Summer Solstice Fishing in Alaska
Took a little trip this past weekend to the same spot we took Denny a few years back, looking for lake trout and grayling. It was clear and mostly sunny as we crossed the lake, but being almost 1AM the sun was very low on the horizon and the light was gorgeous. The mountains to the North stood out stark white and everything else was deep green.
It was chilly even though it had been hot and dusty for the whole drive.
At the outlet stream we immediately saw lake trout slashing through schools of sockeye smolt trying to slip out down the little river. The terns were mostly sleeping, but a few Bonaparte's gulls were still up and working the aerial attack.
We rigged up with switch rods (well, okay, a couple cretins among the four of us rigged a baitcaster and a spinning rod ;) ) and intermediate sinking heads. I started with a Sid Glasso style Orange Heron in 1/0. Before I could get set up I had to help Riley's girlfriend Cheyenne land her first lake trout... her largest fish ever. She had problem casting the light lures she was using so we rigged up a plastic minnow jig under an indicator... oh wait, she was slinging gear. It was just a stinking bobber! Before I could finish rigging up she needed help with lake trout two more times.
The new Scott L2H 11' 6wt switch rod I was using was giving me issues (not its fault) and I struggled. I ended up single-handing it for a couple hours, but the fish were not noticing my struggles and hammering the fly anyway. Much of the action came in erratic spurts as schools of smolts ran the gauntlet.
A cast into a boil usually resulted in several bumps and then a solid take with most of the hook-ups just about the time the big streamer started to swing. Many were hooked and lost while fishing the spells between the frenzies because they were hooked on the dangle and never really got the fly where it needed to be.
And it got colder...
Occasionally a grayling would decide to take that enormous Orange Heron and succeed... that would be a dainty-mouthed fish sucking up a long 1/0 hook! Many of the grayling ran well over 18"; a fish of a lifetime for most.
Around 3AM the sun was rising nicely but the breeze picked up a bit and dense fog started ghosting across the lake and past us through the river channel and up into the trees in fingers. But we had to quit fishing there on the morning after the Summer Solstice as our guides were freezing up too solid to allow us to fish without frequent rod dunking!
We packed up and ran back across the lake to camp for the "night." We mostly slept until just before noon and ran back across the lake to fish. Riley was rigging a new switch rod and suddenly asked if I was having issues with my new rod the night before. I had been. He suggested I use my own (new) reel with the Chucker Switch line I had matched to the rod... My only excuses are many; it was new gear to me, the excitement of the slashing schools of lake trout disconnected all deeper thought processes, and I was making it work despite the issues.
With the new line it was a whole different game! The entire line was aerializing with a gentle roll and the distances were not great anyway.
I also rigged up a venerable Fenwick HMG 8'6" 6wt for grayling. With almost every brand of rod made having passed through my hands at some point in time the old HMG bought new in the '70s still goes fishing often and remains an all-time favorite rod... A size 18 Prince Nymph with a fluorescent orange bead head was just the ticket and never needed changing. The grayling and whitefish just tore it up. The mosquitoes were simply not there most of the day, the hard freeze had done some good.
Lake trout are only at the spot for a brief window while the smolts are migrating and the water temp remains low enough. As it warms the bigger trout leave and eventually the water gets too warm and all of them leave for the depths of the lake. The mid 40s is where they start thinking about leaving. All this by way of setting up what one of us did... He strapped a GoPro on his head and swam down the middle of the river, recording the fish! He realized his head was out of water too much so he took the GoPro off his head and reswam the river holding it in his hands! And then acted like it was a wonderful trip to the local indoor pool!
The river has so many fish in it there is no way to really describe it!
The river was high and a little tea-colored and the grayling were dark iridescent purple with their blues, reds, orange, and black markings. Through the day the grayling were exercised non-stop but the lake trout stayed down until the sun had passed well north of West. Toward evening the clouds started building both low cumulus puffs and the horsetails of altocirrus, the latter streaking by in regular ranks until hitting a big crosswind that scrambled the whole works for a while and then straightened out, heading north.
The terns and gulls started screaming at regular intervals and prominent rocks at the water's edge had a tern each, waiting. And the smolts came in regular waves and the fishing was even better... it helped being able to cast without real effort!
A Lightning and Thunder variation had replaced the Orange Heron and it worked every bit as well until a poor landing job on a better lake trout broke the line. A Lady Caroline variation with a very long polar bear underwing replaced it and seemed to fish even better. At times there would be two, three, or even four consecutive casts that resulted in landed lakers and there was more fish fighting the casting, and by a good margin.
The clouds kept the heat in and we were very thankful for the comfort.
About 4AM we broke down the rods and headed back across the lake and slept again to almost noon. We packed up and headed home after a leisurely breakfast of muffins and breakfast burritos, reindeer sausages and orange juice.
The alternator crash 150 miles from home delayed the trip, but there were two good mechanics aboard so I just slept through the delay... ;)
Several things kept me from taking pictures like I normally do on these trips, but I will look through them and see what might be worth a look...
BTW, this is a trip I have taken many, many times in the last 51 years and remains a serious favorite place and fishing experience, so please forgive my sappy side!
art
