Sometimes in life you find the perfect fishing partner. The one who you can fish with and never have any problems. They don't  cast over your line, they don't need you to show them the fish, and most important, they are willing to help you land every fish you hook. I have gone through many fishing partners, but they have all gone away, after I wouldn't talk to them on the river, or help them. When I am at home in Oregon, I don't want to do anything but fish. I have now found the perfect fishing partner, and she is great. Never complains about the length of the walk, never gets to cold, and most important, she never asks any questions, and she needs no help. I am talking about my best friend, my dog Indy. Four years ago I made the most important purchase of my life. I received Indy on the fourth of July, so her full registered name is Independence day, but she goes by Indy. She is a pure bred Blue Heeler, and she is the smartest dog I have ever known. She helps with every fish I land. If I go more than fifteen minutes without hooking up, she will start to bark at me until I hook up again, then she is ok for another fifteen minutes. She is patient, and has more stamina than any other fisherman I have ever been with. Her birthday was on May 20th, so this is a tribute to all the fun she has given me over the years. She can be seen on the cover of Fish Alaska Magazine, January issue 2008. She is also in the Feb. issue, under fishing for compliments with my photographer (Brian Woobank). She is a wonderful dog, and I wouldn't fish with out her by my side. To all that know her, you know she is the best. She has been a faithfull companion, and has also became well known at the Yakutat Lodge, where she had her own chair in the corner of the bar, before the rules changed last year, and now she just rely's on visits from clients who know her well. So to all those who have a best friend of the canine breed, I say to you, don't forget to spend time with your dog, and always let them know they are loved for what they do.

Flymstr;

                 Today my photographer (Brian Woobank), came back to town. I spent the morning out King Salmon fishing, with one of the Yakutat Lodges 3 Hooker captains. We did very well, very quickly. It was only one and a half hours before we had four Kings on the boat. When I got back, I fillet the fish and headed off with Brian to fish for Steelhead and Rainbows at the head of the river. We had a great time. We flew in on the float plane, and walked down river. We got some nice Rainbows, Dolly Varden, and of course Steelhead. I will have more to write about tomorrow I am sure, but here are some pics from today.

Flymstr;

     I took Fred Blau out fishing again yesterday. The fishing was great, but the catching was not so hot. We fished hard for only one fish. I don't have the answer for why the bite was off, except I know I had one boat in front of me all day pulling plugs. When you pull plugs in front of someone, by the time any other boats come to fish where the plugs have been used, you might as well just drift on home. The fish will be spooked, and unwilling to bite after they have had plugs run in front of them. Anyway enough of that crap. I would like to say thank to all the clients of Yakutat Lodge that took their time to fish with me this year, and for reading my ramblings about fishing. I would very much appreciate some more input. I think that when you comment it sends on E-mail to my gmail. I have responded to many of them, but then never heard back again. Tell me if you have made a comment, and I have not responded, it's only because the E-mail has not worked. I have responded to every comment so far. I would very much like your input, and please just let me know your out there!!!.  Thanks again to all those patient clients that put up with the slow catching this year. Without any more wasted time, here are the pics of the fish Fred caught, and one that I tangled with on the trip that day. By the way, the new reel in the pics is a Pflueger Presidential, wide large arbor. I have always had the Orvis Battenkill V in my personal pics. After about 1,200 fish, the drag system just doesn't work any longer. I have always used a Pflueger fly rod and reel. If you look at some of my earlier pics you will see that I used a Pflueger medallist. Three years ago a client sent me an Orvis Battenkill V large arbor. I loved it until the drag went out this year. I thought I would go back to Pflueger since I had such good luck with it in the past, and that the rods have always been perfect. I will let you know as time goes by if the Pflueger Presidential is as good as the Medallist was.  There is also a pic of my Fiance' with a nice Cutthroat Trout she caught this evening. Also some pics of other cuts we caught this week.

Good luck out there.

Flymstr;

Well the rain has caused havoc in the river again. The water is high, and the fish are spread out all over the river. When the water is a bit lower, then you can target the fish in the runs, and the deeper holes. With the water up higher, the fish spread out, and they are harder to target. The bite is better, but it is harder to get in front of them, because they are more singled out, and not in big groups. I think this is just a slow season. Some have come and done very well, but for the most part the fishing has been slower this year. I don't know if it a lack of fish, water height and temp., or maybe I am losing it. I don't know what to say about it, but it has been a rough Steelhead season for me. We had 6 bites, 4 good hookups, and 2 to the boat. I was with a Father and Son team, (Clients of the Yakutat Lodge). Mike (The Son) is on his first visit to the Situk, and he is after his first Steelhead of his life. His Dad has been coming here for 10 years, and knows how to fish. Well he hooked up right away, and landed a nice fish. He then handed me his rod so that he could take a break and get rid of some coffee he had rented an hour before. I took a cast and hooked up with a nice fish. I handed the rod off to Mike, and he landed this big female. It looked like the day was off to a good start. They then missed 2 more take downs. After this first hole, we struggled all the way down the river. With only a few more hookups, and none to the boat, the day ended with a slow bite. Here are the pics, and an underwater release to come later.

