OPEN OCEAN COHO ALASKAN RAINBOWS SUMMER

Transcription

Fall 2000
MULTI-MEDIA FLY FISHING MAGAZINE • FALL 2000 ISSUE
Click to discover
why this magazine
is making waves
across the West
OPEN OCEAN
COHO
Dramatic High Seas
Fly Fishing Comes
Into its Own
ALASKAN
RAINBOWS
Large, Wild Trout
in a Storybook
Setting
SUMMER
STEELHEAD
A Magnificent Fish,
A Perfect Stream
JOURNAL
A Most Unlikely
Mentor
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
MULTI MEDIA
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
THE WESTERN FLYFISHER
Editor
Karl Bruhn
[email protected]
Off The Top
Karl Bruhn
Art Director
Mary Goldthorp
Artist
Debra Bevaart
FIELD EDITORS
Fly Patterns/
Entomology
Phil Rowley
Stillwaters
Brian Chan
Casting
Peter Morrison
Alberta
Jim McLennan
British Columbia
Ian Forbes
Montana
Dave McKee
Saltwater
Shawn Bennett
Peter Morrison
Barry Thornton
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Ron Nelson, Ian Roberts, Kevin Longard,
Ron Newman, Bob Melrose,
Doug Porter
Publishers
Dave Prentice & Jim Matheson
Advertising Sales
Dan Mellor
National Sales Manager
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The Western Flyfisher is the world’s first multimedia,
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F
ishing in the company of whales is
always a deeply moving experience. Even a distant plume
glimpsed on a watery horizon can be
enough. This is the sea, says that plume,
limitless, always mysterious, forever
beyond our feeble understanding.
Imagine, then, what it might be like to
be fly fishing within casting distance of
an active cetacean.
It was a gray whale, over 40 feet long
and weighing 30 tons or more. Bubble
feeding alongside a kelp bed, the giant
creature was about 150 yards away from
where we were tied to the kelp fishing
for coho salmon. Even at that remove,
we could see the air bubbles breaking
the surface as the whale encircled its
prey — yearling herring less than two
inches long — in a confusing mass of
exhaled air.
Bewildered and compressed by the
wall of encircling bubbles, the hapless
herring became easy prey. Time and
again we watched spellbound as the
massive head erupted on the surface
from beneath the trapped herring school,
water streaming from its maw as the
baleen plates did their work, straining
water and leaving only a mammoth
mouthful of feed. After each feeding
spree the head remained on the
surface for some time, wallowing in the water as if the gray
were revelling in its feast.
We continued to cast our
Chartreuse Clousers (see
Expert’s Choice in this
issue) into the current
seam formed by the
tide as it swept
past. Here the
coho hunted,
streaking in from the fast water to slash
through the jack herring huddled near
the protecting kelp. We were catching
them, too, so when the whale moved
closer, we continued to fish, casting and
then trusting our hands to feel the take
as we retrieved our lines, but all the
while watching, waiting. How close
would that whale come?
It came within 25 feet. We saw the
bubble trail first, but even so were unprepared when that enormous head
emerged in a cascade of water. It wallowed there, the inside of its mouth clearly visible, tongue and all. The big gray
stayed with us for more than 30 minutes; not for an instant of that time were
we inured to the magic of its presence.
Fly fishing open ocean waters for coho
salmon may not always be as intense
an experience as it was for me and Haa
Nee Naw lodge owner Clayton Vanier
([email protected]) this August at
Dundas Island in Chatham Sound, but
as our coho feature in this issue makes
plain, adrenaline charged moments are
part of the package.
So too with the other fisheries
examined in this issue of The
Western Flyfisher: Alaska rainbows
and Dean River steelhead. All in
all, an adrenaline charged
issue. Enjoy!
Weesstteerrnn FFl lyyffi isshheerr •• JFuanl e
l 22000000 •• 22
TThhee W
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s F a l l I s s u e
OPEN OCEAN COHO
M U LT I - M E D I A
A detailed look at the art and science of fly fishing for
coho salmon on the high seas
5
Ocean Hunting
The Fly Versus Pacific Salmon
13
Tackling Oncorhynchus Kisutch
14
Clayoquot Coho
18
Expert’s Choice
Saltwater Coho Patterns
26
M A G A Z I N E
ALASKAN RAINBOWS
By Barry M. Thornton
By Peter Morrison
By Karl Bruhn & Peter Morrison
28
Bristol Bay Giants
32
Fishing With Bears
33
Selective Alaskan Trout
38
Tactics & Techniques
A Bristol Bay Primer
By Phil Rowley
25
F I S H I N G
Discover why big, sockeye-fuelled trout still require
angling finesse even in the wildest of settings
10
23
F LY
FALL 2000/ Volume 1-Issue 2
By Alex S. Henry
By Alex S. Henry
By Alex S. Henry
By Alex S. Henry
Tying
The Art of Working with Epoxy
SUMMER STEELHEAD
By Phil Rowley
The Western Flyfisher finds perfection in the shape of a
magnificent fish and a river made to match our dreams
Menu of the Month
Ammodytes Hexapterus
42
The Magnificent Dean
By Phil Rowley
46
The Dean River Experience
48
Rivers
Water Temperature, Clarity &
Fly Selection
Casting
Shooting Head Strategies
By Peter Morrison
By Art Lingren
By Barry M. Thornton & Art Lingren
By Art Lingren
52
Selected Waters
Dean Country Stillwaters
By Doug Porter
57
Journal
A Most Unlikely Mentor
By Ron Nelson
The Western Flyfisher • Fall 2000 • 3
The Cariboo Chilcotin
Coast Tourism Association
Multi Media
Table of Contents
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Coho Patterns
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Clayoquot Coho
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Baitfish
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OPEN OCEAN COHO
Debra Bevaart Painting
Ocean
Hunting
H
aving slowly fanned out from
the kelp bed, the entire needlefish school suddenly turned
and darted under the anchored boat
in a compact, nervous school. Only
then did the coho appear, shadowy
spectres cruising shark-like along the
outer edge of the panicked needlefish,
hunting for the cripple, the one loner
that did not conform to the pattern of
the school.
Two coho were following the Silver
Thorn (see Expert’s Choice column) as
it closed with the boat, enticed by the
slow strips imparted to the fly. Out of
nowhere, another five coho appeared,
darting around the fly. In a flash, one
dashed in, mouthed the fly and spat it
out, moving too quickly to allow even
the virtually instant hook-set reaction.
None of this was telegraphed to the
fly line; had the action not been clearly visible, I would have been entirely
unaware of the unfolding drama.
In torment I watched the coho swim
away as the fly neared the compacted needlefish school. “Strike! Strike!”
I blurted out. “Strike!”
Hope was fast slipping away when
yet another pair of coho suddenly
loomed out of the murky green to dart
about the fly now only feet from the
anchored boat. One dashed in,
grabbed the fly and turned for deeper
water. The strike vibrated along the fly
line and I snapped up the rod tip.
Fish on! and I felt the steady rush of
fly line streaming through my fingers.
In moments I had the coho at the
reel. Without pause, the smooth knot
joining fly line to backing
clicked through the rod
guides and now backing
was singing off the reel.
Once, twice, three times the fish
leaped. Then, abruptly, the line
stopped. I palmed the spool and felt
the twisting head shakes typical of
coho salmon.
Drama and all, the experience vividly demonstrates some of the key elements of saltwater fly fishing. I had
anchored in shallow water, in this case
on the edge of a kelp bed which held
a large school of needlefish. I had
selected that specific anchoring location because it was near a sheer drop,
one which plummeted more than 300
feet. Experience had taught that this
structure was a ‘fish trail’ — the typical travel route predatory coho use
when moving from the security of deep
water to the shallow feeding shoals
and shelves.
Needlefish, herring and other prey
fish school together in a variety of
ways. Young herring, less than finger
length in size, seek kelp forests or the
ocean floor for protection. When in
kelp — perfect fly fishing territory —
OPEN OCEAN COHO • The Wester n Flyfisher • F a l l 2 0 0 0 • 5
Photo by Peter Morrison
Photo by Phil Rowley
Ocean
Hunting
Barry M. Thornton:
they move out from cover in a loose
school, darting back in a compact
cloud when threatened. Salmon, either
singly or in small groups, cruise along
the edge of the herring, seeking the
moment to strike. At one time I thought
they only struck at crippled prey, but
years of observation have taught that
coho also strike healthy, normal fish.
No skill is more important to the saltwater fly fisher than the ability to read
water, both the ever-shifting tidal currents and flow of life above and on the
surface. This is reading water at its
utmost. Actively hunting for salmon
teaches the fly fisher to ‘read saltwater’
and thus discover the best locations
to anchor and cast.
Hunting for coho involves three primary factors: time of year, identifying
sea bird and coho feeding activity, and
the ability to recognize
fish-holding structure.
Time of Year
“Salmon like to feed on concentrated schools
of prey fish hovering over a patch of bull kelp
or an underwater peak. Tidal currents and
winds make it difficult to retain position and/or
anchor with your boat over these specific sites.
Use your depth sounder to locate the parameter of these specific sites and then drop brightly colored floats with anchors, thus defining the
edges of the prey fish school. Once you have
triangulated the site with floats, it is easy to
position boat and anchor so that each cast
probes the edges of the prey fish school where
the hungry salmon lurk.”
While small in the
early season months,
young coho are still
powerful fish for light
fly rods. Rod weights
should increase as
the season progresses: February and March #5 weight;
April and May #6 weight; June #7
weight and then heavier and longer
rods of #8 and #9 weights for July
through October.
In the early months coho school in
large rafts near the surface and remain
in the same general area for weeks at
a time. In late spring and summer,
coho schools come and go in rapid
succession as they migrate to home
rivers. In most cases a school will
remain in one location for only a few
days before it moves to another region.
In the late summer months and early
fall, coho will have reached the estuary of their home river. Here they may
school for some weeks before ascending the stream.
Photo by Phil Rowley
Ocean
Hunting
Once a school has been located, the
fly fisher should concentrate on the
area for successive days until forced
once again to hunt for a new school.
It is often the case that the special set
of circumstances which concentrated
the school — tides, wind, plankton
bloom, prey fish concentration, weather pattern and migration routes — will
not occur again that season.
Alternately, there are specific locations
where all the necessary ingredients
hold for weeks and even months at a
stretch, allowing an angler to return
time and again to a familiar scenario.
Sea Bird Activity
Over many years of hunting for
coho, various sea birds have proven
a key to locating elusive coho. The
obvious large gull activity with trapped
herring balls is not my favorite choice,
although when all else has failed, I
have on occasion found coho near
these noisy squawking predators.
My favorite “indicator” gulls have
always been the small dip-diving
Bonaparte and Mew gulls. These are
the true ‘coho gulls’ and when I see
them working a patch of water, I motor
over as fast as I can. The late spring
and early summer feeding preference
of coho and ‘coho gulls’ is yearling
needlefish or herring, small fingerlength prey that are easy to catch and
easy to locate. Gulls and coho appear
to work in tandem, one chasing the
prey to the surface, the other forcing them back down. As
the summer
advances, terns arrive and add a third
bird to search for with binoculars
when ocean hunting. On the northern British Columbia coast and in
Alaskan waters, rhinoceros auks and,
where present in sufficient numbers,
even eagles make good indicator
ore info
M
Saltwater Fly Fishing
For Pacific Salmon
This treasury of tips will guide you to
“the ultimate fly fishing experience.”
Barry Thornton breaches new and
exciting waters for fly angling.
Ocean
Hunting
birds. Surprisingly, eagles will feed
on prey as small as immature
needlefish when this prey is
driven to the surface en masse.
Important structure for the coho
fly fisher includes kelp beds and
underwa ter rock formations. The former provide an escape forest for prey
fish, while the latter provide escape
routes for coho.
Kelp beds are an aquatic
wonder that constantly change
with the daily ebb and flood
tides. Storms washing over
them rarely do any damage or
change them in any way. Think
of them as the one constant in
a vast, seemingly ever-changing
ocean where coho always will
appear if they are in the area.
When approaching a kelp
forest, cruise slowly along the
outer edge searching for prey fish concentrations and ‘coho gulls.’ Once
the prey fish have been located, look
for a natural corner or point as an
anchoring position. It is important to
cruise slowly and quietly over and
near prey fish so they are not spooked
to a new location.
When escape structure exists near
kelp forests, that is the best of all worlds
for the coho fly fisher. Once the coho
have fed and are satiated, they seek deep
water. A kelp forest on a bench or shoal
immediately adjacent to a major dropoff, or a rapidly descending trough, is
the most productive location for the fly
fisher. Depth sounders can be used to
locate these ‘fish trails’. Marine charts
used in conjunction with depth sounders
provide excellent topographic details to
help the hunting coho fly fisher.
Photos by Peter Morrison
Structure
Fly
Patterns
Fly patterns
for coho have
existed for much
of this century and
include the common
Minnow, the Coronation,
and the Mickey Finn. Fly tyers
have persisted in using hackle on
these patterns, something which
defeats the prey fish imitation. Herring
do not have hackles; they may have
red gills that excite the predator instinct
in coho, but that is the closest one can
come to justifying
a hackle on a coho fly.
Silver is a key color for coho flies.
Silver best imitates prey fish, provided the materials lie sleek against the
hook. While patterns incorporating
Ocean
Hunting
www.bcbooks.com
or
fo
m
ei
or n
e in
Fly Leaders
& Knots
Fresh & Saltwater
or
Irresistible
Waters
m
ei
or n
fo
m
OPEN OCEAN COHO
• The Western Flyfisher • Fall 2000 • 9
e in
Fly Patterns of
British Columbia
Peter Morrison:
“When retrieving the fly in an open water scenario, be ready for several
types of takes. Many times the fly may slow down with an increased
weight on the line. This is undoubtedly a fish that has followed the fly and
clamped down with its jaws. Time to set the hook! A classic and favorite
take sees the fish attack the fly from an angle followed by an immediate
and aggressive turn away from the boat. Many times with this style of
take, the fish sets the hook on itself. The best advice here is not to set the
hook too abruptly, or possibly even “slip strike” the hook. Any heavy
handed response will pop light leaders.”
fo
m
Black Bass &
Ling Cod with
Shawn Bennett
fo
Tides for Salmon
Fly Fishing
Success by
Barry Thornton
ei
or n
or
fo
Black Bass
with
Karl Bruhn
m
Fishing in
Western Canada
multi media links
We all know how effective traditional bucktailing can be, particularly when speed and erratic movement are used, but fly casting for
coho demands an anchored boat and
a slow retrieve. By anchoring, or
tying off to kelp, the fly fisher is able
to use the tidal current to sink the fly
to the ‘coho depth’ of 10 to 30 feet.
A slow retrieve gives coho the opportunity to select and mouth the fly, not
strike at it.
The usual response when a coho
takes a slow stripped fly is a sudden
halt. Then the fish will actually come
towards the boat, dashing away with
typical coho power and speed only
when it realizes it has an unnatural
substance in its mouth. To avoid tangling retrieved line as it snaps out of
the boat, anglers must learn not to
shift their feet at any point during the
Steelhead
Fly Fishing
m
The Retrieve
retrieve, or must use a stripping basket placed on the deck to collect the
line as it is retrieved. Otherwise, figure on a crash course in the ‘fly fisher’s ballet’ as the fly line follows rapidly receding salmon.
Coho salmon offer a new fly fishery
for west coast fly fishers. In many
ways it is still a pioneering fishery
which has only recently become
attainable thanks to new fly lines,
new fly concepts and new techniques. Together, they add a new
dimension to what it means to be a
‘Compleat Fly Fisher’.
fo
silver have proven their worth over
many years of saltwater fishing, innovative tyers have put the wealth of
new materials now available to good
use. A selection of the most successful patterns used by guides and saltwater aficionados are presented in
the Expert’s Choice column.
e in
Smoking Salmon
and Trout
www.bcbooks.com
F LY VERSUS...
