Bob & Brians Big Bucket List Adventure....partII

[DocSpotty]

Sunday morning began with a wonderful breakfast of something….don’t remember….wait it’s coming back to me….I had grapenuts….mmmmm. Originally we had wanted to do a flyout or two to other local areas but so far the weather had prevented that from happening. This morning the ceiling was a bit higher and we decided to head downstream to one of the rivers which dumped into the Kobuk (the Mackalokadosha or something….everything has weird names up here). Our camp looked really tiny from the air:



As we took off you can see our “Rock Garden” area above the island:

(video)


It was about a 15 minute ride with naturally spectacular flora:

(video)




You’ll have to excuse the foggy plane windows as I had a wet shirt wrapped around the heater hose in an effort to get something dry to wear on the flight out tomorrow. We found a great gravel bar to land on right near the confluence of the strangely named river. Here’s how the bush pilot does it….he does a low and slow right over the landing site to check for unseen bumps, holes, etc

(video)


…then comes around and makes the landing.

(video)


After putting down I had to sandwich myself out of the back…usually pulling one leg out first… if only I could have hung that leg out while flying I would have been much happier.





This confluence area looked great for sheefish….the 2 rivers joined, there was a set of shallow riffles then a drop into a deep, slow, long hole. We both were chucking the giant #6 Vibraxes and Bob soon had a sheefish (turned out to be the only one at this spot). I kept getting hits but they were light….then I hooked up and brought in a grayling with really big eyes:



Not sure how he got his little mouth around that giant spinner. I proceeded to catch several grayling on the monster spinner so I switched out to lighter gear and a smaller spinner. The grayling were everywhere here…and very dark colored compared to those around where we were camping.



We fished upriver about a half mile but with no success. It was odd finding a nice cabin up here in the middle of nowhere:



After tiring of catching nothing we moved back down to the riffles to catch some more grayling before heading back to camp. We were kind of shocked when 2 big river boats came flying by us….turned out to be a group of locals setting up a moose hunting camp just upriver from where we were….geez, and just when you thought you had the river to yourself…..haha.

We proceeded to catch a herd more grayling at the riffle….some getting close to 3 lbs. (anything over 2 lbs is considered trophy size).











This last one had absolutely beautiful colors and the largest dorsal fin of any we caught:





Even caught me one of the modern, art deco looking chum salmon:



The clouds started dropping back down again so we decided to hoof it back to camp. We sandwiched back into to Darth (you know, if someone could have just squeezed in a little oil we would have known how sardines feel in those tiny cans). On the way back we spotted a moose rummaging in the river:



Got a nice pic of camp and our “landing strip” coming back:



but instead of putting down there we decided to fish the Rock Garden again , and being lazy, we just cruised past our camp and put it down on a gravel bar near the RG.



(video)


Yes…the sheefish were still hunkered down in numbers in this section of the river and the catching, and releasing, began almost immediately.













Another of several doubles:



After several sheefish on the big vibrax I decided to try and catch them with everything big I had in my vest. My first was a 30 year old Rapala Jawbreaker (it had several yellowfin tuna to its credit) but all I got with it was sheefish giving me “the fin”. So they had some minute degree of selectivity. But other than that I caught one on just about all the small supply of gear I was carrying.
A big bass crankbait:



A deep running rapala minnow lure:





My biggest shee came after Bob went back to the plane to fish for grayling. She was close to 40lbs:



Bob picked up another one and had to get a nice pic in front of Vader:



A little digression here…we were told spoons were one of the only consistent sheefish lures…..hahaha….FishMythBusters says NOT…here’s what I caught them on:



















I think it’s safe to assume if it looks like any kind of substantial meal sheefish will probably try to eat it….now back to the rest of the story.

We tired of the sheefish a little quicker….I was only at 18….and went over to fish grayling in the shallower water behind us. After many Bob decided to take Vader back to camp and I would video his takeoff. As he taxied down the gravel bar a thought deep in the premature senility of my aging brain began to form….now I gotta walk a mile back to camp. Further it dawned on me both the rifle and bear spray were in the airplane…oh great. The only thing going for me was having not bathed in 3 days so I pretty much smelled as bad as the bears. Anyway….I videoed the take off:

(video)


Then I slowly fished my way back to camp….catching 25 or 30 more grayling. During most of the time this yearling bald eagle was screeching like a banshee….never did figure out what his problem was:



Camp crept into view without any danger from me becoming bruin poop. Although as I walked down the front of our little island I noticed the water was a few inches higher from yesterday….remember this—it becomes significant tomorrow. Sat down with Bob to a delicious meal of angel hair pasta with left over breakfast sausage in it (and pretty much anything else we could find) and steaming hot Tang (yes, the same stuff the astronauts guzzled in space). I’m not sure if it was due to an airtight wader fit or those fajitas from the first night but I seemed to have BWS….balloon wader syndrome:



It was starting to get a bit dark already but, of course, I had the itch to do a bit more fishing before calling it a day. So I slithered back down to the river and started hammering the grayling again….really laid a beatin on them:





Halfway into the river I was startled to hear a wolf howl on our island….that wacky Bob….he is amazing at certain animal sounds. I didn’t get that worried as wolves were probably not going to wade into waist deep water to try and eat me (although they had a great incentive as my flesh is well marbled). Found another batch of grayling to molest:







As it got darker Bob showed up and we decided to catch a couple of sheefish each to take home. That took a long time…..about 8 casts for 4 sheefish….including a couple of very nice ones.









They have very lean, white, delicate flesh…quite tasty. I quickly filleted the 4 fish and we trekked back to camp. Another cup of hot tang and I was ready to change out of those miserable wet, cold waders and into anything dry around. Bed was absolutely wonderful. Bob had made a satphone call out and the weather was supposed to be clearing come tomorrow….so we could get back home….theoretically.

