The Aleutian Islands - Unalaska, AK

In the Summer of 2003 my wife Liz and I, Just married, honey-mooned in Alaska. Which is where we had met 5 years earlier while in college. Liz suggested that we could go back to Alaska for our honey moon and mentioned that I could put the trip together. I went a head and planned out two weeks of fishing. One fishing for Salmon on the rivers of Unalaska on the Aleutian Islands, and another week fishing the Naknek and its tributaries in Bristol Bay.

The Aleutian Islands were our first destination, but due to foggy conditions we spent two-and-a-half days just waiting for a plane to be able to fly into the Dutch Harbor airport. We finally made it to the Island. Unfortunately we were not able to go with the outfit that we had planned on also due to the weather, which was a shame as to get there we would have taken a Grummin Duck which is a plane I have not yet flown on.

I explored fishing oppotunities that were road accessible. The local chamber of commerce and the hotel took really great care if liz and I. even lending us a vehicle to explore the island with. They also got us out on the harbor to fish Bass and to see them pull a few crab pot. The Sea Bass fishing was great.

I also caught a good number of Pink Salmon in the salt water bay behind the hotel. They were a ton of fun.

Eagles were seemingly everywhere.

Unalaska has been a continuos human settlement for the last 9000 yrs. people have called the harbor part of the island home for as long as people have inhabited Damascus. It is very possible, if you believe that the first peoples to the Americas could have traveled by boat rather than land bridge, that the first immigrants from Asia to America came through Unalaska and the Aleutians.

Snake River - 2010

Snake River: 2010

In October 2010 Rusty and I headed back the Region of the Nez Perce. Travel was tough this year with cancelled flight and unplanned detours, but we made it to the Salmon only a half day later than expected.

Our first evening was great despite the water being a bit warmer than desirable. the weather was

mild and we got one of our favorite runs, a nice long easy wade with a rip that sits about 80' from knee deep the whole way. I wore a T-shirt since the weather so fine, feeling good to be done traveling and finally fishing. The run we were on produced rusty's first fish last year... and mine this year.

I fished a Thompson River Caddis down the lower half of the run and, just as day tipped to twighlight, the fish took. It was on the strip, but it still took.

I had gotten a 15' TnT from poppy the previous fall and this was my first fish with the rod. I was worried that a 9wt would be too much rod for smaller fish, but this fish I caught our first night was 5-6 lbs and it was a great fight and I, don't think a smaller rod would have made the experience any more fun.

We camped around a bunch of other fly fishers, but apparently what we fish and what they fish is different, as we almost never seemed to see these guys on the water we fished. Although there is more pressure this year than last. The guys at camp were having a tough time with the warm water. Over the next few days we fished some very good water and struggled to find fish. we ran up to the Clearwater a few times but it had alot of people on it.

We did connect with two more fish. Both under pretty bright conditions. Both also came off what was our most productive run last year. I caught a small fish under a bright/partly cloudy midday sky. It ate a yellow/Orange/ Natural Married wing spey, my first married wing fish, and some how that matters.

A day later on the same run, Rusty hooked our best fish of the trip. It was late morning. I am not sure what fly rusty was fishing but I would wager it was 3 or 5 Yellow Jacket (last years magic fly).

Though the conditions were not as perfect as the year before. we found fish when fishing was tough and the Snake continued her kind and generous tradition.

We fished our 2010 trip fishing the Salmon River in Idaho, which is a tributary of the Snake. We had a great time.

Muskegon River - Michigan

 

I have twice made trips to the Muskegon River in Michigan. It is a very pretty river for the great lakes and has lots of interesting water to fishing. From Croton Dam down to Newago the river runs in a deep and heavily wooded valley. below newago I remember the river bottom getting sandier and the current become more laminar and slow.

Access is limited and flating or boating the river seems to be the best way to access the best fishing water. Jet boats are a great way to move from spot to spot, but I dont have one of those, so the next time I return I will use my Watermasters and just hire a shuttle service.

I have caught a few steelhead on the Muskegon and I really look forward to catching a few more.

The Salmon River

In the fall of 2010 my friend Rusty and I made our trip out to fish the Snake, Grand Ronde, and Clearwater. River conditions on the Snake were a little tough with some pretty high water temperatures on the Snake and a frustrating number of people on the Clearwater. We caught a few fish on the Snake, had a few early grabs on the Clearwater and that kept us fishing there longer than I wanted, but other guys were getting fish. One guy got a fish on a popular run that I had just told Rusty was a pure shit of a run. I guest don't get the Clearwater.

After about five days jumping between the Snake and Clearwater, we decided to try some new water and headed down to the Salmon river near Riggins, ID. On the drive down I realized the down side to the Salmon is that if you get there and it is not fishing, you will have a long drive to find them. The drive down was really neat though, as you come south down 95 from the Clearwater you a following the route that Lewis & Clark used to return to the east, after reaching the Pacific Ocean. Rusty has read the accounts of that trip and was able to tell me about some of their adventures as we headed through passes and valleys of Idaho.