THE
PACIFIC SALMON
P
ioneering saltwater fly fishers the likes of
Roderick Haig-Brown and Bryan
Williams are unlikely to have foreseen
how the game they helped start would
play out. From their early exploratory
efforts, open ocean fly fishing for Pacific
salmon lingered in near obscurity for
almost a century and the issue
remained in doubt until
very recently when it was
finally and forever put to
rest: The fly has bested its
old nemesis, Oncorhynchus
kisutch, on all counts. Saltwater fly
fishing for coho salmon has finally and
fully come into its own.
Innovative new patterns and techniques in combination with modern rods
and lines have proven beyond any shadow of a last doubt what a loyal and ever
growing following has discovered in leaps
and bounds over the last 30 years: It works,
and for pure
high-test excitement
there may be nothing else quite
like it in all the varied forms offered
by the sport worldwide.
That potential for high-adrenaline fly
fishing was recognized as far back as the
turn of the century when pioneering fly fishers probed the estuaries of coastal streams in
the late summer and fall as the salmon
returned to spawn in their then teeming multitudes. Today we know pre-spawning fish
lose the urge to feed and that specialized
techniques are required in estuaries. Back
then it seemed the Pacific salmon would
not take a fly and that is the story which
spread and stuck for years.
Five basic historical pattern concepts emerged on the long road
leading from those early days to the present: Bucktails,
Deceivers, Clousers, Thorns and epoxy flies.
Bucktails were the first basic patterns and, true to their
name, were tied using the long white underhair of blacktail
deer tails. Dyes were used to create Bucktail patterns in
deep greens, blues, reds and purples. Some time after 1945,
polar bear hair became a popular alternative prized for its
sheen. The introduction of outboard motors inevitably led
to the angling technique known as bucktailing, which was
and remains a highly successful method for Pacific salmon.
Unfortunately the success achieved with trolled bucktails bolstered a misconception which persists to this
day: the faster the fly is moved, the greater the chances
of hooking a salmon. Not until the 1980s was this belief
finally debunked. We now know that a slow strip retrieve
with a small fly is highly effective for beach, estuary (prespawners) and open ocean salmon.
The two new pattern concepts developed in the 1960s
and 1970s, the Deceivers and the Clousers, were highly
successful for tropical species and often very successful
with salmon. These two pattern forms come in a vast variety of colors and weights, but both are long and sleek,
perfect for imitating prey such as herring and needlefish.
When I first tried casting in open ocean situations, success remained spotty until I concentrated on silver, and
Photos by Karl Bruhn
THE FLY
VERSUS...
PACIFIC SALMON
then it quickly
became apparent
I needed a basic
‘silver simplicity’
saltwater pattern
that would consistently hook
salmon in shallow areas, near
kelp beds or in
surface feeding
frenzy situations.
By isolating
those specific
materials — stainless steel hooks,
silver thread, silver tinsel and silver mylar — that
gave my flies the
sleek silver prey
fish outline, the
Silver
Thorn
evolved. It has
proven to be the
FATHER CHARLES
(Contributed by Shawn Bennett)
Hook: Mustad 34011 #1-#8
Thread: Clear Mono
Body: Gold Diamond Braid
Throat: White Calf Tail
or Bucktail
Underwing: Chartreuse Calf Tail
or Bucktail
Overwing: Fluorescent Red Calf
Tail or Bucktail
Head: Fluorescent Red or Green
Head Cement
THE FLY
VERSUS...
PACIFIC SALMON
Ole's Hakai Thorn
by Barry Thornton
LEFTY’S DECEIVER
Hook: Tiemco 811S #1/0-#2
Thread: White or Clear Mono
Tail: 6 White Saddle Hackles
Body: Silver or Pearlescent
Diamond Braid
Wing: Various Colors of Bucktail
or Polar Bear Hair over White
Bucktail or Polar Bear. (Popular
over wing colors include blue,
chartreuse, olive, pink, green
and purple.) Mix in a variety of
Krystal Flash and Flashabou for
additional highlights.
Topping: Peacock Herl
Gills: Red Calf Tail or Krystal
Flash
Head: Tying Thread Coated
With Epoxy
Eyes: Red or Yellow Stick-on Eyes
The Clouser Minnow
by Phil Rowley
The Tonquin Thorn
by Barry Thornton
multi media links
consistent pattern I sought.
Experimentation has led to 28 successful variations, all having hooked
salmon in open water scenarios.
In the late 1980s, coinciding with
a renewed movement towards saltwater fly fishing by many anglers,
epoxy flies began to appear in saltwater fly boxes. They are a sleek and
attractive fly, though labor intensive
to produce. Using either five-minute
or two-hour epoxy, the fly is first tied
on the hook, then epoxy is applied to
create the translucent lacquer head
or body, coincidentally providing
protection for materials that might
otherwise rust.
Synthetic materials appeared at
about the same time as did epoxy,
and it wasn’t long before the two
started to dominate salmon fly patterns. From that earlier era of “fur
and feather”, salmon fly patterns are
now being tied almost exclusively
with synthetics. Epoxy flies and the
legion of new fly tying materials
have more than broken the old barriers, they have resulted in a smorgasbord of successful saltwater
salmon fly patterns that finally put
to rest the question first raised
almost 100 years ago — yes, Pacific
salmon take cast flies.
Fly fishing for salmon in saltwater
Tell me more
Barry M. Thornton:
Saltwater can be extremely abrasive and will cut your stripping finger after only a few short hours on the water. It is the light, almost
invisible sand drifting on the surface that sticks to your fly line and
cuts your finger when strip retrieving. Lycra ‘Stripping Guards’ manufactured by companies like Petersons are the answer. If these are
unavailable use Band-aids as an alternative. A sore, raw finger can
ruin an otherwise perfect day.”
one of the
last great frontiers of sport fishing.
THE FLY
VERSUS...
PACIFIC SALMON
TACKLING ONCORHYNCHUS KISUTCH
A
n open ocean encounter with
one of the five species of
Pacific salmon is always an
incredible experience and of the
five, coho salmon (silvers) are the
most common quarry of intrepid
saltwater anglers. Hallmarked by
aggressive feeding habits on a variety of prey species, and with a
decided preference for lurking near
jagged, kelp bound shorelines,
coho are the perfect fly rod salmon.
While a wide range of equipment may be used in the quest
for Oncorhynchus kisutch, following is a brief run down of typical west coast gear based on
many years of ocean fly fishing.
Rods
Desirable rods for coho (silvers)
range from seven to nine weight
with a fast action preferred. This
refers to the occasional need for
fast casts when pinpoint accuracy
is required. Long casts are not the
norm, but sometimes make the
difference for assured success.
Wind is generally present, and for
this reason a rod of nine feet is a
perfect choice. Steelheaders will
find their typical 9.5-foot, #8 rods
answer nicely for coho as well.
A serviceable saltwater reel with
a backing capacity of at least 100
yards is the minimum requirement. Reels capable of holding
200 yards of backing are a better choice as there is always the
possibility of hooking a chinook
(king). A good drag system is a
definite asset. Coho of 10 pounds
or more are capable of long,
powerful runs. A reliable drag
with smooth startup will shorten
the fight and even out the odds.
These fish are notorious for abrupt
lunges, as wells as erratic changes
in direction that catch many
anglers off guard. A good reel can
make a critical difference.
Lines
The requirements for fly lines
change with various angling situations. The most common line is
a weight forward, full sinking line
with a type IV or V sink rate
(about five inches per second). In
clear, shallow water, a clear slow
sinking line is an advantage. Long
sink tips of 25 feet or more are
sometimes used for specific shallow water presentations. For deep
presentations in the 40 to 50 foot
range, high speed, high density
sinking shooting heads backed by
full sinking running lines are a good
bet. Heads are rarely required
when fishing for coho; normally
the type IV lines will suffice.
Leaders
Leaders and tippets for coho
range from 6 pounds at the light
end of the scale up to 16 pounds
for those expecting possible
encounters with chinook. Leader
length varies anywhere from four
to 10 feet depending on specific
application and particular situations. In any case, a stiffer abrasion-resistant saltwater type
leader is desirable. Bonefish leaders work perfectly if other specialty leaders are not available,
and fluorocarbon is always a
viable option.
Reels
Some care and attention should
be given to choosing a good reel
for this task. Being aware of the
corrosive nature of salt water
makes reel choice more clear cut.
By Peter Morrison
Clayoquot Coho
By Karl Bruhn & Peter Morrison
N
ot all saltwater fly fishing destinations
are created equal. While the west coast
of Vancouver Island, with its intricate
maze of islands, islets, rocky reefs and long,
reaching, fjord-like inlets, offers unlimited opportunity, it is the waters of Clayoquot Sound which
beckon most strongly to those who seek coho
salmon on the cast fly.
A number of reasons account for the sound’s popularity among fly fishers, not the least of which is the fact
Clayoquot’s gateway community of Tofino offers services
specifically geared to fly anglers, but underlying all else is
simple geography.
Clayoquot Sound is as if made for saltwater fly
fishing. Its inshore waters, meaning those waters
within the sound’s extensive splintering of
small islands which act as breakwaters to the open Pacific swells, are
shallow and marked by vast areas of
eel grass and endless kelp forests. In
these nutrient rich waters life flourishes,
from tiny zooplankton to behemoth grey
and humpback whales. In between falls a long
list of creatures and amidst this wealth of abundance are innumerable prey species — the hapless herring, needlefish and anchovies — and a legion
of predators.
Voracious by nature, coho salmon rate high among the
sound’s top predators. Whereas other predators feed and
for a time remain satiated, coho salmon seem ever on the hunt,
always ready and always eager, as if driven. This trait can make
for arm-wrenching, fish-every-cast type angling, but it is surprising
how many fly fishers fail to find angling nirvana in the backwaters of
Clayoquot Sound. Even in a sea of plenty, fly fishing still requires a modicum of knowledge and the scenarios detailed in the words, paintings and
drawings which follow are designed to provide that knowledge. All or any of
the techniques described readily apply elsewhere, but all are taken from specific situations encountered at Clayoquot Sound.
Clayoquot Coho
The scene pictured in this painting represents a typical Clayoquot kelp bed.
Both boats are strategically positioned to
take advantage of the tidal current, in
this case streaming from right to left
(note how the kelp is bent by the current). Merely tying to the kelp and casting is not enough, and while there are
several other likely locations in the
scene, the two anglers pictured have
chosen the prime spots.
As the current streams past the face
of the kelp, it curls back in behind to
fill any depressions, much the way river
water curls in behind boulders or other
obstructions to form back
eddies. Such eddies mark the prime
fishing water, but not all eddies are created equal.
The boat on the far left, while positioned perfectly to fish the pocket, or
mini-eddy, just aft of the boat, runs the
risk of being jammed against the kelp
as the tide/current builds, thus placing
the angler in a less favorable casting
position (and likely requiring an anchor
be set off the stern to hold the boat out).
The big back eddy in the center will
absorb much of the building current’s
force, leaving the angler on the right to
fish through the tide without shifting
position or the need to set a tide-stemming anchor.
Prey fish such as herring and needlefish
use the eddies to escape the current.
Coho haunt the current seam shown
in the foreground, and dart in and
out of the kelp eddies to feed. The
big center eddy will always hold
some feeding coho and drifting
schools of prey fish, but the action
is scattered, more hit and miss. The
mini eddies will provide the most
consistent fishing, but casts should
be made across the current and the
fly allowed to swing downstream
before retrieving along the current
seam and up through the eddy immediately aft of the boat. Beware: coho
regularly follow and take the fly within inches of the surface.
The smaller drawing
shows the same scene
with the tide reversed
(flooding). Note how
the boats have been
repositioned (good
anglers, these) to take
advantage. As so often
when fly fishing,
shrewd observation is
crucial to success.
Clayoquot Coho
C
layoquot Sound’s extensive backwaters give
way to the open Pacific in a splintered maze of
islands. Huge swarms of prey fish congregate among
the islands anywhere the tidal current is stemmed.
Indentations or small bays within the kelp forests
which hug the islands are prime locations, but even
the slots between the islands themselves will have
slower flowing streams where hunter and hunted
play their never ending game. With the flow streaming from right to left, both boats pictured are positioned to fish either the current seams adjacent to the
boat, or the kelp back eddies astern. Due to the
strong flow in these open waters, herring are a more
likely choice than needlefish patterns.
L
eaving Tofino, anglers immediately encounter the shallow,
sandy Clayoquot backwaters where balled prey fish — usually needlefish — are a common sight. With typical depths of
between 15 and 20 feet, coho have little difficulty herding the
needlefish schools into tightly massed balls, each prey fish seeking the center of the swarm. While several hunters slam through
the school raking and crippling their prey, feeding coho remain
below, picking off the tumbling casualties. Key to fishing such
concentrated masses is approaching carefully (cut the motor and
drift alongside), and then giving the fly sufficient time to sink
below the ball before stripping. Feeding birds are the tip off, but
do not be fooled by krill-feeding gulls. Krill patches are much
less compressed and the birds consequently will be spread over
a far greater area. While fishing near balled prey, keep one eye
open for other, nearby concentrations as this underwater ballet
is constantly moving and shifting, but usually within eye range.
C
anny anglers, lured by the sight of coho leaping in
shallow-water bays, have discovered needlefish enter
shallow, sandy-bottomed bays in the evening to bury themselves in the sand, leaving only a small portion of the head
showing. Coho follow this evening migration and pluck the
needlefish from the sand, scooping as they plunder.
Constantly leaping coho are attempting to clear their gullets of sand (stomach contents have revealed as many as
30-odd needlefish and an amazing amount of sand). While
retrieves are still being pioneered, some Clayoquot fly fishing guides are retrieving straight up through the water column with good results. Vertical retrieves likely best mimic
the up and down body attitude of the needlefish in this
situation. Scout potential bays during the day, then cruise
by towards evening, looking for leaping coho.
Clayoquot Coho
S
ubmarine reefs and hummocks are ideal locations
for fly fishers seeking both chinook and coho salmon. The
trick lies in finding them, and
then setting up so the fly may
be properly presented.
Aside from using charts and
depth sounders, there are surface indicators as well. In this compressed drawing of the submarine reef near Clayoquot’s Catface Mountain, the surface
of the water on the downstream (left) side is roiled in contrast to the calmer water upstream. The waves are caused
when the tidal current is forced upward by the reef, which
also results in a vertical eddy immediately on the downstream side.
Prey fish lurk in this eddy, seeking shelter from strong tidal
flows. Typically, the water ranges in depth from 20 feet on
the upstream side to 12 feet over the reef or bar, and 25 feet
on the downstream side. Two possible anchoring positions
are shown, but note the boat is tied off at the bow — tying
off amidships will almost certainly result in a capsize as the
tide builds. Coho hunt behind the school, picking off stragglers swept out of the relative safety of the vertical eddy, so
casts should be well out on the downstream side. Since prey
fish will be more heavily concentrated in specific locales,
expect to shift anchor several times.
Karl Bruhn:
“On the first morning of my first day ever fly fishing for coho
in Clayoquot Sound, I hooked and landed a nine pound coho
on the first cast. I missed the strike on my second cast, but
hooked up again on the third cast, this time to a 10 pound
coho. So it went through the morning and the remainder of
the day. The only time we weren’t catching fish was when we
stopped for shore breaks. Over two days, with three anglers
fishing from the boat, each of us hooked in excess of 24 chrome
bright fish, but the number is an estimate. With that many fish,
who can blame us if we lost count. My advice? For coho, go
to Clayoquot Sound.”
Peter Morrison:
multi media links
A
B
O
Fly Fishing British Columbia
Edited by Karl Bruhn
Published by Heritage House
vailable
at fly shops
and bookstores.
w w w .f ly
f is h in g
b c .c o m
“Salmon may eat green flies, but
they don’t eat flies with green
weeds on them. On each and
every cast, make it a point to
check for weeds or debris which
may have been picked up during the last retrieve. Even a
minute amount may deter a fish.
