An Alaska Adventure--Saturday: Naknek finale

Josh and Nate were our repeat guides today and since tides weren’t favorable for silvers, we immediately began chasing rainbows (and bears). 

Of course.

           

Rob, Shan, and Nate headed back to the honey hole of jacks to see if there were another large rainbow lurking.  First pass yielded an abundance of jacks, as expected.  Second run through as we reached the beaver lodge Rob’s indicator dived down and line began rapidly screaming from his reel.

The rainbow was distinctly visible in the clear flowing water and it was a large fish!  We were once again battling a sizable fish in the fast flowing Naknek River, without a viable shoreline to fight the fish.  Runs and line retrieval followed by more runs.  This fish had strength commensurate with his apparent size.  Without adequate shoreline we had to repeat the mid-river net attempt.  This time Shan maneuvered the motor to keep the boat in a position to properly fight the fish and Nate guided the net to gently surround the monster.

It was a beautiful fish and appeared to be even larger than yesterday’s prize.  We quickly moved the boat to shore, keeping the net in the water so our fish could breathe.  Taped him from nose to tail—31.5”.  The largest rainbow landed in the last six months and large enough to put a photo of Rob and his fish on the “Wall of Fame” (reserved for those who land a rainbow of at least 30” in length) and Nate bragging rights of largest fish!  A quick photo, a brief thank-you to the fish, and a restful revival of his strength and he was released into the icy blue of the Naknek River.

31.5" Naknek River rainbow--Rob's largest ever in Alaska

           

While we found some additional rainbows, char, grayling (and jacks) this behemoth dwarfed them all.  Our final day culminated with the largest fish of the trip and the largest rainbow we’ve found in our many trips to that beloved place—Bear Trail Lodge.

An Alaska Adventure--Friday: Naknek River (and bears)

Today we were with Josh and Nate and we started the day targeting silver salmon in King Salmon creek.  It was a bit colder today with intermittent rain so we were glad to have brought gloves.  We were able to land five silvers in each boat, but finished short of our limit because we were anxious to chase the Naknek rainbows.

Shan, the silver salmon shaman

We fished and we fished and we fished. Never in our previous trips here had we caught so many jacks (immature king salmon) and that made presenting our beads to desirable fish a challenge.  Shan & Rob (with Nate) repeatedly passed through a long run with a beaver lodge along the shore.  First time—only jacks.  Second time—mostly jacks, but a char or two. Third time—scattered jacks and some char and small rainbows.  Fourth time—char, rainbow and grayling—seems to be improving!  Fifth time—Rob found a 27.5” rainbow that smashed his bead and ran away like a freight train.  No good place on shore to land it, so Nate ran the motor to keep our position well, Shan took the net and instructed Rob in a “figure 8” move with the rod tip to turn the fish gently into the net.  Success!  This was Nate’s biggest rainbow of the year while guiding.

A chrome bright rainbow recently arrived from Naknek Lake

           

We did see our obligatory bear along shore when we were fishing today.  Either there are lots of bears here, or they are traveling many miles to shadow us each day in different river systems.

They are everywhere!

          

Another delicious dinner awaited us upon our return to the lodge.

An Alaska Adventure--Thursday: Kvichak River (and bears)

The four of us flew in the Beaver along with guides Ryan and Jose to seek large rainbows on the Kvichak River, which flows out of Iliama Lake (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliamna_Lake) the third largest lake entirely in the United States—77 miles long and 22 miles wide.  The Kvichak can be challenging fishing and it has been in the past for Rob and Rick, though Tom has enjoyed success here and loves the stream.

On the flight to Kvichak River

We found our first rainbow just as the sun was rising above the distant mountains and it was the best fish Rob has ever caught on the Kvichak, a 27” rocket.  The Kvichak fish are strong and run in unpredictable and crazy directions at times.  With guide Ryan’s careful boat handling, we were able to successfully put this one in the net, measure in the fish box, snap a quick photo, and release him to return to his river home. 

Rob's best rainbow ever on the Kvichak River

            

After searching in vain for another fish in various locations, we ran upstream to where the Kvichak begins, flowing out of Iliama Lake.  Ryan had changed Rick to a flesh fly and on our first pass Rick had a smashing strike on the fly that simply snapped the line—no chance to fight or see that beast—disappointment reigns in our boat now.

We did see a bear on the shore in the village at the lake outlet.  It seems that those bruins are everywhere!

          

In our last run of the day, we finally found another nice rainbow.  The indicator dove down and line peeled off the fly reel until it was well into the backing.  Once it was well upstream, the fish turned and ran right back at the boat—a Kvichak trip repeated by many of the larger rainbows here.  Ryan yelled, “Strip in the line!  Strip it in!”

Rob discovered that stripping in backing is much different than stripping in line.  You can’t grab it with the hand and pull it in, it requires pressing the backing with fingertips to feel it, get a grip and get it in.  Stripping in the backing and then the majority of the flyline left and jumbled mess at Rob’s feet.  Rick saw a quick and ugly end to this fish fight if that situation didn’t change and he disentangled and reeled the line into the reel as Rob maintained tension on the fish, hoping the fish didn’t make another screaming run before the line was in and it could be played on the reel. 

Just as the last of the line was almost into the reel, the fish made another run and out went the line rapidly, but the hookset held.  After another several shorter runs, the fish was finally netted by Ryan. It measured 24” in the box.  Another quick photo, words of thanks to the fish, and it was released.

           

Lots of casting for a handful of fish. But we did find a nice one and Rob, at least, headed home satisfied to a wonderful dinner.