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October 9th,  2008 - Some of the season's best fishing

We had two days of the best fishing of our season out here,  then yesterday was downright awful!  The fish were still there,  but the temperature dropped like a rock,  making it the coldest day of fall fishing I have had.  Blowing 35+ knots with a driving mix of rain and snow in the unprotected sandflats of the Old Italio.  The fish were still holding in pockets,  but they seemed frozen to the river bottom.  Completely lethargic.  Today,  we have a warm front passing and that made the difference.  Expecting 7 inches of rain tonight with 65 knots of wind,  so I think tomorrow will consist of some card playing and baking all day.

Teen did get to come out and play with the rod tonight.  We hooked a beautiful bright silver on one of Tanis' flies,  while the clients enjoyed a close bear encounter up at the German Hole.  I also had a juvenile bald eagle come down and take the fish I was fighting...  Never had that happen before!  It free-fell into about two feet deep water to grab my fish briefly.  Gave it a tug,  then dropped it.  An interesting "kite" to fly...

With this storm hitting,  this will probably be the end of our season out here.  Our last client group leaves on the 11th and tomorrow looks like it will be a bust.  It has been a great season,  after some initial uncertainty and the poor forecast.  I'll chock this one up as "good",  if not a great one on the Italio.

-Bob

October 4th,  2008 - Peace and tranquility

The days are getting shorter and shorter,  but are there still fish running this late in the season?  You bet there are.  Several of the rivers have great late fall runs of silvers,  while seeing few if any people.  The East,  Akwe,  Middle Italio,  Lost and Tawah all have late runs.  Situk and a few others don't.  Yakutat tends to book the season based solely on the Situk's traditional calendar,  so the lodges empty (along with the river trails) as of September 30th.

I had a day off of guiding today,  so the kids and I did our annual "river clean-up" trip to scavenge lures and flies off the tree branches around the Middle Italio.  It was a slow year for fly-outs this season,  so not as many lures as usual.  Plenty to refill the kids' tackle box though.  Drifting downstream in my skiff,  you can see in the photo all the fish boiling and roiling in the water.  More photos on the blog page...

September 30th,  2008 - Back on the river

We flew back out to the Italio last night and visited with a large contingent of fishermen in my yard waiting for their plane.  They said fishing was hard,  but they still caught plenty to make it a good day.  Not very many fresh ones were coming in on the tide and the ones upstream were not in the mood to bite.  The fly guys took to drifting flies below a strike indicator and this had the best effect.  The fish were not striking on anything that was stripped,  just the dead drift was getting takes.  Apparently,  the group of spin guys accused the fly fishers of snagging,  since they didn't get any fish on the spinners and spoons.  The "Flies" tried to reeducate the "Spins",  but it was a losing battle...

Lots of rain right now,  so the rivers are back to being flooded.  We are also blessed with big 11 foot tides right in the middle of the day,  so not exactly ideal conditions at the moment.  Our group arrived this afternoon,  so not a lot of time on the water today.  They caught a few,  but fishing is a little tough for us too.

September 29th,  2008 - Lots of fish,  no fishermen

Not very many people fishing the Situk right now,  so not many reports coming in.  We talked with a couple guys who had a spectacular day above the bridge though.  They caught more fish than they could count,  nice large fish,  although most were blushed.  They didn't see another human the entire day.  Yesterday there were some reports from fishing on Tawah Creek and the Lost.  Bright fish there and not a whole lot of people.

Most reports have been from the fly-outs.  Tsiu is still filled with bright fresh fish.  Middle Italio is hitting its stride.  Great reports from the Akwe now that the water has dropped.  My plane is ready,  so I'll make this short...

September 26th,  2008 - Greg just floated the Situk

Greg just floated the Situk to give me an accurate report on what the fish are doing.  So...

The fish are very thick everywhere above the Forest Service cabins,  but most are blushed or red as you would expect.  From the cabins down,  there were pockets of fish throughout the entire middle river and they do get brighter as you work down the river all the way to the weir.  From the weir down,  there were only a couple pockets,  but most were fresh and bright.  Greg saw some waves of fish pushing through at the bottom.  Seems like there are some good fresh fish pushing in,  but they aren't loitering below the weir.  The run on the Situk is obviously on the slide down.

Other reports that came in today from fly-outs show good fishing continues on the Yana and Middle Italio.  Sounded like the Yana is still strong,  but slowing just a bit as we enter the last week of September.  The guys were reporting good fishing on the Middle Italio for those who went upstream,  but slow down at the river mouth.  I had suggested they go upstream with the big tide at noon.  All that water pushing in would make the mouth problematic with the fish zipping on past in the high water.

No reports from any other system...

September 25th,  2008 - Most runs on the decline

I'm back in town for a few days,  before we head out to the Italio for the duration of our season.  Flying over the rivers,  there were only about 500 fish in the Old Italio and I didn't see any in the lower part of the Middle Italio.  As mentioned before,  my neighbor is commercial fishing on the Middle for the first time in many years and had his net at the mouth.  Not much getting by him for obvious reasons.

The Situk is definitely on the decline,  with great fish from the confluence to the bridge.  The lower river has been pretty slow this week.  There were a lot of people fishing the Lost - more on the Lost than were on the Lower Situk.  Water levels have been dropping fast,  after three dry days in a row.  Dry Bay has also been declining,  although the East River usually has a strong late run in October.

The best fishing this week has definitely been the Yana and the Yahtse Rivers.  Everyone has reported having great fly-out days on these two rivers.  The Tsiu is "declining",  but still plugged full of fish.  The commercial fishing there has ended,  but the river remains loaded with fish.  The west side streams have been the big story this year,  with nearly all of them producing well.

It feels good to be back in the shop,  but it was wonderful to have some great weeks out on the river.  I'll have some fresh reports each day while I'm here in town,  then I head to the Italio for another couple weeks and won't have any knowledge of what is happening on the other rivers.

September 21st,  2008 - GREAT Day!

I have a good report for you today.  The sun came out and the river really dropped fast.  There were a lot of fish moving into the Middle Italio with them stacking up in the places where they are supposed to stack up.  My neighbor has his commercial net out,  but isn't having much of an impact on the river.  Good fishing down at the mouth and good fishing up stream at the Spruce and Alder holes.  The tides are getting smaller and later,  so that isn't a problem the way it has been the past few days.  Clear water,  easy to see.

The Old Italio has been a bit hit and miss,  but today was a hit.  Good fish in two spots,  even if the river doesn't have fish everywhere.  We had a great day with top-water flies.  I also broke out my Bonefish "crab" fly...  We usually don't use real food for silver salmon fly patterns.  Boy,  was the crab a hot pattern!  I used the olive green crab when the tide was starting to push in.  The small pockets of fish were merging into one big school and the water went slack. I was able to hop the crab across the bottom and the fish went nuts!  One of those random patterns I bought for the shop 'cause I thought they looked cool.  Apparently the fish think they look cool too.  My plan was to use these for saltwater in the Ankau and the bay.  They work just fine in the fresh water too.  This is a great pattern for the Old Italio,  East and Tsiu!

