Twitch and I headed up to Yakutat a few weeks ago, and the fish are starting to show up. Get a hold of Glacier Bear Lodge if you want to book an adventure of a lifetime.




25 Tuesday Apr 2023
Posted Fly Fishing, Rivers, Steelhead
in04 Saturday Mar 2023
Posted Fish, Fly Fishing, Steelhead
in09 Friday Dec 2011
Posted Fly Fishing, Magazines, Steelhead
in29 Thursday Apr 2010
Posted Fish, Fly Fishing, Rivers, Steelhead
inThis are a couple of great guys. We have had a blast over the last four days, with one day reaching nearly 25 hookups. Fishing is of and on right now, but the water is in good shape, and the fish are plentiful, just not always willing to bite. Having a great time at Yakutat Lodge.
Great double landing!!!!
Good luck out there
Flymstr;
25 Thursday Jun 2009
Well these four guys can't get enough. As a guide for Yakutat Lodge, I have seen a lot of types of fisherman, but these guys are great. They are fisherman, not people that just go fishing. We caught a ton of fish today, and I have the pleasure of taking them for the next two days. Another one of the Yakutat Lodge guides (John),has been teaming up with me in the last couple days, and I can't say enough good stuff about him. With John and I joining forces, these fish don't have a chance. I like to use the line, "Let's catch every thing in this hole, and leave it empty", well with over 500 hundred fish in the hole, this maybe a stretch, but we put a big dent in them. Also I caught a large king on my fly rod today, and the got a great release vid of this giant. This king was only 2 minutes out of the ocean, and looks like he had a scrape with an otter on the way in. Here are the pics, and the vids.. Enjoy,,,,,,, More to come. All pics are of different fish.
Good luck out there.
Flymstr;
03 Tuesday Mar 2009
Posted Creeks, Fish, Fly Fishing, Steelhead
inWell 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 soâ€!. 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 seeâ€.
So for all you fish porn addicts, here are the pics from the day.
Good luck out there.
Flymstr;
20 Saturday Dec 2008
Posted Fly Fishing
inWell I don’t know what to say. The snow in the last five days, has caught me off guard. We have about 2′ on the ground, and the freezing rain is just starting up. We are expecting to get around 1″ of ice, then another 4 to 5″ of new snow for the next couple of days. I don’t know if the ability to drive will there or not for the next 5 days. So that is the report from here. Here are a couple of pics of the snow, the dogs, and Amanda.
Indy and Rouge in snow
Driving through the snow
Indy and rouge playing in the snow
I will go fishing as soon as I can get there.
Good luck out there.
Flymstr;
12 Sunday Oct 2008
Posted Fish, Fly Fishing, Rivers, Rods and Reels, Salmon, Steelhead, Streams, Trout
inToday I went down to the Oregon coast to seek out some bright Coho, and Chinook Salmon. I found a bunch of them. We fished the Trask river, just this side of Tillamook, and the fishing was great for the fly rod. I went with my buddy Steve, and again I had to show him how it was done. Steve spotted the first fish of the day, on a quick stop along the side of the road to pee, he looked down and saw two nice Chinook. We got our gear together and went in for the slaughter. It took abit of time to get things in order and to start getting into the rhythm needed to successfully fish. After about 15 minutes worth of warm up time, we started hooking up. I got into four fish in the first hour, and Steve hit into two. That was the last I heard from Steve almost the rest of the day, but I had just begun. We headed up river, and found another location, where we could see fish. We got the gear out again, and now it was really time to start hooking up. In the next five hours, I hooked approximately 20 fish or more, landed about 11, and Steve touched one, and got another one to the bank. Tough day on the Steve man!!!. It was a great day, and the best was the 35 pound Chinook on the 8 weight fly rod and 10 pound test. Here are the pics from today. Steve is holding the one that he was able to bring to the beach, the rest are the ones I talked into giving up. We did not retain any of these fish, for they were all natives.
Good luck out there!!
Flymstr;
19 Thursday Jun 2008
Ok the Sockeye have really started to hit the Situk River, but most are smaller fish. This may be contributed to the commercial nets just being in the river for 3 days. For the most part the smaller fish can swim through the mesh in the net, where the bigger fish get caught up. Matt and I walked up from the lower end of the river today with three clients, and came across some nice groups of fresh sockeye.The Yakutat Lodge clients were able to get their limit of 6 fish each within 6 hours.
All Sockeye caught in the Situk must be hooked in the mouth, if they are not in the mouth, then they must be released immediately and unharmed. If you know you have a fish snagged, then try to release it in the water, instead of dragging it up on the bank and then yanking the hook out, and kicking the fish back into the water. Remember every fish you kill, is a fish that won’t make it to the spawning grounds. If this happens repeatedly, everyday, by 50% of the people, then it could have a negative impact on the future runs, which in the long run will effect you. So respect the fish you foul hook, it’s not their fault, and they need to be release unharmed.
Here is a pic of Matt sitting in front of 12 of the Sockeye we collected today.
Sorry it took so long Donnie. But it has only been 3 days, not 5.
Flymstr;
11 Friday Apr 2008
Posted Creeks, Fish, Fly Fishing, logs, Rods and Reels, Steelhead, Streams
inThe 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. 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
make 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.
Jack cutting
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
Flymstr;