Our Alaska Fly Out Adventure

[Stan Wright]

It was raining. How can we fly out to a remote lake in weather like this? But float planes loaded with tourist from the cruise ships were taking off every minute. Those on a flight/seeing trip to Misty Fjords today would defiantly see lots of mist.

You haven't experienced Alaska unless you include a float plane trip to some remote fishing spot. Our guide, Dan, was waiting at the lake with a boat to take us up the river in search of Cutthroat Trout. The Hook Up fly shop who arranged our trip described this place as "nonstop cutthroat action". That turned out to be an understatement.

Due to all the rain the water was a little high and a dark stained color. With out the sun it was hard to see the fish. So we just blind cast into likely spots and watched as our fly vanished with a splash. A sharp tug on the line was instantly followed by a wild jumping trout. Frisky doesn't really describe these wild beautiful fish. The action was so good we tried different flys, just to see what all they would hit.

In one spot where a large still pool empties into a stretch of rapids, my brother Lynn made 7 casts with a Madam-X and landed 7 fish. The fishing was that good.

This was the first trout fishing trip for my son Chris. He took right to it, listening to Dan's advice and coaching, Chris was catching way more fish than the rest of us put together.

Trout in this area feed on small mice and shrews. The "mouse fly" looks real enough to frighten an elephant. You just cast it up and accross the current and kind of skitter it slowly along as it drifts down stream. Talk about wild surface strikes. You'd think the mouse would only attract larger fish, but one little trout wasn't much longer than the tail of the mouse. LOL

Finally I had to take a break. As my brother and I sat on a rock eating our sandwiches in the driving rain, Chris came splashing up with a big grin on his face and said, " Woooo Daddy, ain't we having fun."

Yea, I'd go fishing there again, in a heart beat.

Aloha,
Stan