Lilley In Alaska...

[Trav]

Im so jealous!

[Clay Goforth]

Phil,

I missed you by a day in Anchorage. Good luck on the trip and keep us updated when possible. Great looking fish right off the bat.

[Phil Lilley]

Duane and I finished at least the inside of the new dining lodge yesterday as the new clients arrived. They ate the first meal in the converted "pink pallace". Had a small incident... the generator was placed too close to the side of the building and the exhaust almost caught the place on FIRE again. I happened to go outside and see smoke coming from the corner of the building. We'd just hooked up the propane stove and I thought it was the stove causing the problem but solved it quickly by pulling away from the house and throwing a pot of HOT water on the siding. Fortunately, the noddles hadn't been put in the pot tey.

I'm heading over to camp for 4-5-6 days so I'll be off line for a while. I'll have pics when I return.

[duckydoty]

Just got back to Naknek River Camp after spending a few days camping in the wilderness with Phil. We had a great time and explored a lot of new territory to us on the lake. Phil and I both caught our 1st lake trout. One each over in the Bay Of Islands area. We camped out at Margot Creek last night and went back over to Brooks early this morning. We got chased around by the bears a little then headed over to Idavine again. Great trip and fresh sockeye as a shore lunch cant be beat! We will get some pictures up later.

duckydoty

[Phil Lilley]

Got to get a better handle on wilderness camping... I took too much stuff and didn't have everything we needed. Lighter is better... couldn't carry enough fuel to do all the things we wanted but we did alot. Didn't figure out the Bay of Islands fish until we were headed out yeaterday to Margot Creek. I saw some fish dart out from underneath the boat as we ran over a shoal-point so we stopped and casted, then trolled some big wiggle warts and caught our first laker (3) and 2 big bows. Cool. Pics later... they're on Duane's camera.

We started at Idvane Creek, hiked up to the meadow and caught grayling almost at will. They took our elk hait caddis like candy. Plus some rainbows- nothing like Dudley's and John Jackson's big bows last year but they fought hard of course. No bears... Lots of sockeye at the mouth so we caught dinner and grilled some on the beach.

Boated to the Fuer's Cabin in the Bay and found the camp occupied. They had portaged over from Grovesner Lake, kayaking on their way to Brooks. The guides were from AK and their clients from upper NY. Nice people who we enjoyed much. Slept on a very hard wood floor of the cabin- wish we were out in a tent like the NY'ers on the soft grass. Next am we decided that was enough of the cabin so we fished around the islands and then headed to Margot Creek to check out the water, fish and camp there. There's usually a bunch of bears there but we were betting they weren't there yet.

I did catch a nice dolly (26 inch) at the mouth but the creek was high and off color so we didn't fish there much. Waking, we saw a bear way down the beach- it didn't look like he'd been by our camp. We'd fixed one of the lakers for dinner the night before and the remains were still in the water.

We boated to Brooks to meet up with Jim and the crew to help them out there. We were early so we tried to do some fishing. Hiked into the lower part only to be headed off at the water twice by bears- never made it to the water. Later when they arrived, we hiked to the top and fished down to the falls. I fished all dries- elk hair- and caught 15 rainbows or so none over 16 inches. Fun stuff. Duane ended up doing the same and landed a nice 20 incher.

This was a print we found... the man's print is about a size 11. We have some BIG bears.

We had a great time. Hope to explore some places around here this week. Have to do laundry first.

[Bill Babler]

You know I'm dying here in the 90 degree heat.

What is the price of gas at King Salmon?

Get us some pic's from inside the Pink Palace.

Give us an idea of the fishing at camp and some photo's of sockeye.

How are the Kings going and is anyone catching any? Your previous photo's were great.

Give us some client photo's.

How are Jim Phyllis and the Kids doing?

How are the boats doing, and what is the standard daily plan that the camp is doing each day with the clients?

Are the Sockeye running very thick, after last years record runs?

How are the Brooks trips? ie to many bears and slow, or great? You dry fly fishing was very impressive.

Did you find my waders and 7 wt. TFO? if not who cares.

REally miss you all and can't wait to see ya. I'll probably call later in the week.

