DocSpotty
09-09-2014, 11:36 AM
One of Murphy’s Laws of Going Fishing……if it’s been a long time since you’ve been fishing than something is going to happen immediately before in order to prevent you from fishing. SSSOOOOOOOOOOO…..in 30 years of doing dentistry I’ve never had the blessing of jabbing the corner of a patient chart underneath my glasses and into my open eye. Imagine my excitement when this great privilege was bestowed upon me. I couldn’t close it cause the cornea was torn up in a deep gouge and my partner looked at it and said……”Go to the opthamalogist”. This baby looks great doesn’t it??? {WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PHOTO MAY CAUSE YOU TO GO “OH YUCK”!!!!!!]
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99eca32.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99eca32.jpg.html)
Never had my eye bleed before……..kewl. Anyway, the eyeball doc told me I was lucky it wasn’t over the iris and gave me three kinds of drops, including an antibiotic (which I had to smear in my eye…..fun, fun) so it wouldn’t get fuzzy growing on it and fall out. Told me to wear my polarized shades and I could still go fishing…….so HAH….Murphy’s Law….got ya this time.
So I got to drive down to Quartz Creek in my annual pilgrimage for dollies. The river was beautiful as always……
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsc3ee7f7a.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsc3ee7f7a.jpg.html)
And the salmon were spawning…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps4bf01296.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps4bf01296.jpg.html)
……but not in as heavy a numbers as usual. I was all excited, geared up and hit the creek. While wading to the far side I spotted half a dozen dollies sitting amongst the reds and was ready for action. About the third cast I watched this rainbow come screaming from several feet away to inhale the bead….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd72472a1.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd72472a1.jpg.html)
Woohoo…..the fishing was going to be fabulous…….not so much. For the next 2 hours I cast to probably 40 dolly varden I could see and in nearly every case one or more would scoot over and eyeball my bead but then never take it…..ahhhhhh!!! It was like being water-boarded…….I changed bead colors 5 times…..from tangerine, orange, natural roe and a few special painted beads I can’t tell you what color they are or I would have to kill you. The fish had me absolutely flummoxed (BTW anyone know what a flummox is???). Never in my many years have I used any other sized bead on Quartz except a 6mm as they match the sockeye egg size perfectly. You can tell I’m going somewhere with this aren’t you……finally I changed to a deep ruby colored bead with a special “pearlesence” finish (…yes….secret nail polish added to the bead……my wife worries about the many nail polishes I buy…..) and for frustration’s sake went up to an 8mm bead. The first cast with it I actually had my camera out and caught this little dolly (lower left front) screaming over and sucking it up…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7301fc24.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7301fc24.jpg.html)
After catching that one the next cast produced a larger model…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps217a07f0.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps217a07f0.jpg.html)
And the next 2 casts both nailed dollies which had heretofore been very resistant to my offerings. They aren’t always this fussy…..but sometimes they just are and you have to be prepared. What followed was a very nice 5 hours of fishing with several rainbows mixed in with the dollies…which is unusual for this stretch of Quartz….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf06144cb.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf06144cb.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7ed9f8a8.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7ed9f8a8.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps240c84d1.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps240c84d1.jpg.html)
My fishing had taken me downstream…..only about 100 yards and then I started moving back toward my get in point at the campground. While slowly fishing that way 4 more fly fisherman hopped into the creek and were fishing to go down below me. Two of them hooked up on old, redded up sockeye and were hooting and hollering about it. For those of use fishing dollies hooking one of those beat up salmon is something to moan about. Anyway I sidled up to them and found out they were from Texas on their first trip to Alaska. Politely I informed that although they were having fun with the spawning reds they aren’t supposed to be fishing for salmon in Quartz…..oops. They actually knew but were excited…..asking me what I was using as they couldn’t catch any dollies. They were using 12mm beads….big enough to knock the fish unconscious….so I ponied up a couple dozen of the right colored bead and size and sent them on their way. Hopefully they did well.
Due to the number of people sloshing in the water I decided to head up river a bit in the car. This stretched fished pretty good also…..producing both bows and dollies…
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsa2704427.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsa2704427.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1fbc4282.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1fbc4282.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb237e626.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb237e626.jpg.html)
A few minutes from my get out point I spotted a large fish under a log….first bead I threw in there it came charging out and to my astonishment was a giant rainbow…..at least in the high 20’s in length. Kept after for 30 minutes and even though he would look my offerings over he never took anything…..score one for Mr. Rainbow. Five or so hours of fishing I had caught a couple of dozen fish….including several rainbows with the dollies. Headed home after that.