Teen's reports:
Situk - LOTS of fish up at the bridge,  but many are blushed.  Fish and Game said the run is on the decline,  but still a lot of fish coming in fresh.
Bay - The commercial boats are done out there for the season.  Most of the fish have moved in toward the rivers.  The Bay is best in August anyway.
Yana - All the fly-outs have reported GREAT fishing out there.  Chrome-bright silvers and a lot of them.
Tsiu - The DC-3 brought back three loads from the commercial guys today,  so still going gangbusters out on the Tsiu.
Italio - The fly-out reports have been great even over the past few days through the storms.  I thought fishing was pretty mediocre,  but that could just be my personal skewed views.  A bad day for me may be a great day for most people...  The guys doing the fishing have been thrilled...

Recommendations:
If you are doing a fly-out,  your surest bets are still the Tsiu and the Yana,  followed by the Middle Italio and East.  Akwe needs to drop a bit more,  so with another dry day,  that will be a good destination again.  

September 20th,  2008 - More VERY HEAVY rain...

The day started out fairly dry with even some occasional sun breaks,  but between those,  it was torrential rain.  The Akwe is raging down at the mouth,  which of course has the combined flow of three rivers.  I would expect fishing the Akwe would have to be upstream in the deep older holes by the grass islands and you would need to know where the holes are in the bank to bank flooded river.  The New Italio is unfishable right now.  The Middle and Old Italio Rivers are pretty low on fish at the moment.  The flood and the 11.6 foot tides backed by storm surge has pushed all the fish out of the lower areas and up into the tributary creeks.  It will take a few days for the fish to stack back up again as the tides start to get smaller and the river drops a bit.  That is "if" the rain stops.

Teen didn't send me a fishing report from the Situk,  but my guess is it looks a lot like the New Italio right now.  Lost and Tawah Creek are probably more fishable right now (but I haven't seen for myself),  along with Old Situk Creek and Johnston Slough (if you can wade across the lower Situk to reach it).  Other fishing options would be the Ankau,  or the lagoon out toward the boat harbor.  Neither of those would be rain effected.  Very wet and stormy,  but we need the water.  This will go a long way to bringing our runs back up to full strength.

September 19th,  2008 - Fresh First Hand Situk Reports

Teen just informed me that there are plenty of fish in the Situk.  Just received a report from someone who floated the whole thing (in his brand new Simms G4 jacket that he is THRILLED with).  Here are her words:  "Said there were plenty of fish in the river.  Silver are darkening, Pinks are dying and they had a ball below catching the Dolley’s.  Most of the Silvers weren’t interested but the Dolley’s were."

Not too dissimilar from what we have out here on the Italio.  LOTS of fish finally,  but the bite was definitely off today.  VERY HEAVY rains all day with winds blowing about 35-40 knots.  Downright miserable at the Old Italio,  but we didn't stay there for long this morning.  The Middle Italio is up about two feet right now,  so I had to wade across to get home tonight.  The river was nice and low this morning.  It has been a very wet summer and now fall,  but surprisingly we are still 7 inches below normal.  20 inches above last year though.  We will have very good survival for last year's salmon smolt.  We needed a good wet year like we used to have...  This will definitely help rebound last year's dismal run.

September 18th,  2008 - Finally!!!!

We are finally seeing some good fish out here on the Italio system.  We have had two straight good days on the Old,  which has been very slow so far.  The Middle is doing well,  although both are still slower than average.  A little better than last season and much better than the two seasons before that.  Still seeing a LOT of pinks coming in fresh at the mouth.

Teen's report from town:
The Situk has been very flooded and murky.  Fish and Game haven't been able to do any counts because of it.  Some people have done OK,  some not.  Here are her words:  "Word off the river yesterday and today is:   very little fish because of the height of the water (add the Data graphs, they say it all at 900), folks are looking for other options. Those who are here for the experience are having a blast, those who are here for the “fish” aren’t!  That’s the bottom line."  Fish and Game are reporting that the Situk is on the decline already.  Teen also said:  "Maybe re-highlight what a wealth of information is available at the Fish and Game office.  What an asset our new Biologist Brian is. "

Tsiu is still plugged with fish.  She sent some guys there yesterday and today came back to rave about how much fun they had in the 35 knot winds.  LOTS of fish.

September 14th,  2008 - In a nutshell...

This should pretty much tell you how the fishing is all around Yakutat...  The water is high,  murky and swift.

Out here on the Italio,  fishing was VERY slow today.  The high water pushed all the fish up into the tributary creeks and well out of reach.  The river itself is pretty barren,  in addition to being high.  And for some odd reason,  Fish and Game decided to open the Middle Italio to commercial fishing.  They have done this in the past when there were a lot of fish,  but there aren't many this year so far.  So...  there is a gill-net in the river right now about half-way down the landing strip here.  If you do a fly-out,  plan to fish the mouth.  I have no idea if he is planning to fish every week,  or just this week.

September 13th,  2008 - High water continues

Yesterday was a great day for fishing on the Italio.  Today was DEAD.  Still "hit and miss" out here.  We are seeing pretty good numbers coming in on the tides though,  so it is just a matter of timing it right.  Here is what the Situk looks like:

The Situk seems to be holding right at 500 CFS.  Well above the averages,  but still fishable.  There are a lot of fish,  but some reports are that it still has more pinks than silvers.  Out here on the Italio,  we are still seeing a lot of pinks coming in fresh with sea lice too.  Not quite 50%,  but maybe closer to a third.  That is a lot of pinks for this late in the season.  Maybe we will be in for a late peak.

High water means you'll need a lot of weight.  Type 6-8 sink tips plus heavy flies.  The water looks pretty opaque,  so the big articulated bunny leeches are still the main course.  They have been the mainstay this season so far.  Those that know how to fish the big water are doing great.  Those that don't have been struggling and even calling the river "unfishable".  Alternatives abound,  with good fish in the Lost and Tawah Creek,  Ankau,  Old Situk and plenty of fish on the fly-out rivers.  Like I said at the top,  the Italio does have fish,  but not a whole lot.  The Old Italio was good yesterday,  but seems to be slower than the Middle.  The New Italio (that dumps into the Akwe mouth) is a raging torrent at the moment,  much more than the Situk.  We tried to wade across to get to the Akwe and it wasn't crossable.  The Akwe is tough on the lower end,  but upstream where the grass islands start is a good bet for silvers and trout.  Haven't heard anything these past few days from the East River,  but it was doing very well from the fly-outs out there.

It is raining hard again as I type,  so we'll be seeing another spike in that flow chart tomorrow.  Oh,  Teen had some bear reports for me...  There is a sow and 2 cubs up by the bridge that is a bit aggressive and apparently some bright people have been throwing fish to the bears down at the bottom end.  Ya,  really funny guys.  Let's not get someone later in the season killed because of your idiotic stunt for pictures.  At best,  this kind of thing will sentence a habituated bear to death if he gets trained like that.  Really bright...  If this is how much respect you have for the resources here,  please stay home.

How's that for ending on a happy note?

-Bob

September 12th,  2008 - Hit and Miss

Fishing is picking up out here on the Italio,  but still pretty erratic.  Having good days and not so good days here and there.  I think the storm we had a couple days ago was the blessing we needed and it finally did get the fish to move into the river.  We even managed a little top-water for the first time this season.  I would expect the run to build over the next couple weeks,  but we are seeing another well below average run out here.  These smaller streams just didn't handle the dry winter from the parent year as well as the bigger rivers like the Situk and Tsiu did.

