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

[DocSpotty]

How often to you get to cross an item off your Bucket List? My items are all fishing related, of course, and Labor Day weekend was something more than just an “epic” adventure. It was more like Ulysses’ travels in The Odyssey and The Iliad. If you are faint of heart beware this is going to be very, very, very long and picture OBESE.

My partner at work, Bob Cassell, is a rabid pilot and sheep hunter…..he flies all over Alaska every year looking for “the big one” in one of his little planes. We had talked about what I would love to fish for here in Alaska and on the top of my list has always been sheefish on the Kobuk River…..over 500 miles north of Anchorage.....above the arctic circle. He did some looking around on one of his hunting trips and we were going to give it a go on Labor Day weekend….weather permitting….which has been a big “if” this summer. We figured allowing for Friday thru Monday we had some wriggle room to get in a day or two of fishing and still get back to work on Tuesday.

Friday morning Bob gives me a call and says to head on over to his house (where his hangar is and the runway) cause the weather looks pretty good. The drive is 45 minutes and it is nice outside:



When I arrive at his house there’s a giant bandaid on his head….right after calling me he whacked his head on a hanging bracket from the wing of his plane. The cut really needs stitches but he won’t put off the trip….tough man (gash is well over an inch long in his scalp and near the bone). Anyone who’s ridden in the back seat of an old piper cub raise his hand? There is not much space back there for a normal human….let alone me…an identical twin for the Pillsbury dough boy. Weight is not so much a problem as volume…so having overpacked I took my second set of warm weather clothes out and everything just fits. This includes the tents strapped to one wing strut and the table and chairs, with my rod case (ahhhhhhhh), strapped to the other wing strut.





We hop in the overstuffed cub, affectionately referred to as Darth Vader, (well, technically, I wedged myself into the backseat) and off we flew into Bob & Brians’ Big Adventure (nice sounding title for a future movie).

The scenery is always a plus up here and I wasn’t disappointed. About 90 minutes into the flight we go through one of the few passes through the Alaska Range…this is the same mountain range which encompasses Denali (Mt. McKinley for you non Alaskans) which is not that far away. Misty Pass was spectacular, deep and we spotted numerous dall sheep along its slopes.













After the pass I was experiencing severe RLS (restless leg syndrome) and we put down at the native village of Telida….population…..4. The elder statesman came out to greet us and regale us with unending stories….we barely escaped with our sanity much later.



From picturesque Telida we had another 2 hour plus ride before gassing up at the booming metropolis of Galena. The countryside is beautiful and as we head farther north the trees are already beginning to change color:



Now Galena has nearly 700 residents…not sure if this big building is the local version of Walmart or what:



Here we are on final to the giant runway (this used to be a US Air Force satellite base with 4 F-15s stationed there…closed in mid 1990s)….funny thing is we land in the dirt next to the runway. Asphalt is hard on the giant, balloon tires we have on Vader. They even have a little, bitty passenger terminal here:





We gassed up at $8 plus per gallon (there was a cute sign in the passenger room saying the local store was now carrying milk for $11.95 a gallon…whoa) and off we headed for the Kobuk River. Another 2 hours of flying (and the worst TB…tired butt….I have ever experienced) and we found the Pah River…and followed it to the Kobuk. We crossed over a massive gold strip mining operation…nasty what it does to the terrain….and at the far end we fly over this very old gold sluice. A reminder of Alaska’s gold mining past and present:



We hit the Kobuk and did a bit of circling scaring hundreds of sheefish and chum salmon over a short stretch of the river. Bob found a good gravel island to call home and we put down and set up camp. I quelled my naturally overwhelming urge to just rig up the rods and hit the river….it was very, very difficult.



Bob let me use his satellite phone to make a call to the little woman where she had a hard time believing we hadn’t crashed or been eaten by large, woodland creatures…almost sounded like she was disappointed:



As we put up the food tent, and posh separate sleeping quarters I noticed something wrong with my duffel bag. In my excitement to get underway not only did my extra set of clothes get left but most of my clothes…period. My bag only contained 4 tee shirts, 1 long sleeved tee shirt, some underwear but plenty of socks. My only pants were the bluejeans I had on and also a military camo gortex parka. Fortuantely, Bob had 1 extra pair of some plush wader pants and that was it…fortunately I don’t get cold very easy.





After stringing the bear fence around the camp and plane (the amazing thing runs on only 2 AA batteries) we geared up for fishing and walked down to the river.