That night in Eagle River we had a very rare, rip-roaring thunder and lightning storm preceded by this rainbow (not the fish)……love those kind of storms.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps99aa576b.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps99aa576b.jpg.html)
This last Friday I was going to hit Quartz again but my partner called to see if I wanted to take a short flight that same day and fish a little out-of-the-way stream up the Yetna River. Who would pass that up. So off we went on an hour or so flyout from Bob’s house. After finding what he was looking for we made some low passes to find a good place to land…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsbcfedabf.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsbcfedabf.jpg.html)
Bob had a friend hook up with us in his piper so the tarmac was getting full…haha…
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5ac367fe.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5ac367fe.jpg.html)
The friend started hoofing up river fast….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1829f113.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1829f113.jpg.html)
Soon he was onto the first and what turned out to be the largest dolly….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7b8eef5f.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7b8eef5f.jpg.html)
I started working in the same area and was instantly onto a chum salmon……this would get repetitive and the colored up beasts wouldn’t leave my bead alone….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5dbb4037.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5dbb4037.jpg.html)
As we fished up a bit into the foothills we came across lots of bear prints and lots of bear poop…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd136ba7b.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd136ba7b.jpg.html)
Those aren’t salmon eggs but undigested berries in that lovely scat. We frequently came upon carcasses that the bears would make a mess off….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf69c78a3.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf69c78a3.jpg.html)
Turns out the dolly fishing was pretty mediocre as we caught them between runs….the chum salmon weren’t laying eggs yet. We were not seeing that many dollies….unfortunately I must have hooked 8 or 9 chums….miserable critters. Finally we got into a shadowed area that was holding many dollies. After hitting them in one hole for nearly 45 minutes all I had was one little one to show. On the other hand Ron right below had taken 8 or 10. Not having any shame whatsoever I bounced down to him and asked what color bead his was using……he told me “orange”. Well come to find out Ron is color blind and his “orange” bead was really a deep red on in 8mm….not the 6mm I was using. I switched to one matching his and proceeded to catch 4 dollies in the next 5 casts in the hole I had been fishing for a long time.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99c08a3.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99c08a3.jpg.html)
We caught a couple dozen dollies but they petered out quick and we headed back down to the mouth where the little creek ran into the Yetna. Switching to a large mepps we took several colored up coho there and then hit the road for home.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd36e85e3.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd36e85e3.jpg.html)
The flight back was spectacular as Mt. McKinley and its close neighbors were peaking out of the clouds…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps3f8f0bbf.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps3f8f0bbf.jpg.html)
This is Denali…..Mt. McKinley…
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsfda21822.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsfda21822.jpg.html)
Nice time fishing……
Brian
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99eca32.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99eca32.jpg.html)
Never had my eye bleed before……..kewl. Anyway, the eyeball doc told me I was lucky it wasn’t over the iris and gave me three kinds of drops, including an antibiotic (which I had to smear in my eye…..fun, fun) so it wouldn’t get fuzzy growing on it and fall out. Told me to wear my polarized shades and I could still go fishing…….so HAH….Murphy’s Law….got ya this time.
So I got to drive down to Quartz Creek in my annual pilgrimage for dollies. The river was beautiful as always……
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsc3ee7f7a.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsc3ee7f7a.jpg.html)
And the salmon were spawning…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps4bf01296.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps4bf01296.jpg.html)
……but not in as heavy a numbers as usual. I was all excited, geared up and hit the creek. While wading to the far side I spotted half a dozen dollies sitting amongst the reds and was ready for action. About the third cast I watched this rainbow come screaming from several feet away to inhale the bead….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd72472a1.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd72472a1.jpg.html)
Woohoo…..the fishing was going to be fabulous…….not so much. For the next 2 hours I cast to probably 40 dolly varden I could see and in nearly every case one or more would scoot over and eyeball my bead but then never take it…..ahhhhhh!!! It was like being water-boarded…….I changed bead colors 5 times…..from tangerine, orange, natural roe and a few special painted beads I can’t tell you what color they are or I would have to kill you. The fish had me absolutely flummoxed (BTW anyone know what a flummox is???). Never in my many years have I used any other sized bead on Quartz except a 6mm as they match the sockeye egg size perfectly. You can tell I’m going somewhere with this aren’t you……finally I changed to a deep ruby colored bead with a special “pearlesence” finish (…yes….secret nail polish added to the bead……my wife worries about the many nail polishes I buy…..) and for frustration’s sake went up to an 8mm bead. The first cast with it I actually had my camera out and caught this little dolly (lower left front) screaming over and sucking it up…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7301fc24.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7301fc24.jpg.html)
After catching that one the next cast produced a larger model…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps217a07f0.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps217a07f0.jpg.html)
And the next 2 casts both nailed dollies which had heretofore been very resistant to my offerings. They aren’t always this fussy…..but sometimes they just are and you have to be prepared. What followed was a very nice 5 hours of fishing with several rainbows mixed in with the dollies…which is unusual for this stretch of Quartz….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf06144cb.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf06144cb.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7ed9f8a8.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7ed9f8a8.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps240c84d1.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps240c84d1.jpg.html)
My fishing had taken me downstream…..only about 100 yards and then I started moving back toward my get in point at the campground. While slowly fishing that way 4 more fly fisherman hopped into the creek and were fishing to go down below me. Two of them hooked up on old, redded up sockeye and were hooting and hollering about it. For those of use fishing dollies hooking one of those beat up salmon is something to moan about. Anyway I sidled up to them and found out they were from Texas on their first trip to Alaska. Politely I informed that although they were having fun with the spawning reds they aren’t supposed to be fishing for salmon in Quartz…..oops. They actually knew but were excited…..asking me what I was using as they couldn’t catch any dollies. They were using 12mm beads….big enough to knock the fish unconscious….so I ponied up a couple dozen of the right colored bead and size and sent them on their way. Hopefully they did well.