We passed through a town on the way that had the full skeleton of a mammoth in a glass house. I am often looking for spots where ancient people would have traveled or lived in the lands I fish and here was a sign of the truly ancient, the prey of America's first humans. The slopes around us were wooded with several streams and they over looked a great grassy valley. I imagined people gathering fire wood and being able to see the mammoth in the distance, across the valley 8,000 years earlier.

Anyway, we had to get licenses in Riggins as well as camp supplies so we got to the Salmon too late to fish, but were able to identify a few good looking spots to start on the next day. As we made camp we had a Small doe wandered by our beautiful and relatively solitary camp and that was just the beginning of the deer we saw over the next day and a half. We saw lots of "small" bucks(according to Rusty that is, to my whitetail eyes they looked huge) and does along the banks and hillsides of the the Salmon.

This year Rusty brought a camper, and it was really awesome. We got camp set up pretty quick and efficient, as Rusty got me in line with camp chores and trailer moving, although I was the one who encouraged all the moving...but that another story. The point is that the trailer was great and that we had a good camp there on the Salmon.

The next morning we were up bright and early and on the river. We marked a few spots on the GPS on the way down the Salmon the day before. I started, what I thought was about half way down the run, but this run like lots of runs we found on the salmon are just a little different. I was at the head of a little twelve-to-twenty cast spot, but it only took three.

I hooked and landed a pretty bright hatchery hen, especially for being over seven hundred miles from the sea (I will double check on that number)

Talachulitna River - Alaska

I guided for a lodge on the Talachulitna River in the Summer of 1998. I learned alot about guiding that summer. It was hard work, and it was sometimes very rewarding. It was also not a specific job that I would not recommend for any one else.

There are alot of fishing lodges in Alaska, and there is a broad spectrum of fishing experiences. Some lodges are better than others and some rivers are better than others. this is true wther you are a guide or a client. There is also alot of potential dangers in the Alaskan wilderness, and a person would do best to go where those dangers are minimized. so when choosing a lodge to fish at or guide at, a person should choose with care, and consider not just price but whole package.

Anyway, The Tal is a beautiful river that lies about 120 airmiles northwest of Anchorage it is a tributary to a tributatry to the Susitna River. The Talachulitna dumps into the Skwetna, which feeds the Yetna, and then to the Susitna. It is a clear river and holds a great trout and Char populations.

We spent most of king salmon season either plugging at the mouth of the Tal or crossing the Skwetna to fish a creek that came in opposite the Tal. This creek was the place to cast flies for Kings. We would cast from our boats into the pond sized pool that was the mouth of the creek. We landed many kings on flies and light tackle. the best flies were the George Cooks popsicles, and showgirls.

The days of guiding King Salmon were long as guys could start fishing at 6am and had to stop at 11pm. I often had a few guys in the boat through out the day as they would often rotate through. as one guy came back with his King for the day, another angler would be motivated to get out and try for a few ours, and so days during King Salmon season where rough, especially considering prep and clean up time.




There were also time that I was given entire days and even a whole week or two where I got to explore the river without clients, after my chores were done. I hike up the Tal and would fish my way down, catching big dollies and rainbows.

Miramichi River - July

I headed out to the Miramichi in late July of 2008. I had come up with a plan to have customers join me in the pursuit of salmon. I arrived on July, 23rd and spent the 24th visiting customers in the New Brunswick Provence and getting every thing organized for the trip. I stopped in at the local fly shops (WW Doak & Curtis) to get fishing licenses, flies, and the skinny on the river. Word was good, Lots of fish were entering the river and the recent and ongoing rains were moving fish into the system.

I stopped at the Miramichi Salmon museum in Doaktown and enjoyed the day, anticipating the next.After getting some food at the grocery I headed for the cabin that I had reserved at Country Haven Lodge.

I met up with Byzee, the lodge owner, who informed me that while the current group of anglers had not yet landed a fish, they were rolling fish on virtually every run, more good news. I took a nap and got up to make the 2 hour drive back to the airport to pick up Bob, the customer that I would be fishing with, I had another customer lined up as well but, he had to cancel.I met Bob at 11pm and we made it back to the lodge by 1am. We had a drink and hit the hay we had to meet our Guide Jeremy at 7am, so we could get time in before the heat of the day rolled in.

We fished two runs that first morning, we had just settled on one when we got word that one of the guides who was not working, had a large pod of salmon on the run behind his house and he had just landed one. So we headed over.