At the same time, ensure no part
of the fly has “fouled” around
or inside the hook. This can produce an undesirable or erratic
action and result in an unnatural presentation. Clean and lean
catches fish!”
Coho on the Fly with Mark Pendlington
and Brian Babcock
Tell me more
y phone:
1-888-776-8702
n the web:
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r
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Demystifying the intricocies
el
of angling with a fly in lake,
s
stream and saltwater. A collaborative
st
e
effort from over 20 of BC's best fly fishers!
B
By Phil Rowley
N
o saltwater fly box on the planet would be complete without a collection of Lefty Kreh’s venerable Deceiver. The Deceiver has been tied world
wide to represent everything from the smallest baitfish to largest herring or mullet. Along with the
Clouser Minnow, the Deceiver probably has duped
more saltwater species than any other dressing,
including open water coho and chinook salmon.
The wing and tail materials work in unison to provide
an irresistible silhouette while shedding water in
short order on the cast and thus facilitating effortless
long distance casts. For Pacific salmon, try chartreuse, olive, light purple, orange and pink or combinations thereof. To reduce frustration and speed
up the tying process, tie the six saddle hackles used
for the tails in two groups of three. Align the three saddle feathers by their tips and dip them in a glass of
water (for easier control) during the tying process.
Use the hook shank to help separate the two sets of
hackles by tying one group of hackle feathers on the
far side and the other on the near side. Keep the wing
sparse, allowing each application of hair to add to the
overall sum of the dressing.
LEFTY’S DECEIVER
Hook:
Thread:
Tail:
Body:
Wing:
Tiemco 811S #1/0-#2
White or Clear Mono
6 White Saddle Hackles
Silver or Pearlescent Diamond Braid
Various Colors of Bucktail or Polar Bear Hair
over White Bucktail or Polar Bear. (Popular
over wing colors include blue, chartreuse, olive,
pink, green and purple.) Mix in a variety of
Krystal Flash and Flashabou for additional
highlights.
Gills:
Red Calf Tail or Krystal Flash
Head:
Tying Thread Coated With Epoxy
Eyes:
Red or Yellow Stick-on Eyes
N
amed after Father Charles Channel in Clayoquot Sound, Shawn
Bennett’s beach fly variation took its inaugural swim in Bazan
Bay just north of Victoria. Late in the season this is one of Shawn’s
go to patterns as Coho stage for their final journey up river. As the season wanes in late September and early October, Shawn migrates
his efforts deep into Clayoquot Sound to hot spots such as Sappy
Narrows. It is a tactic late season fly fishers can duplicate along the
numerous fjords and bays dotting the west coast of North America.
Favoring smaller flies in #8 through #4, Shawn fishes the Father
Charles using shooting head lines such as Scientific Anglers Wet
Express Tip or Airflo’s Depth Charge. Keep the leaders stout and
short, about 7.5 feet tapered down to 12 pound test, to ensure an equal
battle with some of the obese brutes that cruise the sound at this
juncture in the season. Use a slow-paced retrieve to probe the depths
and throw in a few well-paced darts to attract the finickiest Coho. If
the salmon fishing is slow, try a change of fare as sea-run cutthroat
trout readily take a Father Charles as well.
FATHER CHARLES
Hook: Mustad 34011 #1-#8
Thread: Clear Mono
Body: Gold Diamond Braid
Throat: White Calf Tail or Bucktail
Underwing: Chartreuse Calf Tail or Bucktail
Overwing: Fluorescent Red Calf Tail or Bucktail
Head: Fluorescent Red or Green Head Cement
Expert’s Choice
B
eginning life as a smaller sea-run cutthroat
fly, Shim’s Sardina was adapted for saltwater coho by supplementing a stout stainless
hook and enlarging the pattern to match its
larger adversary. As well as coho, it has proven
its worth on a variety of species found in areas
of Baja, Mexico. For coho, use a fairly erratic
retrieve with short twitches and jerks. The fly
consistently outfishes many popular patterns
and is particularly effective in and around kelp
beds or in shallow bays. It does a good job as
a juvenile herring pattern, or can be dressed
down to imitate needlefish — its shimmering
undulation seems to be the key to its success.
SHIM’S SARDINA
(Contributed by Shim Hogan)
Hook:
Daiichi 2546, TMC 811S or equivalent size
4-1/0
Thread:
Clear Monofilament Tying Thread
1st Underwing: Silver Holographic Angel Hair
2nd Underwing: Light Olive Angel Hair
3rd Underwing: Peacock Angel Hair
Top Wing:
Baitfish Angel Hair
Belly:
Silver Holographic Angel Hair
Throat/Gills:
Red Angel Hair
Eyes:
Small or Extra Small Molded Epoxy Eyes - Red
Head:
‘Soft Body’ Thin Formula or Epoxy
Note:
This fly can also be tied weighted.
E
uphausid shrimp or krill comprise a significant portion of the coho salmon’s ocean
diet. Simple yet effective, this pattern was
designed for use when prey fish such as herring
or needlefish are absent. In sandy bottomed
bays, the pattern has proven effective dredged
along the bottom; in open water situations it
works best near the surface. In all instances
the retrieve remains constant, a copy of the
natural shrimp’s steady straight-line swim interspersed with occasional bursts of speed. This
is best imitated with a long-draw retrieve and
an occasional “popping” of the rod tip. The
fly stopping and the line gradually tightening
often mark takes. Set the hook with a quick
hard pull.
PINK SPARKLE SHRIMP
(Contributed by Peter Morrison)
Hook:
Daiichi 2546 or Equivalent
Thread:
Clear Monofilament Tying Thread
Antennae: 2 strands Pink Krystal Flash
Body:
Pearl Diamond Braid
Overbody: Pink Krystal Flash
Legs/Beard:Pink Krystal Flash
Eyes:
Small Black Bead Chain Eyes
Expert’s Choice
A
variation of Bob Clouser’s Deep Minnow,
this fly can be used for a range of species
as it readily imitates a variety of prey fish simply by changing retrieves. The materials themselves lend the fly a wonderful life-like action
and the lead eyes serve two important functions. Tied on top, they cause the fly to ride
upside down, making it relatively weedless.
Second, they ensure the fly is always fishing:
during pauses in the retrieve, the weighted
eyes pull the pattern down, perfectly imitating a prey fish diving for cover, an action
predatory fish find irresistible. Finally, the chartreuse color (which may be substituted) is very
effective in the brownish-tinged salt water
found in destinations such as Clayoquot Sound.
This fly is an absolute must for salt water and
streamer fly fishers worldwide.
CHARTREUSE CLOUSER
(Contributed by Peter Morrison)
Hook:
Daiichi 2546, TMC 811S or Similar in #2 to 3/0
Thread:
Clear, Fine Mono
Body:
(Optional) Fluorescent Green Diamond Braid
(Behind Eyes)
Overwing: Chartreuse Buck Tail or Substitute
Underwing: White Buck Tail or Polar Bear, etc.
Lateral Line:2-3 Strands Each Side Krystal Flash or
Angel Hair
Eyes:
Medium Plated or Painted Lead Eyes with
Prismatic Stick-on Eyes (Coated with Epoxy
for Durability)
T
his pattern’s full dressing matches the broad
profile of small perch or shiner, but it slims
down considerably in the water and may be
taken for a juvenile anchovy or needlefish.
Originally designed with the waters surrounding Clayoquot Sound’s Catface Mountain
in mind, it will produce in similar saltwater
locales anywhere along North America’s west
coast. A moderate retrieve alongside patches
of kelp is a lethal tactic, while a fluttery, fleeing prey fish style retrieve works best in shallow bays. The chartreuse color is crucial when
fishing for salmon, and the red beard or gill,
simulating a wounded or panic stricken baitfish, at times makes all the difference.
CAT FACE STREAMER
Hook: Mustad 34011, #1
Thread: Uni Mono .004, Clear
Body: Pearl Diamond Braid, Red Polar Bear
Wing: White & Chartreuse Polar Bear, Chartreuse Polar
Flash, Peacock Herl, from Eye
Sides: Dyed over Grizzly Saddle Hackle, Green
Eyes: 1.5 mm Chartreuse Mylar Stick-on
Expert’s Choice
C
onfidence in a presentation technique
when working a particular fly pattern is a
trait of all successful fly fishers. This is no different for saltwater fly-fishing guide Shawn
Bennett and his Flashy Glow. A consistent producer throughout the season, the Flashy Glow
works best when retrieved at a steep angle or
even straight up with the fly line hanging vertically, imitating a primary defensive tactic of
frightened, fleeing needlefish. Cast against or
into the tide stream with lines such as Scientific
Anglers Wet Tip Express or Airflo’s Depth
Finder, and allow the fly to sink as it is pushed
towards the boat, achieving a near vertical
retrieve. The materials used ensure the fly
stands out in low light conditions, making it
a good choice early and late in the day when
fish are closer to the surface.
Evolved through a series of experiments dating to the 1980s, the current design emerged
when it became clear meager, sparse patterns
often worked best for Pacific salmon. As originally conceived, the fly was extremely simple and while its simple silver coloration
remains a common theme, there are now more
than 20 variations to suit changing ocean conditions such as algae blooms or the exceptionally clear waters found on the north and
central coasts. All 20 variations have taken
coho and chinook in open waters. More a pattern concept than a fly with inflexible dressing, it can be used with a variety of hook sizes
and dressing variations to match water conditions or size of prey fish encountered.
FLASHY GLOW
Hook:
Mustad 34011 #1/0-#2
Thread:
Uni-Mono .004 – Clear
Body:
Green Sparkle Braid
Wing:
Bottom - Yellow Glow Flashabou; Top
- Lime Glow Flashabou
Lateral Line: Green Flashabou
Whole fly sleeved with pearlescent Mylar tubingWhole fly
sleeved with pearlescent Mylar tubing 2.0 Mylar glow eyes
head coated with epoxy. Fray tubing to just behind eyes.
SILVER THORN
(Contributed by Barry M. Thornton)
Hook: Mustad #34011SS or #34007SS
Sizes#5/0,4/0,3/0,2/0 1/0,1,2,4,6.
Thread: Silver
Body: Silver Tinsel Chenille
Throat: Bright Red Wool, Fish Hair
Wing: Peacock Sword
Tail:
Peacock Sword, Silver Krystal Flash
Expert’s Choice
D
esigned to match the size, shape and color
of Pacific needlefish or sandlance, Lohr’s
Sandlance presents a long, slender profile and
swims with a distinct side-to-side undulating
movement similar to a snake slithering through
grass. Retrieves should be varied and depths
covered can range from near surface to just
off bottom. When retrieving against tidal currents, feeding line out and allowing the fly to
flutter back downstream for two or three feet
can be very effective. Promising spots encountered during a retrieve can be probed by allowing the fly to hang in the current for up to a
minute; feeding line out helps sink the fly and
may be needed to get it in the zone during
extreme tidal flows.
LOHR’S SANDLANCE (Contributed by Harold Lohr)
Hook:
Thread:
Body:
Toppings:
Eyes:
Notes:
Tiemco 9394 #2-#6
Clear Mono or White 6/0
Silver Diamond Braid
White Super Hair Pearl Accent Flash Silver Accent
Flash Baitfish Angel Hair Black Dyed over Pearl
Accent Flash Dark Olive Rabbit Strip
2mm Silver Prismatic Eyes
Toppings are tied down at the front and back;
apply a thin coat of epoxy to the sides and bottom
when finished.
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By Phil Rowley
S
ince the recent explosion of salt water fly fishing, streamer development has advanced exponentially. No fish is
safe from the modern fly rodder. From marlin to surf
perch, innovative fly tyers have created a suitable streamer to
match the available forage base. Compared to fresh water, the
salt is a much harsher environment both on tackle and flies.
Most saltwater game fish are toothy, aggressive and have a less
than pleasant disposition. Fly patterns must be durable.
Shawn Bennett Photo
Shawn Bennett Photo
Bob Popovic’s Surf Candy was one of the first modern creations to use epoxy as a major component. Epoxy provides
luster, water resistance, improved sink rates and diamond
durability. Many of the materials in use today, while attractive and colorful, suffer after mauling by frenzied coho or
chinook. Without epoxy assistance, Flashabou, Krystal
Flash and stick-on eyes might be 10-cast or less materials.
Many pattern concepts besides saltwater streamers benefit from strategic applications of epoxy. Try coating a chironomid pupa with a thin coat of rod winding epoxy or
applying a coat of epoxy to the wingcase of a
favorite nymph.
For many tyers, the first foray
into epoxy is
sticky, messy
and less than
rewarding.
Suddenly those
fancy high priced
streamers don’t look so
bad. Shawn Bennett and Lise
Peters, owners of Moonlight Flies, are
two of the west’s preeminent epoxy wizards.
After years of commercial tying, Shawn and Lise have
perfected the use of epoxy for their full range of west coast
salmon and cutthroat patterns.
All epoxy is not created equal and although numerous
brands are available, most seasoned tyers favor Devcon, in
either the 5-minute or 2 Ton varieties. The 5-minute
is commonly used by the casual epoxy tyer as it cures
quickly, making the use of a rotary dryer unnecessary. But because of its short working time, short
cure epoxy can leave air bubbles and is prone to yellowing, as it does not contain the same UV inhibitors
used in long cure epoxies. Short cure epoxies are
water resistant, whereas the long cure varieties are
waterproof. Devcon 2 Ton has about a 20-minute
working time, allowing for a less frenzied application process while drying to a mirror finish with few
air bubbles. A rotary dryer of some kind is required
to ensure an even cure. Look for one with a rotary
rate of six to eight revolutions per minute.
Correct mixing is the critical step to epoxy success.
Uneven mixing leaves sticky flies that never cure. Use
OPEN OCEAN COHO • The Wester n Flyfisher •F a l l 2 0 0 0 • 23
Tying
syringe containers and lay a manageable bead out onto a piece of
smooth cardboard or a white Post-It
Note. Some tyers balk at the use of
paper mixing palettes, believing the
tannin from the paper reacts with the
epoxy causing yellowed or cloudy
results. Speaking to seasoned epoxy
tyers such as Shawn and Lise, these
problems are a reflection of poor mixing and brand choice. Using a thin
cardboard paddle, mix the resin and
hardener into a uniform puddle.
Draw the epoxy mix together from
the outside of the puddle inwards
using a gentle mixing motion.
Ignoring the outer edge leaves a visible unmixed ring. Avoid aggressive
mixing to reduce unwanted air bubbles. Continue this process until the
epoxy is completely mixed, at least a
minute or longer. Be sure to read the
manufacturer’s specific directions.
Flies tied and epoxy prepared, use the
cardboard spreader to apply epoxy to
the areas needing the most coverage,
usually the head and eyes or along the
sides of a Mylar body. Sweep the epoxy
into position as opposed to dabbing as
sweeping makes for uniform distribution and few air bubbles. With practice
most applications can be completed
with one coat. Avoid thick applications as these soon become difficult to
manage. Depending upon the type of
epoxy, place the treated fly immediately into a rotary dryer or turn in the
vise or hands to avoid sags and runs.
Suppress the urge to fondle the completed pattern until the epoxy has completely cured. For the impatient, keep
the mixing board handy. When the
residual epoxy on the palette is dry,
the fly is safe to touch. If the mixing
Phil Rowley Photo
For longer curing epoxy tyers will need a rotary drying rack of some kind. especially if completing large
numbers of patterns such as these Flashy Glows.
ratio was off and the epoxy is still tacky
well after the posted drying period, the
epoxy will probably never cure. A thin
coat of high luster nail polish can provide salvation, but focus upon proper
mixing technique next time.
Once the basics have been mastered, epoxy soon becomes a welcome
visitor to the tying kit or bench. Try
sprinkling silver or pearlescent dust
into the mix for added highlights. An
undercoating of gaudy metallic nail
polish is another pattern option, or let
the color of the underbody or head
materials shine through by using
monofilament thread.
