Lilley In Alaska...

[Terry Beeson]

The bear is about 10 Yards but we are at a veiwing Platform so very safe.

We? Looks to me like there is only ONE on the viewing platform and the rest are down by the bear...

[Phil Lilley]

3 days and I'll be HOME! The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the heat. It got up to 64 yesterday and we thought we all were going to roast. Two sunny days after 3 weeks of clouds and rain- not the summer we wanted here. Locals say that was summer and now fall starts. Weird.

On Thursday, I got a treat. Sean Guffy, known as waterman here on the forum, is from Rolla but fishes commercially here in Bristol Bay. He finished his sockeye stint the other day and called me to ask if I wanted to go out and try for halibut. Sure!! Just to get out on a fishing boat was a blast. We elft Naknek about 7 am and headed north towards the Kvijak River area and dropped the nets for salmon- both bait and take home... Sean and crew wanted to take some sockeye home. We caught sockeye, dogs (chum), pinks and silvers. Then we went out 30 miles to some holes and ledges another fisherman told Sean about. No luck. Tried a few other places with the same result. Oh well. Headed for home, stopped and caught a few more salmon in the mouth of the Naknek.

Pulling into the river, we passed a crab boat called the Provider. Sean said it was one of the original boats on the Deadliest Catch. We had to drop off our dogs (for bait) so Sean gave me a tour of the boat. Cool stuff!!!! Also got some inside stuff on some of the captains on the show... Sean will be in Kodiak for a couple of weeks and then home. Looking forward to seeing him here on the forum again.

Sean looked for "jumpers" to signal a school of reds (sockeye) but they were few and far between. The red season was winding down, the pinks were in mid-stream as far as moving into the rivers and the silvers were jsut starting.

They left their nets out for 30 to 60 minutes. You could see splashes above the net when a salmon would hit the net.

Sean and Eric both break the gills and bleed each salmon- the cannery they sell to require it.

The headless salmon was caused by a seal. There are thousands that hang around the mouths of the rivers waiting on the fishing boats and they food line nets. They place havoc, taking fish from the nets and tearing them up pretty bad (the nets). Not sure how much Sean said he had but his permits allow for 3 sections of nets which I bet is more than 300 yards lone.

Kitchen.

Pilot's room.

Sorry I didn't get a good pics of Sean or his crew, Lewis and Eric.

These are all canneries, located all along the river banks in Naknek.

Duane and others went to Margot Creek today and I guess they really did well on char and rainbows using beads. I guess it's in full swing now. I love fishing beads, esp at Margot. He said they got rainbows and char up to 29 inches out of that little creek. Bears weren't that bad either. I worked on the shower house- plumbing and electrical. They'll have showers at the lodge real soon.

For my last day tomorrow I'm hoping they decide to go over the lake. Just checked the weather and LIGHT WINDS!!! Yea. I'll push for Margot too. We have some very good anglers in camp this week so we'll probably do both. Hopefully won't get stuck at the bridge like last time. We'll wade across! Or may be we won't go to the falls at all. Anyhow- will take lots of pics for my last day.

Here's a pic of us fishing the other day. We kept having bears walk in in on us but all they wanted to do is look in the river. Here a bar walked right up to the point to go up the river in search of fish and Dave was in the way. So he just stood there till John (guide) saw the bear and yelled at it and it moved on. Dave hardly knew it was there- was tying on a fly at the time. Crazy!!

All in all, this has been a good trip, despite having to work most of the time and the weather being so cold and wet. Never got on the rainbows here at naknek very well. But they should explode when the sockeye go on the reds which will be very soon.

[Danoinark]

Phil,

What an adventure. Thanks for letting us in on it in your stories and pictures.

Dano

[Terry Beeson]

Wow... if only it had been the Time Bandit.... and my hero... Johnathan Hillstrand.... or the Cornelia Marie and my other hero... Phil Harris... or the Northwestern and my OTHER hero... Sig Hansen....

But still a great adventure... I've been on fishing boats but not a big crabber like that one.

[Phil Lilley]

Well... Sid was the brunt of most of the conversation. Seems he's quite a character on and off stage.

Boated to Brooks and Margot today- great last day here in Alaska. I tried to get away from the crowd and take in the quiteness and absolute awesomeness of the landscape and the rivers and countryside. What a blessed man I am and how I wish I could take everyone up to experience this.

The ride over was marvelous- very smooth. Temps in the low 40's on the lake but the covered boat wasn't too bad. It's always fun to see the new clients at the first sighting on a bear. This time there was one on the beach about 4 miles from Brooks. We pulled up along side him and followed him along the shore. He was of course looking for a snack and not paying much attention to us even though we were making alot of noise with the motor and cameras clicking. But then our waves hit the shore behind him and you should have seen him jump ahead like something bit him in the butt.

On to Brooks- mom and 3 very small spring cubs on the beach greeted us. Bear school and we were on to the falls. No bears at the bridge so we breezed by. Lots of BIG males at the falls this time and a few sockeye caught. Couple of fights over fish. BB is THE big bear of the park and showed it, taking a freshly red away from an equally big bear but in the pecking order, BB had already secured his place over all. Pretty cool. Lots of chasing going on- large bears chasing off younger bears trying to get to the best spots.

