Greetings from Alaska

[Phil Lilley]

Well- I'm in Naknek, Alaska at the local library. Weather hasn't been too bad till today- mid 40's, winds 15-25 and rain. I heard it was supposed to be 105 at home today... which one would you pick??

I've landed pink, silver and sockeye salmon, rainbow and char (dolly). Pinks up to 5 lbs, silvers up to 7 lbs, sockeye up to 9 lbs, largest rainbow only 6-7 pounds and char up to 3 lbs. We've fished the Naknek River, boated to Brooks and fished the river and the mouth of Brooks Lake and fished Margo Creek yesterday- best day of the trip so far. Saw 12 bears, 2 sets of mothers with cubs. No close calls, if you don't call 40 feet close. Looking forward to exploring more small creeks and catch some bigger char and rainbows. The sockeye are old-hat. The silvers are fun on the flats in the big river. Oh- of course- all on fly.

Here are some pics... got some great video too.

Bear Class at Brooks Camp (required)

First bear on the river. He stepped out in back of me while I was fishing- about 30 feet away. Bill and I had to cross the river (quickly). He went on up and bothered the rest of the group before leaving.

60 minute boat ride to Margo Creek.

Foot print

Leftovers.

Sockeye in an eddy.

Jim Johnson with a Char.

Junior sniffing out his next "snack".

Nice rainbow.

Char.

Jim- bear eating a sockeye behind him.

Rainbow.

Bill posing for a pic. This was the lake looking toward the glaciers across Naknek Lake. Too many beatiful scenes to take pics of and they don't do them justice.

I did manage to "swat" my eye glasses off my head Wednesday (high dollar prescriptions) so I'm fishing with a handicap. I'm still out fishing Bill!

And if you ever go to Alaska- don't ever hold a male sockeye by the jaw for a pic... I have 8 bandaids on my left hand as a reminder to not do that again.

Blessings!!

[Danoinark]

Excellent Phil..Glad you guys are having a great time. We are holding down the fort I think

See you all when you get back....Dano

[tippet7]

great pictures Phil!! looks like a great trip so far. be safe!

[CaptainT16]

Wow, great pics. I can't wait till the day I get to make it up that way. I can't even imagine what that must be like up there. Glad you guys are having a good trip!

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Excellent pictures! Just adds to my torment since I'm not there. Maybe some day.

[Bill Babler]

It's great to be home, I haven't had to swat a bug in over an hour. Really, the bugs were way less than what was preposed to us.

I'm sure Phil will chime in with the best setups, but for the Silvers, most of the guys in our group, strickly fly fishing were Chuck and duckers, using a size 12 black wolley bugger. Man what a different application than I have experenced on other Alaska rivers. Shooting lines with tons of weight.

Pink Salmon, were caught in fantastic numbers on Popcicles and anything with purple and pink and the rainbows and char, came mostly on beads.

This is my 7th. Alaskan river, and by far the toughest. I can usually do all the business I wish on a dry, but no takers the last couple of weeks, everyone looking down.

Tremendious ammounts of fish in the river, but also lots and lots of guides, lodges and locals. I have only seen this ammount of prussure on the Keini.

Great hosts, fantastic food and the most bears in Alaska, made the adventure trip a fablious one. Phil I'm sure will come with more pics and more on the Naknek River in Alaska out of Naknek River Camp.

Jim and Phillis Johnson were the ultimite Alaskan hosts. I can wish them nothing but the best.

[Phil Lilley]

Haven't got the pics done yet but will write me version of the 10-day trip.

I differ with Bill assessment. I know he's had some great trips, floating rivers and such, but the fishing here isn't that tough. It's alot like Taneycomo with 3-4 units running BUT there's alot of places to get out and wade. Pressure- we'd see 6-12 boats on a 7 mile stretch. They were on one particular bank alot and that's where we caught alot of our silvers. But we caught silvers on the flats the first week stripping the normal silver flies- bright and flashy. Caught all the pinks you ever want on the same flat this week- same method. I caught a good number of rainbows drifting eggs (beads) on spin and fly from a boat. I took 2 of the Johnson kids using spinning and drifting beads and a split shot and they had no trouble catching 18-22 inch rainbows. Naknek River is challenging and it's not back woods... but it's nothing like the Kenai- no where close. Better fishing and not half the crowds.