Unfortunately,  I don't have any fresh reports from the Situk.  I know during the storm two days ago,  the river was extremely high by the number of day fly-outs we saw out here.  There were enough fish in the high water for everyone to spread out for the most part.  Still no bears to speak of out here.  I'm seeing an occasional track here and there,  but haven't seen an animal since July!

September 9th,  2008 - And another storm hits

Another storm is raging outside,  with heavy rains falling.  The wind hasn't hit yet,  but it will soon enough.  This should 1) drive some fresh fish into the rivers,  2) push the old fish higher up into the tributary creeks and 3) knock the commercial fishermen off the open water for a couple days.  Expect a nice surge of fish to move into the Situk,  but pin down the fly-outs for the time being.

A refreshing batch of fish did make it into the Middle Italio finally,  but still very low compared to even our slow run last year.  There were at least five planeloads of day fishermen that flew out here today.  Most are gone and although they were dragging a couple fish back from the mouth earlier,  they gave up down there pretty early.  The guys I talked to said they flew to the East yesterday,  catching a lot of fish and having a great time.  The Akwe and New Italio came up a lot with the last rain,  but the Middle was still pretty darned low.  The ground is saturated though,  so this rain will be raising all the water.  The river and the fish definitely need it right now,  so this is a wonderful thing.

Speaking of which,  this is what the Situk water gage showed with the last rain we had and it is already starting to tick up slightly with today's rain...

This is the CFS chart that does show we are still well below the historic normals for September...

Interesting how the historic stats show we get hit by a flood on September 7th as a rule and this year did the exact same thing...

September 8th,  2008 - And the rains came...

This time,  the storm actually arrived.  We had quite a bit of rain over the past two days,  bringing the water up to a pretty good level for fall silver fishing.  A really nice batch of fish moved into the Akwe,  with great fishing down low and the commercial guys doing well up above.  The Akwe is closed to commercial fishing for the bottom mile or so where the three rivers join together.  Still very slow on the Middle Italio,  with only one or two planeloads of day fishermen flying out.  I didn't see them load any fish into the plane when they were picked up today,  so I suspect they didn't have a very productive day.  I haven't been down to the Old Italio this week at all.  No reports of any fish to speak of from the pilots flying overhead.

A couple GREAT reports from the East River.  Good silvers moving in there,  plus people are still catching chum salmon and an occasional sockeye.  Tsiu is still deep in the swing of it's peak,  so that is pretty much a sure bet right now even if the commercial guys are out.  The 24hrs on/24hrs off pattern can let a more consistent stream of fish up the river,  but the Tsiu is the only river with this schedule.

The Situk continues to be slow "for some people".  Many guys are blaming the nets for the slow fishing,  which has been extended most weeks through Thursday.  Most sport fishing pressure is in the lower river from the Weir down to the Old Man's Hole.  There are a lot of silvers up above 9 Mile,  but few people bothering to go up there.  Silvers have a reputation for being "right out of the ocean",  but they can make it to the bridge in a few hours if they want to.  Many do,  so don't expect all the upper river fish to be red.  Still a little early for a good showing in Old Situk,  but that may be a great way to get away from the people in the lower river.  Not many fish,  but if you have the river to yourself,  that is definitely a worthy trade...

Saltwater fishing for silvers should be at its peak right now too.  Silvers lurk around just about every cove of the bay,  so if you have access to a skiff,  take a trip out into the salt for some casting near fresh water tributaries.  They don't even have to be navigable for the fish.  Silvers will still smell their way around just about any fresh water coming into the bay to decide if that is home,  or not.  We have had a few guys go trolling with their fly rods too.  Trolling for silvers is a common commercial fishery as well as a charter boat activity.  Consider using a fly rod,  for the saltwater fight of your life.  Nothing like trying to control a 16lb silver with the full three dimensions of open ocean for it to swim in.  Make sure you have LOTS of backing!

No reports from Ankau lately,  but there should be plenty of fish in the salt chucks now.

September 6th,  2008 - Another slow day

It was another slow day for fishing.  First off...  the commercial fishery week has been extended every week on the Situk through Thursday and that has been having an effect on the fish coming up.  Most people are reporting pretty slow fishing all around and when you do have a good batch of fish in front of you,  they seem to be pretty lethargic.  Bright sun today seemed to turn the bite off and make the fish pretty skittish.  The water is VERY low right now,  but the weather is expected to change tomorrow with a storm coming in.  We need the rain badly.  Most sunny days have a strong west wind blowing out on the beach,  but today the wind was very calm - along with the ocean.  A few minutes ago,  the surf became really loud - loud enough to get me to go outside to take a look.  I can live without the wind,  but any rain right now will be a blessing.

The Middle and Old Italio's are still very slow.  A few fish trickling in,  but they don't have any place to gather and hold in this low water.  Still probably 50:50 pinks,  so maybe our silver run is late.  Or...  the bigger rivers were able to absorb the impact of the dry winter on the parent year,  but these littler streams didn't.  Only time will tell on this one,  but I will keep you posted.  No fish to speak of on the Old Italio - in fact,  we have caught only one single pink this season on that river...  Ouch!  A little better on the Middle,  but it is the Akwe that is doing the best for us right now.

Tsiu is still hitting hard.  Had an odd complaint in the shop...  a group of guys complaining that fishing on the Tsiu wasn't any fun.  Wasn't fun because it was too easy.  They wanted a challenge...  :-)  With the slow fishing out on the Italio system and commercial fishing on the Situk extended through four days each week,  the Tsiu is your best bet right now.

If this storm actually materializes,  expect my internet to get knocked out once again.  I'll have Teen post something directly from her perspective,  with reports coming into the shop.  Let's hope I get knocked off-line,  since that means rain and higher water to drive some fish into the system.

-Bob

September 5th,  2008 - Back Out at the Italio

Flying back out to the Italio,  we took a good look from the air over the rivers out here.  The Situk had a lot of people on the lower end,  but not as many as usual.  It does look like the slow economy and high fuel costs is keeping people at home this year,  so fewer people on the river.  In the Old Italio,  there were three little pockets of fish - one with about 20 and the other two only about a half dozen each.  The Middle Italio had a great school of about 100 fish coming in on the tide right as we passed over,  so it was looking pretty promising.  They were up on top of the shallow riffle just ahead of the tide.  Our group arrived yesterday afternoon after getting stuck for a couple extra hours in town due to the low visibility for flying,  but had a great time hitting that batch of fish before the tide moved them off.

Today,  those fish are nowhere to be seen.  Like I said before,  the Middle Italio doesn't have those holding holes down at the bottom that it usually does,  so the fish are having a tough time getting up into this very small river.  The rains we had over the past week didn't bring the river up at all.  Just soaked into the sand.  We did well over on the Akwe today though,  so it looks like the two best fly-out options right now are the Tsiu (really hitting well still) and the Akwe.

