Alaska

[Bill Babler]

Last year as you know, Phil and I spent 2 weeks at the Naknek River camp at King Salmon.

This area of Alaska is completely different from the years I spent at Bethel.

I was not as enamored with King Salmon as Bethel, just from the fact of the wild raw beauty of the Bethel area in compairison to the Naknek, KS area.

My oponion has changed since dramaticlly. Each area has very strong draws, and for sure the fantastic Rainbow and Sockeye fishing at King Salmon, is not duplicated in any fashion at Bethel.

We during our brief stay did not have the time to explore Naknek lake or any of its tributaries which are magnificent. Wild life viewing if fantastic.

I could spent a month just fishing the lake shore in Naknek.

Fishing the river early for the Rainbows of that size would be a dream come true.

I believe later in the season when other nearby rivers get stronger Silver runs it would be an easy fly out to these locations.

I truly can't wait to go back.

The Bethel area is different in the fact that the city recieves barge and Cargo aircraft service on almost a daily basis. There are stores in Bethel that rival any Sam's club I have ever gone to and also lumber and hardware stores as big as lowes or home depo.

Boats and Cars are also for sale and fresh vegtables and fruit are always on hand.

The fishing there is all small river fishing with some of the names being the most famous in the world. Aniak, Kisarlik, Kanectok, Eek, Kewthluk, and many more. All fly out and float rivers, with Bethel as the Hub.

Every run of pacific salmon hit these rivers off the mighty Kuskokwim.

If I had my pick however, I would head back to King Salmon and give this vary diverse area another try.

I believe I will.

[Danoinark]

Bill, you need a ghillie????

Dano

[Phil Lilley]

I had lunch with Bill and Becky yesterday... Bill had the AK bug bad, as you can tell.

Some other interesting things about Naknek and King Salmon. Naknek is geared totally around fishing. When we arrived in May, there were few people wandering around, few cars and trucks on the road. But as mid June rolled around, the airport filled with young and old from all over the world in route to the canneries in Nakenk. They'll work 6-8 weeks, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for good money. I've heard as many as 20,000 but that number is very hard to believe seeing the size of Naknek. None have transportation so they walk the road and hitch rides. I picked up several on my trips into town, most didn't speak english. Most were eastern European or Russian.

There aren't any car lots, no movie houses, one grocery store, one all purpose store called the "Odd Duck", one hardware store and one automotive store, all owned by the same company- native owned. You see the taxi service all over the place and they keep busy. One place to buy gas in Naknek and 2 in King Salmon. There are 2 marine shops in Naknek that are quite interesting to walk thru. They're geared towards commercial fishing- big ships and big fishing. These places are well stocked, esp at the beginning of the season and extremely busy.

Back to fishing- I cannot express how awesome the rainbow fishing is here. It almost gets looked over from the salmon fishing. We didn't get a chance to fly fish in the "rapids" for them but it looked inviting the 2 or 3 times we boated thru the area. As we drifted over the flats (couldn't run them because even in me jet, it was too shallow), we spotted numerous rainbows in the 30 inch range darting away from the boat. Drifting a black wooly (leach) would have been deadly I bet.

Bill's right about one thing... there's way too much to explore in an area like this. The lake is still untamed by from anglers. The few times we went out on the lake to fish, I promise you we were the ONLY boat on the whole lake. Take a look on google earth and see how big this lake is. It's the #2 largest in AK. Talked to one guy who said they fished one day up in the Bay of Islands and caught big rainbows and big lake trout at will throwing spoons against the banks. We did well throwing spinners catching northern pike and I hooked one laker. Wish we went back.

In the Bay of Islands, there's a cabin you can stay in free of charge (if no one else is there) for up to 3 nights. There's nothing else there. Locals spend the week there after the salmon season (August) for their vacations. The islands shelter the lake from winds. There's NO other lodge, houses- nothing within 40 miles of the place except Brooks which is about 20 miles south by water. The water is no pure and clear, I drank a bunch- best tasting water ever!

Just a note- not to put a hard sell on the camp- but Jim is already starting to fill up his camp for 2008. I'm really pushing to raise his rates... sorry but $1695 is ridiculously cheap. His closes competitor in KS is $1999 and they offer no hot meals or guided trips. The closes outfitter who does what he does is $3495 and they're not in a good location at all. NRC is smack dab right in the middle of the BEST rainbow fishing on the river. Even at $2495, which is what I want him to charge, it's a fantastic deal for what you get. He just needs to upgrade general amenities (bath, dining hall, paths, cabins). But who am I?

[Bill Babler]

Whom ever you are, Im with ya Buddy.

[Phil Lilley]

huh?!