Back To The Kvichak Sept 2008

The Kvichak River just doesn't let you down. Me and seven other hard-nosed rainbow fisherman headed to the Kvichak on September 22nd. The Kvichak drains Lake Iliamna into Bristol Bay at the head of the Alaska Peninsula. We gathered at Lake Clark Air Service at Merrill Field in Anchorage for the 1.5 hour flight to Igiogik. We departed Merrill Field at about 8:30A, the eight of us and our gear, in a twin-engine Navajo Chieftain. All of the provisions for this 5-day trip had been shipped in advance of our departure. As with last year's trip we would be staying at Blueberry Lodge about 2 miles downstream from Igiogik.

It was noon by the time we arrived at the lodge, got a briefing on the lodge rules, a fishing report from George, the lodge owner, and unpacked and rigged our gear. Four members of the group fished the Kivchak last year and four were "newcomers", all are experienced Alaska fisherman. Most of us live and work in the greater Anchorage area except for Walt, who now lives in Estes Park, Colorado, and Joe from Ketchikan, Alaska.

The initial report was that over 4-million sockeye had migrated through the area earlier, but pushed on into Lake Iliamna; as a result there were not many "reds" in the river. The rainbows feed on the eggs and flesh of the spawning salmon; the fact there were not many sockeye in the river was not good news. George reported that rainbows were being taken on black leeches, flesh flies and beads. Undaunted, our three boats pulled away from the lodge and fanned out into the river; we fished 3 to a boat. We drift and wade. When drifting we take turns at the oars; when you catch a fish you rotate to the oars.

It had been sunny when we landed in Igiogik, but clouds moved in and a light rain beagn to fall as we started our first drift. We fish the "braids" an area about 3 miles downstream of Lake Iliamna where the gradient of the river flattens out and the channel splits and runs through a several parallel channels between low, flat islands covered with deep grass and brush. Additional back channels meander through the islands; many are too shallow and narrow for boat access and can only be accessed by wading.

We hadn't drifted too far when John tied into our first rainbow of the trip. He hooked the fish at the entrance to one of the back channels, a spot that had been very productive last year. We rowed the boat to shore to be in a better position to fight and land the fish, which turned out to be a nice 25-26 inch rainbow.



We then fanned out along the edge of the river to swing flies. John moved upstream and into the mouth of the back channel. He hadn't be there long when he hooked a second and stronger fish that ran downstream with the current and quickly had John into his backing. After several minutes and few attempts to net the fish a beautiful 27-inch rainbow was brought to hand. Clearly John's trip was already a success.


We landed one or two more smaller fish and then moved to another area of the river. The fishing action slowed, picking up a fish here and there. At the end of the first day we had landed a few nice rainbows but in spite of the fast start we had to fish hard for the rainbows.




Our trip started on a Monday the 22nd and was to end at noon on the 27th, 4 full-days and two half-days of fishing. We encountered the full gamete of weather during our stay: heavy overcast with rain, occasional wind, sun, and frost one morning. The second day was mostly overcast. We were on the river each morning as the sun came up at about 8:00A. At the braids our boats fanned out to different "favorite" spots. The river was higher than last year. This summer was wetter than previous years and like many other rivers in southern Alaska water levels were higher. The Kvichak is clear with mostly a gravel or cobble bottom; there are a few sandy areas. You can see the bottom clearly in 10 feet of water.

Some of the spots that consistently produced fish last year seemed barren this year. It always takes a day or two on a river to dial things in, even a river that you think you know. We started exploring some of the narrow channels on foot and began finding rainbows, including some 30-inch plus fish that proved to be very spooky. There seemed to be rainbows congregating at the inlets and outlets of these channels. We landed multiple fish in some locations if you could keep from "stirring" the hole up too much.






Talk around the dinner table was about the side or back channels, spooky fish and the lack of salmon in the river. Black leeches, "Willie Nelsons" and flesh flies seemed to be producing fish.