I am in the kitchen mostly this week,  while Pat and his wife Lisa are out with the clients on the river.  Tanis came out here with me to help out,  but little did I know,  his real ploy was to go fishing!  What a surprise!  So when the group departed the camp for the river,  we headed out as well armed with a couple of Tanis' finest fly patterns.  A little orange,  yellow and green thing with a purple stripe.  He just read this over my shoulder and told me he thinks it is a "Peacock Fly".  Well,  two casts and two fish.  I think his fly tying talents are pretty darned good.  His fly had heavy dumbbell eyes,  plenty of weight with his floating line to get down to where the fish were lurking - below some spruce branches.  My unweighted version did OK with my Type 6 sink tip to get it down.

Off and on drizzle,  but the sun (and the bugs) came out this afternoon.  Now that the disk is aligned with the satellite,  I should be able to put up daily updates.  More later tonight on the blog page.

September 4th,  2008 - Internet Fixed,  so more frequent reports coming

Italio:
Fishing out on the Italio this week had been slow.  The New Italio and Akwe (the two longer rivers) have earlier runs and therefore have seen better fishing.  The Middle and Old have been pretty darned dead thus far.  If you have been out there before,  you know that the Middle Italio mouth shifts in the soft sand,  creating big curves and nice holding holes just before going out into the ocean.  The fish come in and settle into these holes for a few days before heading upstream.  Every three years or so,  the curve breaks through and makes a straight shot with no curves.  This is the "straight shot" year.  Even more straight than normal.  There are literally no curves or holes in the lower river at all.  There are fish wanting to come in and they do make it into the river as the tide starts in,  but with no place for them to settle into,  they have been heading back out to the ocean with the outgoing tide.  We also had the huge 10-11 foot tides this week,  making it tough to do much.  Still running about 3 to 1 pinks to silvers,  but that will be changing each day through the month.  There have been a couple fly-out groups dropped off,  but they haven't seen much.  I had two guys sitting on a log in my yard most of the day sulking,  while waiting for their plane to come back.

Akwe:
The Italio is closed to commercial fishing,  but the Akwe does open for three days a week - Sunday noon to Wednesday noon.  The commercial guys did pretty well this past week,  but there are only three nets total on the river.  Doesn't make a big dent in the run with only three nets.  The Akwe parallels the ocean for 10 miles with commercial fishing closed for the bottom mile,  open for about four miles,  then closed for the remaining 5 miles or so.  It zig-zags its way along the entire distance,  creating fishable holes every couple hundred yards that the fish settle into.  Fly outs are possible all along the entire Akwe Spit by landing on the outside beach at low tide,  or on one of the handful of landing strips the commercial fishermen use.  The Akwe also has what I feel is Yakutat's greatest untapped resource - a great run of sea-run cutthroat,  small rainbow and dollies in the deeper older holes in the upper half of the river.

Situk:
Fishing has been good for most people.  ALL reports this season so far are that the fish are huge (something we saw on the New Italio as well),  but somewhat lethargic.  They seem to be a little hesitant to hit,  but that may have been due to the change in weather and barometric pressure.  We were expecting a storm and it didn't materialize.  Just some drizzly rain that did cloud the water a bit,  but didn't raise the water at all.  Hot flies have been the larger articulated bunny leeches and other heavily weighted patterns.  These sleepy silvers are reacting better to a faster,  jerkier strip,  so the heavier flies are staying deeper in the water column with the faster strip.  Once more fish arrive,  the popsicles and lighter patterns will do just as well.  Ratio still seems to be about 50:50 pinks to silvers,  but the commercial guys reported a big drop off in the pinks they were catching at the mouth.

Tsiu:
Still seeing great numbers of silvers at the Tsiu.  Again,  really big fish there too.  The Tsiu is hitting the peak right now,  with only 8 commercial guys in the river for the two 24 hour periods each week.  Fly-outs to the Tsiu all report having incredible days.  They were supposed to get hit head on by the "big storm" that didn't happen.  They had some winds,  but nothing like what the forecast was calling for.  Water is still low,  with lots of fish in the entire system - from the lake to the ocean.  A great time to break out those pollywogs and bass poppers.

Even though the Italio is not quite there yet,  it is such a nice relief to have a run back to the standards we usually see around here.  If you are coming,  you'll have a great trip.

More tomorrow...

August 30th, 2008 - Another report from the Italio...

We are having some gorgeous weather up here in Yakutat right now. Early morning fog limits the departure time for any fly-outs, but a trip to the Tsiu is well worth it right now. The commercial fishing cycle resumes tomorrow, so sport fishing will be a little slower for the next couple days, but then the nets get pulled and the fish head up unrestricted.

Out here, there still aren't any fish to speak of on the Middle Italio. The Akwe however is seeing quite a few fish moving in. A LOT of pinks are still running in the New Italio, what we should have seen a couple weeks ago. Some nice silvers mixed in, but just not enough on the Italio for a good fly-out here yet. The Akwe improves day by day and the Tsiu is right in the middle of its peak.

The Situk is seeing very low and clear water, so a great sight fishing experience right now. The last update I had from the Situk was that silver fishing was a little show with the nets in the water. They extended the commercial fishery by one day on the Situk because of the large number of fish coming in at the mouth. More fish have gone up inside the river since then, but the nets go back in at noon tomorrow. Plenty make it by the nets throughout week, but they do have an impact. With the low clear water, they can be skittish, so smaller profile and darker flies are a must for your fly box this week.

Bob

August 26th,  2008 - DC-3's return to Yakutat

Cascade Air didn't bring their DC-3's up this year,  but the run is turning out better than expected on the Tsiu and now we have a gorgeous WWII authentic warbird hanging around the airport.  Here is a little bit about the history of our red and silver visitor from the web site:  http://www.show-of-force.com/transnorthern.html

"The third aircraft is N28TN, which began life as a C-47A with the USAAF, serial 42-24345. It later transferred to the US Navy as an R4D-5 (serial 39080). When Douglas initially offered the DC-3S to the airlines, it became a commercial failure, as the market was saturated with ex-military C-47/DC-3 aircraft, and most airlines could not justify the extra cost of the upgraded version. The US Navy came to the rescue for Douglas, and ordered a number of conversions, and 39080 became one of these aircraft, becoming an R4D-8 or later a C-117D.

After leaving the service, the aircraft eventually ended up in Canada, with Carl Millard, hauling car parts from Ontario. After Millards ceased trading in the early 1990s, the aircraft passed to Kenn Borek Air in Calgary, flying tourists to the Arctic. It was replaced by a Turbo DC-3 in 2006, and acquired by TransNorthern, and still wears its distinctive Kenn Borek colours."

 Fishing on the Tsiu is looking good enough to justify the big plane,  so that is definitely a good sign.  Commercial fishing is open on the Tsiu for 24 hours,  then closed for 24 hours,  then open again for 24 hours,  then closed the rest of the week.  The nets only have 48 hours in the water,  leaving 120 hours - the vast majority - all to the sport fishery.  Plus,  the nets are limited to only the lower river below the ADF and G marker.  Pretty easy to avoid conflicts...  hint,  hint...

August 25th,  2008 - East River Report

I have a fresh report from the East River from two different groups.  Both reports match (a day fishing group and a group from one of the lodges out there),  so "maybe" they can be believed?

