Alaska Part III: A Rainbow in Bear Country!

I can honestly say that the Rainbow Trout was the least desirable fish I wanted to catch when I was in Alaska... I know you must think that I am crazy for saying so? Having grow up on Elk Creek and Steelhead Alley and having caught steelhead my entire life made my dreaming about going to Alaska and seeking out Char, Salmon, and Grayling much more appealing.. I kept thinking out load "Hey I have caught some big bows in my day!!" This disrespectful put down of the Alaskan Rainbow trout went right out the window as the first fish nearly spooled me right out of the gate.The funny thing was the rainbow trout was a mere 18 inches and fought like he was a 30 inch PO'ed buck steelhead!! It did not take long for the Rainbow bug to catch myself and the rest of the group.. Talk about an exciting fishery!!! We caught Rainbows on everything from mice, sculpins, flesh, nymphs, and small eggs. We hunted huge trout holding behind schools of sockeye at will, and patiently waited at times for the Grizzly to finish snorkeling for salmon on a hot run in order to take our shot. It got to the point that I was pretty much whooped from all the excitement by the time we got back to camp at the end of the day! The Alaskan Rainbow pretty much got me warmed up and excited to start our steelhead season back home on the "Alley". We will be seeing the AK bows again next year, and this time I can't wait..

Sun rises on camp as we prepare for the days adventure!

HEY BEAR!!! Walking through the Bush to new water, and a big bow!

Big Grizzly on the famous Brooks River.

Big Rainbow from the log jam behind me! Talk about a fight!!!

Craig with one of many nice bows.

The Famous Brooks Falls

Under water shot of Bows and Sockeye from the middle of a small run.

Craig with a big Rainbow on the Senyo Sculpin!

You know the saying a bad day of fishing is still better than a great day at work?

The guy who thought that was standing here!!!

Eric with a silvery rainbow

I like to call this " Rainbows In The Mist!"

John with a good Alaskan Rainbow.

Eric with another feisty bow..

Grizzly snorkeling for sockeye on the Brooks River.

Randy drifting a good run in "Bear Country"

As you can tell Craig had the hot hand that week!

Hey let go of my Eggo!!! Tangerine bead matches the sockeye egg perfectly.

Randy with a nice rainbow, one of many that smacked a #8 mouse on the surface.

Rainbow that smacked a mouse swung across a deep pool full of sockeye. I even got a few sockeye on dries, But more on that later!!!!

Patrick Robinson heads North to Alaska with our second group this friday!!! From what I am being told everyone is more than antsy waiting to go!! Good luck guys and have a safe trip... I am sure Pat will have alot more to talk about on his return.. If you are interseted in going to Alaska with us in 2010, please don't hesitate to call us at 888-453-5899 or email us at team@steelheadalleyoutfitters.com.

Until next time, tight Lines!!

Greg Senyo

Owner/Operator

Steelhead Alley Outfitters

Alaska Part II: Born Bullies!! The Silver Salmon!

Last year when we decided on heading north to Alaska, All I could think about was the Silver Salmon (Coho) slamming pink & purple marabous, leeches, and Wogs on the surface! The thought of your rod being nearly pulled from your hand by this acrobatic silver bully was a constant day dream during my long flights. Needless to say I didn't sleep a wink on the way there...

During our stay we fished the Naknek River and one of her tributaries King Salmon Creek. The cool thing was that a multitude of different flies were successful and made for some fun, fast, and exciting fishing. I really wanted to catch a silver on a pink Polly Wog on the surface. I spent alot of time slowly retrieving the wog across the rivers. I had my fair share of hair raising explosions on the surface. Even though I did not land a silver on the dry the experience was well worth the try. Many of the silvers attacked the surface fly so aggressively, the salmon literally sent the fly sailing through the air in a violent explosion to the rivers surface. This was that deer in head lights experience, when you look over at the next guy with that " holy crap did you just see that?" look on your face.

We did hook and land our fair share on small leeches, woolly buggers, Popsicles, and PT nymphs. Silvers fight like hell too, leaping, cartwheeling, death rolling, and lighting fast runs that made sure you saw your backing! Salmon from the Salt are mean and lean, and there is no comparing them to their cousins in the Great Lakes. The Silver Salmon was by far the most exciting Salmon I have ever caught on the fly!!!

Dave, Joel, Joe, and Jay go 4 of 4! The action was awesome! Just watching these guys battle was priceless..

Big silver that took a black Crystal bugger, slowly stripped through one of the pools on king Salmon Creek.

Dave battles and brings a bruiser silver to the net.

John casting over a pool filled with aggressive silvers.

Joe with a fresh Silver on the Naknek River.

Dave had the hot rod!! Another fresh fat King Salmon Creek Silver!

Joel with a heavy Silver caught on a PT Nymph.

Dave with a heavy kyped buck.