The next morning we mixed the boats up to give everyone a chance to fish with different people. I had been fishing with John, a colleague from work with whom I fish with regularly and with whom I fished the Kivchak last year, and Chris from Eagle River, Alaska; this was his first Kvichak trip. On this day I was with the lodge owner George and Joe, a friend from Ketchikan who I fish with in southeastern Alaska; this was Joe's first trip to the Kvichak. In addition to being an excellent fly fisher, there isn't much George doesn't know about the Kvichak. As we started through one of the first drifts in a slow moving part of the river George instructed me to cast just above some weeds to the right of the boat. The fly hadn't drifted 10 feet when the rainbow hit and ran upstream. The fish ran back and forth across the river as qwe continued to drift. We reached a shallow spot where I slipped over the side of the boat to fight the fish in the water and to allow Joe to fish on downstream as I brought my fish into shore; a nicely colored male. Suddenly Joe had a nice fish on just downstream from where I landed mine; not a bad way to start the day.





We spent another half hour or so fishing the area without a hit and then moved on. We crossed back into one of the main channels of the river, drifted some and then pulled into the entrance of one of the back channels. We immediately saw several rainbows in the first pool and George and Joe both picked up fish. I had changed to my switch rod and was swinging a Willie Nelson in the main channel of the river, letting the fly move across the opening to the side channel when I had a very hard hit as my fly approached the end of the drift; it was a heavy fish and it ran downstream. George had returned to the boat and was available if we had to chase the fish, which now had me into my backing -- 120 foot spey line. The previous day I helped John with one of his rainbows when he couldn't stop it, by getting back into the boat and following it. Finally, the fish turned and started moving upstream. I could tell by the head shakes it was a good fish. I worked the fish into the slower moving and shallower water in the mouth of the channel and then suddenly the fish was in front of me. George quickly netted what turned out to be my best fish of the trip, a thick, 27 inch rainbow, and a personnel best.




George and I then fished the side channel downstream, the channel varied in width from as narrow as 15 feet to maybe 50 feet and in depth from a 1 foot to as much 6-8 feet along fast moving cut-banks. George picked up several nice fish including a 26 inch brightly colored male and I landed a couple as well. We then returned to the boat and drifted the entire channel to its outlet back into the main channel, but the lower portion turned out to be disappointing, much slower moving and generally not productive.





Late one afternoon Joe and I were fishing at the outlet of one of the channels that we refer to as beaver alley. We were on the far side or right bank of the river when suddenly a large bull moose appeared in the deep grass on the island directly across from us. The moose spotted us and was curious. It came toward us and then decided to move away, continuing on his original path toward the main channel of the river which he swam effortlessly across and then up onto the far bank of another island further downstream. We could still see the bull going away well over a half a mile below us.





Friday, our next to the last day dawned cold and clear. This was the first morning that I had to pull on frozen wading boots. As we headed downstream I sat with my back to the wind and my hands stuffed into my wading jacket to keep warm. We started by fishing the side channel near beaver alley. John picked up a couple of rainbows on beads and I saw several large rainbows that showed no interest in anything I put in front of them. These fish had obviously been the center of other fisherman's interest in the weeks preceding our arrival.