There are still bright sockeye in the East and both groups reported catching several.  They also caught some mighty big chum salmon,  pinks and a few coho.  Just one species shy of a grand slam.  They all reported having a great time with such a diverse range of species.  Although there weren't a whole lot of fish,  there were so many different kinds that everyone had a great trip out there.  Group 1 are Alaskans with their own plane flying around.  We saw them earlier in the season.  The second group stayed at Northern Lights Lodge,  usually they come in June for sockeye but wanted to try their hand at silvers.  They had nothing but great things to say about Northern Lights.

Otherwise,  not a lot of fish news.  Just the East River reports for tonight...

August 24th,  2008 - So Much for an Every Day Report

Here is my "day late" report:
Reports from the river are that there are still a TON of pinks in the Situk.  Remember,  you can increase the odds of hooking a silver out of a school of pinks by using dark colors like black and olive and by drifting the fly,  not stripping.  Pinks will be attracted to the brighter colors and a more aggressive strip (well,  silvers will too),  but silvers will still be inclined to hit the dark colors without any action.  You are essentially trying to NOT CATCH FISH by doing this,  but you will still catch the silvers in the mix.  Slower fishing,  but higher ratio of silvers to humpies than if you use the usual flies and stripping.  Or,  just catch more fish total and enjoy them all...  it is up to you...

Report from a commercial fisherman that there are a LOT of silvers starting to come into the mouth of the Ahrnklin Inlet.  The inlet of course is that large estuary that the Lost,  Situk and Ahrnklin all dump into and where the commercial nets are allowed.  Most of them haven't made it into the Situk proper,  but they are coming into the estuary.  Commercial fishing opened 45 minutes ago,  so no idea how many are being caught...

Reports from pilots flying over the Italio...  The Old Italio still doesn't have anything to speak of,  but it tends to be a late run.  The Middle has a few batches of 20 or so fish in the lower holes toward the mouth.  Not a lot,  but a good sign to see them already.  The Akwe has had silvers in it for a couple weeks,  so if you are planning for a fly-out,  the Akwe may be a good option these next couple weeks.

No word from the East,  but I'll keep you posted when we hear something.  The Tsiu is hitting it big,  with thousands of fish moving in on every tide.  5000-10,000 silvers already up above the commercial markers,  so they are seeing a great run already.  The nets will be in the water for two 24 hour periods,  with a 24 hour gap between them.  Otherwise,  no nets the rest of the week.  Even heard of a big shot of silvers in the Alsek River last week.  Not a lot of clear water streams in the Alsek system,  but there are a few on the northwest side that deserve to be explored in the fall.

Food for thought...

Bob

August 22nd,  2008 - The actual fishing update: (highlights added - see Aug 26th blog for explanation)

OK,  I just talked to Greg at the fish plant.  Reports from fly fishing are few and far between with no one in town,  so this will be heavily weighted toward the commercial fishery,  but those are the guys out on the water...  The Tsiu River is the first to see its silver run arrive.  There has been silvers in the Tsiu as well as other west side streams for a couple weeks.  The commercial fishery on the Tsiu opened yesterday with 5000 fish above the markers and several more below.  Cascade Air didn't bring their DC-3's this year with the poor run forecast by Fish and Game,  so we only have the two small air taxi's here to fly the fish to town.  On the opening day,  the nets maxed out the transportation capacity in only 4 hours.  So...  they had to stop fishing because they weren't able to get the large amount of fish caught to the plant here in town.

So...  Gordy has been expecting a weak run this year,  like we have seen the past three seasons due to the winter drought conditions.  The parent year for this season though was VERY good,  with over 200,000 fish caught not including the Tsiu's run.  Looks like the baby salmon managed to survive the dry winter and make it to the ocean,  something that did not happen for the babies that came back last season.

So...  it looks like the run is starting to arrive in very big numbers.  It essentially starts up the coast at Tsiu,  then works its way down toward town over the next couple weeks.  Expect the Situk to hit (if this early Tsiu indication applies to the entire coast) in about a week.  Italio and Akwe a week or so after that,  along with the East River and Doame.  Last week,  the Situk did hit OK at the end of the commercial fishing opener.  Started slow,  but hit hard when they had to pull the gear.

Now to back up a bit to reports that came in while I was out paddling in the storm...  Brian from Fish and Game (he is the guy who took over for Bob Johnson when Bob retired) floated the Situk on August 9th and counted just 100 silvers.  He did say that all the fishermen were hooking up in the lower river with silvers and everyone seemed thrilled with the fishing.  The Vet. conference came and went with a lot of pinks and enough silvers to take home.  The past three seasons have been a struggle,  so I think we all deserve a huge - good ol' fashioned - coho run.  OK,  this a VERY early indication,  but it looks promising on the Tsiu.  I'll keep you posted on how things progress over the next few days.

As most of you know,  commercial fishing on the Tsiu is different than any of Yakutat's other systems.  They open it for 24 hours,  then close it for 24 hours,  then...  All the other rivers open at noon on Sunday and remain open continuously for about 3-4 days.  Then they close continuously for the next 3-4 days to allow escapement.  We'll get almost daily updates from the Tsiu though over the next week,  plus reports from the Situk starting on Sunday.

Yakutat has literally looked like a ghost town for most of this month.  The few people who did swing into the shop reported not seeing another human being on the river,  or maybe 1-2 other fishermen TOTAL.  It has been a very slow month,  but the handful of fishermen have really enjoyed the solitude.

I haven't been out to the Italio,  so no idea what is happening there right now.  Probably a few fish starting to trickle in,  but we usually don't start seeing catchable numbers on the Middle Italio for another few days.  Give it a week and the run should start to pick up a little bit.  The Old and Middle are far more drought sensitive than the Situk,  since they are so much smaller and don't have a lake system for the fly to hide in deeper water.  I'm still holding my breath for our run...

August 22nd,  2008 - Back from my kayak trip

OK,  I'm sorry for not getting back on top of the reports.  I have been back for a couple days and trying to get caught back up.  Yes,  the silvers have been trickling in and people are definitely limiting out every day.  Not a lot of fish,  but enough for the few people that are around town right now.  I will be far more detailed a little later.  Our big Under Armour order finally arrived,  so we are trying to get the codes entered in the computer and shelves stocked.  The water also dropped back to where it should be,  so the rivers are NOT flooded!  Fish and good water levels...  more later...  Boy,  people are getting dependent on the fishing reports to survive their work day,  so I definitely need to do better on keeping this updated.  My apologies...  Now back to inventories...

August 15, 2008 - A river runs through it...

The river has finally stopped rising and the forecast looks pretty good for the next couple of days.

Yakutat National Weather Office Forecast:

AKZ017-160100-
CAPE FAIRWEATHER TO CAPE SUCKLING COASTAL AREA-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...YAKUTAT500 AM AKDT FRI AUG 15 2008 

.TODAY...CLOUDY. RAIN AND PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING...THEN A
SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS AROUND 60. LIGHT
WINDS.
.TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 48. LIGHT WINDS.
.SATURDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
HIGHS AROUND 61. WEST WIND 15 MPH.
.SATURDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 47. NORTHWEST WIND
15 MPH.
.SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 63. LOWS
AROUND 49.
.MONDAY...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN. HIGHS AROUND 68.
.MONDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 47.
.TUESDAY...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN. HIGHS AROUND 64.
.TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN.
LOWS AROUND 49. HIGHS AROUND 60.
http://paya.arh.noaa.gov/zonefcst.php?zone=017

A great way to watch the high and low pressure is by viewing http://aawu.arh.noaa.gov/extndscr.html

If for some reason this doesn't work, go to:  http://pajk.arh.noaa.gov/aviation.php

Then under AVIATION GRAPHICS, click on : "See all 3 of the above Significant Weather Charts on one page" (Example of what it looks like on the page below).