Ammodytes Hexapterus
By Phil Rowley
N
eedlefish, or Pacific sandlance, form an ocean wide
forage base for numerous
species of predatory fish. With an
active range from Alaska to Baja
California and reaching across the
Pacific to Japan, needlefish are well
known to salt water fly fishers. In the
Pacific Northwest, specifically along
the west coast of Vancouver Island,
sandlance are the feature prey item
for bottom fish, salmon, sea birds and
seals. In the ideal habitat offered by
such locations as Clayoquot Sound,
this silver blanket is the number one
food source for coho salmon from
July through September.
Beginning as tiny demersal eggs,
needlefish grow and mature within
the shelter of shallow coastal bays
and estuaries, feeding upon copepods
and small crustaceans such as crab
larvae and euphausids. Residing in
the relative security of the kelp forests
and a favorite haunt, eel grass, needlefish thrive in the shoal waters of
Clayoquot Sound, attaining average
lengths ranging from three to six inches. Larger, mature specimens of over
eight inches are found in deeper offshore waters. Needlefish favor areas
featuring a healthy crop of eelgrass,
sandy bottoms and good current
exchange. Areas such as Calmus Pass
in Clayoquot Sound fit the bill perfectly and make ideal locations for fly
fishers to intercept coho salmon.
Subscribing to a safety in numbers philosophy, needlefish band
together in dense schools and
always travel
in the same direction. Within these
schools they act as individuals, darting and corkscrewing amongst their
peers. This differs radically from the
behavior of herring and other
schooling fish which tend to behave
as one. Preferring to face into the
current, needlefish act much like
trout, holding in the flow and feeding upon whatever minute food
items drift by. Slow strip retrieves,
or just hanging the needlefish imitation in the rip of a changing tide,
can be deadly. When startled by a
stampeding coho, needlefish circle
the wagons and dart into the school
for protection. Tail end Charlie’s at
the perimeter of the school suffer
from a steep mortality rate. Seasoned
salt water fly fishers know the value
of working the edges, the sides and
below a school of needlefish.
Terrified sandlance seeking to
escape marauding coho often swim
vertically up towards the surface or
down into the security of the sand.
Near perpendicular retrieves can be
a key to consistent success. Pelagic
at first, more mature needlefish
become adept at burying themselves
in sand. Provided early evening tidal
conditions permit, needlefish escape
predation by migrating into shallow
bays and coves where they burrow
into the soft sand. Look for flooding
tides on the evening timetable.
Stomach samples from coho
caught under these conditions show
a combination of needlefish and
sand, lending credence to the now
widely held theory that opportunistic coho ferret needlefish out
of the substrate, devouring both
prey and grit in the process. Coho
are regularly observed leaping and
breaching in the shallows at dusk,
as if trying to rid themselves of their
sandy side dish.
Slender and eel like, active
needlefish are visible from surprising
distances due to the brilliant flash
of their iridescent grey green sides
and silver bellies. Viewed from
above the water, their brilliance radiates and shimmers well into the
depths. Up close, needlefish fall into
two main color schemes:
mauve/purple and dark olive, often
with gold lateral lines. For the
needlefish imitator, streamers featuring these shades are a must.
Svelte fly patterns ranging from
three to six inches in length are a
staple among serious west coast
anglers. Sound in their knowledge
of needlefish behavior and characteristics, fly fishers manipulate their
offerings using a slow strip retrieve,
or let the fly hang in the current in
and around the numerous tidal
flows. These currents push both
prey and predator into concentrated areas. More often than not, the
predator comes in the form of the
coho salmon and their preferred
prey is the slender, flashing schools
of needlefish.
Shooting Head Strategies
By Peter Morrison
F
tough to handle, a shooting taper or
shooting head is in reality only a few
steps removed from customized weight
forward lines. Generally purchased in
standard 30-foot lengths with a narrow
taper at one or both ends, these lines
adhere to standard AFFTA (American
Fly Fishing Trade Association) line ratings
based on grain weight parameters for
the first 30 feet of line (all six weight
lines, for instance, weigh between 152
and 160 grains for the first 30 feet).
Available in both floating and sinking
configurations, shooting taper heads are
most often spliced or looped to a long
section of shooting or running line.
Occasionally, flat monofilament or
braided materials are used.
Specialty heads include lines that are
sold by over-all weight of the head section, ranging up to 850 grains for a 30
foot section. Level lines with no taper
are available in bulk, allowing anglers
to purchase as little or as much line as
needed for specific purposes. Grain
weight for these is based on a one foot
section of line, with 13 grains/foot being
the most popular. In both cases, the head
is looped or spliced to either floating or
sinking running lines, with sinking running lines preferred for deeper waters.
Casting methods must be varied to
suit the line being used and the specific application. Light, well balanced heads require nothing more
than the normal overhead cast used
with conventional weight forward
fly lines, but as density, mass and
Photo by Peter Morrison
ly fishing frontiers have been
pushed to the point where the borders now seem boundless — no
fish too tough, no habitat unreachable.
Even once ‘impossible’ species such as
tarpon, sailfish and marlin are now consistently taken on the fly and adventuresome anglers continue to push the
envelope, seeking ever more new
species and frontiers. Innovations in
equipment have played a key role in all
this, even if anglers themselves often
linger behind. Shooting heads are a case
in point. Properly used, they open new
realms, making it possible to take even
deep-dwelling species such as halibut.
Yet shooting heads have failed to achieve
mainstream status in fly fishing circles.
Often misconstrued as being too
Casting
Shooting
Head
Strategies
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length of shooting head increase, the casting stroke must
be amended accordingly.
The extreme density and physical mass of heavy shooting
heads mean these lines are less buoyant in the air and more
prone to the effects of gravity than regular lines. Normal casting strokes cause the line to fall very quickly, hitting the water
on both forward and back casts — basically the same effect
as a tailing loop. In worst case scenarios, anglers can be hit
by the heavy fly line or impaled by a hook with a lot of inertia behind it.
The first step toward avoiding such calamity involves
opening the casting loop. This is achieved by using the
wrist to make a wider arc, from the normal arc of 1:30 to
10:30 on the clock face, to an arc of about 2:30 to 9:30.
This results in a much wider loop and means the heavy
line is much less likely to tail or droop. The line’s weight
compensates for any shortcomings due to a lack of tight
loops. As always, smooth application of power, from slow
accelerating to fast, is required.
To launch the line system into orbit, snake the shooting
head portion out to the rod tip and neatly coil the desired
length of running/shooting line on a deck or other surface
free of encumbrances. On systems with a smooth connection
between shooting head and running line, keep the connection just inside the rod tip top; otherwise position the head
either six inches inside or outside the tip top.
The final prepatory back cast, achieved by crisply stopping the rod at the 2:30 position (thus ensuring the line
extends fully and turn over is complete), is made with the
head section out past the tip of the rod. With the back cast
fully extended, apply a smooth and powerful acceleration
of the rod through the entire arc of the forward casting stroke.
Acute tailing loops result if too much power is applied at the
beginning of the forward stroke and acceleration is not continued through the stroke.
Delivery occurs when the rod is stopped abruptly at the
end of the forward cast at a high position of 10:00. This
gives the line a higher angle of trajectory, allowing for maximum shooting distance. A short but powerful haul during
the forward stroke will significantly increase line speed, resulting in longer, more effective casts. An 18-inch haul executed in the middle of the casting stroke and released towards
the end of the stroke, is the ticket to success.
Practise with a piece of yarn instead of a hook during first
attempts. Keep the casting plane high and slightly away from
the body to avoid impact by the line. With diligent practice,
these masterful tools of extreme water conditions will open
new realms to the fly fisher.
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Photo by Terry Gunn
AL ASKAN RAINBOWS
By
Alex S. Henry
C
old and desolate, the
Alaskan peninsula’s relatively
flat topography offers scant protection from the lash of Arctic air masses sweeping unhindered from the frigid
Bering Sea. Abundance is not among
the words which spring to mind when
confronted with this vast, open landscape, yet if there was to be one symbol for this ecosystem, it would be the
abundance of its salmon runs.
Millions of salmon return to the rivers
and streams of the Alaskan peninsula
each year, and their arrival initiates a
myriad of interactions with nearly every
living organism. From the micro biota
that live in the lakes to the 1,000-pound
brown bear, everything here is touched
by the salmon. There is perhaps not
another place on earth where so many
organisms owe so much to the survival
of a single species. Within this interconnected web of life, two species stand
apart as near perfect symbols of evolution: the Alaskan grizzly bear (Ursus
Arctos) and the coastal rainbow trout
(Oncorhynchus Mykiss Iridulis).
Bristol Bay rainbows are an angler’s
dream fish. Solid, deep bellied and
incredibly powerful, they distinguish
themselves by dint of their size, strength
and beauty. Many of these wild trout
reach weights of between 10 and 15
pounds. Even bigger fish, the 20-pound
trout of legend, are caught often enough
Bristol
Bay
Giants
to be
worthy
of note, but
all Bristol Bay
fish are violent and
tenacious. Be warned, it is
not uncommon for even a two-pound
Bristol Bay rainbow to peel 100 yards
of line in the first searing run.
The rich salmon diet, everything from
the flesh of post-spawn fish to eggs, fry
and smolt, goes a long way towards
explaining the presence of such trout,
but rainbows with similar feeding habits
exist in drainages both north and south
of Bristol Bay; why, then, do Bristol Bay
rainbows reach the largest size?
The richness of this ecosystem and its
immense sockeye salmon runs, rated as
the world’s largest with 15 million fish
expected this year, is difficult to sell short.
Chum, chinook, and coho runs are also
good, but the unique nature of the
region’s various watersheds may also
play a deciding role.
Blessed by an intricate network of lowgradient streams and interconnecting
lakes, the region’s waterways allow trout
to migrate freely over vast areas. Bristol
Bay rainbows take full advantage, ranging over the course of many river miles
A L A S K A N R A I N B OW S • T h e W e s t e r n F l y f i s h e r • F a l l 2 0 0 0 • 2 8
Bristol Bay
Photo by Terry Gunn
Giants
in a single day. Many observers believe
it is this constant movement, the piscatory version of an aerobic workout,
which produces trout unmatched in
strength and stamina.
Bristol Bay trout inhabit a variety of
water types through the open water season, everything from small creeks, to vast
lakes akin to inland seas, to the massive
rivers that drain the lakes. Their migratory
cycles are perfectly tuned to the seasonal
abundance of the food items.
Tony Wood, a long time Alaska guide,
says of their migratory habits, “The difference between being a guide in Bristol
Bay and a guide down south is that
down south the fish might move a few
hundred feet all season. Up here they
can move 15 miles in a day.”
The two primary watersheds in Bristol
Bay are the Kvichak and Naknek systems. Lake Illiamna is the largest lake in
Alaska and accepts inflow from several
rivers and streams. Illiamna is then
drained by the Kvichak River to the
Bering sea. Naknek is the third largest
lake in Alaska and ultimately connects to
the Bering Sea by way of the Naknek
River. There are dozens of smaller rivers
and several smaller river systems. All are
low gradient drainages which allow trout
and salmon to migrate freely.
Research suggests that rainbows from
some of the tributary streams will travel
upwards of 30 miles to feed. Jeff English,
a former guide from the Kvichak River
system, speculates that in the spring rainbows follow out-migrating smolt from
the lakes all the way to the ocean. If
English is correct in his observations,
some fish travel up to 60 miles.
Each tributary stream and all the major
drainage rivers have populations with
unique migratory habits, but to date little is known about individual populations. The majority of study in freshwater fisheries has so far concentrated on
the commercially important sockeye
salmon, but dedicated officials like Dan
Dunaway are slowly developing an
understanding of the complex interactions between the salmon and various
populations of trout.
Ongoing tagging studies and radio
telemetry projects are seeking to determine which populations of rainbows
constitute a distinct stock and how the
ranges of each stock overlap.
It appears some Bristol Bay rainbow
populations, especially those in the tributaries, do not mix with other rainbow
populations. This has been found to be
true in the Brooks River, whereas populations from the Kvichak are known to
mix with tributary fish. In a tagging study
by Minard and M. Alexandersdottir
(1991) it was found that, “most of the
recaptured fish tagged in the Kvichak
River in the spring were taken in the
Karl Bruhn, The Western
Flyfisher’s editor:
“Sockeye salmon and rainbow
trout in combination produce
some of the West’s finest angling.
In British Columbia, the Babine,
the Chilko, the Horsefly, the
Stewart and the Adams all produce heavy, superbly conditioned
trout and sockeye salmon are a
key reason why. Their spent carcasses fuel the foodchain at its
most elemental levels, while their
eggs provide trout with a rich prewinter harvest. In spring, emerging fry are the first serious protein
boost of the year. All the more
famous of these wild trout fisheries have other factors going for
them — the bonanza of golden
stoneflies on the Babine, for
instance — but sockeye provide
the solid baseline from which all
else flows.”
Bristol Bay
Giants
Photo by Terry Gunn
Kvichak River in the fall, but some tagged fish were also recaptured in Lower Talarik, Upper Talarik River and the Copper,
New Halen and Gibraltar Rivers.”
The study points out that some trout had entered tributary
streams in the fall to feed on sockeye eggs, thereby mixing
with populations of rainbows resident to those rivers. Despite
their migratory feeding tendencies, “at least a portion of the
population returned to the spawning grounds (in the Kvichak
River) in consecutive years during the study period.” Alaska
Department of Fish and Game biologists have determined that
most of the fish in the upper elevation streams overwinter in
lakes. During the winter, the fish free range in the surface layer
of the lake away from shore. At this time many separate trout
populations share the drainage lakes. In early spring after ice
out, the rainbows leave the lakes and head into the tributaries
to feed on hatching sockeye fry and insects.
Trout may return to the lakes to feed any time there are
shortages in the rivers, and it is common for rainbows to return
to the lakes in July prior to the sockeye spawn and after the
heaviest outflows of smolt. According to a 1993 study, “The
drainages of Bristol Bay support populations of rainbow trout
that predominantly utilize lacustrine (lake) habitat and populations of fish that predominantly utilize riverine habitat.”
Lacustrine fish, the study notes, grow proportionately faster
than the riverine fish.
Anglers will readily see the difference for themselves.
Lacustrine fish, such as those found in the Naknek system,
are bright silver in color and range in weight from two to
15 pounds. These fish, like Kvichak River fish, use the large
drainage rivers for feeding and spawning, but spend the
majority of their time in the lakes. Thus, the trophy rainbows of Moraine Creek, the Naknek and Kvichak rivers, are
Alevin
Fry
Smolt
in all likelihood primarily lake dwelling fish that make themselves available to anglers only during the smolt migration
and the sockeye spawn.
Age is also a determinant in the movement of these trout
from river to lake environments. Data show a skewing in
favor of year four to year seven fish for
most in-river tagging studies, while the
numbers of older and younger fish
taper off dramatically. It is possible that
the juvenile fish spend more time in
the lakes and that they do not begin
to feed on migrating smolt until their
third or fourth year.
Rainbows in the tributaries are riverine fish which overwinter in the lakes,
but spend the bulk of the summer feeding in the tributaries. These riverine fish
are beautifully marked and are highly
colored compared to the silver lake fish.
They have heavily spotted flanks and
spots that run through the eyes and
extend below the lateral line, with
Bristol Bay
Giants
IF THE QU ICKER LOADING DOESN’T
dark green to jade backs. While color
differences may be genetic and related
to the evolutionary development of
each stock, this has yet to be determined. The state of the present research
would deny the existence of a distinct
riverine subspecies, though heavily
marked fish from the Kenektok River
and many of the tributaries are often
referred to as though they were a subspecies. Colloquially they are called
Leopard Rainbows. Riverine fish range
up to 30 inches in length and 10 or 12
pounds in weight, though most are
smaller, typically weighing between
one and five pounds and averaging 17
inches in length.
