I have not had much time to post here lately because I have been so busy at the vise knocking out streamers in advance of the coming season. Here is a big order headed north in the morning; a bunch of Double Deceivers, Red Rockets, Stinky Mayos, Voodoo Squatch, and Meal Tickets. More to come in the nex few days...
The Sketch. Sitting at the desk and drew out a few flies, this being one of them. Shortly thereafter I got a picture from my buddy Rich Strolis, of Catching Shadows, and proceeded to text back and forth for the next hour about fly design.
The Draft. That night I tied an order all evening and then made an unsuccesssful attempt to go to bed. After laying there awake for a half hour I got up and tied up the first draft. It utilizes a Gama B10S hook in front and back separated by two small Articulated Shanks from Flymen Fishing Company.
The Refinement. The following day a few extra rubber legs were added along with some manual striping on the head, and it was ready to hit the water.
The Proving Grounds. Headed out to the home river on Saturday morning with a buddy. We knew the water would be very low and clear, but figured it was a good chance to scout a few stretches and get some flies wet. It goes without saying that a few fine cigars were finished off as well.
From Kevin I received a shot of both a Dorado and a Pacu from his trip to Tsimane in Bolivia. He took along a batch of Decievers and Andino Decievers that did the trick. I have to say that I am envious of him for this trip, and definitely have it on my to do list!
Michael sent over this shot of a very solid Taney fish that fell prey to a Meal Ticket.
Filling orders for Senyo’s Egg Raiders is my chromer Paul Revere. The steelhead are coming, the steelhead are coming!
Some Yaktails that should be devastating on the incoming salmon population.
If you are going to fish San Juans, why not go with a Medusa?
Yeah...I tie small stuff too. Here are some Brassies, 6X Emerger, and Crystal Dips headed out to target Yellowstone fish.
I am really excited that the new Sculpin Helmets are on the market now and usable. I had the opportunity to play with them over the last month or so, and they fish as good as they look. This particular one uses rabbit and Shaggy Dub to give it body and movement. It will be fun to see what people come up with using this new product.
By day five I was exhausted from the long hours of fishing and preparations for the following day, but the time difference still had me up at weird times. It was nice to see the camp at different times when there was nothing else going an and it was quiet.
Our day was planned out to head across Naknek Lake to fish Margot creek. I was told that there would be bears and it did not take long to see them as there were a few hanging out along the beach as we came in.
It also did not take long to swing in to some char!
The bear population on Margot was certainly not over-hyped. I think we spent over a third of the time that day dodging bears as they were hunting for the same thing we were.
Of course there was plenty of time betweeen the bear watching for us to get in to fish. The fishing on Margot was absolutely phenomenal; numbers wise it may well have been tops for the trip.
At one point the bears really seemed to be everywhere all at once...kind of made it hard to get out of the way. There were three of us fishing a stretch as a few griz came from each direction. The Pats and I backed off and watched as one of the males cruised on by between us.
We then backed up a side channel a bit to allow a female and her cub to cross. It was a bit sketchy as one of the males had ducked back off the river and out of sight, and we had our backs to some prety thick cover, but it all ended well as they kept on looking for fish.
Of course we then had to back off a little more to allow the other female and her two cubs to bypass us and head downstream. Needless to say that ten minutes there were a lot of grizzlies around, and it was really cool to be able to see them so close...with only minimal heart palpitations...
On the way out I swung in to this Mack truck of a Sockeye...my biggest off the trip. He was not happy about being landed and did his best musky impression as I tried to get the fly back; almost got a piece off me but not quite.
Realizing that the trip was winding down Patrick Robinson and I took a boat out before stopping for dinner. We shot about a mile downstream on the Naknek to look for some silvers, but ended up with just a nice hour of casting in the calm. You can't win them all!
My last fishing destination of the trip was back across NaknekLake to fish the famous Brooks River. There were more bears on the Margot, but on Brooks they seemed a bit bigger and liked to cruise back and forth in the same stretches. We got to see each bear a few times as they went back and forth picking off the odd fish here and there.
This Char was able to narrowly escape a bear, but not able to throw my fly.
There were always bears hanging out throughout the day. The bear up on the bluff had an injured front right paw so we paid extra attention to him just to be sure we kept a safe distance.