We then moved downstream to a back channel where John had picked up some good fish two days ago. There were 4 or 5 rainbows in the first pool, but again they were uninterested in anything we had. John and Chris quickly headed down the path. I swung some flies at the entrance to the channel and had one bump, but then switched back to my 8 weight, single handed rod and a flesh fly, and started fishing downstream in the side channel. The path along the right bank was 5-6 feet above the water, and a deep channel undercut the bank I was standing on. I stayed as far back from the edge of the bank as I could and still be able to watch my drift. I cast toward the head of the hole and watched the fly tumble along in the current. On my 2nd or 3rd cast I a dark shadow rose up from the depths and grabbed at the fly, but missed it; or at least it didn't "taste" the hook. I repeated the cast and again up came the shadow, I could see the thick, distinctive back of a rainbow and this time it took the fly solidly; I was hooked up. Now what? I was not in a good position to fight the fish and I was alone. The fish ran up and down along the hole which was maybe 50 feet long, and I chased it from the path along the bank in thick grass and brush. I called for John but heard nothing. After a few minutes I decided I was going to have to do this alone and the only chance I had was to get into the water. I moved downstream in spite of my concern that the fish might rocket into the next hole where I had no idea what I might be confronted with there. Finally I slipped into the water downstream of the fish at the bottom of the hole. I reached for my landing net and tried to work the fish toward me but it was too strong and it was clear that under the conditions I was not going to be able to net the fish. After several more minutes I got the fish into shallow water near a gravel bar downstream of me and I was able to work it onto the bar. I quickly unhooked the rainbow, snapped a couple of pictures and slipped it back into the water; another beautiful 27-inch Kvichak rainbow.




I soon caught up with John and Chris in a large pool where two channels came together and where two days ago Vaughn had hooked and lost a 30-plus inch rainbow. We picked up a few small rainbows today and a bunch of greyling drifting beads (salmon egg imitations). In particular, John landed several nice greyling in one "glory hole".




We returned to the boat and decided to head back to the one of the main channels on the left side of the braids to drift. The sun was bright and beginning to throw long shadows. We had hadn't as much luck drifting as we had the previous year but we wanted to give it a fresh try. It wasn't long before we hooked into a good rainbow, and then another and another. In the course of about 2 hours we landed 8-10 nice fish dead drifting flesh flies. We were still catching rainbows when 6:00P rolled around and we headed back to the lodge. Another boat came in just behind us, but the third boat still hadn't arrived by 8:00P, our curfew. Finally, at about 8:15 the third boat pulled into the bank and clearly they had a good day. In fact, on the "last cast" of the day Gary hooked and landed the best fish of the trip, 30.5 inch rainbow! It was clearly the best day on the river and unfortunately we had to be off the river by noon and on our way to the airstrip for the 2:00P pick-up tomorrow.



Everyone was up and on the river at daybreak, our final few hours on the Kvichak. It was a clear sunny morning. Our group headed back to where we had finished up the previous evening, it took us a while but we dialed things in again. Unfortunately, the clock ran out as we were into the fish; the rest will have to wait for next year. The following are some random and depature photos from the trip:

















We shall return...............

Silvers August 2008

It was Saturday morning and Mike and I had planned to fly in his plane to the west side of Cook Inlet south of Anchorage in search of Silver Salmon. This day dawned like a lot of others this year, cool and rainy but good enough to fly. I met Mike at his home on the hillside in south Anchorage and we drove to Merrill field where we loaded the plane, gassed up and headed west and then south over the mouth of the Susitna Rivers.





As we flew south along the shore of Cook Inlet the weather improved somewhat. After about an hour we reached the mouth of the Kustatan River and we turned to follow the river upstream. The plane is equipped with large "tundra tires" that would allow us to land on a gravel bar or the bank of the river when we decided where we wanted to fish. We flew low and slow along the course of the river looking for salmon. As we came around one bend a large brown bar stood on the edge of a gravel bar, a good sign that there fish in the river. We also saw a couple of planes and people fishing in the lower reaches of the river. The stream narrowed and the vegetation along the banks of the river became more dense the further upstream we got and finally mike turned the plane back downstream as we searched for a place to land.

Finally, we agreed on a spot where the river narrowed below a bar. We circled to land on the right bank of the river but as we did I spotted something dark in the brush and suggested we look at it again to see if it was a bear; it turned out to be moose bedded down and so we landed.







