destination quicker. Seeing Kotzebue from the air was surreal. It’s completely on a knob stuck out in the bay with water on almost all sides. The runway was even built up out of the water like a bridge to the mainland. As we got out bags, Bill went outside in the parking lot to see if he could locate our air service company. He asked an Alaska State Trooper for directions and the young man promptly said, “Get in and I’ll take you.” Pretty cool welcome, I’d say! It was just around the corner so personnel were soon back with a small truck to haul us and our stuff to the hanger. After visiting with Jim Kincaid, the owner of NW Aviation, we found the supplies we had mailed up ahead --all there and in one piece. We unpacked it all and organized it into waterproof containers. Then we ran to the store and bought some fresh groceries plus our fishing and hunting licenses. When we returned and weighed it all, plus ourselves, we found out we were 100 pounds over the plane’s limit. We had suspected as much, but Bill thought Jim would be forgiving - nope. I don't blame him. We pulled out what we thought we couldn't live without and he blessed our load. Looking at the plane, I thought how are we going to get all this and our bodies stuffed in it! The pilot said it would go and it did. It was cloudy, a little breezy and it felt like about 60 degrees -- just what we expected. We were ready to go. The flight was beautiful. We crossed several rivers before the Kelly. Our river looked nice and big at first, but as we flew further and further upstream, it got smaller and smaller. The water was very clear, and we thought for sure that if there were salmon or char we should see them. We saw no signs of fish. About half way up I was beginning to get concerned about our chances to float, let alone catch fish. I could envision us dragging the boat through riffle after riffle for miles! I didn't realize it, but Bill was thinking the same thing. The pilot circled the landing "strip" to check the wind and then landed -- very smoothly despite rolling over sticks, brush and rocks. Pretty cool -- we were there! Once we got off, the awesomeness of this special part of Creation -- the quiet, the breeze, the water, mountains and tundra – hit me. Who cared about fish? It was already an amazing trip. I kept peeking around for bears as we unloaded the plane. Even while blowing up the raft, I kept up the “guide wariness.” Little did I know we wouldn't see an animal on the entire float. I ran down the "runway" to film the plane lift off. Again, I was amazed how easily he took off from the gravel bar. After he was in the air, I thought, "It's just us!" Our plan was to float down a ways and find a good place to camp. We had no idea what was ahead of us as far as places where fish were holding. We shoved off and floated about a mile, found a nice, sandy spot and set up camp. It was about 6 p.m. when we landed. I knew sundown was around 8:30 p.m., but I also knew that it takes another hour after sundown to start getting dark that far north, so we had plenty of time to get settled. The next morning we awoke to frost on the tent. Just a couple of days before, we were enduring triple-digit heat at home in the Ozarks. Now frost! I much prefer frost myself. We broke camp, loaded the raft and headed out for holes that were home to big char. We floated for I’d say three hours through some beautiful country. Vast – that would be a good word for what we were seeing. The mountains lining both sides of the valley we were in looked almost fake—a painting may be. The river in front of us at times gave us choices to make, dividing into braids, taking off in lots of different directions. We said on more than one occasion that it would have been nice if the river had stayed in one stream, providing us with plenty of water to float and may be hold a fish or two. But that’s not the makeup of most rivers in Alaska. The valleys are wide and flat. In the spring and early summer, I’m sure they’re full of water from snowmelt. By the looks of the floor of the Kelly River Valley, the braids have different pathways each year through the valley. I’d love to see the area with the water high. In fast, deeper sections, I’d see a fish or two darting from in front of the raft, but it was hard to identify what kind of fish. I thought, at the time, they were chum salmon because I caught a glimpse of white. When salmon start their dying stage, their flesh will die off and turn white. That’s what I thought I was seeing, but knowing now what we saw later in the float, these fish were actually char -- so we missed at least a few chances to stop and fish