The run we fished was called the Warren Pool, it is across the river from Ted Williams Cabin. We got there at the same time as some other anglers, and since warrens is public water that is how it goes, but a really heavy shower of rain drove all of the river, excepting me. The rain stopped and Bob jumped in a head of me and the run was all ours. In not too long a fish boiled my fly, never to return. It was a long run and took nearly two hours to fish through, so then it was time for a midday break. After a lazy afternoon, we headed out with Randle, another guide, at about 6pm to fish a run about ten mile up stream from the lodge. Randle polled a boat over to an island in the river from which we fished. Randle actually owned the island, and it was obvious once he began explaining the run, intimate details breaking down each part of the run, specific direction where and how to wade the run, how to line your self up, where to stop and take a couple casts, etc. and in my first pass through the short run, I goy a solid yank, a surface explosion, the fish came unplugged and was gone.


Bob was having some trouble casting the 10’ 8wt that I had brought for him, his arm was getting tired so I gave Bob the two handed rod I was fishing to see it would not be so tiring and I thought that even a bad two handed caster can consistently get the fly thirty or forty feet from their body. The instinct was correct, Bob fished out the evening with the two hander, and while he still had some misgivings about the whole salmon fishing idea in general, he at least liked the rod better. I think Randle kind of fell in love with the 11’ 8wt switch rod and scandi head I was fishing as well, he kept telling me how amazing the cast was and kept quizzing me about it.

The next morning, I rigged Bob up with my 6126 Sage and a 6/7/8 windcutter, and it is a good thing, because the run Jeremy took us to, Mid-way Bar, had virtually no back cast. I gave Bob a quick casting lesson and headed down stream. There were some guys upstream and in a short time one of them got a fish, and just as that saga was over Bob hooked a salmon. The fight covered 200-300 of river bank, and took over 30 minutes, before the fish made an escape. Aw well crap happens.

Bob now got it. Even though the fish got away he now knew why the wait and effort were worth it. And that is good be cause in the next day and a half we rose nothing more. The river was high and the fish were blowing right through the lower river. We checked out some of the Miramichi’s tributaries, the Cains and the Renous Rivers. Both were enjoyable.

I gave Jeremy a Winston Spey rod as a tip, as he had guided me on my last trip, and I thought it would be good for him to know and understand two-handed rods and casts and fishing, as it is growing in popularity. But not too much around the Miramichi yet, I got a lot of comments and stares.

I ran Bob over to the Airport on Monday and then shot down the road to visit with customers in the Halifax area, and then to visit another near the Margaree.

I got alittle fishing in on the Margaree after my visits and even got a grab out of the first run I fished which was near the tide water, but I caught nothing. The Margaree is really beautiful and the regulations are great for the on-your-own type guy, meaning no guide needed, no beats to buy, just a license and you can fish.

Grande Ronde River

I have fished the Grande Ronde a few times. I have always fished it on the road program, I have not floated it. I have fish this river both upstream by Boggans Oasis and Down by it's confluence with the Snake River. It is a river of different charactors, it changes as it flows away to miles from where the Wallowa joins it near Troy to it's meeting with the mighty Snake.

I definitely have a prefence for fishing the Ronde from Troy to Boggan's Oasis. Part of the reason for this is that it is road accessible, and the river from Boggan's down it primarily accessed by floating it. There are other reasons for my preference, the shear number of runs on the river, so many I can't imagine that they could all be named, and they can all hold fish. There don't really seem to secret spots on the Grande Ronde, you pioneer your own water and you may find fish, sometimes alot of them.

The Vistas and the wildlife that the Grande Ronde canyon present can be amazing. There are also numerous deer and Bighorn Sheep around the Ronde, as well as a great variety of birds. On my last trip I was fishing on of my favorite runs as night was setting in and from up the canyon wall, not far away, an owl began to hoot, it had a deep, low quality to the sound and sent shivers down my spine.

On my first trip to the Boggan's area I fished a 13'3" 7wt which was fine for the size of the river, but I would have preferred a lighter rod for the diminutive size of the fish, 4-6lbs on average. In my recent trips to the Ronde I have fished either an 8110-4 Sage switch rods which fishes much smaller than an 8wt and is alot of fun on smaller rivers, or a 6126-3 Sage, really this rod can do anything.

My best luck on the Grande Ronde has been on muddlers, Specifically a brown/pumpkin colored muddler, but my experience is very limited. On the first run I fished, on my first morning fishing the area around Boggan's Oasis. I landed three steelhead all on a brown muddler, so since then I have had a disproportionate level of confidence in this fly, and I have hooked fish on it.

There are several guides that work the Grande Ronde, such as Scott O'Donnoll, Ed Ward, and Mike McCune run Spey Water Guide Service, I know that John Farrar is also guiding the Ronde and has done so for a long time. I guess guides could be really good especially when fishing is tough and when a person wants to float the river, and I guess it is a great way to improve a persons spey/skagit casting techniques in a fun and fishy environment. I don't know that I would want to be guided on this river though, because to me the Ronde is a great river to pit your own skills against, as there are many classic runs on the river, all of which can hold fish, and there is an opportunity to find a good run on your own, on your own ability of reading the water and then going in and hooking a fish (if it all works out) it's kind of like matching the hatch without a guide for you trout guys.