We quickly pulled our gear from the plane, set up our rods and headed through the brush to the river. We waded down stream and out to the island we hand seen from the air. The water was knee deep between the bank and the island. At the downstream end of the island the river was about 60 feet wide between where we stood and the opposite (left) bank. Mike moved downstream and I worked my way up stream; we were separated by about 100 feet, or so. The idea was to dead drift flesh flies and streamers: cast upstream and across, allow the fly to sink and drift with the current, strip the fly back near the end of the swing and then repeat the process.

Thirty minutes went by quickly with no takes. We changed flies occasionally looking for the right combination. Finally, Mike had a fish on, almost to him, but the hooked pulled; he thought it might have been a rainbow. Another, 30 minutes and still nothing. Then WHAM, something took my fly at the very end of the drift, almost directly downstream from where I was standing. The fish charged up stream, my line rooster-tailing through the water. I wasn't sure what I had but it was fairly heavy fish. Then the fish charged downstream, very close to brush along the bank opposite me. I put pressure on it to keep it out of the brush, and when I did the fish came at me. I backed up as fast as I could, reeling as fast as I could, but I had a pile of slack in front of me and was sure the fish was off. Suddenly the line tightened and the fish headed down stream, still on! I worked my way down and up onto the bar. We did not bring a net and so I planned to beach the fish. Now I could see that it was a nice silver, bright, just out of saltwater. With Mike's help we got the fish onto the bank, snapped a picture and tossed it into the tall grass for safekeeping until we headed back to the plane.



Soon I had another fish on, a silver. It took my fly almost in the same spot as the first one and fought a similar battle. It wasn't long until we had it on the bank and in the grass next to the first salmon. Now it was Mike's turn. He hooked into a silver below me. The fish had more room to run where Mike was standing and it took advantage of that. After about 10 minutes we landed our third fish of the morning. It was now after 11:00A and so we agreed to fish for another 20 minutes and then head back to Anchorage. We both hooked and lost one more silver in the allotted time, then gutted the three fish we had and headed back to the plane.










It wasn't long until were airborne and headed north, back to Anchorage. As we flew over the mouths of the Sustina and Little Susitna Rivers we spotted large pods of Beluga whales pursing schools of salmon headed upstream into those drainages. It had started raining soon after we took off; the rain continued all the home.

Steelhead Back Roads, The Situk River, Alaska, April 2008

On the morning of April 16, 2008 Jason, Mike and I flew from Anchorage to Yakutat, Alaska to try our luck on the Situk River for spring steelheads. Spring was late coming in south central Alaska and there was still a lot of snow on the ground when we arrived in Yakutat. Our plan involved staying in a cabin at Yakutat Lodge, and renting a vehicle to travel between the lodge and the river. There are two points of access to the Situk, one near the mouth and the other at nine-mile bridge. After checking in and being assigned a cabin we sorted out our gear,changed into our waders, rigged our rods and drove toward nine-mile bridge. The weather was cold, overcast and by the time we reached the river snowing.



We split up at the bridge, Mike and I going upstream and Jason downstream. We fished for a couple hours in increasingly heavy snow. With daylight fading Mike and I headed back to the bridge not having had any takes. We fly fish exclusively and release all fish. The Situk River is single hook, artificial lures only. Both of us dead drifted egg patterns using strike indicators. Jason was at the bridge when Mike and I returned and had hooked two steelhead at the tail-out of the pool immediately below the bridge and landed one.



The next morning dawned cold and clear, in the low 20s. We had decided to return to the nine-mile bridge and hike upstream. A compacted trial along the left side of the river lead us to a point upstream where the trail crossed over to the opposite bank. The three of us waded into the river and fished up and slightly downstream of the crossing. After a short time Mike an I followed the trail upstream for about 15 minutes and then fished several pools working our way downstream. The cold air caused the line guides to freeze quickly and so it was necessary to frequently clear the ice. We worked our way downstream toward the crossing and encountered Jason near a pile of logs lying almost completely across the river. It turned out that he had hooked a large steelhead in small pool at the base of a stump that broke him and had seen a second fish. After several minutes without a take we all headed back downstream to a whole just below the crossing. There were two fisherman already at the hole when we arrived and unfortunately we had to stand there and watch them hook three steelhead in about 15 minutes, one of which they landed. We worked past them and then proceeded to fish downstream toward the bridge.