for them early in the float. But the numbers of these fish weren’t close to the big numbers we’d find just a little farther down the river. We were looking for a river coming in from the east, one that Jim called “No Name River.” Not sure if that was its name or if the river actually had no name. Odd, seeing there aren’t many rivers up there flowing into the Kelly. We failed to turn on our GPS for the first few miles of our day’s trip, so we were guessing at the distance, fearing that we had missed it somehow. But we noticed a wide valley coming up to the east, and then we saw a small stream entering our river. That was it. Bill rowed the raft up in an eddy close to the inflow, and we saw our first male char, a sight that about made both of us fall overboard. There was a perfect place on the shore to camp, so we beached the boat and started to scope out this section of river. We still suspected we’d see chum salmon close by and thought our beads would be the right tool to catch these trophies. But we were wrong. No salmon. So we went to Plan B — big streamers. Bill was the first to hookup. He was fishing the plume where the No Name, or what we now call “Maggie Creek” flowed in. After a long fight, he landed what was the first of many male, sea run arctic char in that stretch and the largest of the char we’d catch on the trip. We tore ourselves away from fishing to set up camp. But then it was back to the river and more hookups. Bill figured out the best way to present our streamers. He’d lay out a long cast across the river and immediately started mending his line upstream over and over. Each time, he’d bump the fly while still letting it drift downstream. These were heavily weighted flies, either with lead eyes or lead wire, so they were getting close to the bottom, which was about four feet down. But the water was swift and the drift was short, or the heavy flies were perfect for this style of drift. You knew when you’d get a strike—they didn’t mess around. We both landed male char pushing 38 inches in length, but more impressive than the massive bodies was the color they presented. A master painter could not create a more beautiful fish than these, and we were so grateful that God created them for us to enjoy. We decided to camp for three nights at Maggie Creek. We explored the river up and down from the mouth but saw no other fish. We did, for the first evening and next day, see more char making their way up the shallow riffle below this hole, but after the first day we didn’t see another fish come up. Were some of these fish heading further upstream or staying here to spawn? I did hike over and up onto a ridge overlooking the valley. I was tempted to walk on up at least to the base of the mountain range, but Bill wasn’t up to it, and I didn’t want to meet a bear out in the open tundra by myself, so I sat and took in the view -- and picked a few wild blue berries to add to our pancakes the next morning. The third morning, the fish seemed to be tired of our company. They weren’t hungry. We had already decided it was time to get on down to Wrench Creek, the second and final creek that Jim had told us entered Kelly River, again from the east. So we broke camp, loaded up and headed downstream. The river kept breaking up in multiple braids, and at times it was hard to tell which were the right ones to pick. We were doing pretty well when we decided to take a path that lead us to shallow water and lots of dragging. We could see the main stream to our left just a hundred yards away but couldn’t get to it. Finally, we pulled our way through tiny streams of water to the big water and vowed not to do that again! We stopped at several interesting spots. One was a huge bluff and deep holes. The water was a emerald green color in one spot and a sky blue in another. We did see a couple of male char holding in one deep pocket but they were way too spooky to entice with a big leech. We ran into several large wooded areas with tall pines. Upon further exploration, I found the floor of these wooded patches to be tundra, which I thought was strange. But Alaska is full of wondrous surprises. Finally we found the mouth of Wrench Creek. It was much larger than Maggie Creek, much more like a creek you’d find here in Missouri. I’d almost switch the names around and call Wrench a river and Maggie a creek but I’ll leave it alone. Wrench had wooded areas on both sides of the creek as well as up and down one side of the Kelly River. Pines and willows, and the willows were in full fall colors – bright yellow. The tundra was also sporting its fall foliage in shades of red and burnt red. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. If only the sun would peak out, I thought, it would be totally eye-popping. We pulled up on the bank across from the mouth of Wrench Creek, knowing we could wade across the Kelly to access Wrench when we wanted to. The gravel was small enough for our campsite and tent to be staked it out and set up camp. Fish were jumping in front of camp on the Kelly on the opposite side of the river in deeper water, and we did try fishing that stretch, but the current and depth of the water were not right. We fished and caught out fish up in Wrench and that’s all, just in the creek. Because we only found fish at Maggie and now at Wrench, where water flowed into the river, we decided instead of floating on down to the mouth of the Kelly, we’d stay here and finish out our week. We called Jim at NW Aviation, and he said that would be fine. Why leave fish and take a chance on not finding any downstream? Not every bend had fish up in the Wrench, but the mouth and first bend did. We did have to walk about a fourth mile up around three bends before finding more char and grayling. They were holding mainly along deep-cut banks. We found four good areas with fish. The river split in two parts above the last hot spot. Exploring up another half-mile, we thought it didn’t come back together, but when we flew out, we could see from the air that it did, meaning we probably should have walked up farther. It did seem there were new char in the creek each day, so we weren’t fishing for the same, exact char each day. But I know we caught some of the fish twice over the three days we were there. There were still a good number of chum salmon in the river and dead ones along its bank. But for the most part, they were done spawning. Fortunately for us, though, the char and grayling were still interested in anything that looked like an egg floating down through the chutes. Our chuck-n-duck method served us well, pegging a 8mm bead about two inches from a #8 hook. We also did well tying on a black leech or wooly bugger and pegging the bead two inches above the fly. The bigger char were found at Maggie River for sure. We did land quite a few males well over 30 inches at Wrench but nothing close to the 36- and 38-inchers we caught at Maggie. Those were big brutes. Also, I did see one male char at the mouth of Wrench that would have measured well over 40 inches, but he wasn’t interested in anything we offered. Bill did a great job bringing everything we could possibly needed on the trip, including a great sleeping mats, bags and an efficient Cabela’s tent, cookware and good eats and every tool needed to keep us alive in the “bush.” It sure pays to be prepared! The last morning, we woke to dense fog, the only day that we couldn’t see the mountain to our west. We had already packed up our fishing gear and most of our equipment the evening before, thinking it might rain that night. We didn’t want to ship back wet stuff! Having nothing to do, we lay in our tent and read, snoozed and waited for the skies to clear. With obviously not internet to check the weather, we had no idea how long it would be – an hour – a few hours – a day or even two!!!??? Pretty helpless feeling actually! But about 10 a.m., I peaked out of the tent’s door, and I could see the mountains! We called Jim on our sat phone. It was clear in Kotzebue, and he estimated he’d be there in about 45 minutes. Would I do that again? Float a remote river in Alaska? You bet! I’ve been going to Alaska for six straight years and this trip by far was one of the best. I’m already thinking about next summer.

They are catching a few off the dock. Mainly small rainbows.

I need one or more: old video camera for my webcam feed. I bought 3 a couple years back at WalMart for about $250 each but they've worn out. They had the best, wide picture though. I have a security camera right now- not a cheap one either, but it's not a good pic for the cam. Anyone have one laying around you're not using you'd like to sell me? Send me a PM. Phil

