F.W.A.T? - Alaska, Aug 2011

[midgettosser1]

Had a chance to head up to Alaska and do some fishing with my brother and his buddy on a 6 day float trip down Lake Creek. Unfortunately, due to rain, the trip was canceled last minute due to flood levels. Fortunately, they had a back up plan. Float the Chulitna River for 4 days/ 3 nights, fishing clearwater tributaries, in search of rainbows (and hopefully silver salmon). Afterwards, we had a drift boat trip on the Kenai for 1 day.
Unfortunately the silvers weren't making a showing in the tributaries we fished (nor on the Kenai for us). Sockeyes were showing up in decent number, unfortunately not many fresh/silver fish to be had.
Fishing was far from epic, but the scenery made for an awesome trip.
First two days it was pretty much nonstop right (at least it was a light rain).

Day 1: Late start, and the only other party on the river had already staked claim to the spot we had intended on making camp, so we pretty much just floated for a while then set up camp just before dark.

Day 2: Stopped and searched for fishable tributaries as we floated. Still not much fishing. But we did find one decent little tributary. My brother and his buddy caught a few rainbows. And I managed one little one.

My first fish of the trip. Hardly anything to get excited about, but skunk off none-the-less.


That would be it for the rest of the day as we continued to float down the river, looking for a good spot. Not much luck with our search, and we ended up floating until about 11pm. On the bright side, saw a black bear (which quickly bolted into the bushes when we floated by), and no more than 10 minutes later saw a young grizzly. When it caught wind of us, this thing took off running. It was amazing how fast it was.... kicking up a rooster tail as it rain thru the shallow water. It was starting to get dark so we set up camp on a small island not far from where we saw the grizzly.



Day 3: As I was making breakfast, look who decides to show up again (at least I'm pretty sure it was the same one):




It was busy scoping the shoreline for a snack. But again, once it realized we were there, it took off running.

After bfast, we loaded up and continued our journey. Another long float, and a couple of side missions later, we finally found our spot. At this point it was late afternoon, so we tied the boat down, geared up and checked out the tributary for a few hours. It was here that I hooked up with my first sockeye salmon... which promptly brooke me off on 12 lb test. Retied, made a couple more casts, and hooked up again. This time the hook pulled. At this point I was pretty damn frustrated. I'd never caught a salmon on the fly, so this was my main goal for the day. We ventured upriver a bit more. My brother and his friend way up ahead of me in search or rainbows, as I stayed back a little bit casting at salmon. Then HOOK UP!!!! This thing put up a freaking fight. It ended up getting itself into the main current, upon which it took me down stream a couple of hundred yards. I'm sure I could put more pressure on it, but I was determined to haul this thing in so I didnt want to risk it.

Finally managed to beach it... and to my surprise.... a nice fresh sockeye.


Definitely did not see that coming, as most of the sockeyes were already in spawning colors. After a quick photoshoot, I released it and went back up to where I hooked it. A couple more casts and I'm in to something bigger. This one took me even further than the last. Unfortunately it was foul hooked in the belly. Not my style of fishing, but it happens with these guys. Wasn't gonna post up and snagged (at least anywhere other than around the mouth) fish, but this one was one of the biggest of the trip.
Here it is next to (sorta) a size 12 wading boot:


After those two fights, I decided to make my way upstream to catch up with the other guys. They were fishing stretch loaded with sockeyes, trying to get the rainbows that were hanging out behind them. They each caught a couple rainbows and I managed a small rainbow, a small grayling, as well as a male and female..

Bendo/mosquito swatting shot:

male:

female:


I think that was about it for that day, so back to the boat we went, to set up camp.

Day 4: Woke up the next morning, had our breakfast and hit the same tributary.

