The First - and hopefully not last - King

Well, I finally did it. I landed a Chinook (aka king) salmon on a fly rod. The adventure did turn the rod into an eight piece rod (it started life as a seven piece rod) but that made the experience more memorable. I actually wasn't too bummed about the rod breaking as it has a lifetime warranty and it also ranks dead last in the running for my favorite fly rod all time.

The fly and the damage done

I was staying in Glennallen and McCarthy for work last week. I had the chance to get out fishing on the Gulkana during the evening Monday after we had taken out for our float down the upper section. I hooked a king that night but lost it after about 10 minutes when I tried to force the issue and it took off downstream and broke the line. I was pretty bummed after that fight as it was, at that time, the best opportunity I had to land a king. Previous to that I had hooked three others and no fight lasted more than about 5 minutes.

So after I finished up my work duties last Thursday I had planned to get back on the Gulkana and give it another shot. Fortunately for me the Gulkana looked like chocolate milk after the rains that we had canoed through earlier in the week. So I decided to try another stream I'd read about (which shall remain unnamed). I wasn't sure that there would be kings in the stream but I had read it also has dolly varden char and grayling. So I walked downstream with my four weight rod casting dry flies. The habitat looked good but i rose nary a fish. The stream was crystal clear and only about 10 yards wide at its widest. About a quarter mile downstream I looked into a deep hole and to my amazement saw about a dozen king salmon swimming around. I was pretty excited to say the least. I went back to the car to grab the 10 weight, the camera and some bear spray (if there are salmon around there is often bruins nearby as well).

Casting a nine foot, 10 weight fly rod, with an obscenely large and weighted fly, in tight quarters is not the most graceful enterprise. In fact, no one would have confused me with Brad Pitt's character in A River Runs Through It. After testing the distance to the overhanging alders on the other side of the river for a couple casts I finally landed the fly in the water. On about the third drift I was able to drift one right down main street to a salmon that had moved into the middle of the channel just downstream of me. He chomped down on it and the fight was on. The fight is actually kind of a blur. I remember hearing the rod snap and thinking it would be another battle lost. With the rod in two pieces and holding onto the line I was able to coax the fish near enough to me and grab my net. For anyone out there that is thinking of trying to land a 25 pound salmon with a trout net I'd council against it. I felt kind of foolish when I swiped down with the net and it barely covered the fish's head. Perhaps the net trick confused him as he went belly up when it happened. I quickly grabbed him at the base of the tail and threw him up on the bank where I snapped a few pics, removed the fly and sent him on his way. I decided not to keep him as he was quite a ways from salt water and was turning pretty red. The meat loses its firmness the farther the fish get from the ocean. I was pretty glad to have finally landed a Chinook.

With the king rod broken I figured I'd head back towards Fairbanks and fish a few spots I like to fish for grayling and lake trout on the way back home. However, prior to heading north, I decided to call a guy I'd met earlier that week that lives in Chitina to see if the dipnetting had picked up yet. He said the fish were running and that people were catching their limits of sockeyes in the Copper River. So I headed down, fished all night and caught my limit (30 sockeye). I spent most of the weekend cleaning and vacuuming sealing fish. Emily was busy with the NICOP so I had the pleasure of processing fish mostly solo (Brian swung by Fri night and helped with the first 6-8 fish). I cleaned out last years fish from the freezer, brined them and threw them on the smoker today and just finished canning them. I also made salmon jerky from the rib and belly meat of this year's fish, which turned out great. We're definitely set for salmon for another year!

Salmon jerky

Last year's salmon - smoked and canned

Canoeing the Gulkana

Last weekend we met up with friends Jen and Scotty from Denali Park and Sveta and Martin from Fairbanks and took 3 hardshell canoes down the Gulkana River. The Gulkana, located south of Paxson and north of Glennallen, is considered a "wild and scenic" river but can be done from highway to highway and was about a 50 mile float over 3 days of paddling. Luke and I had already floated it, but not for a few years, so the timing was right for another trip. We put in on the crystal clear (!) Paxson Lake with no headwinds (!) Friday evening and slowly paddled the 3 miles across the lake in about an hour or so. At the lake outlet the crowds of fishermen were gathered fishing for grayling and lake trout. Luke had to make a quick stop to fish also and caught several grayling and a lake trout for dinner! We camped about about mile 1 of the river and cooked up a grand fish dinner amidst hoards of mosquitos. Jen and scotty got out there little bug-proof mesh tent to sit under.

