An Ideal Day

Ideal - A conception of something in its absolute perfection.

Those who have fished for many years often have stories of the ideal as it relates to their pastime. Sometimes it just all comes together. The fish are in, the water is just right, and you have guessed correct on the lure of the day.

My new favorite fishing hole was taken, but 20 yards down looked like a favorable spot. There were five or six others fishing this gap in the vegetation, with only just one spot remaining, the upstream dog spot. I call the upstream end the dog because the fish have to pass through a gauntlet of hooks and lines before I have a chance at them. But it looked like a reasonable enough spot, so I staked my claim and set up shop.

Still warm from the half-mile hike just finished, I dropped my backpack on the bank and started to gear up. This was my first outing with a new rod, a bait casting 9’ Ugly Stick with a 6500 Abu Garcia reel loaded with 30lb mono. The terminal gear was a 2/0 Gamakatsu Red Octopus, egg loop tied with red yarn. Leader was about two feet to a ½ ounce spin weight. Two casts later I augmented the spin weight with two-¼ ounce split, clamped above and found the bottom bounce nicely. I chose a standing wave as my starting point for the drift, with about six feet of line out, bringing the line in all the way to the weight in the calmer water just down stream of me.

I settled in for a few hours of line flipping, expecting some significant tuning to the gear before the bite was on. Cast one defined my drift. Cast two defined the downstream end. Cast three, say aren’t those reds in my gap? Cast four, fish on!

The red flashed to the surface and caught air trying to shake the hook, but it was set hard, but unfortunately in the dorsal fin. With no quick break off likely I played him on in and beached the red quickly. A shard yank with the forceps and the hook came free and the red scurried its way back to the Kenai.

Snag and release became the name of the game for a while. Lot’s of action for sure, but several back snags later had me adjust my rig for answers. I had one tail snag that hit hard and it was off to the races. I cranked the star drag to full and he was still taking line. I thumb braked it with not much luck, forcing me to use the double thumb trick normally reserved only for the most stubborn of snags. Finally I stopped the fish with about 100 yards of line out. Thankfully, the leader finally snapped off, but not before fouling two or three people in the process.

I switched back and forth between coho flies and egg loops with pretty much the same result. I then started to dip the rod tip under water to bring the bottom end of the drift as close to the bottom as possible. Three pinkish keepers later, I was in the ideal. Between snags and fair fish, I lost count of the number of salmon on in the four hours we were there (I am guessing about fifteen total). I had the spot so closely nailed; I was even picking up smolt and fry that were out-migrating.

My buddy Jeff was having one of the more typical days those who fish have. The skunk monkey was firmly on his back. Poor guy. He came down to hole I was at and I turned it over to him while I cleaned the three. Still no luck for him. Same drift, same everything, and not a fish to be found. (I later found out he had brought a banana with him. Oh the horror, the horror). I cleaned up my last fish and tried the spot again. A few drifts later and a fish was on. This one flashed bright as a new dime in a wishing well. I played it out a beached it. Silver!!! My first legit coho in Alaska. I couldn’t believe it though Jeff said it was. Checking the ID charts at home, he was proven right. It was a hen and was chock full of roe. The fillets were thinner than reds, and lighter in color. I turned all the meat to be smoked, twelve pounds in all.

So my final count for the day was six to the bank. Three keeper reds, two snags, and a silver. Add to that the several snag and release in play, the many smolt and fry, I had found an ideal day of fishing in Alaska. Fish On!!