Flymstr;

        As all of those who read this on a regular basis know, I have had a rough go of it for about the last three weeks. My clients of the Yakutat Lodge have been able to hook up with fish, but have been unable to land a large percentage of them. Well today looked like it was going to be the same old thing all over again. Fist off, we go on down past the half way point on the river. I have a spot in mind, but as we round the corner I can see something new in the river. In the last two days we have had some strong winds and hard rains. Well last night the wind decided to drop a couple of Spruce trees across one of my more commonly fished holes. Not having a chainsaw onboard, we are forced to drag the boat over the gravel bar, and around the tip of the tree. After accomplishing this task, we started fishing directly behind the downed trees. The hook up came quickly. The fight was as big as the fish. After a good five minutes, the fish had gone down river about 30 yards, and was up near the bank. I headed down with the net. Just as I was about to net the fish, it turned around a limb and popped off. I thought "Here we go again". A little bit later, as seen in the video, we hit and lost another nice fish. The bite slowed to a crawl for the next few hours. In the last hour of the day, we found a good group of fresh fish that were willing to make our day. We hooked four and landed three in this last spot. With the ones we had landed along the way, it gave us a grand total of, 10 hooked and 5 to the boat. 50% is not to bad for the weeks I have had recently. Here are the pics from today.

Flymstr;

Fishing is not always about catching fish!!. The last couple of days I have had some newbies to the Yakutat Lodge. The first day was all floating fly line and yarn flies. I brought along a spinning rod, which one of the guys got two fish on a Blue Fox Spinner. There was only one fish brought in on the fly rod. By the end of the day I has convinced them that the next day we should use the fly rods with monofilament line on the reels. They liked the idea of being able to cast with ease, and also to be able to feel the drift allot better without a bow in the line. When using fly line, if you don't know exactly how to mend properly, you will always have a bow in the line created by the current. To avoid this, you have to mend the fly line above the fly constantly, or the fly line that is in the current will create a bow in the line, and just drag your fly through the water and it takes away from the natural drift you need. Although they could cast just fine, the mending was not there, so there presentation was off just a bit the whole day. Today with the mono on the line, the presentation was much better, and the drift was perfect. Today the hook up ratio was great, but the landing ratio was not. Yesterday they were 3 for 3. Today they were 0 for 13. Big change from one day to the next,   That's fishing!. Water temp has come up finally, and the bite is picking up now. It rained all day today, and the water came up about 6 inches last night. This has caused the fish to become more active, and they have come out from under the alder bushes, making them allot more accessible to fisherman. Here are some pics from yesterday, also there are a couple of pics from a couple of guys who caught a fish upstream from us. The big one is 41" long and weighed about 23 pounds.

The big one

Flymstr;

    Well I don’t know what to say, but the fishing is so slow. I don’t know what is up with the fish this year. Some fish came in, and then water went up, and so did the fish. A week later more came in, the water went up and so did the fish. I have never seen the fishing this slow, this time of year, in this river. I have been pulling my hair out waiting for something to happen, but nothing is happening. I don’t know what to say, except if it doesn’t pick up soon, I think all the guides here are going to go crazy. I have been with some Austrian’s the last couple of days. I have become friends with George Marberger over the last couple of years, and he brought some of his friends here to fish this week, and it has been very slow. There is one pic of a 40″ fish we got today. (Pic #3), so it was not a total bust. The Yakutat Lodge has the best of the best for guides, but we are only averaging around 3 fish per boat each day.  I also had the pleasure of fishing with Frank Amato, (The owner of Salmon, Trout, Steelhead Magazine.), but even with a very good fisherman, as the week before with Pudge and Sandy, the fishing was good, but the catching was real bad. We got just one fish that day, and Frank never even touched one. That’s fishing I guess. So with that said, I haven’t written anything lately, because nothing has happened. Here are some pic’s of some fish from the last 4 or 5 days. The pic’s at the end are fish I have caught this week on the tide in the evening. If your reading this Woobank, I think when you get here the fish will really be showing up. Looking forward to it bud.

They will show soon, They have to!!!

Flymstr;

   Finally the first big push on the lower end in about two weeks. The females are coming in to the system by the truck loads. It was a great night to be on the lower end of the river. Big pods of fish were moving in for the last two hours of the evening, and they were very aggressive. I walked up to the weir tonight, and was going to fish my way out. I hooked up in the first five minutes, but it came unbuttoned. Then I did the worst thing you can do, I got hung up, and tried to use the tip of my rod to get it undone, and snapped my tip off. After that I said “That’s it I am going home”. I started to walk down the trail, when I saw someone in a boat playing a fish. I was going to continue on, but my buddy Matt who was with me said, “Lets take a look and see what’s there”. So after waiting for the boat to move on, we went on down to take a look. When I looked out in the run I saw a good group of fish. So I promptly cut off the remainder of the rod above the second eye, and I was ready to fish again. In the next hour and a half I hooked up with 8 fish, and put two on the bank. I broke three off, because my drag on my fly rod in worn out, and I half to palm all my fish right now. Anyway here the pics from tonight.