Which of the Bristol Bay populations
constitute distinct stocks and how those
stocks interact, migrate and reproduce will
be the focus of research for some time to
come. Accurate information about each
stock of fish will be important to management strategies and the estimation of
the health of each river in a system.
Calculating the size of many of Bristol Bay
trout populations is difficult due to their
highly migratory nature. Counts vary when
two or more stocks congregate in a given
area to feed.
While overfishing was a problem in the
past, indications are the stocks are in good
shape today. Much of the Bristol Bay area
has been set aside as park or wildlife preserve, thus minimizing potential habitat
threats. Provided the sockeye runs are not
overfished, the cycle of the trout and
salmon should continue unhindered as it
has for thousands of years.
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BEARS
Alex S. Henry:
Author and ex-Alaskan guide:
T
he world’s largest concentrations of grizzly bears
are found in Bristol Bay and bordering Katmai Park.
At Brooks River and McNeil River falls, thousands
of people a year visit to see the bears. Those who fish
Bristol Bay have a unique opportunity to experience and
interact with these huge carnivores. It is common to see
six or more bears a day, sometimes at close quarters.
While this is always an adrenaline charged experience, it
is not dangerous as long as safety and respect precede
fish in importance.
“Alaskan guides work around the bears all day, every
season and they are trained and experienced in reading
these animals. In the last 20 years there has not been a single incident where a bear made physical contact with an
angler at Bristol Bay, an amazing statistic considering the
numbers of people who fish these waters every year.
“Bears are many things, but the one thing they are not
is boring. You never get the feeling that you can ignore
their presence. The simple knowledge that you are sharing their rivers makes you feel alive and that sense of life
and energy is a reflection of the fact they are at home in
a wilderness where you are but a visitor. It is in their ability to extract the most out of this hostile environment that
they command respect, in the same way that we appreciate the relationship of trout to their ecosystem.
“Without the bears Bristol Bay would be a different
place. It would lose its feeling of being a wilderness, and
on a planet where wilderness is quickly disappearing, the
fact that Ursus Arctos not only survives but thrives, is reason to give thanks.
“At times bears frustrate you when you are fishing.
They take your water, force you to break off fish, and
“push” you away from the river. But then you remember that you are fishing only because they tolerate you
and for that you have to be thankful.”
Photos by Terry Gunn
Fishing With
Photo by Terry Gunn
Selective
Alaskan Trout
By Alex S. Henry
F
ew anglers who arrive in Alaska
expect to be casting over 24 to
28 inch trout with 6X and a
Baetis cripple, but insect imitations
have their place along with beads,
Glo-Bugs and Egg Sucking Leeches.
The key to being successful in Bristol
Bay is to be flexible. Anglers must be
willing to move and search out the
fish, and then be prepared with a
number of different approaches.
In June and July, before the main push
of spawning Sockeye, Bristol Bay rainbows differ little in their feeding habits
from various strains of insectivorous rainbows found in southern Canada and the
western United States. In early June the
upper reaches of the American River
(tributary to the Brooks), Idavien Creek
and many of the other tributary streams
see prolific insect hatches. Among the
major hatches are Baetis, or Blue
Winged Olives ranging from #16 to #22,
Inermis, PMDs and small Gray Drakes.
These mayflies are readily taken in both
the adult and nymphal forms. Olive
Flashback nymphs are effective searching patterns, as are #16 and #18 Bead
Head Pheasant Tails. A dry coupled with
a dropper has proven an effective
method when working small nymphs.
Caddis hatches occur throughout the
summer and a #16 Olive Goddard
Caddis will cover most of them.
Stoneflies are also abundant and in
fast water a #12 Yellow Sally is very productive. Most of the stoneflies range in
size from #10 to #16 and vary in color
from black (small Squalas) to the sulphur of a Yellow Sally. Bristol Bay rivers
also see an unusual and striking hatch of
chartreuse stoneflies which can be effectively imitated with similarly colored
patterns in #16. Small chartreuse stimulators work well when these insects
are coming off.
As the early season hatches wane, the
trout begin to concentrate their feeding
on smolt, year two Sockeye that are
beginning their migration to sea.
Throughout June on big rivers such as
the Naknek and Kvichak, huge trout can
be seen boiling as they attack schools
of smolt. The aggressive feeding behavior of the rainbows makes this an exciting time to visit Bristol Bay.
Smolt feeders are targeted with floating or sinktip lines and White Deceiver
Selective
Alaskan Trout
found feeding on fry and stickleback.
Small sparse minnow imitations work
best, and all patterns should have prominent eyes. The Nakback Stickleback has
been deadly at a number of river
mouths, as are sparse alevin patterns.
By this point in the season, chum and
chinook salmon will have arrived in the
tributaries and will spawn throughout
July and into August. Their arrival marks
the first egg fishing of the year. The eggs
of both chum and chinook are best imitated with eight millimeter beads and
Glo-Bugs. The chinook spawn in fist to
softball sized boulders, and these areas
are where the trout will congregate. All
egg fishing is best done with a floating
line and a strike indicator, though dropping a Glo-Bug off a deer hair mouse,
dry dropper style, can also work. This
method has the added excitement of
the odd fish attacking the mouse.
Sockeye begin to spawn in late July
and peak in August. The sockeye spawn
is the peak angling period of the year
and offers anglers the chance to take
grayling, char, and some of the largest
rainbows of the season. Despite the
numbers of fish available, the trout are
highly selective. Glo-Bugs, once
the standard pattern of choice,
largely have been replaced
by dyed six millimeter
beads. Craig Ziggler and
other bead pioneers
CHARTREUSE
STIMULATOR
ALASKA
patterns ranging in size from #2 to #6.
The fish can be hyper selective, so a full
range of fly sizes with slight (but crucial) color variations is required. Running
two flies at once is a preferred method,
but the best tactic is to concentrate on
fish actively slashing across the surface.
Trout lose all caution during such feeding frenzies and immediate hookups are
the norm for those able to cover such
fish with well placed casts.
During the smolt feeding period,
the trout will take lamprey
(Polymyzantiformes) imitations
aggressively. Odd, but lamprey patterns
will outproduce smolt imitations even
when the trout are feeding on smolt.
The Wonderfly is a five inch long articulated leech in olive that looks and
swims exactly like the natural lamprey.
This fly can be fished dead drift or swung
on a tight line and works well fished on
a shooting head through deep water.
By July most trout leave the drainage
rivers and return to the lakes, while fish
in the tributaries often hold off river
mouths to feed on fry. Off the mouth of
Moraine Creek, the American and
Idavein, both trout
and grayling
will be
Thread: Chartreuse 6/0
Hook:
Mustad 9672 or
79580 #12-#18
Tail:
Olive Elk Hair
Body:
Chartreuse Thread
Hackle 1: Chartreuse, Palmered
Hackle 2: Chartreuse Collar
Wing:
Olive Elk Hair
Antennae: Chartreuse Hackle
Stems
Guide’s Note: Highly visible, the fly
can be used as an indicator when
fished with a dropper, but it really
shines as an imitation of the small
chartreuse stoneflies common to
Bristol Bay rivers in June, making it
a good choice as a searching dry fly
at that time. Natural elk hair can be
colored with a felt tipped marker.
have put years of study and research
into the techniques used in the manufacture of their beads. Tiny variations in
color make all the difference.
Early in the sockeye spawn, egg color
ranges from milky orange to peach, but
as the spawn progresses, the trout
become selective on dead and decomposing eggs. Salmon eggs are photo sensitive and die on exposure to sunlight.
Selective
Alaskan Trout
Once dead they quickly begin to “fog”
and become opaque. In the late portion
of the spawn, effective beads will be
creamy, ranging from coffee with
cream to toffee in color.
Beads are usually fished three inches above a bare #10 Gamakatsu hook.
However, anglers can increase their
chance of a hookup by fishing a small
nymph pattern instead of a bare hook.
Combinations of eggs are often more
effective than single eggs, so experimentation can yield great results, especially when fishing over sighted fish.
An unorthodox technique that works
well is to fish over selective trout with
beads and then, if the fish fail to
respond, switch to a large, rubberlegged nymph. Often the trout will savagely attack the nymph after having
refused egg patterns.
By September the salmon begin to
die and the rainbows go on an all out
feeding binge. On the Naknek, Kvichak
and many of the lesser rivers, this is the
best time to take fish over 10 pounds.
Flesh patterns and attractors work well
in the fall, as the trout become more
opportunistic and less selective. Fishing
is usually done with flies from two to
six inches long tied to represent
sculpins, lampreys, and stickleback.
Egg Sucking Leeches and Wonderflies
make good searching patterns at this
time. Flesh flies and micro flesh flies
imitate the flesh of the decomposing
sockeye and are great producers below
log jams, gravel bars and the rock gardens where dead sockeye accumulate.
Maggot imitations are also useful as
maggots commonly wash into the rivers
from streamside carcasses.
By October temperatures plummet
and winter is imminent. Some years
the fishing will remain good until
November, while on early winter years,
the trout may return to the lakes by late
Terry Gunn, ex-Alaskan guide, owner Lees Ferry Anglers:
“Different salmon species have different colored eggs. For example,
chum eggs are often deep red while sockeye eggs are a lighter tone.
It is also important to consider whether the trout are feeding on fresh
eggs, which often have a mottled purple color, or whether they are
taking dead or decomposing eggs which appear milky. Try to find a sample egg with a streamside net or, if you catch a fish, look down into its
esophagus. If you can,
compare a natural to
your Glo-Bugs or
bead. Finally, make
sure if you are tying
Glo-Bugs, that they
are tied on the smallest possible hooks.
Trout have phenomenal vision and they
will shy from a hook
that protrudes unnecessarily from the egg
imitation. Be subtle,
you are trout fishing
after all.”
Selective
Alaskan Trout
www.bcbooks.com
September. The seasonal variation and
the potentially nasty weather keep most
anglers from fishing the late season in
Bristol Bay, but it is precisely at this time
that the largest fish are caught.
Bristol Bay rainbow fishing is a diverse
and high stakes game which offers
anglers an opportunity to fish for some
of the largest and hardest fighting trout
on earth. It is however a myth that
Alaskan trout are easily caught. Bristol
Bay rainbows can be every bit as selective as fish anywhere else, so a full spectrum of fly lines in various densities as
well as a variety of tippet sizes, differing
flies and egg imitations are essential.
Thus armed, and with a flexible itinerary, it is possible to have unparalleled
angling in a northern setting Robert
Service might have conjured.
fo
The Grizzly Bear
ei
or n
or
fo
ALASKA
ALASKA
Tying the
Czech Nymph
e in
Safe Travel
in Bear Country
m
Tying the
Egg Sucking Leech
m
Tying the
Glo Bug
or
fo
Guide’s Note: A fabulous grayling
producer, this fly comes into its own
for rainbows resident to Bristol Bay
tributary streams.
Guide’s Note: When Alaskan rainbows are picky, this is the pattern of
choice. It works well in both fresh
and salt water and has proven effective as a second fly fished behind a
Pacific Smolt.
ei
or n
fo
Black 6/0
Shrimp or Nymph
Hook TMC 2487
BC #12-#14
Under Rib: Fine Red
Copper Wire
Shellback: Tan Scud Back
Abdomen: Picked Out
Hare’s Mask
Thorax:
Burgundy or
Claret Seal
or Substitute
Over Rib: 4X Tippet Material
Head:
multi media links
Thread:
Hook:
Throat:
Mountain
Bears
m
Wing 2:
TMC 9394, Mustad
34011 #6-#12
Pearl Mylar
Sparse White Rabbit
or Marabou
Olive Dyed Grizzly
Hackle Tips
Pearl Crystal Flash,
Two Strands per Side
Red and Dark
Olive Firefly
Mylar Paste-on
Eyes, Epoxy
m
Body:
Wing 1:
e in
Backcountry
Bear Basics
NAKBACK
Hook:
fo
m
or
Wing 3:
CZECH NYMPH
ei
or n
fo
m
Bears
e in
Grizzlies in Their
Backyard
www.bcbooks.com
Bristol Bay HATCH GRAPH
Time
Fly Pattern
Imitates
June/July
Pacific Smolt #2-#6
White Deceivers #2-#10
Blue Smolt #2-#10
Zonkers Pearl and White #2-#12
Alevin #10-#14
Smolt,
Alevin
June/July
Chartreuse Stimulators #16-#18
Black Elk Hair Caddis,
Black Stimulators #12-#14
Blue Winged Olives #14-#20
PMDs or Light Cahills #12-#14
Olive Goddard Caddis #12-#16
Quigley Cripples (Olive/Tan) #12-#20
Pheasant Tail Nymphs: #14-#20
Ugly Bug #6
Bitch Creek #8
Case Making Caddis #6-#10
Chartreuse Stoneflies
Squala Stoneflies
Baetis
Caddisflies
Mid July/September
Glo-Bugs: Pink, Orange
Oregon Cheese, Cream in
#8, #10, #12, & #14
Illiamna Pinkie #8-#10
Beads, six and eight mm
Salmon Eggs
September/October
Battle Creek With Flesh #4-#12
Flesh Flies #2-#6
Micro Flesh #10-#14
Maggot Imitations #12-#16
Salmon Flesh,
Maggots
All Season
Black Woolhead Sculpins #2
Purple Egg Sucking Leeches #2-#8
Black Egg Sucking Leeches #2-#8
Battle Creek Special #4-#8
Nakback Stickleback #8-#14
Wonderfly (Olive/Black) #2-#6
Sculpins,
Leeches,
Stickleback
*
Alex S. Henry,
author, ex-Alaskan
guide:
“The dying of beads
to match natural sockeye eggs in their various color phases is an
elaborate and secret
art. Glo-Bugs can be
carefully matched to
the prevailing color of
natural eggs by comparing the two under
water.”
*Note: Most guides and lodges will provide beads for their clients. Beads also can be
purchased from craft stores; six and eight millimeter sizes work well.
By Alex S. Henry
Photos by Terry Gunn
M
ost anglers arriving in Bristol
Bay for the first time believe
they have been delivered
to an angler’s Valhalla where even
novices will catch dozens of trophy fish. There are times each
season when this simplistic
view holds true, but it is important to realize that Bristol Bay
has a broad spectrum of fish
species, water types and
associated feeding strategies. Good guides will have
all the eventualities covered, but solid pre-trip
research will yield angling
that is both more rewarding
and more satisfying than
“leaving it all to the lodge.”
Trip timing should be based
on an angler’s skill level and
personal tastes. The Bristol Bay
season can be divided into
three segments: early season
smolt fisheries, mid season insect
fisheries and mid to late season egg
fisheries. Knowing a little about each
of these will help the angler make a
choice that is best suited to taste and experience level.
Rainbow trout season commences June
8th and the first few days normally account for many of
the monster trout taken on both the Naknek and Kvichak
rivers, as well as the upper Alagnak and the lesser waters
in the Kvichak drainage.
After ice out, sockeye smolt marshal into groups, the strength
in numbers principle, and head for the salt. The trout lie in
ambush at the mouths of the tributaries and in the drainage
rivers, where they ravage the schools of descending smolt.
Preferred rainbow feeding areas are usually clearly marked
by the presence of gulls and Arctic terns, all wheeling and
diving on the smolt school.
Maddeningly, the trout regularly lie in wait for long periods
of time without feeding, and then spontaneously turn on
when a school of smolt passes over. This makes for an active,
high adrenaline fishery in which much of the time is spent
chasing smolt boils. On the drainage rivers, seek out shallow areas where the smolt will be compacted into a narrow
band. Riffles are ideal.
Intermediate casting ability is a minimum requirement at
this time; advanced casters will fare best. Most fishing is done
with floating lines and sinktips, the same lines many western
anglers use on their home waters. The trick is being able to
aerialize the fly line quickly and present the fly to the target
with a minimum of false casting. Anglers should be able to
double haul and throw at least 60
feet of line. Nine and a half and 10
foot rods in six or seven weight are
ideal as they help to reduce the number of false casts required to get the
fly to the target.