The Situk is a relatively narrow river with numerous log piles in, or partially in, the water and lined on both banks with brush and alders. For that reason it can be a difficult river to fish and even more difficult to land fish if they decide to seek refuge under a log pile or amongst roots along the banks. We waded down the middle of the river working seams along the banks where the steelhead like to hide in the roots and brush that hangs down into the water. The water was about 36F and clear. We came to a large log pile at a 90-degree bend in the river and saw steelhead under logs in places that were impossible to fish. We were back to the bridge by noon without a take except for the fish that broke Jason's line.

Next we drove to the mouth of the river in the hope of intercepting new fish entering the river. The area we fished is an estuary and therefore affected by the tides. The afternoon was warmer and we fished for several more hours without a take. Drift boats which put in at the nine-mile bridge started showing up around 4:00P and the reports were not promising; they too had seen and hooked very few fish. We ended the day batting zero for three rods.

Our strategy for day three was to return to nine-mile and be the first to the hole where we had seen three fish hooked the previous day. We were up early and on the trail by by 6:00A. It was even colder day. We got to hole and waded out into the river between or dozen or so logs in water. The water felt even colder on this day. There was only room for two people to fish the hole so Jason elected to move upstream to the log pile where he hooked up the previous day. I was in the water 5 minutes when my guides were iced up and my reel froze completely. Mike was having the same problems with his gear. Jaison returned and the three of us rotated in the hole for almost two hours without a take.

Cold and disappointed we headed downstream. Mike hiked the trail back to the bridge and Jason and I waded the river. At the downstream log jam where we spotted fish the day before, Jaison found 3-4 large steelhead in a deep pool off the root end of a large spruce tree in the water. Not for the lack of trying, Jason was unable to interest the fish in the various flies he offered. We had been fishing primarily egg patterns, beads and occasionally black leeches.

Mike was at the bridge when we got there and had spotted several steelhead in the deep hole downstream of the bridge. The three of us tried a variety egg patterns and leeches without success. Fishing a deep hole directly under the bridge Jason hooked up with and landed an 8-10 pound dark, hold-over steelhead. He then moved to the right bank of the river at the boat launch and hooked and landed a nice chrome 10-12 pound female. Mike hooked what seemed to be another good fish but the hook pulled out. We were now three days into the trip and I still hadn't had a single take. After another 30 minutes or so without a hit we decided to return to the mouth of the river. It was late in the afternoon, we fished for maybe another hour then called it a day.



Mike left us on day four to return to Anchorage and then to Denver on business. Jason and I decided to return the mouth of the river and hike upstream as far as possible. We followed the trail on river-right as far as it went. It took us about 1.5 hours to reach the end of the trail. The air was noticeably warmer and the skies where still cloudless. The river made what looked like an S-curve and we started fishing in short pool near the midpoint of the bend. The sun was just clearing the tree tops when I lines hit the water. There was large jumble of logs downstream of the pool. We fished the hole together for a while and I then wandered downstream. I was out of sight long when I heard Jason call. Moving back upstream I could see that he was hooked up. The fish fought hard for a several minutes before we tailed a bright 10-12 female steelhead. We then switched locations and I fished the upper pool and Jason moved downstream.





Less than 15 minutes passed and I heard Jason again. This time I scurried downstream to find him with a big steelhead. At first he thought he had snagged the bottom until the fish started to move upstream. Jason worked to keep the fish out of brush along the bank. Suddenly the fish started to move up stream toward a downed tree in the water and in an effort to keep the steelhead from the snag the fish broke off. With that we started working our way downstream.