It was after 6pm but we figured we had a few good hours of fishing time. Fishing the river was much more problematic than it looked from the air. The sheefish prefer deeper, slower stretches which were always on the other side of the river (why? Must be one of Murphys Laws of Remote Fishing). Standard sheefish doctrine said you used large, blue spoons for them. We had to wade quite a ways into the river, which was quite chilly, and then heave a large crocodile spoon across to the other side…..man, that is hard on the index finger with spinning gear….yeoooww. Several casts in and bang, I was fast onto my first sheefish. Was I stoked….after several minutes the fish was beached and the pics started flying:





About 10 minutes later…whack…and a bigger sheefish:



Even though it was a pain wading out so far and deep I was right out there again and a while later hooked my 3rd sheefish…and even though it gave me the only shower I had on the trip I was having the time of my life:



It turned out to be in the 25+ category:



After a few sheefish Bob noticed some smaller fish chasing his big spoon into a shallower back eddy right below us. So he got the light gear and bang…the grayling were on.

(click on video)




I quickly changed rods to so I could get in on some of that action. They are such pretty fish….those dorsal fins are sometimes awesome.



After a few more grayling we decided we better head back to camp for some much needed gourmet dining. Bob set-up the mini gas stove and our chicken avocado fajitas were well on their way to being done.





I changed my wet shirt to one of the tees and put on my parka and we headed back down to the river for about 90 minutes before the light faded.

It wasn’t long before Bob had a nice shee…he took a beach picture and you can see all our rods and the necessary bear rifle…a 45-70….there was also a can of bear spray in my fishing vest pocket.



Another shee cooperated for me:



My next one hit the air three times before relenting and being reeled in:





Took this next one fishing a sinking blue/silver yo-zuri lure I brought:



We switched back to grayling and caught several nice fish.









Then I felt the need to try and catch a few more sheefish and was rewarded with a few very nice ones:





That second one was approaching 30 lbs. Then I caught another in near dark as we waded back up to our island:



Not a bad start for only about 3+ hours….my personal total was 22 grayling and 8 sheefish caught and released….so far the trip was everything I dreamed it would be.

After sitting down in the food tent I savored a nice hot chocolate and Bob had something with a little more octane in it. Then it was time to shed the waders….found my left foot wet due to slow seepage in that foot. Not too bad….a change of socks and a shirt and I was mostly dry for nighty night time. It was time for bed, we were both exhausted, so we crawled in the sleeping bags and that’s the last thing I remember till morning. Funny, Bob didn’t complain about my snoring like my wife always does….told her I’ve never heard it…hehe.

Woke up Saturday morning absolutely stoked for our first full day to fish….YEAH!! Bob cooked some eggs and sausage and we were pounding off to the river again. Bob was dragging behind for silly things like the gun and other rods, etc…..meanwhile I already tagged a couple of sheefish:





As Bob arrived I hooked into a real acrobat:



Bob had a bug up his fanny about the grayling so we caught a mess of the little devils again….even did some flyfishing, which was difficult due to the wind and rain but we managed some grayling on the flyrod also.







Then, mid-morning, after we had molested most of the grayling in the area we decided to get back into the sheefish. We walked about a quarter mile upstream to try a different section. We didn’t find any footprints at all….at least not human ones. The mud was covered with moose, brown bear, black bear and wolf prints.





That last one is a large wolf print next to a bear print…odd traveling companions.
We trudged back out to the middle of the river and within 5 casts had located some more sheefish. After taking a few on the spoon





I decided to start experimenting with other lures….they hopped all over this big, sinking yo-zuri:



After catching a few on it a monster shee…probably in the 40 lbs range…smacked it, jumped twice and took off around a large rock in the river….bummer. Needless to say that was a battle me and the PowerPro lost. I changed to a big Storm, weighted plastic jigging minnow….they liked it too:



Bob and I tagged a nice double next:



Had to add this picture just because it shows my two rods well….not quite finished with some threadwork on the one:



After wading out into the river and catching several sheefish, having to wade back to shore to land them every time, it was getting to be exhausting. Couldn’t even make it to my feet for this one:



Just kind of leaned over for a release pic:



Bob took this amusing picture of the fully equipped remote Alaska fisherman:



It was a bit after noon so we headed back to camp for lunch. We were pretty darn tired and getting quite wet as it had been raining all morning. We drank something hot for lunch and snacked on trail mix and my famous (at least I think it is) smoked Copper River red salmon. After sitting down in my chair in the tent I realized my right boot had been holed high in the shin area as water sloshed down my thighs…..now I was REALLY wet. No matter, what’s a little chill to this kind of fishing….nada. Bob took a little nap and I skipped back down to the river for some grayling action….catching a dozen or so more of the little beasts.