We walked in off the walkway thru the woods to the river- no bears this time. Fished down to the ox bow- clients hooking sockeye and Duane and I targeting bows. I hooked 2 bows that were as big or bigger than the sockeye that quickly blew downstream and broke me off. Sometimes you just don't have a chance. Landed a couple of smaller 20 inch bows and a couple of sockeye between having to move to one side or the other for a passing bear. Duane and I both heard what sounded like horses running just inside the woods on the bank up from where Duane was fishing and immediately a bear bolted out and right at Duane- but with another bear on his heals. Didn't know Duane could move that fast, esp in waste deep, moving water. Said his adrenalin was flowing for an hour afterwards. When the group headed up and on the trail to the lodge, I stayed behind and walked the river down for a while, taking in everything. No one else was fishing the river and the bears I could see were harasing the people near the bridge- again. So I had the river to myself. Pretty incredible 15 minutes of solitude. Then I heard a ranger lady screaming at something or someone. I looked up and saw a bear around the cabins- a place where they are not welcomed. Our group was just getting to the cabins and I guess she was screaming at them! Daune and John said she was out of control- yelling for them to go back down to the swamp and come up another way. They were practically to the top of the hill and out of the woods so no way were they going to take the clients back down because of just one bear... so they acted dumb and walked on thru. Then I approached- I saw the bear and started to go right and find a path thru the trees. She yelled at me 3 times to go right and find another path... and I was already there. I'm surprised- she's a veteran ranger but she handled the situation very poorly. But I scared some tourist to dead when I came up the hill- and very thick brush- to the overlook, yea I was kinda ducking and shaking the bushes alittle more than I should have but what the heck- they're there for a "bear" experience. I gave them one. I didn't say or even look up at them when I came out of the tall grass. One lady plopped on the ground when she saw me come thru- I think she almost fainted.

Margot- 2 float planes at the mouth- not good. But we dropped off a few at the mouth to fish and Ryan and I took Mike and Marta (couple from Traverse City, MI) up 3 bends to a place where Ryan has slayed the rainbows yesterday. They weren't biting. Marta had trouble with the current and fell one but only to her knees and didn't get wet. I, though, went in face first while trying to "power walk" upstream in knee deep current. Yes got my video camera wet AGAIN but I think it still may work- we'll see when I get home. We finished there and wanted to head back down. The problem was we'd come thru some really, really thick grass and trees to get there and a bear came off the same trail after we'd been up there- and back in the same patch of woods so Marta didn't want to go back that way. The only other way was the other side of the river which I wasn't as versed in but Ryan said he'd taken it the day before so we started. About 200 yds up we saw another bear in the distance on our trail so we darted off the trail and to the east into what I thought was a meadow. But beavers had built a series of small dams- and big dams- and flooded the whole area. There was ankle deep water and neck high water and it all looked the same. We got deeper and deeper- it was really beautiful- the fir trees, the tall grasses, the mountains in the distance- incedible- and I kept telling Marta to take it in but she was more concerned about BEING lost and bears. Then Mike fell into one of those holes. He went down pretty hard and deep. Well, he had ribbed Marta when she fell to her knees but she crucified him for his fall. She wasn't worried about being lost anymore- it was payback time. It lasted the rest of the walk, rest of fishing time, rest of the boat ride home and even back at camp. Fishing- they caught a few char and sockeye but fishing wasn't very good. We headed back on another glassy lake- very enjoyable.

Going to spend tomorrow getting all my stuff in order. Leaving all my clothes and carrying only fish home. Going to leave Duane to the bears... silvers are in the river now so they'll have a great time with them for 3 weeks or so. Weather has really straightened out... just as I'm leaving. But I'm ready- to go home to my wife who I've missed very very much.

Kinda cool pic at Margot.

Ryan with a red male- really big sockeye and beautiful.

Be home Tuesday-

[Trav]

Look me up when you get home. I would love to hear some tales first hand. I am so Jealous!

[flyfshn]

Yes Phil, you are blessed!!! What an experience!! I'm easy....my dream is to someday fly fish in/around Yellowstone!

[Phil Lilley]

Am in Anchorage- 4 hour layover. Time to catch up on news, sports and the forum.

It was alittle hard leaving- just alittle. They found tons of silvers moving up the river today- only reason I slightly wanted to stay. Otherwise, I'm ready to be home.

[Phil Lilley]

This is a thread from 2008 and my trip to AK. I was going through some of my old posts and saw that the images here were broken - so I fixed them. Refreshed my memory a bit... thought I'd post so that those who have joined the forum since them can see some great images from Alaska.

I'm going back to the Naknek in September - and there's room for more people if you're interested. September is the time for big rainbows and lots of lazy bears.

[Phil Lilley]

On page 3 there's images from my day in Bristol Bay with "Waterman", Sean from the forum.