Excellent Opportunity for Alaska Trip

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Phil, I'll give you a shout via email. I have to get the final okay from the misses today, but don't anticipate any problems. I'm already dreaming of the fishing. Alaska is one of my "dream spots" so this is a dream come true. Hope to start the planning with you soon.

John

[Phil Lilley]

More information for the trip:

For June, Jim recommend the following:

Rainbows:

Minnow imitations. These should imitate a salmon smolt. We need them 1 to 2 inches long (usually a 6 or 8). Some patterns that worked well last year was Spirit River's Lite- brite minnow with a blue back and the Gummie Minnow in either blue/white or green/white.

Leeches. Both large and small. Large articulated rabbit strip leeches in black and olive, small wooly buggers in the same colors.

Sculpins. Large in natural and olive.

Dry Flies. Don't need many, but a few standard patterns like elk hair caddis and adams in size 12 and 14 ought to do it, along with a mouse or two.

Small bead head nymphs. Early season on the Brooks River is like fishing a spring creek, with rainbows taking tiny nymphs and small dries fished on long light leaders. Pheasant tails, bead head caddis, flash back hares ears, etc. in sizes 14-18.

Sockeye:

Small streamers and nymphs. In the ocean, sockeye only eat small stuff. 8's are large for them, 12's are better. The problem is, they are too strong to be held on a 12 when they are silver. The key is to tie small flies on stronger hooks. Woolybuggers worked well last year in black, olive, purple and cream, as did PM Wigglers. Teenie Nymphs work very well. Try black, pheasant tail, olive and sometimes bright colors like pink. Small bead chain eyes are a plus.

Kings:

Plugs - Large QuickFish, Large Wiggle Warts, Thunderstick Juniors, Large Wiggle Warts in bright colors. All Orange, Pink, Chart. and fire tiger all worked well. In clear water, more normal colors like silver/green and gold/orange worked.

Spinners - #5 and up sizes, preferably with large single hook. Same colors as plugs.

Flies - Large streamers are the first choice. The salmon snake is probably going to be the best (and most expensive) pattern. This is a Michigan fly with a plastic diving lip and a clipped deer hair body, jointed and very large. I also like articulated leeches and any other large flashy streamer with a lot of action.

Tackle:

5 or 6 weight for rainbows in the small streams with a floating line and a shooting line.

7 or 8 weight for the rainbows on the Naknek with a floating and a shooting line.

7 or 8 weight for the sockeye with a shooting line or floating line

9-11 weight for the Kings with a Teenie style sinking line in a 400 grain plus size.

What else to bring -

Leader material in 0x, 3x, 5x flourocarbon, Ultragreen Maxima in 12, 15, 20 pound (butt sections and kings)

Small barrel swivels (black) in size 12 or 14

Split shot in sizes b, bb, 3/0

DEET repellant and/or head net, if prefered.

Clothes for any weather from 40-80 degrees, including raingear

I recommend polyester fleece bottoms under breathable waders, wool socks, fleece vest and sweater up top, with a breathable rain shell over all. Billed baseball hat or rain/sun hat.

Polarlized sunglasses, preferable in amber or brown

Chest waders with felt soles and a wader belt

Wading staf, if preferred

Flights

The earlier you book to Anchorage, the better price you can get. Especially if you want to use miles for a free trip.

We book the flight from Anchorage to King Salmon... we get a lodge rate.

[duckydoty]

Found this site when inquiring about Alaska

flyfishalaska.net

They have a forum with questions and answers about coming to Alaska

Duckydoty

[Phil Lilley]

This is a question by a new client and answer by Jim Johnson that I think is an interesting read...

Client-

One question you probably get often is the bears. Do you ever feel like you are in danager. I can't imagine fishing a small stream to have a brown bear come out of the woods 40 feet away. Do the guides carry a firearm?

What can you expect?

Jim-

I would be crazy not to feel a little threatened by the bears - they are obviously large and potentialy dangerous. Having said that, we are careful to make sure we don't surprise them, we have a training session for all of our guests on the first day on how to deal with them and when we visit Brooks, the rangers give a mandatory session on bears as well.

All in all, I think you will feel confident enough to deal with the situation, should it arise.

When we go into the Park, we stay nearby at all times, and we watch for bears approaching the area. We issue every guest a can of Bear Spray, which is very effective at close range, and we also carry a can ourselves. We have never had to use the spray, but it is comforting to know that we have it, just in case.

During the summer salmon season, the bears are fat and happy and have all of the fish that they can eat. They pretty much ignore us completely, even when they are very close.

If you are extremely worried about bears, the time to go to Alaska is in June, when there are few bears along the rivers. They really fill in along the streams when the salmon begin spawning and dying, which doesn't start until mid-July. In late June, about the only place we'll see many bears is at and below the falls at the Brooks River, and even that isn't until the last few days of June.

My son is 13 and my daughter is 12. They fished with us all over the area - my son was out every day with us - and they never felt threatened by the bears at all. My personal opinion is that the bears are as important to the unique experience of the area as the fishing is, and I think that virtually everyone that has fished with us agrees with that statement.

The Naknek itself is a much larger river, with open and large gravel bars. There, bears will not be an issue, and that's where we fish most of the days. If someone was truly worried about the bears, they could opt out of the trips to Brooks, Idavain and/or Margot Creek, and spend the extra days fishing the Naknek without bear concerns at all.

The July 28 - August 4 spot is now full.

[Phil Lilley]

The only dates we have now are in June- all 3 weeks.

I asked Jim about the fishing in June. Other than King Salmon starting in mid June, I wanted the rundown on rainbows. I didn't want to get the estimates wrong. Here's what he wrote:

My largest was 13 pounds. The average was easily between 6 and 8 lbs on the smolt migration. However, there were lots of other places to fish where the average was a more normal size. We fished the rapids, where the fish were more like 2-5 pounds, and over at Brooks, where you saw that size range. The difference at Brooks in early season is that they might be taking dry flies all day, or small nymphs just under the surface.

As for numbers, that is a tough one. It changed a lot, depending upon the weather. I would feel comfortable stating that an angler will get the chance to sight cast to dozens, if not a hundred or more, trophy rainbows feeding on the surface pretty much every day. If they are quick enough and accurate enough, they will be succesful. I had some fly casters that were not good enough to make that cast consistently. They still loved it but they weren't killing them. I did quite well whenever I did it myself.

It was an easier task with spinning gear. I am confident that with a selection of minnow imitations (jigs, spoons and Yo-Zuri crankbaits) almost anyone could catch several trophy rainbow.

Hope that isn't too long winded. I wouldn't want anyone coming thinking that catching trophy rainbows is a piece of cake. I don't think that is the case anywhere. I want anglers that are thrilled when they land a single 8Lb bow, and anything after that is gravy.

Jim

[Phil Lilley]

We've taken a few more bookings in June. If you want to get onboard, ya gotta move quick.

We may be looking at offering some 'fish-on-your-own' trips throughout the summer for less $$$... depends on how the lodging expansion pans out this winter. You might keep that in mind. This package would include lodging, meals and use of a boat and motor for the week. No guide but a guide trip may be booked separatly, as well as a flyout trip.

[Phil Lilley]

Jim and I are now booking "fish-on-your-own" trips and have openings for up to 3 people each week in the months of July and August. $1395 per person pays for one cabin that will sleep 2-3 people, a use of one boat for the week (7 night stay Saturday to Saturday) and all meals. Does not include flights, license or a guide but we will try to do as much as we can to put you on fish while you're there.

This is possbile because I am moving an old cabin and renovating it in May so when I'm not there, we will rent it for fish-on-your-own clients.