We both woke about 7am and as Bob got out of the tent he called back for me to get up we needed to close shop in a big hurry. Turns out, overnight, the Kobuk had risen several inches and our nice runway was now a flowing stream…oops.





As I scurried to start getting things torn down Bob was off pacing another direction. He came back and declared the state of emergency temporarily over. He had figured another way we could take off….of course, it required removing some bushes, a few more bumps, etc.. but it was doable. So we ate breakfast and closed down the Kobuk Kafe and pretty much closed down everything and started getting it back on the plane.



Everything was packed in short order….even the idiot in the back seat:



We taxied down our “new” runway, turned around and off we went:

(video)


The clouds were still hanging pretty low:



But it was supposed to improve as the day progressed. We followed the Pah River again to the south:



We had 20 to 25 minutes under our belt when the low pass we needed to go through was fogged in….bummer. This necessitated our turning around, going back to the Kobuk, where we found a random bar to land on:



And we just had to sit and wait for the weather to pass….hoping it would. After an hour and half, or so, Bob decided we could give it another shot as the clouds were lifting. One thing about flying with Bob, he knows his planes inside and out, and the weather and doesn’t take chances. Up here that results in a lot of unpleasant endings. So we taxied back around and did our last takeoff from the Kobuk:

(video)


Goodbye to the Kobuk…….for now:



We made it through our pass then we were on to Galena. Never got tired of watching the scenery up or back (although my butt got tired):



The blue green stuff is lichen growing up here and Bob tells me the caribou love it….well there is no accounting for taste. We had a bit of a head wind going against us and due to our initial turnback Bob thought we should stop by one of the villages to get a few gallons of gas so we had plenty of reserve getting to Galena. So we lined up and landed at Huslia International Airport…..population 300. No one was at the airport so Bob hoofed it into town (that took an hour) while I made sure no one made off with Darth. He returned on the back of an ATV with the gas…..the local didn’t really want payment for the gas but he was very excited about getting a fresh sheefish on the exchange.

Put in the gas and onto Galena. On the way we spotted a mama moose with her little mooselet:



We gassed up at Galena again…I won’t bore you with any more pictures as you saw everything relevant earlier in this dissertation. All told the gassing up and down ran about $520….not bad for such an adventure.

To the air again and only 2 and half hours from home. The rivers up here really wind around a lot. They put the “Me” in “meander”:



You’ll all be depressed to know at this point my camera was flashing low battery and I was about to run out of juice. I managed one great picture of the north face of Denali as we approached the Alaska Range:



Then the camera was dead……but the ride wasn’t. We got to Misty Pass and the wind was just howling through the pass and its many cross valleys….making for some very dangerous winds. It got my attention as we were bumping along then hit an updraft and yanked the plane sideways….in my mind not to far off of completely sidewise. Oh I was really awake now….could even feel my butt. Bob has a great understanding of flying especially in Alaska and fortunately read the clouds well enough to keep us out of the worst of it. I casually asked him how often he was in weather like this…..couldn’t really hear the reply but I could read his lips….”Never”. But we were committed and after 30-40 minutes of big bumps we were out of the pass back into smooth air…..immediately I lost feeling in my tookus again.

Another quiet hour to home. We were on final to Bob’s gravel landing strip, not far off the runway when an imbecile in a Cessna cut right in front of us….no more than 150 to 200 feet ahead…..then just flew over the runway….what a…..well never mind.

We made it down, unpacked, called my wife who was sure I had died and then made the very satisfied ride home.

Mercifully….we are at end…..thank goodness.

Brian

[TaperSteve]

Ohh and some beatiful fish too!

TS

[gavin310]

I can't believe how beautiful the scenery is. I didn't even know what a sheefish was before this report... Hauling in the insane number of them you did and still having functional arms is quite a feat. And then trading a sheefish for gas? What a great story Thanks for sharing!

[Nessie Hunter]

To much to take in. Ill have to read it all again...
The pics are post card worthy without a doubt!! What a beautiful State..

The number and quality of the fish is hard to fathom here in So Cal..

Had me worried when the isl runway was under water.
But the bush pilot prevailed, adapted and overcame!!

I will have to add that to MY bucket list, although it would surely be a reach to attain it...

How many times can I say Amazing.. It just keeps going through my head.. AMAZING !!!


.

[carpanglerdude]

This is one of the best reports I've read on FNN. Stellar stuff, congrats, quite the adventure. I also haven't heard of the sheefish before, reminds me of a northern pikeminnow on steroids. Great post!

[Ifishtoolittle]

Wow those are some of the most dope scenic photos I've ever seen. Congrats on the gigantic Sheefish and Graylings!

[Electronics Squid]

I don't think there were enough pics...

Seriously though, absolutely amazing...the fish looked incredible, and the scenery...wow!

Thanks for the great report...

[simijab]

Are you kidding me man. I think that this report tops anything I have ever seen here. You know I don't even know you but I think we have a love hate relationship. You get to do everything you love and I hate you for it. Just kidding man another great report as usual

[ldsaylor]

Wow Doc! All I have to say is wow! What a trip. Thank you for sharing it. Going after those sheefish when I was up there was always something I wish I would have done. I know your pain sitting in the back of a super cub for long periods of time.. But it is so worth it because of trips like that! It really is the last frontier. Those bush planes can get you places few men have ever seen.. no less fished. Great story telling and pics! Your reports never disappoint!!

[smokehound]

Superb report.

Those inconnu were monsters. Imagine how big they were in earlier days!