Not all my fishing partners are as in love with the Grande Ronde as I am. They like the river, but they have other rivers that trrump it in their minds and hearts. For me the Ronde is just what a Summer/Fall river should be. The fish are smaller, but they are grabby and a very long way from the Ocean. They capture my imagination with there long travels and my heart with their lively and aggressive natures.

The Oconto River - Wisconsin

The Oconto river is, I guess, my home river. I live in Green Bay and the Oconto is only a 20-30 minute drive depending on which water I want to fish. There is about 15 miles of river that anadromous fish can travel on the Oconto. The river enters Green Bay at the town of Oconto and the fish can travel up to the dam at Stiles.

The Oconto used to be a fairly good steelhead river, never great in my time, but in recent years steelhead fishing on the Oconto has gone down the crapper. Lake run Brown Trout fishing has, however, steadily improved each season for a while now. It has become nearly common place to go out and get a couple of trout in a days fishing and now we even have guides working out of Tightlines Fly Shop in De Pere, WI.

There is a good amount of water to fish up and down the river's length. The gradient of the river is pretty tame, and there are no rapids, but there is the occasional riffle and pool. The river is a good size for two handed rods and swinging flies will catch you fish.

Clearwater River

The Clearwater River has its head waters in the Bitterroot and Clearwater mountain ranges. The river produces a run of summer steelhead that are the largest in the United States. Unfortunately these large steelhead that were once wild and prolific, now struggle as primarily hatchery reared fish. In addition to the loss of the wild giants, there is a popular catch and kill fishery on the river for the giant hatchery fish. Though despite these issues, the Clearwater is one of my favorite rivers ( my most favorite is only an hour from it) and for good reason.

I have fished the Clearwater several times. I first fished the Clearwater in 2001 in mid-September. I travelled out there with three friends from Milwaukee and we met another friend out there. On that trip we fished a few runs between Lewiston and Cherry lane. Over the following years I have been able to expand the range of water that I fish on the river. In fact on my last trip My friend BR and I fished nearly 30 different runs.

A great thing about the Clearwater is that it has both obvious runs, and runs that are hidden and must be discovered. There is currently no book or map of the river that gives a fly angler a yellow brick road to the steelhead, nor could there be. Experience is the key to success and difference between success (catching fish) and failure (not) is razor thin. Clearwater steelhead are hard to come by even for the true experts of the river system, but it is the difficulty of catching a fish that makes it so valuable. A fish in a week is all right.

Of course any trip to the Clearwater must include several stops at The Red Shed fly shop in Peck, ID less than a mile off the river between Lenore and Orofino. Poppy owns and runs the shop, which is a shop uniquely dedicated to Two handed/Spey fishing. Poppy not only carries the standards such as Sage, GLoomis, Rio, Airflo, etc., but also alot of the less common equipment such as Guideline, Hardy, Molin, Sarcione, and many, many more.

Flies for the Clearwater are often considered small. I have spoken to several river experts and I have heard the same thing over and over again "This is a small fly river". Now I remember that used to be what everyone said about the Deschutes, and everyone was wrong. Well, I have hooked and landed fish on the Clearwater on flies as small a #7 but I also landed my last Clearwater steelhead on a #1/0 General Practitioner tied in black. With this said It is probably best to focus your fishing on smaller flies and use big flies as something different.

Clearwater steelhead can grow very large, as big as 20-30lbs, these big fish are known as "B" run, there is also a smaller group of fish known as "A" run steelhead these fish run 4-10lbs. this mix of fish makes tackle an interesting choice. The river is large and there are many runs that will fish with a 100' plus of line out of the guides, and you can hook fish out that far, you can also get them in closer as well, but a big cast is fun to make so why not.

I like to fish with either my 13'3" rod with a Scandinavian shooting head, or I like to fish a longer rod with a 65' - 95' head line such as the Nextcast 75' or the Scientic Anglers XLT, as for rod size I have fished up to a 9wt but I think the new 7wt rods can make the A runs fun and the B runs manageable. So the three rods I will call out as awesome: the first is a Burkheimer 7133-3 (my favorite rod, for all steelhead angling), Next is the Thomas & Thomas DH1409-5 (easy for travel and very versatile), and last is the G Loomis 15' 7/8wt Greaseline (this rod is awesome, it fits the bill)

The Cleawater river is big and the scenery changes as the it descends toward it's meeting with the Snake, 463 miles from the ocean. The river goes from a high gradient mountain forest to an arid expanse of rolling hills.