August arrived along with our week 8 guests and more silvers than most people know what to do with.
Photo: Cameron Miller
Guys like Keith Blue, George Latuda, Steve Welk and his sons Cy and Joe, Ross Beatty, Mac Beatty and Bruce Chard all know how good the fishing can be this week and once again they joined us for another go at them.
We had quite a few new guests this week and they soon found out why we have a lot of return guests. Don Jackson visited Andros South this spring and decided he did not get enough so he joined Bruce Chard for some good Alaska action. Teri Beatty joined her new hubby Ross for her first hardcore fishing trip and is now hooked for life, even after taking a dunk in the Arolik.
The weather was a mix this week with a whole lot of everything. It started out pretty wet with a bit of wind which made for the stellar silver fishing. The river was still quite high and a bit muddy from the deluge the week prior, but as the week progressed the river level subsided and the clarity came back, along with an insane number of silvers. By the end of the week the weather turned out to be pretty nice so overall the guests had a nice mix of weather.
The salmon fishing is always good this week, but for some reason this year it may end up being the best of the season. Some were even saying “magical” was the word of choice for describing how it went this week. So many silvers, so little time! Anything pink would do the trick this week – poppers, wet flies, lures, grubs and whatever else you could find in the bottom of the boat. For anyone new to the sport of fly fishing there may be no better way to become proficient at all aspects of fly fishing than wailing on a couple hundred silvers in a week of fishing.
Trout and dolly fishing was very good this week as well. The river being high and dirty did nothing but stir up a bunch of eggs and dead salmon to chow on, which as we all know are both staples of the Alaska rainbows’ diet. Quite a few very large trout were caught this week along with tons of fish in the 12″-22″ range. Many were caught on mice as well as flesh and eggs – go figure! The biggest bow of the week was a 27″ fish caught by Don Jackson. Not wanting to be outdone, Bruce Chard followed shortly after with a solid 25″ fish – not bad for a Keys guide. Just kidding Bruce!
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