Even popped my first chum salmon with the spinner (panther martin) I was using:



About this time Bob shows up and suggests we try a stretch up river a ways. Hiking up to the end of our island and upstream helped to warm up my legs. As we came around the point of the island, looking upstream we first saw what Bob called “The Rock Garden”:



On the way to the RG we tried a few stretches of water with no success. But as we got up to the first large rocks in the river we started to find sheefish again. The first rocks made me sit in waist deep current and fight it as I fished:



Bob found the fish first:

(video)


Then he returned the favor as I hooked my first afternoon fish behind a big rock:

(video)


Having been using the spoons almost exclusively…and getting low on supply I decided to use a #6 Vibrax….man they loved the thing. Standing in that heavy water I managed to catch 9 sheefish in 14 casts….unbelievable. This sucker here was a real horse:



Several minutes later I hear a groan from Bob and look upstream to see what’s causing his distress……



Being an astute rod maker for nearly 3 decades it was apparent to me….and I informed Bob of such…..that this rod no longer had a proper “bend” in it…or maybe the bend was too acute. Anyways….made me very happy I had slipped in another mid size spinning rod that he could use.

With this obviously superior rod in his hands Bob immediately scored again:

(video)




Bob found a nice stretch right above the rocks where we were in water not so deep and heavy(didn’t have to constantly fight the current) and had a perfect sheefish hole to cast too…even if we did have to wade three quarters of the way across the river. Here we began an unreal period of just slaying the sheefish. For the next 3 hours we wrestled in somewhere around 60 sheefish from this one area….all from 12 to 35 lbs At one point Bob had my camera and told me he was taking video and to start casting…within 3 cranks of the reel handle I was onto a sheefish, then without stopping the video I nailed two more in a row after the first one. He stopped videoing but the streak didn’t stop until 7 in a row.

(video)


This was better than I could have imagined….and I imagine a lot. After losing my only blue bodied vibrax I tried a very gaudy yellow/chartreuse bladed one and it was absolutely the bomb.



Bob and I had several double hookups…it was about as wide open as you can get:



(video)


Here’s a shee thinking it’s a tarpon and looking like it’s seriously after the flying spoon:





One of the sheefish even mentioned a sore tooth…so I took a look:



Here I demonstrate proper back exercises while standing in deep water with a sheefish on:



After doing this for 4 or so hours we decided to work our way back to camp. Bob had already moved from sheefishing to casting for grayling in a little backwater behind us. I finally succumbed to my aching shoulders after my 53rd sheefish….yep, 53….wow. We fished a smaller backbraid of the river on the way back and caught a couple dozen grayling in there. My camera was fogging up internally at this point due to getting wet so I couldn’t get any pics for a while. We got back to camp and settled in for another fabulous meal at the Kobuk Kafe…..fresh pan fried grayling, smoked salmon with pesto, noodles and all sorts of good stuff. I was absolutely soaking wet inside my waders and wasn’t about to take them off…even though I wasn’t sure my feet were still at the end of my legs….cause I wasn’t sure about being done for the evening.

After dinner Bob did some reading but being the Rabid Fish Whisperer I am, I was back down at the river to catch some more grayling. The camera was still on the fritz but I think enough pictures had been taken. I finally wandered back to camp….my fish count for the day was 53 sheefish, 52 grayling and 1 chum salmon….106 fish….holy cow. At this point taking off the waders was needed….they were partially filled with water….and I was soaking wet. Dragged those off and put on my only pair of dry pants, my last dry shirt and dry socks and underwear…..it was a bit cool walking around in a short sleeve tee shirt but, hey, it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure. I wasn’t looking forward to getting in them tomorrow. Slumber never felt so good.

Had an amusing episode about 4 in the morning….its pitch dark…hopefully the bear fence has kept the wolves at bay….but I really….REALLY had the need to make my bladder gladder by making it flatter. As I agonized over the thought of getting up an out of the bag to relieve myself, Bob opens his eyes and says “I gotta go too”. So we had a little male bonding moment sprinting out of the tent…..relieving ourselves and sprinting back into the sleeping bags back to warmth and blessed sleep.

[TaperSteve]

Very nice report and pics!

TS

[gavin310]

INCREDIBLE!!!!! Ok now to read part II...

[Nessie Hunter]

SPEECHLESS !!! *WOW*..

Off to part two.....

[Santa Fe Eric]

I'm on the edge of my seat! This is a must read epic adventure novel!
Pictures are awesome. You are a great storyteller!

[troutdog]

Read part II before part I, but I'm sure glad I didn't miss this epic post....I really hope you write a book about your angling adventures, please PM me when it hits the press.


TD