Agulukpak Weekend

We are now fishing the Pak!!!

This weekend John, Rob and I loaded up the jet boat and set out on a pretty cool adventure. We blasted up the Wok and headed for the Little Togiak where we picked up our two 17' river sleds, and made our way up Lake Nerka to the Agulukpak River. Im glad I wore my spurs, because it was one heck of a wild ride. There were rollers cruising on our backs that would have made anyone a little apprehensive. Had to zig-zag the waves to keep the boat from slamming too hard. Needless to say I wont need to visit a chiropractor any time soon, as the ride fully adjusted every cell in my body.

While the ride was rough, the scenery in that part of the park is absolutely beautiful, looking at the surrounding mountains you would think you were up in the high places, when the elevation is actually less then 100 feet. The trek went pretty uneventfully besides getting some air over some big waves, but we got there with time to spare and got ready to hit the river!

After a short break to stretch the legs John jumped onto the tiller and we blasted upriver to see our new office for the month. This is one spooky piece of water, calling it a bone-yard would almost be an understatement. There are huge boulders all over the place, and you cannot miss your line, if you do your straight up hosed, as youll hit one rock, and then once your momentum is gone and you drop off of step you slam into the rocks that you could have jetted straight over.....

We got to the top, and actually got to fun-fish for quite a while. The small chunks of time that we get to fish for ourselves are what its all about. I love seeing smiles as people catch a fish of a lifetime, and knowing that i helped accomplish that for them, but getting some stick time is what keeps me going every day.

After fishing for about 45 minutes it happened. I laid out a good drift and got a huge take and the battle was on! This fish straight up showed me who was the boss. I had to jump out of the boat and scramble over to some calm water to tire him out, and he eventually slid into the net and the stoke was on. To this date its my best alaskan rainbow, and it was 23"+. A toad for sure, but for this river its an "average fish," whatever the heck that means anyways.

Later on in the evening Rob and I went out to see if we could find a char or two for the bbq, to no avail. We kept on catching these silver fish. Oh yea, rainbows.....darn?

I cant wait for later this month when the fishing gets hot and heavy up here. Egg drop time is almost upon us!!

Its about time for me to go to bed. Hopefully ill get some good dreams handed down from the fish gods.....

Until next time sportsfans.......

The Stride....

Has been hit!

The season is going great so far. As of right now we are in a slight "in between time," being that the kings are just about done, and the silvers havent quite arrived yet. Whats not in between, is the trout and grayling fishing.

We took a hike into a lake up the mountain, through the woods, and over the tundra. Not a fish was caught, but it was more of a sight seeing trip then anything else. Walking on the turf around the lake is really weird, the ground is solid, but it acts like a waterbed with every step you take. The ground is like a huge sponge there.

The wok is prime right now for dry fly and nymph fishing. Fish to 20" are not rare right now, and the wading spots are just now usable, which allows for another awesome way to hook up with some nice alaskan bows and grayling. Fun fact of the day, grayling grow less then an inch a year, making them very old fish. We caught a 19" grayling on monday, which is not only considered a trophy in this watershed, but it is also a fish that is around 25 years old by biologists estimates.

John and I had the chance to fish for a little bit while checking out the new wading spots, and ended up catching some nice bows. All on the swing, and as they say, " the swang is the thang, and the tug is the drug."

This fish freight trained a swing of johns, and it taped out to over 21" which for the wok at this time of the year is an exceptional fish.

Wildlife Abounds in Bristol Bay!

Da Bears.....

Are here. This past week the bears finally came out to play. I have seen many already, and a few times the same Sow and her two cubs. This bear frequents this beach at the mouth of the Wok, which is also where we have been taking pictures of clients with their limits of sockeye, and also where we clean most of the fish.....

A beautiful blonde-ish 2 year old brown

This is a special tree, its the sockeye tree. Its almost perfectly placed above a great run for sockeye fishing, allowing me to be able to spot the fish as they come upriver and call them out to the folks fishing down below me.

The Past Two Weeks.....

Have been Great!

These past two weeks have seen some amazing fishing. The sockeye is just about over, but we sure had a great time with them while they were here. From now on we are going to be focusing on other things, like the rainbows, which are going to be on the bite pretty consistently and also the grayling, which are usually hand in hand with the rainbows.

On my boat one of the days was a great couple originally coming from the PNW who had been here previously. They were a ton of fun to have on the water and it seemed like they had a ton of fun.

This was not only amy's first time ever holding a fly rod, but it was the first rainbow she had ever caught, and it seems fitting that it was a perfect fish. The smile tells it all!

Another couple who were all about the fly had a week up here, and they were pretty crazy about fish on the fly. Thats my kinda people. We had some great fishing on the wok, and Trish even caught the first Dolly of the season, and it was a nice one, probably around 21".

Fulfilled Wishes of Chrome Clad Fishes

Time Really Flies.....

These last few weeks have really flow by. The season is going full bore, and we are starting to hit our stride. The crew is getting along great and we have been fortunate to have some pretty great clients thus far.

The sockeye fishing has began its descent from the peak late last week, but they are still flowing in pretty consistently. The king run is about over, with this week being the last week we are flying out to the Nush. Rob and Mike have been putting a beating on the kings there, with fish in the high 30" range to the low 40"s. Bows and grayling on dries are going to be my main focus coming pretty soon, as the water slowly drops and warms. This last week we had some really good days fly fishing up on the wok, and it will only get better from here. The char boil has been putting out some seriously big fish lately, seems like the average fish for my boat has been at least 20". Piking is going pretty steadily, it really doesn't matter what the weather is doing, seems to me like the pike are always hitting.

This is one of our creeks, where within a few weeks there will be 'bows and char stacked up gorging on sockeye eggs. I really cant wait until the reds start to spread out and spawn, its the time when the fishing can really go gangbusters.

This is my ride for the summer, she is one of 5 sleds we have at the lodge. These boats are really perfect for what we use them for. With the yamaha 40/30 jet they move pretty good and draft next to nothing up on step, and you can row them pretty decently. They aren't a drift boat thats for sure, but you can row em.

As of right now it has not stopped raining for almost three days, and if you try to look down the lake all you see is a wall of white. Thank god for gore-tex, this week im going to need it......

--T

The Happenings