Once fish are located, the best tactic
is to anticipate a given fish’s direction
of travel and then drop the fly in its path.
Immediately make a large upstream
mend to eliminate cross stream drag
and strive to maintain a direct connection with the fly. As the line swings, continue to mend into the current. With
each mend, allow several feet of line to
slide through the fingers, imparting a
partial dead drift. This modified greased
line presentation is deadly with floating
or sinking lines as it presents the smolt
imitation sideways to the current and
allows the fly to wobble like a cripple.
By July 1st, most of the smolt will have
migrated to sea and so emphasis shifts
from smolt fishing to more traditional
types of fly fishing. July and August are
the months for less experienced anglers
to visit Bristol Bay as most of the fishing is done with a floating line and there
is less of an emphasis on casting.
Although the fish are smaller, rivers
like the Brooks and the American have
fantastic hatches. The mid season also
provides anglers with an opportunity to
catch a wide variety of other species,
including sockeye and chum salmon,
Arctic grayling and Arctic char.
All traditional trout techniques are
effective, though nymphing is typically
more effective than dry fly fishing. Bristol
Bay rivers and streams are perfectly clear
and afford numerous sight fishing opportunities. As in New Zealand, anglers
OLIVE WONDERFLY
Hooks:
Hook: 9672 #2-#10
Tail:
White Marabou
Hackle: White, Palmered
through Body
Body: Pink or Peach
Chenille
Color Hackle: Two turns
Orange Saddle
Wing: Ginger Rabbit Strip
Guide’s Note: A perfect searching pattern, this fly makes a great September
attractor. The rabbit strip simulates
sockeye flesh; the orange body is reminiscent of salmon eggs.
ALASKA
BATTLE BUNNY
ALASKA
who employ stealth and guile have a
better chance of hooking large trout.
Dry attractors such as Stimulators and
Humpies work well when fished dry
dropper style. Attach a length of 4x tippet to the bend of the dry fly about one
third longer than the depth of the water
being fished. A small to medium (#18
to #10) bead head nymph makes an
effective dropper. Weight the dropper
with micro shot to get it down in faster
streams. The dry dropper technique will
usually suffice on smaller streams, but in
pools and larger rivers, it may be necessary to fish with a strike indicator
instead of a dry fly.
The strike indicator method works
best in water more than four feet deep
and while bead fishing. Strike indicators in subdued colors, black and olive
for instance, are much better than
brighter colored indicators which tend
to spook fish in clear water.
In August, sockeye begin laying their
eggs. Fly fishing with egg imitations was
pioneered in Bristol Bay and it can be
deadly. Seasoned anglers use floating
lines, strike indicators and split shot.
Glo-Bugs, egg imitations tied out of yarn,
work well on less selective fish, but most
anglers fish beads for trophy trout. Beads
are dyed plastic in both six and eight
millimeter sizes.
Beads should be weighted to bounce
along the bottom, and should be fished
upstream and across so they drift naturally with the current. Any drag on a
bead is likely to put the rainbows off,
so the fly line should be mended diligently. Leaders should be tied out of uniform diameter eight-pound test fluorocarbon, allowing the bead to sink faster
and drift more naturally than when using
tapered leaders. A butt of salmon Shock
Gum will help avoid break offs.
Two #6 Mustad
34007 Joined with
Flyline Backing
Rear Hook
Tail:
Peacock, Angelhair
Body:
Olive Palmered
Marabou, Front
Hook
Body:
Olive Palmered
Marabou
Collar: Two Turns Black
Marabou
Topping: Rainbow Flashabou
Head: Pearl or Peacock
Mylar Tubing, Clear
Thread, Paste-on
Eyes, Epoxy
Guide’s Note: A top contender for
best all-around Alaskan fly, the pattern produces all season as a lamprey
imitation, but is at its best in
September. A proven producer on the
Naknek and Kvichak rivers, it also
performs well on steelhead streams
further south.
Alex S. Henry:
Author, ex-Alaskan guide:
“It is notable that out migrations of smolt seem larger scale on days when
the wind blows down river or with the current. On such days the smolt
will be close to the surface and are best fished with a floating line. On
days when the wind blows up river, the surface current is slowed and the
smolt tend to hug the bottom. It is sometimes necessary to use a sinking
line or shooting head when the wind blows up stream. Upstream winds
also tend to induce slower fishing than downstream winds as fewer smolt
leave the lake.”
Jeff English:
Alaskan angling guide:
“When a smolt boil is spotted you should approach in a parabolic manner, that is well to one side. Then position yourself above the boil and
cut the engine. Boils move progressively farther down stream, so in general you can drift with the boil. If you find you are drifting faster than the
fish, drop anchor and hold your position until they move down again. It
takes patience to get into a good position in relation to the fish, but with
practice you can discern a pattern to the feeding and stay on top of them.”
PACIFIC SMOLT
casts and cover as much water as possible. Fall can be challenging, and there
are no salmon left in the rivers and few
char or grayling. This is the time for
experienced anglers seeking trophy
trout, perhaps the fish of a lifetime.
Throughout the summer, Bristol By
rivers offer a constant collage of opportunities and challenges. Anglers should
be prepared to be guided and take full
advantage of fly outs to remote streams
— there is no better way to stay on top
of moving fish than to be able to fly
in to where the fishing is hot.
Cast for a few minutes every day
before arriving in Alaska, especially for those intending to do a lot of
streamer fishing. Anglers commonly burn out from a constant barrage
of long casts and heavy lines. Make
the most of the opportunities this
amazing fishery offers: practise, practise, practise.
(Designed by Alex S. Henry)
Hook:
Tail:
ALASKA
By September the majority of sockeye
have spawned and begin to die off.
Emphasis now shifts from beads to
attractor patterns and streamer fishing. In
the tributaries, trout begin to move down
into the lakes and late season fishing
shifts to the large drainage rivers. Late
season fishing is comparable to steelheading. Those anglers able to cover
the most water are usually the most successful. Teeny lines (100 - 300 grains)
and shooting heads are the staple fly
lines, though sinktips and full sinking
lines can be used as well.
Flesh flies, which imitate decomposing sockeye flesh, leeches and
sculpins, all produce well. These are
fished with a down and across presentation and should be kept close to
the bottom. There are fewer fish available in September, but those that
remain in the rivers are among the
largest. Thus, it is best to make long
TMC 9394 #2-#12
Matched Dun
Saddle Hackles
Body:
Pearl Diamond Braid
Wing 1: White Calf Hair
Wing 2: Matched Dun Saddle
Head: Gray 6/0, Pearl
Eyes, Epoxy
Guide’s Note: This is the fly to use
when Alaskan rainbows are seen
“boiling” on out-migrating smolt. By
far the best of the smolt patterns.
“The
multi media links
Tying the
Battle Bunny
Tying the
Nakback
Tying the
Pacific Smolt
pat
I ha ve ev e
writes John Randolph,
editor of Fly Fisherman Magazine
about Frontier Flies.
best
ter n book
r s e e n ,”
SUMMER STEELHEAD
The Magnificent
by Art Lingren
F
Dean
lowing into the head of remote Dean Channel near
Bella Coola on British Columbia’s central coast, the
Dean River is the crown jewel of the province’s 42
classified waters. From around the globe, fly fishers come
to the Dean to test their skills against the river’s fabled summer-run steelhead.
Typical Dean River summer-run steelhead weigh about
nine pounds with a length of 29 inches. Ocean-going smolt
will have spent three years in fresh water, and return to
the river after two winters at sea. About 10 per cent of the
run consists of fish which spend three winters at sea and
grow to lengths of 35-plus inches and weights of between
15 and 20-plus pounds. No mistake, anglers do catch some
large steelhead.
SUMMER STEELHEAD • The Western Flyfisher • Fall 2000 • 42
The Magnificent
Photo by Art Lingren
Dean
BLACK SPEY
#2 to #6 Low
Water Salmon
Tip:
Fine Oval Gold Tinsel
Butt:
Black Floss
Tail:
Red-orange Indian
Crow Type Feather
Body: Black Floss
Rib:
Medium or Fine
Gold Twist to Match
Hook Size
Hackle: Black Heron
or Substitute
Throat: Two Turns of Teal
Flank Feather
Wing: Bronze Mallard
Hook:
Art Lingren: “The long heron hackle fibers
or similar type of hackle fibers fluctuate
and provide life to the Black Spey even in
the slowest of currents. Although returning steelhead do not feed, some cannot
resist the urge to test life-like things and
find flies such as the Black Spey appealing. I like to vary the amount of dressing
from full-bodied to a slimmer, sparser,
low-water type for clearer water.”
A fly fisher’s dream, they take a sunk
fly eagerly and, provided the water is
clear enough, will rise to a fly presented just under or in the surface film.
Water temperature during the mid-July
to mid-September season ranges from
50 to 60 degrees. Fish will rise to the
surface to take flies throughout that
temperature range, provided the water
is clear. The Dean is glacier fed and
that fact, above all, influences fly fishing technique.
There are five basic techniques for
presenting a fly to a steelhead: sunk line,
nymph; floating line, waked fly and dry
fly. On certain sections of the Dean, it is
possible to catch fish using all five techniques in a given day providing the
water is clear, the temperature correct
and there are ample fish around.
The floating line or waked-fly techniques are the methods of choice, but
being upriver from the head of a long
inlet — well inland, in other words —
means summer temperatures regularly
soar into the 80s and 90s. The warmer
it is, the more glacial melt descends and
the less clear the water becomes. With
visibility often reduced to between three
and four feet, the preferred technique
is the sunk-line using looped-on sinktips or manufactured lines with sinktips
Barry M. Thornton:
Author and British Columbia steelhead expert:
“Steelhead often turn tail and dash downstream, making it almost
impossible to beach these fish. To get the steelhead (or large salmon)
back in the pool where they can be played and beached, walk up
stream with the rod tip pointed at the fish and your free hand cinching
the reel to stop any more line running out. Move slowly, allowing the
fish to swim up and around boulders until it is back in the pool. Do not
reel in any line as the fish will feel the vibrations from the reel and bolt
down stream. Walk up stream as far possible, then reel in slack line
while walking back down to the top of the pool.”
The Magnificent
Dean
BLACK GENERAL PRACTIONER
Hook:
Tail:
#5/0 to #4 Low Water Salmon
Black Squirrel Tail and Small Red Golden Pheasant
Breast Feather
Optional: Krystal Flash fibers in Black, Pearlescent, Silver or
Red with
the Black Squirrel
Body:
Black Mohair or Wool
Rib:
Oval Silver Tinsel
Hackle: Black Cock Neck Feather
Back:
Two Layers Dyed Black Golden Pheasant Breast or
Hen Hackle
Art Lingren: “Ever since I took my first Black GP-caught steelhead in February
1984, that fly has produced well for me on over 30 rivers. It is my weapon
of choice for Dean River steelhead when sunk-line fishing, but I often fish
it with a floating line when the river’s clarity is marginal and I want to fish
near the surface. Also, I catch many fish fishing
the Black GP on a floating line in
poor light conditions, such
as those found in early
morning, late evening
and on overcast days.
Over and above the
Black GP in different
sizes with varying
amounts of dressings, adding
a few Orange and Purple GPs to
your fly box allows more choices.”
ORANGE GP
of high density to deep water express. Fly
size also must be varied to suit water and
light conditions.
Visibility of about two feet calls for flies
such as a four-inch long 5/0 General
Practitioner. Fortunately, water clarity is usually more than two feet, so smaller sizes
may be used, but old hands will rarely use
a General Practitioner dressed on a hook
smaller than a #2. When the river does clear
and visibility increases to four feet or more,
a surface presentation and floating line
become possible.
For the waked-fly technique, a #4, #6 or #8
Bomber-type pattern works well, as does a
McVey Ugly, but any wake-producing fly will
suffice. Both the Bomber and McVey Ugly flies
also can be used for the natural drift dry-fly
technique. Some fly fishers like to cast more
upstream and allow a portion of the drift to fish
dry, then put the fly into tension and wake it for
the remainder of the cast. Throwing a half hitch
around the head of the fly will ensure it wakes.
For the floating-line technique, fly size
must be matched to both water clarity and
light conditions. A #2 Black General
Practitioner has proven successful fished with
a floating line during poorer light and water
clarity. In such marginal conditions, some
prefer to use the sunk-line, which is the staple technique on most steelhead rivers. As
the water clears and the light becomes more
direct, sparsely dressed patterns such as a Black
Spey or As Specified in #6 through #4 are suitable. Other sparsely dressed, dark-bodied
Steelhead, is a tribute to this
magnificent fish and to
steelheaders throughout the
Pacific Northwest.
The Magnificent
Dean
“Dean River steelhead are magnificent creatures and anglers should give
these fish the respect and courtesy they deserve. When a fish is coming
to hand, keep it in the water. Remember, it can only live out of water
about as long as we can live in the water. Never drag a fish onto the
beach, or hold it out of water for prolonged periods while taking pictures. Taking a snapshot of the fish while it is in the water can yield outstanding photographic results.”
Art Lingren , Author and Dean River veteran:
“I hooked my first Dean River steelhead 17 seasons ago with a sparsely
dressed black-winged fly using the floating-line technique and I have
been using that method ever since, providing the water is clear enough.
For this technique, fly size needs to be matched to water clarity and light
conditions. Others may feel uncomfortable using this technique in marginal conditions and prefer to use the sunk-line. As the water clears and
in more direct light, I prefer an even more sparsely dressed pattern.”
For a fee, someone from one of the
camps near the airstrip will usually
taxi camping anglers as far as the fivemile landing. Others arrange to be
taken by helicopter to the area they
plan to fish, flying either direct from
Bella Coola, or up river from the tidewater airstrip. Travel arrangements
should not be left to chance. Non-residents of the province are limited to
one 8-day maximum stay on the Dean
and non-guided non-residents must
enter a draw to get a time.
Map of the
Dean River Area
Map of the
Dean River
Fishable Section
Helicopter Fly-by
of the Dean
multi media links
winged patterns also will work.
When fishing deep runs, a Woolly
Worm, Black GP or Cowichan Special,
swept deeply using the nymphing technique, often produce results.
Although the Dean River has a June
to end-of-September season, most
anglers plan their trips for the period
between mid-July and mid-September.
Angling effort is concentrated on the
lower part of the river during the early
part of the season as the fish are freshly arrived from the ocean. As the season
advances and the steelhead populate
the river, fishing waters expand to
include the full 32-mile section from
the mouth at Dean Channel to Craig
Creek, the upper boundary.
There are no roads to the lower
Dean; access to tidewater is either by
personal boat or by aircraft to the landing strip. There is a road from the
airstrip above the canyon to the fivemile landing, which the guides use to
ferry their clients to upstream lodges.
Bob Taylor, 30-year Dean River veteran:
www.bcadventure.com
With over 7,500 ‘pages’, the BC Adventure Network is
the most complete tourism resource
on the World Wide Web.
Discover the BC Adventure Network today and embark
on an interactive journey of discovery
in unforgettable British Columbia!
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D i s c o v e r B C ` s P r e m i e r To u r i s m W e b S i t e !
The Dean River
EXPERIENCE
Barry M. Thornton:
Author and British Columbia
steelhead expert:
B
alanced on to my wading staff, I edged
gingerly toward the fast current. The
water sped past me as I braced my feet,
slipping over a number of rocks until I found
that position where I could lean into the current and still maintain enough balance to cast.
I was using a wet tip fly line matched to my
eight weight Sage.
“Earlier, downstream, I had tried a number of gaudy fly patterns with no success so
I switched to my favorite steelhead pattern, the Pink Campbell. The pattern is
tied with a pink FrostBite belly, pink
Cactus Chenille thorax and a pink
Fishair tail. It has proven itself many
times in the past and I knew that if
the steelhead could see it through
the glacial haze clouding the
Dean, they would strike.
