YEEHAA Going North this August

[jdmidwest]

Just found out today that my friend and I have been invited back to Alaska this year for a great Silver Salmon trip in August on the Twenty Mile River. Our great friend has a home in Girdwood and a cabin on the Twenty Mile. Time to start tying and gearing up. We are also planning a side trip to fish for the big trout in the Susitna River creeks and a little wilderness camping with the Bears. I have always wanted a bear skin rug made from some sneak thief bear wanting to snack on my ankle while I am napping in a tent.

Any thoughts or ideas on new and hot flies for the area. Last time, pink was hot with the silvers and I learned a few lessons on hook styles. I lost a few to hooks being straightened out. Trout were fine on egg patterns and some of my secret bead head nymphs. We did not spend alot of time on the spring creeks last time, but had a ball when we were. This time were are going to dedicate a few days on them.

[BrianK]

JD-

I'd have to get the map out to see where 20 Mile is but I was up in Talkeetna summer 04 in early July for kings and trout.

The Susitna was too milky / hi from glacial melt but fished Clear Creek for kings and rainbows.

I've heard that when the glaciers refreeze then the big rivers clear up and that's the time to fish for big rainbows!

I also have to chance to go up the first wk of August (5d float down Moose Ck) and it's killin me that i may not be able to......I think Moose Ck is a trib of the Susitna.

My buddy lives in Talkeetna now so i'll definitely be back.

Wish I could help you on the flies. Sounds like you did very well.

That was my first trip so i'm no expert. Just learned all i could from websites and locals when i got there. There is probably an Alaska forum out there similar to this one. Sounds like Phil has lots of connections up there, he can probably give more info.

Big egg-sucking leeches or eggs were one of the better flies for big rainbows when i was there.

Good luck.

Brian

[jdmidwest]

Back in 2000, beads were legal on the Kenai and they were deadly. We crossed the Moose near Talkeetna, looked great. Sheep and Montana Creeks up there also, we hiked in and fished the Montana Creek for rainbows. I made the mistake of taking my 4wt that day, I could not control those wild trout. They would hit the fly and be 2 holes down and busting off in a matter of seconds. We did not make it all the way to the falls that day, maybe this trip. Or maybe one of the other creeks along the Sue.

Twentymile is on the Turnagin Arm near Portage. It is fed by glaciers in the Chugach range.

The great thing about our trips have been the unplanned nature of them. No guides or schedules to meet except for the plane home. We just rent a car and drive and fish, pitch a tent or crash at a friends house. We were up for 9 days last time and probably have 7 this time.

[Phil Lilley]

I am new at this Alaska fishing but hopefully I'll learn a bunch this summer.

I would say eggs, leeches and flesh for rainbows. Bright streamers in pink, purple and red for silvers. There's dozens of names of silver flies... but the brighter they are the better, esp in milky, glacier water.

We use beads for rainbows. http://troutbeads.com is a great place to get them.

[BrianK]

I fished Montana also for a few hrs but was pretty close to the highway.

lots of combat king fishing going on. like opening day at the trout parks!!!

nice stream though and still caught a few fish.

Glad to hear Moose Ck is good looking water. My buddy up there doesn't fish.

would like to check out any previous pics you took....

bk

[Gavin]

Ive been up a few times in August, and for the most part the trout & dollies have been on eggs. Pegged beads worked the best for me and you'll need two sizes, small ones for red salmon roe, and the big 10-12mm ones to imitate king salmon roe. The one the locals call the Claymore is a really good one, its opaque, and its supposed to look like a dead egg. Lots of pinks, oranges, reds, and some flesh tone nail polish to color them up a bit. If your going early in August, bring your regular trout nymphs, buggers, and dry flies....Theres a dead week or two between the time that the salmon fry leave, and when the salmon start dropping eggs and dying...Fish your regular trout flies at that time.

If your after silvers, think pink. In moving water, I usually go with a 250-350grain shooting head, and Tom Hargrove's pink string leach. In slack water, I'd go with a floating line and a pink Sparkleminnow in size 2. Cheers.

[Phil Lilley]

TroutBeads.com have mottled up some of their eggs. Don't have to paint them with nail polish like we did last year. They really look great.

[jdmidwest]

Sorry BK, pics were all pre digital. Things will be different this time, already loading up on 1gb memory. Towards the end of August and early September, the tourists are almost gone and so are the big salmon runs. I like a big fish now and then, but 10-12 lb salmon is like work if you hook a bunch. I was targeting the trout and dollies. The spawned out Reds were a pain after you caught a few of them. Most of the time you would just break them off or tear the hook out of the rotting flesh if they were foul hooked.

I'll take a look at Tom's fly, pink was hot on the silvers last time. We would catch our salmon first thing of a morning, then go after the trout for the rest of the day. The afternoon at the Russian was great, I hooked Reds, Pinks, Silvers, Dollies, and Rainbows in the same place. The pink humpies were the most fun, the hump made them real hard to turn, but they give up pretty easy.

Phil, the last time we used the 6mm and 8mm faceted beads from Hobby Lobby painted with Wet and Wild Platinum nail polish. We seemed to have better luck than with the round beads.

[Al Agnew]

You gotta try to take the silvers on big pink deerhair poppers. Watching a 10-15 pound fish attack a surface popper is impressive! For some reason, on some streams the silvers gather in big pods in quiet backwaters, and will chase down and slaughter those big poppers. I got into really good fishing like that on the Kisaralik River. I'm like jd...after a while, fighting those big silvers gets to be work. So I got to where I would cast out the popper and then try to take it away from those fish just as they opened their mouths to suck it in. And then, one time I was trying to entice a silver to take it and instead this huge pike charged out of some nearby brush, mauled it, and bit me off.

I think we're going to one of the topnotch rainbow rivers up there in early September this year. Can't hardly wait! I've done two different week-long river trips in AK so far, and have yet to get into the really big rainbows. On Lake Creek we caught a lot but they "only" averaged about 20 inches. On the Kisaralik we had a big rain just as we got to the prime rainbow water, and it got too muddy to fish. I only caught one 29 incher.

[jdmidwest]

Al, you need to fish the Kenai above Skilak Lake in September for the 30" fish. Great spawning area for the reds. We fished it right after labor day. The big rainbows and dollies move into the river out of the lake and feed on eggs then dead salmon. It produces some big ones.