Margot Creek. Located east of Brooks, this little stream was full of rainbows, char (Dollies) and salmon... and oh yes bears!! We saw most of and had all of our close encounters here. All told I figured we had over 40 bear encounters on the trip- some were the same bear but many were not. We drifted beads again here, using shooting line and weights. Not alot of weight as Bill mentioned. Fishing for silvers on Naknek I used very little. But the swift water in Margot and Brooks warrented more lead to keep the fly on the bottom.

My favorite time is when I can see the rainbow or char, cast to it and make a perfect drift- hook and land it. I did this several time on Margot Creek.

Brooks. We boated to Brooks 3 times in 2 weeks. Bear haven in July but they had headed to the high country, smaller streams and easier pickin's. We did see a couple-3 or 4 here. Rainbow fishing was excellent on the lower river but tougher on up in the faster water, upper river. Brooks Lake is beautiful!

I've mentioned being resourceful... if nothing else on this trip I've come away very much more grateful for what we have. In King Salmon and the communities around, EVERYTHING has to be shipped in, mostly by barge and some by air. Everything is more expensive so you try to make due with what you have- if you're fixing a motor or repairing something in the house. Driving to town at $4.40 per gallon will make you think twice about going for a loaf of bread. Jim & Phyliss are starting something 99% of us only think about- starting a vew business at 50 years old... and from practically scratch. It reminds me of our first years here at the resort... we had to be resouceful- we didn't have the mony to hire or buy new things. But they've picked a wonderful place to start it!

More later. WalMart didn't have the glasses I need and so my eyes are buggy...

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Phil, try some of the tying glasses you clip to your hat when you're fishing. I've done this a time or two when I forgot my glasses. It works in a pinch.

John

[Phil Lilley]

King Salmon, Ak is an old US Air Force Base that has recently been reactivated because of 9/11. If you download goggle earth and search for King Salmon, you'll see the runways clearly. Follow Lake Camp Rd from K.S. to the east until it deadends at the river... that's the public access/boat ramp. There's a road that cuts off and goes south called Mike's Rd. Google has butchered the overlay of it's marking of the road though and the image is not good at all- but Jim's Naknek River Camp is just upstream of the cove that looks like a bird's head and directly across the river from the long narrow cut/cove across the river.

The small airstrip north of the small lakes on the road to their place belongs to a guy who retired as a state ranger. He has 2 planes and still does some flying for the state. He finds dead walrus on the beach, amoung other interesting items such as very old fishing net floats, and lands on the beach to retrieve them (he has tundra wheels on the plane). He cuts off the heads of the walrus and boils them, leaving the skull and teeth. Some of the teeth are 30 inches long and 10 inches in diameter. He can't sell them because he's not part of a native tribe but gives them away as gifts to friends and relatives. He and his wife lives there year round, the only ones out on Lake Camp that do. And yes they do keep the road clear out to the access in the winter. They get up to 4-6 feet of snow pack per year. Last winter Jim said a local told him they had an unusual cold spell- 10 days when the temp didn't get above 20 below.

Naknek is 10 miles west of King Salmon at the mouth of the river. It has several canneries and lots of ship yards where fishing boats are stored onshore. They are only used for about 4 weeks each July to net salmon. The fishing time and catch is closely monitored by Alask Fish and Game to insure a good spawning crop. In the early 1900's, king salmon populations were almost depleted because of netting. Even today, they don't see the large kings (over 100 lbs) because the gene pool of the large ones is gone. The canneries import over 2000 workers to clean and work the plants, mainly college aged kids from east Europe and Russia. They work 12-15 hours per day and make good money. They are housed in a series of trailers that line the main road. Naknek has a annual population of 600.

[Bill Babler]

I don't think our thoughts differ on the river that much, you must not have read what I said, please take another look.

I said it was the toughest Alaskan river I have fished. I, being the key word.

I also said it has the most traffic of any river I have fished other than the kenai. The key words, being I have fished.

Loved the river and the hosts. Across the pond too Brooks falls was exciting and again, I can only speak from the experences I have had.

Great Adventure Trip.