I think the fishing is only going to pick up from here on out!!

Flymstr;

       Rain hit again last week, and the water came up quickly. Along with the rising water came the murky water. After it was all said and done, the water rose over a foot, and the clarity of the river went to almost zero. Fishing in these conditions can be a bit more difficult than lower clear water. Or just the opposite, it can make the fishing fantastic. Well the fishing was good in the dirty high water. The river is already dropping back in shape, and the fishing today was a lot tougher. With the water clearing up, and the temperature water dropping from the snow melt, the fish are lethargic, and don't want to bite. Yesterday with the high dirty water, the fishing was good. Here are some pics from yesterday. I had Pudge, a client of Yakutat lodge today and I will put up the pics from today tomorrow.

See ya tomorrow.

Flymstr;

    Well another successful day on the Situk River. Yesterday and today, I had the pleasure of floating down the river with a couple of clients from the Yakutat Lodge, that I fished last season. The main gentleman (Bud Gore),has been here for the last couple years. Last year he brought up an attorney friend of his (Known only as Allen), from SanFransisco. The first day on the river with them was a total bust, as I wrote in one of the last posts, ("It was the first time I had been skunk on this river"). Well I am happy to say the last two days have turned out much better. Before I show the pictures I just want to say a few things about Steelhead fishing that I think are important.

     Now anybody that knows me, knows I am fly fisherman and that's that. Personally I can't stand fishing with a spinning rod and reel, or with a bait caster, and worst of all, I hate it when people put monofilament line on a fly rod and reel. Although these methods can be more effective in certain conditions, like high water, windy days, or in tight spots where there is no room to fly cast or even roll cast. In most cases when I am fishing on my own, I will fight through what ever mother nature can throw at me, and I will still not give up the fly rod. Many people don't get the concept of fly fishing, and many won't even try. On the other hand most fly fisherman won't give in to any other type of fishing.

     Well in the last couple of days I have learned that when I am on my own, I can stick with the fly rod, and get skunked ,and not really care to much. When I have clients who are fly fisherman, and the conditions are not right for getting these fish to bite with fly line in the water, I had to learn to adapt and figure out what the combination was to trigger strikes. Today was the test of my abilities to overcome the elements and figure out what would work. I stayed up late putting together two fly reels with monofilament ,and also two spinning rods set up with floats and jigs. If you are asking yourself, "Why doesn't he just figure out how to make the fly fishing effective", I will tell you. With the water being low and clear, and with the sun high in the sky, these fish can see the fly line in the air, and when you go to cast, or even lift your line up off the water, the fish spook, and then there gone. There is nothing that can be done to avoid this, and believe me I have tried every thing from roll casting, using clear fly lines, and even putting on a 20 foot leader, (Which is the same as fishing mono). Even with the 20 foot leader, when you lift your rod they see the dang line in on the rod and in the air, and they run. So today I convinced some really hard nose fly fisherman to change tactics and try something new. With the monofilament line on the fly pole, it becomes a chuck and duck type situation. You may have up to 3 or 4 #5 splits shots on the line to get it down to the fish and slow down your drift. So when casting this line, you just strip in the line, hole it behind you and chuck and duck. After trying this methods with moderate results, I then convinced them to put down the fly rods, and pick up the spinning rods with the float and jig setup. The reason I chose to use spinning rods, instead of using fly rods with indicators, or even the float attached to the fly rod, was that the effect of a free float is much easier without the fly reel to have to try to strip line off fast enough to create a nature drift. Float fishing is tricky, and if you are spending time to strip line out, to try and keep up with the drift, then you are constantly pulling on the line and creating drag on the jig. When using a float, the presentation must be flawless to trigger the strike, the float can never wiggle or falter from the nature speed and drift of the current line it is following. Using a spinning reel, or even better a center pin reel, you have the ability to let line out at the same rate as the current. After getting my clients oriented to the way the float works, we stopped to try our luck. It was an instant success, and throughout the remainder of the day, it continued to produce fish. When the shadows showed up on the water we were able to switch back to fly lines and we caught some more fish. So today, My clients and I learned that even hard nosed fly fisherman like us, need to adapt to the conditions, and give in other types of fishing, until conditions favor your style of fishing again. It will make you a better fisherman if you know all the ways to fish for the species you are after. By the way, the reason the float fishing worked so well for is that these fish are sitting up in the water column, and a jig can be set to the exact height that the fish are laying. So in bright sunshine, when they don't want to move, because of the fear of being seen by a predator, a jig can be put right in front of them so they don't even have to think about it. I think if everybody could learn to adapt a little more now and then it could change the world, not just the fishing for the day. Here are some pics from the last 2 days with Bud and Allen.

Thanks to all my readers for the comments. I would like to ask that some of you comment alittle more so I know that you like what you see, just tell me what you think and if you see anything you would like.

Good luck out there!!!!!!

   Flymstr;