Are there any opening at the camp in either late Aug. all of September, or early October? There seems to be some late interest.

Don't go on anymore camping trips, it takes to long for us to get information. We need an Alaska Fish Fix, almost everyday.

Are you going to be able to catch some Sockeye and send some home? I have a hankeren for fresh Naknek River Sockeye.

This is all I can think of now, but I will think of more. Miss Ya.

[Micheal Kyle]

I can't wait only two more day's. I'm glad to see Ray is alive and doing well, and it looks like he has found his calling as camp cook. I would like to find out were I might be able to pick up that new stirring apparatus that Ray has in his hand.

Bill I know that the last week in September is full and I think that the first week in October is full as well..

September and October will yield you some fish of your lifetime huge Bows. they do an awesome job at the camp as well food is awesome plus they know where the big boys live. So any body that wants to go to Alaska and it not cost you a fortune should give them a call.

I did hear some one say that gas was 6.54 a gallon

And Jim told Me Monday that the Sockeye run has been good catch all you want. he also said that on Friday that they caught 12 Kings on fly rods that day, up in big creek.

Michael

[Phil Lilley]

Here's some pics... the internet is giving us fits and it's 12:30 am here so I'm not going to answer questions... today.

Here's some pics.

[Phil Lilley]

OK I'll answer questions- I'm done writing the family.

What is the price of gas at King Salmon? $5.59

Get us some pic's from inside the Pink Palace.

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/alaska2008 This is all the pics I've uploaded so far. The internet is terrible during the day unitl about midnight so I can't upload them any other time.

Give us an idea of the fishing at camp and some photo's of sockeye. No sockeye photos but they are slaying the sockeye at will. Your friends are here- the Rankins. 2 grown daughers and 5 gradkids from 12 to 17 I'd guess... and all catching fish!!! 4 other clients from Michigan and they are doing well too. Hooked 18 kings in Big Creek today. Wind blew and is blowing 30-40 and will for the next 2 days.

How are the Kings going and is anyone catching any? Your previous photo's were great.

I'm looking forward to making my first trip to Big Creek next week with Micheal and Randy arrive.

Give us some client photo's.

No. I haven't been fishing with them.

How are Jim Phyllis and the Kids doing?

Fine. Same old same old. You know.

How are the boats doing, and what is the standard daily plan that the camp is doing each day with the clients?

JIm and PJ are the only ones with USCG Lisc. Duane, Matt and Miles are waiting on theirs. So Jim and Phyliss are fishing every day with James and sometimes Matt slips out with a couple. Another guide arrives in a week and he has his lisc.

Are the Sockeye running very thick, after last years record runs?

Haven't heard #'s but the guys said they were coming thru for 6 hours straight 5 feet wide today at Rainbow Rock.

How are the Brooks trips? ie to many bears and slow, or great? You dry fly fishing was very impressive.

Brooks rainbows are terrible. I did good on dries but all small. I haven't even seen any decent rainbows in the river. Bears are everywhere. Nothing like any years I've been here. YOu almost can't get out of the "people area" to the falls or the river. Crazy.

Did you find my waders and 7 wt. TFO? if not who cares.

May be. There is a pari of waders and a 7 ft TFO. I guess it's yours. My stuff got raided after the first and I'm still finding fly boxes laying around. Missing a few things too... but I have plenty of tackle to say the least.

REally miss you all and can't wait to see ya. I'll probably call later in the week.
Are there any opening at the camp in either late Aug. all of September, or early October? There seems to be some late interest.

I'm sure you can come and find a bed. There's room up in the cabins on the hill for sure. But they are jammed packed. I'm sure someone can arragin staying at Kinko and renting a boat from Jim. He has tons of boats now- not even using 2 or 3 of them right now.

Miss you too buddy!!
Don't go on anymore camping trips, it takes to long for us to get information. We need an Alaska Fish Fix, almost everyday.
Are you going to be able to catch some Sockeye and send some home? I have a hankeren for fresh Naknek River Sockeye.

This is all I can think of now, but I will think of more. Miss Ya.

[FISHnOZ]

Great photos and great adventures. Thank you for posting! What a beautiful place!