Category Archives: Creeks

This is way to fun!!!!!!

03 Tuesday Mar 2009

Posted by in Creeks, Fish, Fly Fishing, Steelhead

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   Well today was another great day on the creek. I met up today with a fisherman from Utah. You may remember him from the December posting, when we went up for the late summer fish. He was in town again for business, and had the day to hit the creek. I have noticed this year in particular, that the fisherman I have seen, are making their way down the creek at such a high rate of speed, that there is no way they are fishing, or seeing the fish in all the slots and holes along the way. When fishing this creek, you have to take your time and look hard into all the little slots and riffles. When you think you see a slot that is to small to hold a fish, just remember, I will be behind you to get those fish. If a fish is 3 feet long, and 6 inches wide, don’t you think that he can fit into any slot on the creek, “I think so”!.  So with that, I followed Matt down the river, and got into several fish that he left behind. Matt was able to hook up with 3 fish, but they schooled him and live to see me tomorrow. I was able to hook up with 7 fish before I saw Matt, and land 3 of them. After I caught up to Matt, I hooked 2 and landed one real nice hen, of about 12-14 pounds. Around 12:30 I said my goodbyes to Matt and headed back up river to retrieve the one fish I retained earlier. When I got back to the log hole, it was full of fish. I hooked and landed another real nice female, and lost 3 more in that hole. While I was fishing this spot, a fisherman on the other side of the creek wondered down to see what I was doing to get into all these fish. I described the best I could over the sound of the creek, that he needed to shallow up his presentation, and switch to orange, or chartreuse. Five minutes later, up stream, I saw him fighting his very first Steelhead.

“That was great to see”.

So for all you fish porn addicts, here are the pics from the day.

P3030003 P3030007 P3030012P3030008 P3030011 P3030017 P3030014  P3030015 P3030009 P3030006

Good luck out there.

Flymstr;

Going in Tomorrow

11 Wednesday Feb 2009

Posted by in Creeks, Fish, logs, Steelhead, Streams

≈ 1 Comment

Ok Matt and I are going in tomorrow to look for the log jam. If we find it, then we can get someone to remove it and the fish can get going on up river. If you read this before tomorrow morning, we will be there at about 7 am and then we are just going to start walking in until we find it, or it gets dark, Ha Ha. Anyway if you want to join, be at the hatchery parking lot up by the mail box where we all park to walk in to fish. We will be getting under way at about 7:15 am. Hope to see someone else there to help.

 

Aaron;

Vacation Kings

01 Friday Aug 2008

Posted by in Creeks, Salmon

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Well it has been 7 years since I have seen the sun shine in Oregon, in the summer. Damn it’s hot!!!. I know 70 and 80 degrees is not that warm, but from what I am used to, this is hot. Anyway, I am home on vacation now, and having a great time. The creek that I have been fishing for the last 30 years, for winter Steelhead, has Chinook returning to it for the first time in 20 years. When I was 18, I can remember days on the creek, where you could catch ten to twenty of these big kings per day. Then back in the mid to late 80’s, because of lack of funding, the kings run was shut down at the hatchery, resulting in the decline and eventually the end of the Chinook to Eagle Creek. I am glad to say that 6 years ago the state funded a private hatch box, and this is the first returns to the creek this year. It is not a coincidence that I am home at this time. I did not want to miss the first year the Kings came back. I called ahead to some of my friends before I returned, just to see if there were any kings in the creek. The reports I got were not good, but I had a gut feeling that they were there, and my friends had just not spent the time to really look. Well I am glad to say that in the 3 days I have fished, since my return, the fishing has been great, and the Kings I have found have been in great shape. I have got into about 20 fish, and landed about half of them. The biggest so far, being about 25 pounds. These fish have just a bit of color, but they still have white belly’s, and the meat is still bright orange, and they are very firm, and full of fight.

 

    About 20 years ago, I made a fly out of pheasant breast, and it was the best King fly ever. I have not been able to find this feather again, so I used yarn flies for these kings. I used the same tie that I use for the Steelhead, I just used bright reds and oranges, to mimic an egg pattern. It worked fairly well. here are some pics from the last trip with my friend Steve.

 

  Steve is the one I have to give the credit to, for starting me out with the fly rod. I have been fishing with Steve now for over twenty years. When I was just a  young fisherman, catching fish in any way that I could, Steve in the one that took me aside and showed me that you can catch fish with a fly pole, and you can be very successful, if you learn how to do it right. Since then, I have been fly fishing with Steve, and it’s a great fishing partnership. Of course we have come to the point that when we see a fish, (if we can hold back from yelling "Fish in the Hole!")  we try to keep it to ourselves, knowing that if we say anything out loud, the other guy will have there line in the water before the words are spoken. So we play some games with each other out there when it comes to fish, but the time we spend together now is great, and we can fish together without any problems. We are both freaks when it comes to fish, so with that in mind, if we see a nice big one, the river gets quiet, and fishing is the only thing going on. The less Steve talks, the more I assume that he has a big fish in front of him, but I back off, you have to let a guy have one now and then.