The next day the weather was awesome, with warm sun shining into our tents early, forcing us to get up or we'd be baked in the tent ovens. Luke got the Dutch Oven going again for some sweet cobbler. We had a long day of paddling and made it to right before the canyon and camped at a very nice spot overlooking the river. Luke and Scott broke out the 'pocket chainsaw' on some spruce and we enjoyed a dinner of Hasselbach potatoes in the Dutch Oven and sausages over the fire and another grayling caught earlier by Martin. Martin also got on a rainbow trout, but it is catch and release only so no eatin'.

The next day we awoke to rain......we portaged our canoes through the canyon rapids and put back into the 'ranging river', class II rapids right below the canyon for the next 8 miles. It looked worse than it really was, but it was actually quite fun, despite the slight drizzle. We all made it through with only one minor little "swimming event". Sveta got to take a little "bath" as she would say. After the rapids, we were all quite cold and those in the front were a little wet from being pounded by rapids so we stopped for lunch and warmed up and dried out in front of a fire. Then hit the river again for another 10 miles or so of paddling toward the final campspot, the Chinook Bar. This part of the river slows down and widens out, and powerboats full of fisherman were encountered. We tried some king salmon fishing, but were unsuccessful, Martin was the only one who got a nibble on his spinning rod. We had another great dinner that night at the Chinook Bar, despite the heavy boat traffic, we ate spaetzle, a german pasta with tomato sauce made by Sveta and Martin, and Luke made a sweet cornbread for desert. Next morning we awoke again to our friend the rain and paddled out of there quickly to escape the weather.

Summertime.....and the livin is easy

We've been pretty busy as of late in our annual manic summer mode. It seems like the long winter spent dreaming about all the things we want to do when summer finally arrives, coupled with the long daylight hours, really lights a fire under us to get out and enjoy the summer. We've been building a small greenhouse with some old storm windows we got from a friend of a friend. The going has been a bit slow for progress on the greenhouse with some of our adventures getting in the way. But, as I'm wont to say: "that's a good problem to have".

Emily is currently up on the north slope working again so last weekend I drove down to the Denali Hwy in search of lake trout. I've heard that the lake trout fishing can be stellar right as the ice goes off some the the lakes in that region so I thought I'd give it a try. I grabbed my fly rods, mountain bike and borrowed an Alpacka Raft from my friend Brain and hit the road. The trail into Landmark Gap Lake is 3 miles and it's a pretty bumpy ride on the bike (especially since I didn't put my suspension fork on the bike yet). About 75-80% of the lake was still covered in ice when I arrived. I didn't set the world on fire as far as fishing goes but I did manage to catch two lakers that were both about 12" on Landmark Gap Lake. I also caught a bunch of grayling in various rivers in the area, including the biggest one I've caught to date. The Landmark Gap Lake is absolutely gorgeous, I'll definitely be back again for a visit. The picture above is of me in the Alpacka.

Landmark Gap Lake mostly covered in ice

Four weekends ago Brian, Josie (Brian's chocolate lab) and I hiked into the mountains near Tok to do a little scouting in the area where I plan to go dall sheep hunting this fall. It was a gorgeous sunny day. We ended up seeing a cow and calf moose, two caribou and 7 dall rams in two separate groups (two of which had full curl horns). I'm already excited to get out there hunting!

Four dall sheep rams

At times it felt like we were climbing Mount Everest

Three weekends ago I canoed the upper Chena River with Cam, Scottie and Jen. Emily's allergies were acting up so she had to sit that one out. On that trip I made enchiladas (dinner) and scones (breakfast) in our new aluminum dutch oven. Cam brought his dutch oven as well and made an apple crisp (dessert) and mountain man breakfast (hash browns, eggs, sausage and cheese). It was quite the culinary experience.

Two weekends ago Emily canoed the Chatanika River with our friends Jen and Scottie. It was a really nice trip with a few tricky paddling parts.

Luke steering the canoe with Scott and Jen in the background

Scott and Jen on the Chatanika