Forecast Significant Weather Charts
24 Hr Significant Weather Chart
36 Hr Significant Weather Chart
48 Hr Significant Weather Chart
See all 3 of the above Significant Weather Charts on one page

It will show you the following:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know maybe this is TOO much information.  Just think, Bob will be back tomorrow sometime and you'll be back to his accuracy :0)

- Have a GREAT day, Teen

August 14, 2008 - Bob is treading water...

(The role of "River Reporter" will be played by Teen today since Bob is out kayaking around Hubbard Glacier.  Rough life...)

You  betcha the river is moving up.  This is the 4th day straight with only minimal breaks of wind and rain.  The water table has been reached and look at it spike. YIKES!

You can monitor the river by using the following web link http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=15129500

August 9th,  2008 - More and More Pinks

Reports are good from the river.  There are a LOT of pink salmon hitting the river,  with a few silvers in the mix.  You can basically catch all the fish you can ever want - mostly pinks,  with a handful of silvers to take home as well.  This is a great time of year to be here,  with very few fishermen,  lots of feisty fish to catch and a problem to solve:  How to catch the one silver out of a school of pinks...  Here are a couple techniques to increase your coho-odds...

1) Don't Strip.  As a rule,  silvers are more voracious than pinks.  Essentially,  all of them will take an interest in something darting through the water.  If you drift,  or at least just swing through the school and don't make the fly dart and dance through the water,  the pinks will have less interest than the silvers.  The silvers - being more voracious will still want it even though it isn't darting past.

2) Inconspicuous Colors.  They say "Pink for Pinks".  There is something to that.  Pinks like the bright flashy colors.  Well,  so do silvers,  but silvers also like black,  olive,  dark blue and brown.  Using a dark color will still hold a silver's interest,  while most pinks won't be so impressed.

OK,  this isn't a fool-proof system.  You would essentially be trying to avoid catching fish.  Doing these two things will make it so both pinks and silvers will be less excited about what you are doing,  but the hope is that the pinks will be more "turned off" than the silvers,  increasing the likelihood that if you catch something,  it will be the silver.  Or...  you'll just catch fewer fish...

August 6th,  2008 - Fresh report from the lower river

I have a fresh report from the lower river...  Yes,  the pinks have arrived enmass.  Fish and Game floated the river last week and had a count of only 120 sockeye,  150 kings,  2500 pinks and "a few" coho.  Yesterday,  Harold (a visitor here for a conference) landed two silvers down at the lower end and said the pinks were "boiling" in.  This morning,  Harold came back in for another report.  He said he landed 5 nice silvers already this morning (he was in the shop at 930am...).  Looks like we have some really good fishing coming in the next few days.

It has also been reported that some people have been cleaning up the garbage along the river and even getting the hardware cleaned up off the snags.  Not sure who has been out there on clean-up missions,  unless it is the Forest Service river ranger team.  They were putting up boxes that look like bird houses along the river for people to deposit their mono,  so if you can pull some of that waste out of the river and off the snags,  please use the receptacles and help keep the river in better shape than it has been.

No bear reports lately.  There hasn't been any fishermen on the river lately...  The berries are at their peak right now,  so I would suspect most of the bears are looking elsewhere for their food,  with the floods and few fish around to catch.

August 3rd,  2008 - Fairweather Day Update

Yes,  we have been called in to jail guard.  Teen has the first shift,  I head in at midnight.  Don't expect me to be too coherent tomorrow...

August 2nd,  2008 - Fairweather Day (highlights added - see Aug 26th blog for explanation)

Today was "Fairweather Day",  our annual community event/sometimes drunken brawl.  Always fun to go down to Cannon Beach and eat lots of seafood.  Except for the fact that the shrimp came from Costco...  don't we have some of the greatest spot prawns on earth right here in our bay?!?!  We'll see if Teen and I get the call tonight to jail guard at 2am.

We parked way out of harm's way,  to make an early and easy exit.  Walking over the bridge at Tawah Creek,  we paused to watch a great school of what looked like silvers milling around under the bridge.  Yes,  a school of about 40 big bright fish,  with a handful of pinks mixes in.  Fishing from the bridge is illegal this time of year,  but that does mean there are good silvers starting to move into the river.

Very few fishermen in town right now,  so the Situk is virtually devoid of people.  We had a group arrive yesterday,  asking what would work on these closed mouth pink salmon...  Um...  just about anything?  Except that sometimes they just have closed mouths.  They walked off the jet and went down to the lower landing right at high tide,  so their first experience was fishing the "top of the tide lull".  I'm pretty sure once the tide started back out again,  the bite would have turned back on.  Last night,  they were in asking what would work and we sent them off with the usual suspects.  Today,  they were back for more,  reporting that the bite was definitely on.  David was very apologetic for swearing in the shop when he realized Tanis and Eden were over in the corner.  Although they have heard much worse,  I appreciated his concern.  They were oblivious anyway,  with Eden glued to one computer watching Monsters Inc. and Tanis on his laptop battling Zeros in his Hellcat.  He was just given Flight Simulator - WWII Pacific Theater...

As I mentioned yesterday,  we hiked into Italio Falls.  I'll report on that on the blog page with photos...

August 1st,  2008 - Heading out for a day on the river...

I am exercising my "get out of jail free" card today,  so Teen is letting me go fishing.  Tim (who just finished building his new Xi2 rod) and I are hiking into Italio Falls to see if there are any sockeye left after the big flood.  This is pretty much our only chance to het any sockeye at this point.  Tanis will be hiking in as well,  so wish us luck getting him in and out without having to carry him...

FYI...  The Situk is now officially closed to the retention of sockeye for the entire system.  I have the new news release,  but I'll post it after I get back.  That means CLOSED TO RETENTION,  not closed to fishing.  You just have to release the sockeye you catch.

Update later tonight...

July 29th,  2008 - Goodbye Weir...

After two beautiful days,  the flow has dropped to below 400 CFS.  The water seems even clearer than normal.  There are some fish in the river,  but after a massive flushing like this,  the vast majority have gone to where they need to be.  Yesterday,  I received a report of a 20+ lb silver being landed.  They were going to release it,  until someone came along and told them it wasn't a king.  So...  either they caught a really big early silver,  or...  um...

On a wetter note,  Gordy gave me these two photos of the weir as the log hit.  They do not know when the weir will be put back in from scratch.  He said they are "evaluating" how to proceed.

Photos taken by Chet Woods with Fish and Game.

Gordy flew all the rivers today and it looked pretty skinny everywhere.  Akwe,  East,  Italio and Situk all looked pretty barren.  Teen mentioned that there was a school of fish under the Tawah Creek bridge,  but she couldn't tell me what species.  Fishing from the bridge this time of year is closed (not just to retention) by the way.  Tawah always seems to have some nice cutthroat scattered around though.

I have permission to leave Teen in the shop on Thursday and do a little "research".  I'll let you know what I find and where...