We traveled about 100 yards and the reached a point too deep wade. We climbed the left bank of the river and then worked away through the woods in deep snow along a long straight pool. Near the midpoint of the pool the height of the bank allowed us a good vantage from which to spot fish and we see 20-25 steelhead scattered about the pool and there had to be others which we couldn't see. Heavy brush made it impossible to fish from the side of the river we were on. We decided to work our way toward the lower end of the pool, then across the river and upstream to a point directly across from where we had observed the fish.



Our position left us in waist deep water amongst a nest of large trees. It took us a while but finally we located the fish near the far bank directly across from us. I had two takes in row and then finally hooked a good size steelhead. I struggled to keep it out of the trees on our side of the river when it turned and ran toward the far bank and then began a series of surface rolls suddenly broke me off. Jason and I hooked 10-12 steelhead in the hole over the next a couple hours landing 4 or 5. I was able to bring two good steelhead to hand, my first of the trip.






The last day of the trip dawned cool and sunny. We had a plane to catch in the evening so this would be a short day on the river. The plan was to retrace our path from yesterday. After breakfast at the lodge I went to start the truck to warm it up only to find a flat tire. Panic set in as I looked through the truck for the tools to change the tire. The jack, lug wrench and spare were all there but no jack handle! After some frantic phone calls we were instructed to use an old van parked in front of the lodge, with the keys in it. We quickly piled our gear into the van and headed back to the mouth of the Situk.

It was long before we were back to the hole where things started happening yesterday. Jason fished the head of the pool and I fished the tail-out. We expected the action to start quickly but it didn't. We tried various egg patterns and leeches but nothing. Finally, after jet boat plowed through the hole on it's way upstream Jason tagged a nice bright female steelhead. Unfortunately I had left my camera at the cabin and Jason's camera fogged up so there are no pictures of our final day of the trip.

We continued to work the pool and the one directly below it. Another fish was hooked in the lower pool but not landed. After about an hour we headed downstream to the pool that had been so prolific the day before. We crossed at the same point and took up our same positions between the jumble of logs but the result was disappointing. The fish were there but the bite was off. We made dozens of casts but no takes. Finally, after about an hour I hooked a good fish. At first I though I had snagged something on the bottom but finally realized it was a steelhead. I was using my 8/9 weight switch rod which has a lot of backbone but the fish was pretty much having its way with me. We had decided the day before that would be very difficult to tail a big fish in our position in the river and that we might have to take it downstream to a gravel bar on the opposite side of the river. After bring the fish into us three time only to have it charge back out into the river I decided to move the fish downstream and to cross over to the opposite bank in the process.

As I started to work down river the fish came with me; I was it waste deep water. Part way to the bar the fish crossed over to the opposite bank and started to take advantage of the current. I river makes a long sweeping bend and gains velocity at this point. Now my fear was that the fish would make a run and that I might not be able to follow it. I put pressure on the steelhead and gained some ground. Jason positioned himself to tail the fish when I got closer. Finally, after another 5 minutes or so the fish tired and we able to land it, a nice chrome 13-14 pound female. The fish was winded and we had to work with it a bit but suddenly it charged back into the current and was on its way.

By now it was time to head back to the lodge. On our way out we started seeing fresh steelhead in the river, groups of 6-10 fish. At one one point we saw 7 or 8 fish holding in about 2 feet of water. Unable to pass up a chance at another steelhead, Jason went down the bank below the fish and, acting as I spotter, I directed him from high up on the bank. After much coaching and several casts Jason's "aeropuff" drifted through the middle of the pod and suddenly the water erupted as one of the fish took the fly. Just out of salt water these steelhead have a lot of spunk. Jason landed the fish as quickly as possible and then took one more steelhead before we hand to start moving again.

We returned to the cabin to pack, shower and check in at the airport. Yakutat Lodge is next to the airport terminal and so burgers and beer at the lodge finished off a great trip. Tired, we both slept on the short plane ride back to Anchorage.