Tour De Nush Quilt Champ

I’m just back from my annual trip to Alaska, king fishing, and I wish I were still there. This trip is filled with a multitude of emotions, laughter, heartache, joy, excitement, and the list goes on. I have been friends with my two fishing partners, George Cook (Geo) and Jeff Watt (the Mayor), for a long time. I would guess the first time we fished together was at least 20 years ago. When we get together, it’s typically nonstop antics, and the laughs never end. And this trip was no different.

I was the first to arrive in Anchorage, followed by George. Jeff was flying in from Missouri and had had his flight cancelled, so he wouldn’t be arriving till late that night. We had a few errands to run before we got too wild, and then we dropped into the local fly shop, Mossy’s, and spent the afternoon hanging out. Whenever I travel, I always stop at the local fly shop, and Mike Brown, the owner, is a great guy and full of knowledge.

Jeff arrived around 10:00 and joined us for a late dinner. We had an early flight the next morning, so we didn’t stay out too late or get too crazy. I guess we must be getting older…..

On Sunday morning, we fly out to King Salmon, where our host lodge will pick us up and then transport us to our base camp. We were shuttled across Bristol Bay in a De Havilland Beaver on floats. We land on the river right in front of camp. It’s about 2:00 when we get everything unloaded and packed up to camp. Nigel, our English host, has been waiting for us and is as rascally as ever. 

Our first mission after dumping our bags in our weather port is to rig up rods. You know the saying anything worth doing is worth overdoing, Between the three of us, we have 17 rods. Mostly 8 wt’s, and a few 9 wt’s sprinkled in for good measure. 

Now I know I work at a fly shop, and 17 rods seems excessive, and it is, but let me give you a rundown. If I were going on this trip by myself, I would take at least 3 rods. Each rod will have a different line configuration and will be used for different things. I bring a Sage R8 13’6” 8wt, that I put a Rio Skagit Launch on, that I can cast a long way. I then bring a shorter rod, a Sage R8 12’6” 8wt, with a Rio Max Power line for fishing in tight quarters. I also bring a third rod, a Sage R8 13’8wt, for casting a Rio Pickpocket, which is ideal for fishing deeper and slower when the water is ripping. All of these rods are matched with a sink tip that is typically Rio T-17 and 12.5 feet long. This tip helps you engage the fly quickly and keeps your fly down in the heavy current. The sink tips are all fitted with 4’ of 25lb Maxima Ultra Green for the leader.

Now, the other rods are peripherals: longer 14’ rods for casting maximum distance, shorter rods with lighter sink tips for fishing in camp water, and whatever other situation might arise.  This allows us to set up a rod and not have to change our main sticks when the situation calls for something different. 

Once the rods are strung up, we have a fly draft. Our typical flies are about 3-4” long, fitted with a 1/0 hook, and the colors range from red and orange, to pink and chartreuse, black and chartreuse, to kelly green and chartreuse, and just about any combo like that.

Once we're all set up, we head across the river to our local run. I would estimate that we catch about 60-70% of our fish in the run, and that was also true this year. Jeff and Geo hopped out of the boat and spread out to the spots in the run that they wanted, and I fished the bottom third, in front of the boat. When there are fish around, it doesn’t matter where you fish, just as long as your fly is in the water. 

Jeff immediately hooked a fish, and I went up to help him land it and snap a picture. I walked down and stepped into my little spot and stuck one as well. We were off to a good start. A little while later, I hooked my 5th fish of the trio, and it was a beast. Immediately, it went into my backing. When that happens you know it a big one. When I finally got it to the beach it was easily one n the mid to high 20lb range. I was very excited, and there was no need for me to keep fishing. 

The next morning, we headed straight across the river and got to work. Our camp is situated 37 miles from the river mouth, at the end of the tidal water, so we still get large tidal fluctuations up there. The morning tides were great; it had just recently started to drop, and fish were starting to slow down. Quickly, we were all into fish. I didn’t catch another one as big as the one from the night before, but I ended up hooking 16 and landing 13. Between the 3 of us we hooked 39, so a pretty good day. 

At that point, I was having the best possible trip I could have, and was now on cruise control. I probably wouldn’t have gotten a bigger one or hooked more in one day. It was time to focus on having fun with my friends.