Joel with another Silver Bullet...

Buck Silver Salmon Mug Shot

John demonstrates a very common scene while fishing for silvers! Boy did we miss and lose alot of good fish!!!

My river side fly shop and gear. The barn was pack full of Buggers, leeches, flesh, marabous, and various other streamers.

John with a good silver, we had to chase down in the sled!!!

Phil with a fat hen Silver Salmon.

John with a fat Silver Buck from King Salmon Creek.

The Release..

This Red Pig gave me the fight of my life, and was the biggest Silver I landed while in AK...

I will get more pics up as they slowly come in... So many pics from the guys it hard to show everything!!! Stay tuned for the Rainbow and Sockeye blogs in the coming week!!

Tight Lines!!!

Greg Senyo

SAO

Alaska Part I: Arctic Char and Bears! Lots of Bears!

What an amazingly colored, and inspiring species!

Back from Alaska, and so much to express and talk about! I think I speak in general for all the guys on this trip, that the Alaskan fly fishing experience and service the Johnson family provided to us was a dream come true! For many years I have thought that salmon and trout fishing around the Great Lakes could come close or provide the Alaskan experience I was seeking, Boy was I wrong!!!

Our week in AK saw our group on several different water sheds and fly fishing for multiple species from Rainbow Trout, Sockeye, Silver Salmon(Coho), Arctic Char, Grayling, and so much more. Because of the array of experiences we have decided to break things down by species to blog about. Please realize I still don't have every ones pictures from our group, but I can say that everyone landed several trophy class fish this past week. As the pictures come in I will update them to each blog.

I have decided to blog about the Arctic Char/Dolly Varden. Just for the sake of argument it is almost impossible to tell the species apart by sight alone, so I will refer to everything as simply Char. Char are known to the natives as Akalukpik or " fish of the rainbow" it was said to have descended from the sky retaining all the vibrant colors of the heavens! I was amazed to finally hold one to see their beauty for myself! Char are a very slow growing species taking between 4 and 6 years to smolt, so holding a 20+ inch fish really puts it in perspective and gave you a true appreciating for life.

Our char experiences were on Margot creek, pronounced " Margo" and the Ugashik peninsula. The sockeye are in the rivers and streams in great numbers and the Char are keyed into the Sockeye "Egg Hatch" exclusively. The use of 6mm Mottled tangerine or strawberry colored beads was the best method. Ok? I know the use of beads, uhhhh..... Well these Char are feeding and gorging on eggs, and literally taking and swallowing them with a vengeance. By using the bead pegged above the hook 2 inches or under keeps the fish from swallowing your hooks or becoming mortally hooked to deep to recover from. To me this seems much more ethical than gullet and stomach hooked fish. The method works and all fish I hooked took of and started feeding again only minutes after being released!

Matching the "Egg Hatch"

Schools of Sockeye line each pool, and the Char set up in feeding lies behind them.

The rivers here are as wild as it gets and grizzly were at every corner! To be quite honest it took a couple of days to get use to the up close and personal bear experiences. As I look at a small can of pepper spray and yell "hey Bear" till I am hoarse you never really feel safe. Over all you get use to the fact they are after the sockeye and avoid combative confrontations..that is..most of the time...! In the end I felt differently about the world we live in, and would not have changed a thing about my experiences here. The fishing was great, but fishing with the Griz was phenomenal!

Empty parking lot at the mouth of Margot Creek and Lake Naknek.
"One Ear" the 1200+ pound Grizzly that seemed to follow us around and sneak up on you!

John Clouser expressing exactly how the first close bear encounter felt like!!! LOL!!!

Greg, John, Dave pose with grizzly in the back ground. What you don't see is the two Griz fishing in front of us! You can tell by the expression on Dave's face they are a little too close for comfort!

A nice Char taken behind a school of Sockeye! You can see the red salmon in force behind me.

Phil with a great char of his own.

John with a 20+ inch beautifully colored buck Char!

A 25 inch Buck Char of my own!!! The Char is a fish I always dreamed of catching!!!

Dave With a fat hard charging Char that took a 6mm tangerine egg bead.

John with another heavy and great colored Margot Creek Char!

Silver Char! I still day dream of this place!!!

Eric with a Ugashik Char.

Joel with a beast Margot Creek Char!

Joe breaks into the 20 inch club with this great looking buck!

You know how your not suppose to be between a bear and her cubs? Well its hard to get out of the way when they sneak up on you in the brush!!!

I will have more char and bear pics and hopfully video up from the whole group in the coming week! We will have a whole lot more from our AK fly fishing adventure in the coming weeks!!! Pat heads up another group leaving for AK in less that 2 weeks, so here is a sneak peak of what you will have the pleasure of catching on the fly!! Good luck and have a great time!!!

Tight Lines!!!

Greg Senyo

SAO