Snowy Day Fishin'

Went fishing after the blizzard here with Bob Schoeller, the biggest fish junkie I have ever known. The water was up, but with a little persistence, and the right flies, he was able to get it done. His technique involves poly leaders and tube flies, or fishing shrimp patterns upstream and back. It is deadly, even in high and off color water. I put together a little video footage while we were out. Hope you like it.

Fly Fishing Bristol Bay

Above: A decent Artic Char

Fly Fishing Bristol Bay
August-September 2008

Above: Artic grayling

Above: Fish on!! Silver at the Togiak

Above: Mike Schoeller with an Alaskan Rainbow on the 'Pak

This year, I had the pleasure to fish Bristol Bay with Bob and Mike Schoeller. It was absolutely amazing. The sheer numbers of fish were unbelievable. I have never encountered anything like it in anywhere I have fished. I wanted to share some of the photos from this trip. Picking out which ones was hard, as anyone can take great pictures in Alaska. In particular, I would like to thank everyone at Mission Lodge for making our trip something truly special.

Above: A fresh Silver Salmon

Above: Look at all the eggs in this Chars mouth!!

Above: Evening Ride Coming In
Above: One of the locals...

Above: Bob Schoeller with a pig Rainbow

An average Dolly Varden

The operation was a fly out, meaning that we would take float planes out every morning for our days fishing. It took a little getting used to, but after day two, I came to look forward to the morning fly out. Our days usual started out eating breakfast around 6:00, getting ready, and then flying out every morning around 7:00-7:30. We fished a wide variety of water, from small streams to big water like the Togiak.

Me with a colored up Silver

Above: Our Daily Transportation

We fished a lot of beads and indicators for the rainbows and char, and swung monster streamers for the silvers. We used mostly 8 weight rods with floating lines, although next trip I am going to bring my switch rod! I caught plenty of fish, drank too much beer, ate too much and generally had a wonderful time! Over the course of the week we caught silvers, artic char, dolly varden, artic grayling & pig rainbows. It was like fishing heaven! I am going to start saving my pennies for the next trip out.

Below: the sockeye on the move!!