July 27th,  2008 - River continues to drop

After a blustery day yesterday,  we have our forecasted sunny weather.  The Situk continues to drop and the water has cleared back up nicely.  We have a CFS this morning of about 700,  which will probably be down around 400 tomorrow at this rate - maybe lower.  Reports of jumpers yesterday in the lower river by a group who just drove down there to look and a report of success about 100 yards below 9 Mile by a group who spent a little time casting into a calm backwater that is normally dry.  In a couple feet of calm,  a school of pinks were taking a break from the rushing current,  along with at least one resident rainbow and a jack king.

My personal fishing report from yesterday was part of "Family Fishing Day" at Post Office Lake.  Many nice sized Northern Pike met their demise at the hands of a flock of kids in Forest Service canoes.  Tanis landed a nice one on a spoon and we hooked several on flies that he wasn't able to land.  More details on the blog page...

July 26th,  2008 - No fish report lately...

I haven't talked to anyone who has fished this week.  A couple good friends were out on the Italio this past week during the high water at the Ryman camp and they "didn't see a single fish".  They barely escaped,  having to walk back to the airstrip from the cabin - unable to cross the ordinarily dry washes.  So...  since no one has reported any successful fishing,  I can at least report on what the water is doing.  This graph sure points in a long-overdue positive direction:

The water is dropping fast,  but the gage still shows 900 CFS - down from 1300 CFS yesterday.  Today,  it is very lightly sprinkling,  so we'll drop several hundred CFS through the day as well.  By tomorrow,  or Monday,  we should be back to fishable.  I have been recommending a few other options this week,  but haven't heard back from anyone on how well they did.  Specifically,  cutthroat on Bean Belly Lake and a day on Old Situk - which would be a nice river with the flooding instead of a creek.  No idea if there are fish in it this time of year,  but it does have a nice silver run later.  Should be some trout in there.

Today,  we'll be closing the shop for a couple hours mid-day.  This is "family fish day",  so there will be kids running amok around Post Office Lake trying to catch the biggest pike they can.  Mostly a spin fishing thing for the kids,  but I'll string up a couple fly rods with steel leaders to see how it all goes.

July 25th - More Rain

It looked like the water level was going to peak yesterday and had started on its way down.  Then...

We are now up over 1,300 CFS!!!  It has stopped raining,  but the river is such a raging torrent,  there isn't a lot of point fishing it this weekend.  It will take days to clear up and drop enough to make any difference.  If Fish and Game hadn't taken the weir out yesterday,  it would be out all on its own today.  This is one really flooded river - especially for this time of year.  More rain expected throughout today and tonight,  with drier skies expected from Sunday through Wednesday.  Then the next storm hits on Thursday.

July 24th - Part 2

With the river as flooded as it is,  the weir started to erode.  Fish and Game has pulled the weir out of the river with a total count for the season at 22,522 sockeye.  It hasn't been possible for them to get counts this week with the raging flood water.  They are considering a total closure - both to retention of sport caught and closure for commercial fishing.  They are far below the basic minimum escapement goal,  so something needs to be done to protect the run.  This isn't going to make anyone happy,  but at least the remaining sockeye that come into the system will have a chance to make it into the lake.

I have been asked by a few people since the upstream closure if you can fish at all.  Yes,  you can fish all you want,  but you can not retain sockeye in the closed waters.  Catch and release.  You can keep pinks,  dollies,  rainbow and cutthroat.  At the moment,  you can fish for sockeye above the cabins,  but not keep them.  Below the cabins,  you still can keep three - or release them all...  You can't keep kings at all in the Situk,  but you can fish for them all you want.  Closed only means closed to retention of the specified species.

July 24th,  2008 - Today's Fishing Report

OK,  here is my official fishing report for today:

This translates to 630 CFS.  Funny,  I haven't heard of anyone landing a sockeye for several days.  A few pinks and dollies,  but that is about it.  I just sent a group out to Bean Belly Lake to try for cutthroat,  but the water is up on the road with water everywhere.  At least the current won't be trying to sweep them out to sea.  Tomorrow,  they are going to rent one of the Lund's from Leonard's Landing to try out Matt's squid patterns in the salt water.  It has started to crest,  so the rain may be slowing enough to let the water come down a bit.  This is a really good flood for July.  Boy,  does it feel like September!

July 22nd,  2008 - Weir Overwhelmed

Well,  here is the weir count for today - 2 fish!  Yes,  that is the "official" count,  but the massive flooding we have has compromised the weir and fish can swim up,  over and around anywhere they want to.  They have to have the official count of two that were counted,  but they figure a heck of a lot more went upstream.  The water is so murky right now anyway that you would be hard pressed to see a school swimming between your own legs in that water.

July 21st,  2008 - Weekend Counts

I don't have the daily counts,  but I do have the totals:

Sockeye:
22,400 total

Large Kings:
414 total

Also the grand total for the outbound steelhead they counted during the window they had the weir set up for them:
7,100 total

July 20th,  2008 - I didn't go fishing this week

With the rivers as flooded as they are,  I didn't bother to go commercial fishing this week.  So...  instead I do have some weir count numbers for you.  Not "official" counts,  but both Brian and Gordy passed through the shop today and shared some ballpark numbers.

Saturday,  they had about 1600 sockeye and 40+ kings pass the weir.  By today,  they had another 600 sockeye.  Still not exactly earth-shattering numbers,  but definitely shows promise to break through that minimum escapement goal.  Quite a few pinks are already showing up,  so people are reporting a lot of those landed.  Still some of the best king fishing anyone has seen in years below the weir,  although they are still closed to retention.

There have been a few fly-outs to the East River the past week.  Not a lot of good news there unfortunately,  with not enough fish to give the sockeye that "safety in numbers" feel that turns the bite on well.  One or two caught here and there,  but again the pinks are starting to show there as well.  The Akwe has been a king-only sport fishery this year so far,  with very few sockeye coming in.  Certainly my commercial fishing has been my "worst season ever",  after last year being my all-time best.  But that is the way the Akwe is.  Very unpredictable.  When it is on,  it is really on,  but when it isn't...

Most reports from the Bay has been good for halibut.  There was one halibut skunking last week,  but everyone else did well.  Even the skunked group still caught enough Ling Cod and early silvers to make it a good day on the water.  The storm quickly put an end to the charter trips,  but the seas have calmed now as we wait for the next predicted storm.  Today sure was a beautiful day on the water though.  Sunny most of the day,  with a bit of a breeze,  but not too much wind.  Enough to hold the bugs at bay.

I was asked about "bear reports", so this is what I have heard...  there is a sown with cubs down below the weir that has been "friendly" with the fishermen.  I saw bears on two of my three trips above the bridge these past few weeks,  but they couldn't care about me in the least.  Most of the fishing pressure right now (because of the retention closure upstream) is down below,  therefore if any bears get trained,  it will be down below.  Still a bit early to have the bears trained in the wrong way and not enough fish being kept to really make them look at people as a source of food.  You know by September that will all change,  but for the time being,  we don't have too much to worry about.

Official weekend counts tomorrow...

July 18th - Part 2

I haven't included the flow graph for a while,  so here is what the river looks like at the moment:

CFS flow went from about 130 to over 350,  so it more than doubled in the past 24 hours.  The good bite has changed to trying to maintain your footing and not getting swept down the river.