After having enough with the salmon the day before, I tried my luck with the trout. Managed a small rainbow and another small grayling right off the bat:


Continued to make our way upstream and I ended up with another buck sockeye, followed by another hen:




That was really enough of the salmon for me, so I switched to trout beads in hopes of catching some quality rainbows. Kept working our way upstream with not much to show for it. Made it up to a nice little fork where some big salmon where staging. Just behind them there were some solid rainbows. My brother hooked a big one that jumped and spit the hook. Fished around that area for a while for nothing, until our buddy stumbled across a grizzly. This one didn't seam as scared as the last, but he eventually made his way off into the brush. After that we decided to call it quits and head back down stream, two of us casting beads, and my brother casting flys.
The other guys managed some decent fish (including nice rainbowy by my bro). I managed two rainbows.
This being the larger of the two:


Once we got back, we packed up the raft and made our way to the take-out spot.
Me Pabst out after 4 days of drinking (and two days of fishing).


This is what we started with:


I believe we ended with 2 cases of Pabst left (out of 7).

After that part of our trip, we made our way to the Kenai, and camped out for the night.

Day 5: Woke up, had bfast, ran into a couple of complications, hitched up the drift boat, and got a bit of a late start. Only managed a few fish on this trip.
First fish was my buck sockeye that apparently took up my trout bead. This one was on 10lb test:


After that my brother managed a nice dolly varden, and I managed a much smaller version (not really pic worthy).
And that was it for the float trips.
Aside from those 5 days, I had my gf fly up to join me for an extra week up there to do some fishing and the usual touristy things.

Out of remainder of the fishing trips, my gf, my bro, and I each only managed 1 silver salmon a piece. My brother caught one on a spinner and after getting repeatedly skunked on flies and spinners, I decided to set up the gf and I with roe. I set her up with roe under a bobber and opted to fly line mine. She also managed a small dolly on a spinner, which was her first alaskan fish.

Here's her silver:


Here's my silver:


We also did some sight seeing, a glacier cruise, and short horseback ride.
The biggest bummer of the trip is that we drover the 4.5 hours from Anchorage to Homer to do some halibut fishing, only to have our trip canceled due to bad weather. Worst part about it, was that we were leaving the next day, so there was no way for us to stick around for the weather to let up. That was a heartbreaker.
Enjoy the rest of the pics:





















Beluga whale:








When King Salmon attack:


Tons of these up and down the river bank:


A little smoked salmon vodka for lunch:


We had an awesome view of Mt McKinley on the last day of our raft trip:






An amazing two weeks in Alaska, with only a couple of set backs. Guess that means we will just have to go back.

[5150fishn]

Great report and amazing pics. Felt like I was there with you guys. Alaska is definatly on my list of places that I
still need to fish. Those are really great pics.

[Native Gal]

MT,
Awesome trip, BEAUTIFUL pixs. Can't go wrong there, fishing was slow but scenery wasawesome, cool. Loved the Eagle pixs. Cool you gf got to join ya and fish also. Thanks for sharing. My husband and I are saving for our trip in a year, I can't wait. Sorry bout the cancelled Hali trip, that is what I am most looking forward to. Thanks again for sharing, good stuff.

NG

[murrieta angler]

Beautiful Pictures Midget!
I hope to get up there one day myself.
Awesome report,
Robert
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[jerr-dog]

HEy thanks for the report. I really enjoyed the read thanks. Beautiful pics too.

[Reellady46]

WOW!!! Beautiful pics!! Alaska is a place I want to check out one day...

[midgettosser1]

Thanks everyone. Yah, Alaska is pretty amazing. If you go, just keep your fingers crossed for good weather. Out of two weeks we had about 5 days of sunshine (which the locals considered lucky).... the rest was on-and-off rain. Although the rain wasn't always that hard. A good rain jacket and a good attitude won't keep you from exploring/fishing.
I'm thinking earlier in the summer would have been better, weatherwise.

[Wingnut]

Fabulous fishing vacation Mike.
Alaska is on my to do list... one of these days.
Congrats on all the nice catches, very cool trip.
Too bad you couldn't get in a giant Halibut session.

[blackwater]

F.W.A.T. Hahahahaha
Now that's a vacation!
Great report buddy, some really cool catches there.

[ToadsToadsOnly]

Looks like FWAT crew is growing lol