 

  nice little King 

 

So good luck out there. Remember if you have a place you want to fish, and some people are saying that there is no fish, then go check it out for yourself’s. I found a gem of a fishery at Eagle Creek, I also have not seen another soul down there. So it is the best vacation ever.

 

FISH ON!!!!!

 

Flymstr;

River Loggin’

11 Friday Apr 2008

Posted by in Creeks, Fish, Fly Fishing, logs, Rods and Reels, Steelhead, Streams

≈ 1 Comment

The wind is blowing, the snow is falling, and my partner and I are heading down to the boat launch for the first time of the year from the Yakutat Lodge. You may think the boat is full of fishing gear and clients. You couldn’t be more mistaken. In the boat today is materials for fixing the tent camp, which is a small wood frame cabin about 5 miles down the river. The cabin is used by fisherman every season to utilize as much of the river for fishing as possible. Most who use the cabin will float and fish the top five miles, then stay in the cabin for the night. In the morning they will then float and fish the remainder of the river. Doing this enables an angler to really fish the entire river without having to hurry down. The cabin is mainly used for Steelhead season.Hanging out of the boat We have extra sleeping bags, coleman stove and lanterns, batteries for the electric starter on the kerosene stove, and of course all the staples for camping, including salt, pepper, coffee, butter, and pots, pans, and silverware. Though these things are certainly important for the clients using the tent camp, you have to be able to get to the tent camp. This is where the wood eaters come into play. Along for the ride is a Stihl 026, and a Stihl 066 chainsaw. Without these companions along for the journey, you wouldn’t make it very far. As we exhaustingmake the first turn down stream I am waiting to see the first of many obstructions left behind by the violent winter storms that sweep through the area on a regular basis. Every thing looks good, and I think maybe this year it will be clear and I won’t have to cut my way through. Now we have made it through some of the worst area’s and I am feeling confident. We make it to the tent camp without a hitch. With the tent camp cleaned up and ready for the first guests of the year, we head down to the area of one of the worst log jams on the river. I am praying that it washed out over the winter, I am wrong. As we come around the corner I can see there is no way through. Eventhough the jet boat operators have cut the logs above the water, leaving only the logs left just under the water. The jet boats have the ability to slide right over the top of these submerged logs, our drift boats are not so equipped. So as we come up to the hemlock tree that was ironically toppled by one of the resident beavers, we drop the anchor and asses the situation.  I get out of the boat and call for the 026 saw. Not being a big tree I assumed this saw would do the trick. The log is situated about 10″Saw  under water in a fairly slow moving section, allowing me to get out and stand in the water with the log. I started in and within seconds the water had the Stihl screaming for more power. So with that I grabbed the big boy 066. The power of this saw is incredible, and water doesn’t slow it down a bit. A couple minutes later 3 sections of the tree are floating away through the current and we now have a opening to drift on through. We were very lucky this year. I only had to cut this one log from the float. and the rest of the river was wide open. now you know what takes place before you arrive to drift the Situk river. Here are a few more pics and a little video.

Saw wedged  Log Jam Log jam saw wedged

Well I have given what I promised, but I know what you really want. STEELHEAD.

       Here they are! I spent about 2 hours on the lower end this evening, and hooked up with some real nice fish.As I was fishing the a run with about ten fish in it, a couple of fisherman I has helped out earlier that day. When they got to area I was at, I had already landed two nice fish and was working on my third, The bite had slowed for about 20 casts, so I asked the guys if they wanted to toss in their bobbers and jigs and see what happened. I was sure it would not be to long before they would hook up. About 10 casts later the first on was hooked up, and he landed a nice spring fish. Not to much after that the other guy got into one, but the button came undone before he got any real fight out of it. I knew that the fish had turned off from my fly that was drifted along the bottom, and I also knew that they would bite a suspended jig sent down in front of them. I also knew that if they could hook a few, that would be my ticket to getting more myself. Once the two fish were hooked up, I saw the group make a big circle and start darting in and out of the seam. They were riled up and ready for action again. As soon as the button came out of the second one, they politely excused them self’s, asked if the next run was a good bet, I said it was (And it was, I hooked one there after they went through) and with a thank you and a invitation to buy me dinner (Which I may just take them up on) they headed on down river. Soon after they walked away I hooked a tail jerker (A fish that runs into your hook and gets stuck in the tail) I pulled him in and released without a picture(Just not fair to get a pic of a fouled fish). Minutes later I was hooked up with a biter. Landing that fish and hooking three more, I left these fish to them self’s and heading on down. As I went on down I was able to land another chrome spring Steelie and then it was over. I headed back for dinner and now I think about the ones I didn’t get.  I will see them tomorrow up river. HAHAHAHA

Beauty Steelie Bobber and Jig

Flymstr;