“It was a prophetic thought.
No sooner had I cast into the
fast current and mended
the surface line belly,
than the fly line shot
through my hands.
I braced my feet
as I lifted the
rod tip
to set the hook
only to have a side
current jostle me loose as fly line streamed downstream, cutting a glorious rooster tail on the surface.
“Off balance, I grabbed my floating wading staff
with my free left hand and speared the downstream water, hoping to lodge the staff between
river bottom rocks. It worked. As I braced myself
once again, the chrome bright, 20 pound summer steelhead shot into the air only a few feet
from where my partners were fishing downstream.
It was their first indication that I had a fish on and
each blurted something in admiration, their comments lost in the river’s song.
“Balance firmly regained, I began to feel as if I
had some control. The beach was about 50 feet
away so I let the fish run, taking out ever more
backing as I slip-waded back to the shallows. By
now the anadromous rainbow was at least 90
yards downstream, well into the brightly colored
backing. I realized it would soon be into the fast
water of the tailout and away downstream unless
it could be stopped.
“When the fish finally slowed, I palm-braked
the reel and when the fish paused, I began a slow
upstream walk through the shallows while keeping the rod tip pointed at the fish. For a moment
the fly line twanged in the canyon wind, singing
that angler’s song at a higher and higher pitch as
the line tightened. Then the fish began to swim
multi media links
Dean River
Steelhead
with Scott
Baker-McGarva
Dean River
Steelhead
with
Dana Protti
very slowly upstream. It was at that moment, when the
steelhead yielded, that I knew he could be beached.
Waiting at the beach were my three companions, holding
cameras and ready to release carefully the trophy steelhead
now at their feet.
Art Lingren: Author and Dean River veteran:
I
mo
re
t was late evening and I had managed to find some fish — in fact so far I had
hooked four steelhead. I mused that the steelhead seemed to prefer the Purple
General Practitioner that evening. Twilight was fast slipping into darkness
when the next fish took the GP with a vengeance.
“This one decided that the route to freedom was back down the rapids that it had just
come through and, with me scurrying after it, away it went. My downstream progress
was blocked by a high impassable bank, and it was at its base that I would have to make
my stand. By the time I hastened there, the fish was well downstream with
all my 40-yard, double-taper Hardy floating fly line and considerable backing.
Focuses on the lower Dean’s world-class
“It sought refuge and tangled my line in among some old stumps in the
summer-run steelhead fly fishing.
river. I lost fish, fly, leader, the double taper fly line and some backing.
Complete with a detailed river map,
This would be an evening to remember: five fish solidly hooked and
colour fly plates, and tips on flies and
not a single one to the beach. Were the gods of fly fishing conspiring
against me?
how to fish them with greater success.
“Good thing I had slipped a spare double taper floating line into my
tackle bag before setting out for the Dean. The lesson to be learned?
Be prepared for the Dean.
“Lost flies, fly lines, and rods, as well as broken reels and leaky waders are
among the things that can and do happen. Although the guide camps do
have some equipment for guests’ mishaps, there are no fly fishing shops near
the Dean River, which is a half hour helicopter ride from Hagensborg and
Tel l m e
Bella Coola, the nearest towns. When planning a trip to the Dean, you need
to go prepared. Bring an ample supply of flies, leaders, spare lines, reels,
rods, and waders.”
Full-colour photographs
Water Temperature, Clarity & Fly Selection
By Art Lingren
A
benefit of summertime in northern latitides is the long fishing
day. On the Dean, with 16
hours of daylight, one could fish to
exhaustion. However, there is another
benefit. The long summer days warm
the water so that during July, August
and September, Dean River water temperatures reach that optimum level
where active steelhead will move considerable distances to intercept a sunk
fly and rise to the surface to take a fly
fished just below, skated over or floated on the surface.
The other factor to play a role
through most of the steelhead fishing
season was noted as early as 1874 by
one Charles Horetsky in a report
appendixed to Sir Sandford Fleming’s
1877 book, Report: Canadian Pacific
Railway. Horetsky noted the Dean
River was, “derived partly from glacial fed tributaries”. Glacial tributaries feed silt into the system and the
degree of that siltation is the key
influencing factor in determining fly fishing technique and marrying fly
patterns to suit those
conditions. Although it
can and does rain during the steelhead season, it is those blistering
hot summer days, often
in the 90-degree range,
that profoundly affect
glacial melt and Dean
River water conditions.
Most Dean River fishers
have experienced the river’s
various degrees of siltation. I have
seen the river when rocks 12
inches below the surface
were invisible. On those
days the fishing is hard,
Rivers
often useless. I consider the visibility
good when I can see rocks four to six
feet below the surface. More than that
is considered exceptional visibility. I
have never experienced gin clear
water, but don’t doubt that the river
does flow without silt once winter
comes and there is no glacial melt.
The difficulty with silt is that it doesn’t allow the passage of light
through the water column. The
Dean in the area I fish always has
MCVEY UGLY
(Designed by Peter McVey)
Hook: #2 to #10 Low Water or
Salmon Dry Fly
Body: Rear Third Red Seal Fur,
Remainder Black Seal Fur
Wings: Moose Mane Splayed at
Sides with Stubs Clipped
and Flared near Hook Eye
Art Lingren: “Peter McVey of Corbett Lake
Country Inn journeys to the Dean each
year. When not toiling over a hot stove at
Rob Stewart’s upper Dean Camp, he manages to wake a McVey Ugly over steelhead
in the pool around the camp. A regular pattern for many Dean River fly fishers, the
McVey Ugly, with its wings splayed and
wing tips flared, was designed by McVey to
sit in the surface film and wake without
having to throw a half hitch over the hook
eye. The fly is effective on any steelhead
stream where fish will rise to a waked fly.”
some glacial
coloration, which
varies considerably. When the flow is
very silty, the light condition experienced by bottom-hugging steelhead can
be extremely poor even on bright, sunlit days. Presentations and flies that combat this handicap are thus required. In
my arsenal I carry a variety of flies, ranging from those dressed on #5/0 hooks
at four inches long, to flies dressed on
#6s at three quarters of an inch in length.
Steelhead fly fishing is at its best
when water temperatures are in the
50 to 60 degree range. An examination of many years of my Dean River
records shows
a low of 50
degrees and a
maximum of 60
degrees, with a maximum daily variation of eight degrees. These are ideal
water temperatures for river fly fishing.
In June, early July and in the later part
of September, I suspect water temperatures dip into the 40 degree range and
as temperature decreases, steelhead
become harder to entice to the fly.
Much of steelhead fly fishing is based
on experience, making spot evaluations and decisions based on a core of
knowledge. The accompanying table
can be used as a simple guide, but I
catch 99 per cent of my steelhead using
Rivers
the sunk-line, floating-line and wakedfly techniques with three basic patterns.
These can be grouped into types such
as large, sparse and skater.
For example, the Black GP is a large
fly that can be used in colored water,
poor light, and on a floating line in
marginal water clarity. At a minimum,
two sizes are required, one that measures two inches dressed on a #2 hook
and one four inches or more long
dressed on a #5/0 hook.
If I didn’t have a Black GP, I would
substitute a Black Woolly Bugger or
Black Popsicle, but the Black GP is my
first choice because it has many moving parts, which I believe steelhead
find appealing. A sparsely dressed
Black Spey on #6, #4 and #2 hooks
can be used to fish in the top six
inches of the water column; there
are numerous sparsely dressed pat-
Art Lingren , author and
Dean River veteran:
“I favor a large fly such as the
Black GP for colored water or
poor light, a fly that skates well
such as the Bomber, McVey
Ugly or Grantham’s Super Skater
for the waked-fly technique, and
a sparsely dressed fly such as a
Black Spey for bright light and
clear water, used with the floating-line technique.”
terns that could be substituted. The
main criterion is that the substitute
should be sparse and dressed with
dark materials.
The third type is a skater, such as a
Bomber, made from either natural or
black dyed deer hair. I usually dress
my Bombers in #6, #4 and #2 hooks.
However, it is the furrowed wake that
attracts the fish and almost any
fly that throws a wake, either
through design or by half
hitching the leader, will
work.
The
final
requirement when
using a particular fly
for a given technique
is confidence — confidence that the fly,
fished in that way, will
actually catch fish.
GRANTHAM’S SUPER
SKATER
(Designed by Ron Grantham)
Hook: #6 Mustad 7957BX or
7948A Down-eye,
Bronzed, Forged, Regular
Length or Equivalent
Extended Body Base: Length of
.065 inch Nylon
Weedwacker Line Shorter
than Hook Shank
Body: Brown Sparkle Acrylic
Dubbing
Wings: Deer Hair Length of Body
BODY
CONSTRUCTION
DETAIL
Ron Grantham:
“When used with a floating fly line, my virtually unsinkable Super Skater will stay on the
surface as long as it is moving. In principle, it
acts like a kite, where the line is attached to a
point back of the leading edge. The fly will
skate in line with the leader, so directional
changes can be made by tossing upstream or
downstream mends in the fly line. Tie on with
a turle or clinch knot; don’t riffle-hitch. The
Super Skater can be fished using doublehanded Spey casts because the fly will stay on
the surface even when water-logged. The .065
inch nylon garden edger line should be heated
so the forward can be blunted; angle cut the
line with clippers for easier wrapping. Lay the
nylon on top of the hook with the blunbt end
extending 1/8 inch forward of the eye, wrap
tightly and cover with head cement.”
Jerry Wintle, veteran British Columbia
steelhead fly fisher:
“Be observant and use techniques that complement prevailing water conditions. For example: the Dean’s summer-run penchant for rising to the surface to take the fly when the river is clear. Try to get maximum enjoyment
from each fish by not compromising your own self-imposed set of principles; avoid getting into the numbers game.”
Rivers
Water Clarity
Light
Temperature
Presentation Type and Fly Size
Two feet
All conditions
All temperatures
Sunk line, 5/0 Black GP
Four feet
Poor, morning and evening
45 to 50 F
Sunk line, #2 Black GP
Four feet
Shadowed by trees or dense clouds 50 to 60 F
Sunk: #2, Black GP
Floating: #2 Black Spey, #2 Black GP or #4
or #2 Bomber
Four feet
Bright, mid-day
50 to 60 F
Black Spey: the warmer the water,
the smaller the fly
Six feet
Poor
45 to 50 F
No. 2 Black GP sunk, #2 Black GP or Black
Spey floating-line, or #6 or #4 Bomber
Six feet
Shadowed
50 to 60 F
Sunk: #2 Black GP; Floating: #4 Black Spey,
#2 Black GP or #6 or #4 Bomber
Six feet
Bright
50 to 60 F
Black Spey: the warmer to water the smaller
the fly
Eight feet
Poor
45 to 50 F
No. 2 Black GP sunk, #2 Black GP or Black Spey
floating-line, or #6 or #4 Bomber
Eight feet
Shadowed
50 to 60 F
Floating: either #6 Black Spey, #2 Black GP, or
#6 Bomber
Eight feet
Bright
50 to 60 F
Black Spey: the warmer the water, the smaller
the fly
Casting Shadows
The complete 6 part series on 2 video tapes
Designed to educate, delight and entertain, Casting Shadows takes the viewer on
a different kind of fishing trip. Different in that it is less a “how-to-catch fish”
program than a wide-ranging exploration of the places, people and issues
that define the sport of fly shing in British Columbia.
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By Doug Porter
A
nglers visiting the Dean for summer steelhead would be wise to
allocate at least some time to the
region’s stillwaters. The lakes of the
Chilcotin offer some of the finest stillwater angling to be had in British
Columbia, making them one of the top
small-lake destinations worldwide.
With elevation being the major factor, August and September can provide some of the worst and best stillwater fishing of the season. Mid to
low elevation lakes are usually so
warm in August that the fish abandon their preferred feeding areas and
move into deeper water below or in
the thermocline. Food is usually
scarce at these 25 to 35 foot depths,
but trout will respond to flies moved
slowly in this zone. Chironomid
pupae and larvae, bloodworms,
leeches, and damselfly and dragonfly nymphs will produce if presented at the correct depth.
September is a month of transition.
The longer, frostier nights begin to
cool the water, allowing the fish to
return to shallower littoral zones. The
feeding binge that will provide the
energy reserves needed to see them
through the winter begins in
September. Crisp, sunny days spark
the water boatman mating flights,
which in turn entice the larger fish
from their deeper haunts. Shrimp
again begin to provide the major
source of forage for these larger fish.
Just about any nymph or leech pattern will take trout at this time if properly presented. On calm days it is
possible to stalk large fish cruising in
the shallows. Casting a weighted
nymph pattern on a floating line and
LUDTKE’S SUPER
CHIRONOMID
(Designed by Bill Ludtke)
Hook: Mustad 9672 #12
Thread: Fine Black Waxed
Underbody: Six Turns of 0.010
Lead Wire Under Thorax
Overwrapped With Thread
Body Segments: Fine Copper
Wire (Variation Silver Wire)
Body: Three Strands of
Peacock Herl
Wing Case: Gray Wool
Gills: White Antron, Split to
Form Two Gills
remains fishable through summer and
into late September, but notes the
lake is occasionally subject to high
winds. Stewarts’ Lodge and Camps,
and McKenzie Trail Lodge also operate out of Nimpo Lake.
Stocked with steelhead fry in the
late 1980s, fish which have thrived
and now naturally reproduce, the lake
supports fish exceeding four pounds
in weight, with average weights of
two to three pounds. Owing to their
genetic makeup, these feisty fish are
acrobatic fighters that commonly take
anglers well into their backing before
release. Hooking 15 to 20 fish of this
size each day is not uncommon.
Numerous rocky shoals, small
islands, and dropoffs offer the best
then watching as a large trout takes
the offering produces an adrenaline
rush akin to watching a Dean River
steelhead engulf a waked fly.
PETER’S DRAGON
Hotnarko Lake
At an elevation of 3,900 feet,
Hotnarko is a large body of water
covering almost 850 surface acres.
It averages 35 feet in depth, with the
deepest spot over 200 feet deep.
Located about 12 miles west of the
town of Anahim Lake, it is primarily
a floatplane destination. Rod
Thatcher, angling guide and owner
of Pine Point Resort and Air Services
on Nimpo Lake, reports Hotnarko
(Designed by Peter Hepburn)
Hook: Daiichi DA1270 #10 or
Equivalent
Thread: Fine Olive
Tail:
Deer Hair
Body & Thorax: Dubbed
Olive Wool
Body Segments: Black Vinyl
Ribbing, Small
Legs: Guinea Fowl, Dyed Olive
Tied as Collar Hackle
Eyes: Black Plastic Bead Chain
Selected Waters
CARIBOO DAMSEL
(Designed by Fred Curtis)
Hook: Daiichi 1270 #14
Thread: Brown or Beige
Tail:
Buff Marabou
Rib:
Copper Wire
Body: Buff Marabou Wrapped around Body
Legs and Wing: Yellow Dyed Guinea Fowl
Thorax: Weighted With Lead Wire and
Wrapped with Dubbed Buff
Marabou Tied over Eyes
Eyes:
Fine Black Plastic Bead Chain or
Melted Monofilament
places to cast to cruising
fish. These large fish rise
eagerly to dry mayfly patterns such as the March
Brown. The fish also can
be found cruising the mud
flats in four to five feet of
water and can be stalked
and taken on dry flies,
such as the green tent
wing caddis in #8 or #10,
and numerous wet patterns. Thatcher is convinced that stalking these
fish and watching them
take the fly is the most
exciting fishing that can
be found.
While August can see a
slight decrease in numbers
caught, Thatcher says the
fish still take flies readily.
The pattern that produces
best for him is the
Hotnarko Special, a vari-
ation of the Western Bee tied especially for Hotnarko Lake, featuring a
black and yellow body, with antennae out the front and long legs out
the back. Other good patterns include
the purple egg-sucking leech and the
brown rabbit strip leech tied on #6 or
#8 extra long hooks, the water boatman, and a black woolly bugger with
a red tail.