This big dude cruised up and down in front of us chasing Sockeye around. His preferred method was snorkelling, with his ears above water so he could hear and eyes below water watching the fish. Check out the video as he moves on past us the last time.
Dave picked off quite a few nice rainbows with our buddy looking on.
The fish on Brooks were everywhere; Rainbows, Sockeye, Char and Silvers all mixed together in a paradise of a fishing situation. It was an excellent way to finish of a trip that exceeded any picture I had of it in my head.
The last morning I was up early. I had intended to fish a few hours but ended up walking around talking to people, and soaking it all in. Greg and Patrick, of Steelhead Alley Outfitters, put on a fantastic trip full of laughs and fish. I can not recommend highly enough Jim Johnson and the operation he has put together at the Naknek River Camp. It was a comfortable family atmosphere with the focus on the fish, and there were a ton of them. I will definitely be back.
The sun came up early and we found that we were headed to the Ugashik Narrows in the big brother of the Beaver, the De Havilland Otter. The Otter has a much higher payload and was able to transport our whole group the seventy minutes to our destination.
On the way we came across a few mountains that seemingly rose straight out of the tundra.
As you fly over the tundra you realize that there is water everywhere. It is absolutely filled with pothole lakes and ponds, and criss-crossed with meandering rivers.
The Ugashik Narrows are a small stretch of moving water that connects Upper Ugashik Lake about 500 yards down to Lower Ugashik Lake. After landing at the intlet at the upper a few of us headed towards the outlet to see what we could find. Along the way I drifted a bead rig, and it did not take long to hook up!
In addition to Char, the Grayling were around and feeding heavily. This was the biggest one I caught to this point on the trip. I have heard so-so things about the fight they put up but found nothing lacking with them at the Narrows as they tried to bulldog their way through the current.
With the distinctive dorsal and shimmering coloration, these Grayling were stunning.
After getting a few fish under our belt on bead rigs Greg decided to try swinging streamers and, after he hooked up on seemingly the first drift, Patrick and I quickly followed suit. What followed was perhaps the best day of swinging streamers I have ever had or even heard of. By the end of the day we had landed well over a hundred fish on the swing including Grayling, Arctic Char, Rainbows, Sockeye and Lake Trout!
The flats section that was between the inlet and outlet was jam packed with Sockeye. The population of Sockeye there ensured that there were plenty of Char and Grayling around.
My favorite fish of the day, and perhaps the trip, was this oversized Arctic Char. The coloration of the fish was amazing, but to see it required I regain my line and backing a few times. This fish was not happy about being hooked and landed!
My biggest Grayling of the trip came as Greg and I were making our way back towards where the plane would be picking us up. This fish taped out over 18" and was as thick as my forearm.
Such a cool fish. I can't wait to fish for them again, hopefully with dries.
After two days of flyouts I felt about as lively as this moose...
The weapon of choice for my streamer fishing was the 8WT Mystic M-Series. This 10'3" rod had plenty to get the fly where I needed it and handle the fish once they were hooked up. This particular picture highlights the traditional Scandi that did very well for me throughout the week.
Day four found me back on the Naknek River. As we were cruising around we came across the bear that is likely the same bear we had around camp each night. This guy was not happy about the motor on the boat...
They say that musky are the fish of 10,000 casts, but this day made it seem that Silvers have the same frustrating propensity. I was nearly eight hours of the day in before I hooked up with my first silver. It was a beast of a fish that after a minute of rolls and leaps threw my hook...and I then threw my rod. At that point I was pretty salty about it but the video of it, that may makes it's way out some day, was pretty funny. Unfortunately I hooked up and lost another fish, then another fish, and another fish before on literally my last cast of the day I hooked up and landed a Silver. It was an amazing fight and I was lucky enough to win that round.
In discussion that evening we decided that perhaps a standard shanked hook provided too much leverage, so next time I chase Coho I will be prepared with stingers. I am not sure if it was all the casting in the wind, but I slept very well after that fish.
It was good that I did as I would need to be alert the next two days on bear infested Margot Creek and Brooks River!
-mike schmidt
www.anglerschoiceflies.com
