Spent a week chasing fish North and South, East and West with nothing but a gazetteer and a 10 year old guide book to steer by. A few swings and misses but plenty of fish (thank God for pinks!) and a fun time was had by all. A balky camera battery and lots of rain made for fewer photo ops than desired. Drive down from ANC to Moose Pass was wet and cloudy
Streams we tried were high and silty and we’d given up all hope, till we found it
tide was right for fish pushing up from the arm
and we found a nice stretch for ourselves (expected combat and was pleasantly surprised - that’d come later); lots of pinks, some bright and some decidedly humped, plenty of fun on a 6wt (which got busted)
my partners had never caught grayling so we hiked up to a lake that supposedly held them
got a few rainbows and were entertained by a flock of loons that joined us but no grayling so we continued on another mile
paydirt; nothing huge but grayling nonetheless and their itch was scratched
a day spent chasing reds turned out to be more of a snipe hunt; only a few in the Russian (didn’t know they didn’t get the second run there), a few more down at the confluence but we only connected once and it broke off right away
hanging a left and turning south didn’t yield much more than some photo ops
a bunch of spawning kings here but reds were conspicuous by their absence
end of the highway
spent an hour at the Fishin’ Hole on the Spit; had the end of the line to ourselves until the tide shifted then were joined by the bait-slingers who proceeded to catch silvers all around us while we tasted skunk. At this juncture, a new unit of measurement was determined - a Homer, or the distance between you and the guy (or gal) standing next to you (approximately the width of the 15lb tippet we were using); at least they were all friendly
next day we finally got in to the reds; all it took was a 5-shot slinky rig lobbed 10’ from shore (this one’s a little guy compared to some of the fish being caught); we kept a couple and ate them later that afternoon
time to hit the surf, fishing interrupted momentarily by a 6.3 earthquake (another first for my partners); the pinks were very obliging and we spent the better part of 3 days chasing them up and down the beach, adding a couple silvers on the last night; also the first place I’ve ever seen catch-and-release snagging in action; a confusing concept
great evening and the trip ended they way we hope they all do