<p>The Missouri Department of Conservation performs a survey on our trout each August.&nbsp; Agents take out special boats at night that are equipped to electro-shock fish, stunning them so that they can be netted, weighed, measured and released.&nbsp; These counts and measurements are then calculated and compared to past years to see how our trout are faring.&nbsp; You can download a copy of this study by clicking HERE or you can see an html version HERE.&nbsp; The study confirms what we’ve been seeing for the past 10 months . . .&nbsp; that our rainbows and now browns are doing very, very well.&nbsp; I was surprised to see the numbers on the brown trout.&nbsp; It goes to show how healthy they are in the lake.</p><p>The Missouri Department of Conservation performs a survey on our trout each August.&nbsp; Agents take out special boats at night that are equipped to electro-shock fish, stunning them so that they can be netted, weighed, measured and released.&nbsp; These counts and measurements are then calculated and compared to past years to see how our trout are faring.&nbsp; You can download a copy of this study by clicking <a href="http://ozarkanglers.com/taneycomo/taney_2010.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a> or you can see an html version <a href="http://ozarkanglers.com/taneycomo/taney_2010.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a>.&nbsp; The study confirms what we’ve been seeing for the past 10 months . . .&nbsp; that our rainbows and now browns are doing very, very well.&nbsp; I was surprised to see the numbers on the brown trout.&nbsp; It goes to show how healthy they are in the lake.</p> <p>I have not been up below the dam yet to check the fishing there with the water off, but I’ve heard firsthand that there are a lot of good rainbows up there, many 20-inchers or more.&nbsp; Some are being caught and most are released.&nbsp; I’ve also heard that the bigger streamers are doing pretty good on these bigger fish, daytime and at night.&nbsp; We’re starting to stock some of the bigger streamers in our shop—, Rainy’s Deer Hair Mottled Sculpins, Galloup’s Articulated Monkeys, Dungeons, Zoo Cougars, Bottom’s Ups and Articulated Fatheads, Mike’s Pec’s and Organ Donors.&nbsp; We already carry all of Keeney’s nighttime patterns as well as the regular buggers and sculpin patterns.&nbsp; I’m looking for more articulated fly patterns that work well on larger trout—if you have any suggestions, please drop me an email.</p> <p>Below the dam, the usual fly patterns are working:&nbsp; scuds and sow bugs in varied shades of gray, olive, brown and tan.&nbsp; Try a bug with some “shine” in the dubbing like Hareline’s Ice Dub when the sun is bright—this seems to draw more bites.&nbsp; If there’s a chop on the water, strip a soft hackle or wooly bugger.&nbsp; Soft hackles can vary in size from #14 to #18. Try red, orange, yellow, black and olive.&nbsp; In buggers, I use the good old colors like olive, black and brown.&nbsp; If trout are midging or dimpling the surface, throw a zebra midge at them.&nbsp; Set it anywhere from 6 to 12 inches under a very small indicator and target fish that make the dimple.&nbsp; I think most anglers are still using 6x tippet, but later in the fall, most of us have to go to 7x because the trout get wary of anglers and their flies as pressure mounts on their territory.</p> <p>From a boat fishing the trophy area below Lookout Island, jig and float is still king.&nbsp; I tell people who are heading out to fish this area, to take a light and a dark micro jig and try both.&nbsp; One of them will work. If they lay off the one you’re using, throw the other one.&nbsp; The dark jigs would be sculpin, olive, brown or black and the light ones would be tan, peach and ginger.&nbsp; Turner’s Micro Jigs are working great, but I fished Saturday with my fishing buddy, Vince, and we did really well using a brown jig we tie using a small, I’d say a 1/125-ounce jig.&nbsp; We don’t use but a tiny bit of marabou with no collar.&nbsp; It doesn’t look like much, especially wet, but the rainbows sure liked it.&nbsp; We did tie on a two-pound tippet or 6x onto our four-pound line for such small jigs and set our floats at about five feet deep.</p> <p>Below Fall Creek, air-injected night crawlers are still catching the nicer rainbows but they have stocked a lot of small rainbows lately.&nbsp; We’re seeing a ton of rainbows about 10 inches long.&nbsp; There are still some nicer rainbows in the lake; just seems like you have to catch 10 small ones before reeling in a decent fish to clean.&nbsp; Now if you’re not careful to release your trout properly, you’ll kill a lot of rainbows.&nbsp; If the hook is buried in the fish’s throat, don’t touch the fish -- just cut the line close to the trout’s face and release it.&nbsp; It’s better to leave the hook in the fish rather than trying to dig it out.</p> <p>Afternoons and evenings have been better times for fishing than the mornings lately.&nbsp; Once the water starts running, the trout start feeding.&nbsp; Drifting night crawlers and Gulp Powerbait, using one white and one other color (pink, orange or yellow) are the best baits.&nbsp; Use a big enough hook to hold two balls.&nbsp; Don’t worry about hiding the hook.</p>