Gatcho Lake
At an elevation of 3,500 feet, Gatcho
is a remote lake located about 37
miles north of the town of Anahim
Lake. Averaging 16 feet in depth, its
286 surface acres contain numerous
bays. Nestled in rolling terrain, it is
less susceptible to the wind.
According to Thatcher, fishing can
be great throughout the summer and
early fall. Landing 10 to 15 fish a day
is not unusual. Both he and Stewarts
Lodge and Camps (located at Nimpo
Jack & Anita Madsen welcome you to Anahim Lake Resort
“Home of Wilderness Fishing Excursions”
Contact us
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[email protected]
www.anahimlakeresort.com
www.anahimlakeresort.com
di
Au o
Anahim Lake is known for the abundance of native rainbow trout and the
“Famous Dean River”. You will enjoy success catching wild trout - trolling,
spin casting or fly-fishing.
Licenses, worms and a wide variety of tackle are available at the lodge.
For adventure and excitement . . .
Anahim Lake Resort will make it happen.
BLOODWORM
(Designed by Fred Curtis)
Hook: Daiichi 1273 (Red) #14
Thread: 6/0 or 8/0 Red
Body: Scarlet Killer Caddis
Beads
Thorax: Peacock Herl
Gills: White Antron or Ostrich,
Split to Form Two Gills
Selected Waters
Lake) regularly use floatplanes to
take their guided clients in to this
remote lake. Trout average two
and a half to three pounds, with
fish to five pounds not uncommon. These are extremely strong,
active fish and only three out of
every five fish hooked get to the
boat. Plenty of backing on fly
reels is needed.
Wet flies produce best when
fished from float tubes near weed
beds and shallow bays. Thatcher
suggests using egg sucking leech
patterns or brown or black leeches. Doc Spratley’s and brown
Woolly Buggers are also said to
produce well.
Fish Lake
Fish is a small alpine lake located at an elevation of 5,600 feet in
the Coast Mountains south of
Nimpo Lake, between McClinchy
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and Cowboy lakes. It is relatively shallow and is visited throughout the summer and early fall by
three floatplane guiding outfits
located on Nimpo Lake: Pine
Point Air Services, Stewarts Lodge
and Camps, and Rainbow Lodge.
Pine Point Air Services’ Rod
Thatcher describes this lake as a
steady producer of 12 to 14 inch
rainbow trout, with 50 to 60 fish
SHRIMP MAN
days not uncommon.
(Designed by Doug Porter)
Dry patterns in sizes 16 and 18
Hook:
Tiemco 2457 #12
are popular. Wading the shallows
Thread:
Fine Black, Waxed
and stalking fish provides the best
Underbody: 6 Turns of 0.010 Lead Wire
sport. Float tubing, using a brown
under Thorax Overwrapped
Woolly Bugger or Doc Spratley,
with Thread
along the dropoff near the shallows
Body Segments: Fine Maroon Wire
also produces well. Due to the high
Body:
Fine Peacock Green Chenille
elevation, sudden squalls or winds
Shell Back: Dark Olive Swiss Straw
can cause the temperature to drop
Legs:
Pheasant Tail Fibers Tied
dramatically. Warm clothes and
Along Each Side of The Body
windbreakers are a must when fishHead:
Black Thread
ing this lake. For the more adventurous, larger fish can be found
just a short hike away in Frog lake.
The beautiful alpine setting and
remarkable scenery enhances the great
fishing.
MOOSE LAKE LODGE - MAIN WILDERNESS
FLY-IN LODGE - FISHING & VACATIONING
We are located 300 miles north of Vancouver, near
Tweedsmuir Park, in the wilderness of the Upper
Blackwater River, and Upper Dean River region of
British Columbia.
Tell me more
www.mooselakelodge.bc.ca
MacKill Lake
MacKill Lake is a relatively small lake
located about 17 miles north of the
town of Alexis Creek. At an elevation of 3,000 feet, it is a narrow lake
covering about 60 acres with a shallow mud flat at the south end and a
rocky shore at the north end. It is a
hike-in lake with a maximum depth
of 35 feet and an average depth of
18 feet. Access is by logging roads
to the parking lot at the trail head.
From there, it is just over one half
mile to the north end of the lake. No
Selected Waters
motorized vehicles are allowed on the trail to the lake.
Normally stocked every year with 5,000 rainbow
trout, the fish typically grow (slowly) to a maximum
size of two and one half pounds. They come readily to
a fly and are strong fighters. The most productive area
of the lake is located along the west side, out from the
reed bed, just north of the eagle’s nest. The B.C. Forest
Service has a “user maintained” toilet at the north end,
and a small camping area with two tables and a toilet
near the southeast corner. This site can be reached by
water, or by a marked trail that circles the lake.
When the surface water warms in August, a weighted size 8-3 extra long shank leech, with either black
or red dubbing, fished in 20 to 25 feet of water, produces well. Maroon or red bloodworms in size 10 or
12-3 extra long shank will also provide good action.
Twenty-fish days can be experienced by those who
take the time to hike into this lovely lake.
Cochin Lake
This 450-acre lake located about 10 miles south of
the town of Tatla Lake sits at an elevation of 3,000
feet. Access is good to the B.C. Forest Service campsite at the south end of the lake, and to Cochin Lake
Resort at the north end. It has an average depth of 21
feet with a maximum depth of 37 feet.
Resembling an old volcanic crater, the center of the
lake is the deepest point, with dropoffs slowly tapering
from the shoreline to the maximum depth. Reed
beds can be found at both the north and
south ends of the lake and near the
sunken island located along the
west side. According to Peter
Ellis, owner of Cochin Lake
Resort, the best pattern to
use is a size 6 black leech
with an extra long shank.
He also finds a size 12-3
extra long shank gold bead
head chironomid with a peacock herl body and white tails
and gills very productive. Dragonfly
nymphs fished on an intermediate sinking
line and adults fished dry can produce trout that aver-
EGG SUCKING RABBIT LEECH
(Designed by Doug Porter)
Hook: Mustad 36890 # 4
Thread: Orange 6/0
Tail:
Length of Black Rabbit Strip Approximately
2/3 Hook Length
Body: Black Rabbit Strip Wrapped Around Hook Shank
Flash: Two Strands of Pearl Flashabou Tied Along Each
Side of The Body
Egg:
Fire Orange Chenille
Selected Waters
age two pounds.
Every year fish to six pounds are
taken near the reeds, in the mud flats,
or over the weed beds. Ellis says the
largest fish he has heard of was a 12
pounder taken a few years ago. Fishing
in August is slow, but picks up in
September and continues good until
the cold weather sets in in late October.
Palmer Lake
Located about 18 miles north of the
town of Alexis Creek, this is one of
the more productive lakes in the
Chilcotin. With a surface area of 347
acres, a mean depth of 37 feet, and
a maximum depth of 75 feet, the lake
presents many opportunities for the
flyfisher. With habitat ranging from
steep dropoffs to rocky sunken
islands, shoals and extensive marl
flats blending in to weed flats, all the
aquatic insects which provide choice
food for foraging trout are available.
Annual stockings of 20,000 trout
keep this lake well supplied with fish
that average about two pounds; fish
to five pounds are not uncommon.
Access is by seasonally maintained
logging roads with four-wheel drive
vehicles recommended for the last
three miles to the lake. A B.C. Forest
Service campsite is located at the east
end of the lake, providing camping
spots and car top boat launching.
Egg sucking leech patterns, bloodworm, chironomid, boatman, shrimp
and damselfly patterns all work well.
Getting the bloodworm, damselfly or
leech patterns down to the fish in 30
feet of water in August requires sinking lines and slow presentations.
Concentrate efforts in areas where
the bottom depth is 30 to 35 feet.
While trout will suspend in depths
where the water temperature is comfortable, they prefer to suspend above
some kind of structure. September
brings on sporadic hatches of chironomids and sedges, but the boatman flight on sunny days is one to
be experienced. Stalking fish on the
marl flats on calm days provides a
unique challenge.
Big Lake
Offering a spectacular view of Mount
Tatlow, this lake is located about 50
miles south of Alexis Creek on the
Nemiah Valley Road. At an elevation
of 4,300 feet and with a surface area
of 223 acres, Big Lake has a healthy
gammarus shrimp population which
allows stocked rainbow trout to
quickly attain trophy sizes. Fish average two pounds, but become much
more challenging to catch once they
exceed five pounds. Eight to 10
pounders are taken every year, but
are not the norm.
Shrimp, sedge, and leech patterns
can be fished along the shallow weed
beds along much of the lakeshore near
the south end. Gravel shoals dominate
the north end of the lake, providing good
habitat for chironomids, sedges, mayflies
and leeches. Fish populations fluctuate
from year to year, as the lake is not
stocked on a regular basis. Checking
the stocking lists located on the B.C.
Ministry of Environment website can
provide a valuable clue as to when fishing may be at its most productive, usually two years after stocking. A B.C.
Forest Service Campsite located at the
northeast corner of the lake, 200 yards
off the main road, provides recommended four-wheel drive access, and
car top boat launching. Patience is the
key to success, as these large trout are
not taken on a daily basis.
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The resort is located between Tweedsmuir Park and the Itcha Ilgatchuz
Park (newly created in 1996) meaning you will be in the centre of some
of the most magnificent scenery in the province of British Columbia.
Journal
Ron Nelson
y first summer-run steelhead hit a Brad’s Brat
just as I was starting a new cast. It was a very
brief experience. My second summer-run, two
seasons later, also hit a Brad’s Brat, but did so as
the fly was swinging across the current in the
then standard steelhead approach. The fish
leaped then — once, twice, thrice — and tore off
downstream, not even pausing at the pool’s tailout. I
ran out of backing halfway through a long rapid, so this
was another brief encounter: 30 seconds, no more.
You’ll understand that I became sort of obsessed.
Living in Seattle during the early 1960s, I knew summer steelhead were a bad thing to obsess about. There
were those who did catch summer-runs, but I did not know
any of these fishers. Nor did I see them. I think they mostly safaried down to the famous Columbia River tributaries or up to B.C. The relatively few summer steelheaders
I met were all, like me, chasing a dream. After too many
no-fish-seen, no-fish-hooked, there-are-no-fish days, I
pretty much gave up and concentrated on stillwater trout fishing.
Eventually, though, I met a man who, if he
wished, could have taken a great many steelhead from
the nearby rivers I fished. He became my steelhead mentor — though he never knew about that.
His name was Montgomery and no one ever called him
Monty or, God forbid, Mo. He was a tidy, Prufrockish man
who loved his wife, ultra-light bamboo rods, and trout fishing (river variety). I think he was indifferent about most
other things, though he was good at his job and could go
through the motions of polite conversation. We worked in
the same office, him a couple of corporate rungs above me,
so I sometimes had to report to him. The topic of trout
one day sneaked into a dialogue on aerospace equipment
and, after that, we often shared coffee and fish talk.
I don’t think my trout stories (mostly stillwater
sagas) much interested Montgomery but, after politely
hearing me out, he could then get on to river fishing and
bamboo rods. Especially bamboo rods. I may have been the
only person who ever listened to Montgomery’s bamboo
rod talk for more than two minutes. It was heavy going,
particularly when he got into the physics and mathematics of rod design. I regarded rods as about as interesting
as hammers: tools which, though varying in quality, were all
quite up to doing the job. I still feel that way.
M
His trout stories were another matter.
Good stuff, although he fished very differently from me. He
was a dry fly purist and fished only rivers — the same
rivers in which I pursued steelhead. In my experience the
only trout in these streams were juvenile steelhead, but
Montgomery caught enough resident rainbows and cutthroat to provide the truite a bleu his wife doted on while
still releasing scads of trout, some of them a foot or so
long. He managed that feat by being an astute observer
and a creative perfectionist about presentation.
Montgomery was using Leonard Wright’s ‘heretical’ downstream delivery at least a decade before Wright wrote his
book. Vincent Marinaro was the only fishing writer
Montgomery genuinely admired.
When I one day mentioned my steelhead fishing,
Montgomery said that, yes, steelhead were extraordinarily strong, downright violent fish. He, in fact, had once land-
Journal
ed one in the same place I’d hooked my
second steelhead.
‘That fish KILLED my rod,’ he said.
‘A lovely little Payne I’d just acquired
at an estate auction. Ferocious bidding too. I eventually got the set out
of her but she never again had any
real life. And then we had to eat steelhead every day for a week.’
I said this was a shame all right
but wondered if he had hooked any
other steelhead over the years. ‘The
odd one,’ he said, ‘though I can usually pull the fly away from them before
they get hooked. I just point the rod
at those I do hook and break them off.’
I did not ask why anyone would
deliberately not hook a steelhead
because I knew. Steelhead KILL rods
and don’t taste as good as resident
trout. I did ask just how often he had
to avoid these steelhead attacks —
dreaming dreams, suspecting the dry
fly might be magical steelhead medicine — and he said maybe a half
dozen times a year.
Hmmm. I naturally resumed my
summer steelhead pursuit — fishing
dry this time — but soon realized
that six steelhead strikes in a year
worked out to one strike for about
every hundred hours Montgomery
fished. The man did love his trout fishing. I took some resident trout,
though, and got a tad chesty about
that. It took some
doing and made me a
river-trout convert —
which eventually
put me on to
maybe the world’s
best summer-run
steelhead fishing.
This was on
British
Columbia’s
Morice River, the part just below
Morice Lake that, alas, was closed to
fishing shortly after I first fished it.
But I was not there for steelhead. No,
I came for the trout fishing a friend
had touted (‘nice trout, some of them
two pounders’). It was August and I
presumed steelhead would not arrive
for at least another month.
Steelheading in the upper Skeena
River tributaries was, and still is, a fall
proposition, but we now know that is
strictly a matter of unfishably high,
silty summer flows. The steelhead
arrive in summer.
I was not alone about that miscalculation. The camp at Morice Lake
was well filled, but the fishers were all
there for the massive chinooks waiting there for their spawning time. No
one was after steelhead.
The Morice at its outlet is biggish
water but, even in August, it ran clear
and you could wade parts of it.
Gorgeous place, and the other fishers
were all working the opposite side of
the river from me. I later learned this
was because the area’s many grizzlies
reportedly preferred my side.
I fished exactly as Montgomery
would have fished (too exactly),
casting a low-floating fly downstream and using a combination
dead drift and controlled drag
presentation. That worked splen-
didly in the first run below the lake.
Trout of about ‘pounder’ heft struck
on just about every cast and I took
a Dolly Varden twice that size when
the fly sank.
In the next run downstream, fish
rose to a half dozen casts but, reacting too quickly, I missed every one of
them. They seemed larger fish but,
incredibly, I did not suspect they were
steelhead until one of them hooked
itself and popped my tippet before I
could even raise the rod. The fish
leaped then and left no doubt about
what he was. I missed another
strike, still not knowing how slowly
one must react, but now knew I was
unintentionally behaving just like
Montgomery, snatching the fly away
before it was taken. A greatly delayed
strike finally connected the fly to an
adreneline-zonked racehorse of a
steelhead. That fish did everything a
steelhead can do, but I eventually
beached six pounds of mint steelhead
and uttered a good approximation of
a Tarzan yell. A man across the river
glanced my way, fearing, I suppose,
that I’d become grizzly food.
I killed that fish — the only summer-run steelhead I have so treated
— and then worried that seeing it
would trigger the campground fishers
into steelhead mode. I rather liked
having this fishing all to myself.
I needn’t have worried. ‘Pretty little steelhead,’ one man said, but he
had no interest in where or how I’d
caught it. Everyone continued to
exclusively fish chinooks. Only one
person was impressed with my steelhead — me — but, bottom line, that
is the only person who matters in
such things. Montgomery knew all
about that.
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---- All 3 issues from the year 2000
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OPEN OCEAN COHO ALASKAN RAINBOWS SUMMER

Transcription

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