Due to the number of people sloshing in the water I decided to head up river a bit in the car. This stretched fished pretty good also…..producing both bows and dollies…
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsa2704427.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsa2704427.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1fbc4282.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1fbc4282.jpg.html)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb237e626.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb237e626.jpg.html)
A few minutes from my get out point I spotted a large fish under a log….first bead I threw in there it came charging out and to my astonishment was a giant rainbow…..at least in the high 20’s in length. Kept after for 30 minutes and even though he would look my offerings over he never took anything…..score one for Mr. Rainbow. Five or so hours of fishing I had caught a couple of dozen fish….including several rainbows with the dollies. Headed home after that.
That night in Eagle River we had a very rare, rip-roaring thunder and lightning storm preceded by this rainbow (not the fish)……love those kind of storms.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps99aa576b.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps99aa576b.jpg.html)
This last Friday I was going to hit Quartz again but my partner called to see if I wanted to take a short flight that same day and fish a little out-of-the-way stream up the Yetna River. Who would pass that up. So off we went on an hour or so flyout from Bob’s house. After finding what he was looking for we made some low passes to find a good place to land…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsbcfedabf.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsbcfedabf.jpg.html)
Bob had a friend hook up with us in his piper so the tarmac was getting full…haha…
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5ac367fe.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5ac367fe.jpg.html)
The friend started hoofing up river fast….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1829f113.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps1829f113.jpg.html)
Soon he was onto the first and what turned out to be the largest dolly….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7b8eef5f.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps7b8eef5f.jpg.html)
I started working in the same area and was instantly onto a chum salmon……this would get repetitive and the colored up beasts wouldn’t leave my bead alone….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5dbb4037.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps5dbb4037.jpg.html)
As we fished up a bit into the foothills we came across lots of bear prints and lots of bear poop…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd136ba7b.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd136ba7b.jpg.html)
Those aren’t salmon eggs but undigested berries in that lovely scat. We frequently came upon carcasses that the bears would make a mess off….
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf69c78a3.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsf69c78a3.jpg.html)
Turns out the dolly fishing was pretty mediocre as we caught them between runs….the chum salmon weren’t laying eggs yet. We were not seeing that many dollies….unfortunately I must have hooked 8 or 9 chums….miserable critters. Finally we got into a shadowed area that was holding many dollies. After hitting them in one hole for nearly 45 minutes all I had was one little one to show. On the other hand Ron right below had taken 8 or 10. Not having any shame whatsoever I bounced down to him and asked what color bead his was using……he told me “orange”. Well come to find out Ron is color blind and his “orange” bead was really a deep red on in 8mm….not the 6mm I was using. I switched to one matching his and proceeded to catch 4 dollies in the next 5 casts in the hole I had been fishing for a long time.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99c08a3.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsb99c08a3.jpg.html)
We caught a couple dozen dollies but they petered out quick and we headed back down to the mouth where the little creek ran into the Yetna. Switching to a large mepps we took several colored up coho there and then hit the road for home.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd36e85e3.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsd36e85e3.jpg.html)
The flight back was spectacular as Mt. McKinley and its close neighbors were peaking out of the clouds…..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps3f8f0bbf.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zps3f8f0bbf.jpg.html)
This is Denali…..Mt. McKinley…
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsfda21822.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/DocEsox/media/Alaska/2014/Quartz%20Sweet%20Cr%20lateAug/file_zpsfda21822.jpg.html)
Nice time fishing……
Brian