Rhonda at Fish and Game reported a couple interesting things today after the counts were reported.

1) The sex organs of the majority of the fish are very under-developed.
2) The Kenai River went from a daily count of around 4500 fish to 68,000 fish daily this week.

Both of these indicate a very late run,  therefore we may see the bulk of the run hitting the river as late as August.  This rain will help push the fish up and into the lake,  ensuring the future of the run.  It has been repeatedly reported that there are hundreds of kings below the weir.  They just haven't been motivated to get on with their journey.  We are still a bit over 100 kings shy of the escapement goal,  so until they cross the weir,  retention will remain closed.  Sockeye counts have fallen behind last year's struggling counts by a couple thousand,  so we are seeing the worst historic counts for this date ever.  If the run is late like in other regions,  then we may see a huge influx of sockeye over the next couple weeks.

July 18th,  2008 - Weird Counts

Low weir counts today,  but with the storm hitting last night,  a big batch of fish moved in after midnight.  Those counts will be for tomorrow...  so not included in today's total...

Sockeye:
Today: 143
Total: 19,937

LG Kings:
Today: 11
Total: 335

An additional 550 sockeye passed the weir after midnight,  but again those numbers will be on tomorrow's counts.  Since tomorrow is the weekend,  you'll see the next update on Monday night,  or Tuesday.  The 550 boost was enough for Gordy to open the commercial fishery again for 36 hours.  The storm did help get these fish motivated to move beyond the gauntlet of fishermen down in the lower river.

July 17th,  2008 - Dismal counts again

A slow day for the counters at the weir...

Sockeye:
Today: 139
Total: 19,655

Kings:
Today: 1
Total: 322

OK,  so you may notice as I just did when I typed this that the total count given to me is the same as yesterday...  I have never bothered to check their addition,  I just report what I was told.  All I know is 139 sockeye over the weir does not indicate a strong run coming in,  so don't expect the retention limits to change in a positive way any time soon.

In other news...  Tomorrow's storm has arrived today,  so we'll see if this drives more fish in,  or if they hold off an wait till it passes.  Windy and rainy right now.  Selling some nice Simms Windstopper gloves today...

July 16th - Part 2

A couple people have reported that fishing has been slow today.  Not as many fish below the weir as there has been the past few days.  The big bite has slowed a lot,  but people are still catching.  I have been able to direct people to Yakutat Seafoods to get boxes of fresh fish to take home.  They haven't shipped everything out yet.

July 16th,  2008 - Weired Counts

Real good news from the weir...

Sockeye:
Today: 1782
Total: 19,655

Kings:
LG Today: 15
LG Total: 321

Looks like a nice big shot passed the weir last night.  Just reported that there weren't a lot of fish below the weir this morning,  but they were very turned on.  The gentlemen in the shop were buying Fluorescent Chartreuse Gamakatsu #4 hooks,  but weren't willing to share their "secret fly".  My guess is that EVERYONE's "secret fly" is working yesterday and today.  Heck,  even the snaggers have been getting takes with their set-up.  Pinks are starting to show a little bit,  but we have another week or two before they take over.  Reports of "dozens of kings" in every hole below the weir.  Kings have been taking the sockeye flies more readily than they have been taking actual "King flies".  At long last - a good week on the river for sockeye.

July 15th - Part 2

Fresh weir counts:

Sockeye:
Today: 1131
Total: 17,873

Kings:
LG Today: 12
LG Total: 297

There was a push of fish that moved in on Monday after real slow numbers all around through the weekend.  The commercial nets did well on the Bay as well as the Situk right at the end of the opener Monday evening.  That also translated into topping the thousand mark across the weir for the first time in several days.  It does appear that they will make the minimum escapement goal by the end of the season,  it will be a close one though.  There are a lot of fish below the weir that don't seem to be in any hurry to go very far.  Also a lot of kings reported below the weir,  enough to send the counts well above the minimum goal for kings too.  They just need something to push them through - like a big storm system bearing down on the Gulf of Alaska this week...  It is expected to hit on Friday actually...

July 15th,  2008 - Back from the Akwe

I'm back from the Akwe.  Here is the weir count for yesterday.  As soon as they get back from lunch,  I'll have this morning's counts.  Not too pretty unfortunately...

Sockeye:
Yesterday:  26
Total:  16,700

Kings:
Yesterday:  Zero
Totals:
Lg-282
Med-148
Jacks-90

Still no sign of any fish entering the New Italio.  Zip,  zilch,  nadda.  We caught a few fish in the Akwe,  but not many.  Zero fresh kings,  although there are quite a few in the upper holes above the upper regulatory marker.  Not really enough sockeye to justify a fly-put trip.  Just not hitting the critical mass needed to make for a good day on sockeye.  Again,  a few kings,  so you can definitely have a good day catching both species upriver,  but not at the bottom end.  I haven't heard what is happening over on the East.  I suspect they are starting to see some more fish,  but they traditionally have a late sockeye run anyway and won't hit their stride for another week or two.

The obvious situation on the Situk is VERY crowded on the lower river and totally devoid of people on the upper river.  The closure is giving the catch-and-release crown a relief from the crowds and...  alternative hooking methods...

I'll have today's update in about an hour.

July 11th,  2008 - Today's News Release

Fish and Game has just announced a closure for the retention of sockeye above the Forest Service cabins and a reduction in the daily limit to three (3) below the cabins.  For the complete text of the news release,  click on the image at right.  Now for the weir counts:

As of 10am this morning,  257 sockeye crossed the weir in the previous 24 hours and 7 large kings crossed the weir.  I guess that pretty much answers the question,  why close the river...?

Gordy did say that there are as many as 3000 sockeye below the weir and 150 kings waiting to head upstream.  The fish just don't seem to be in any hurry to move.  We have been neck and neck with last year for the all-time worst weir count to date,  but last year's count ended up over 40,000 when all was said and done.  They lowered the limits last year as well to help the struggling run.  They decided not to close the commercial fishery this week,  reducing it to 36 hours - Sunday 6am to Monday 6pm.  No commercial nets for the remaining 5 1/2 days of the week.  In other words,  they have reduced both the sport retention AND the commercial fishery.  Just a reminder for those who may feel the commercial guys should be cut off first...  they have been here far longer than the recreational fishermen coming here to just play with their food.  The commercial fishery is what keeps many families alive,  so hold your anti-net comments if you don't mind.

I'll be heading back out to the Italio tomorrow and we'll have a fresh fishing report on Tuesday morning after I get back.  I had a wonderful day yesterday fishing with Tanis' flies,  but as of Sunday 6am,  I'll be wearing my "other" hat...  :-)

By the way,  this is something I have had a tough time understanding (and probably something that should be on the blog instead of here...).  There is a commercial fishery here where people catch fresh chrome bright salmon right at the river mouth and in the saltwater.  The price of salmon here at the source is really dirt cheap.  Wild salmon are not like some species of trout in Montana that would be decimated if everyone kept every fish they catch.  These fish - every single one - will be dead in a couple weeks,  so keeping a few isn't the issue.  Why catch them illegally when you can always buy some beautiful flash-frozen and vac-packed perfect fish already in a box and then enjoy your days fishing.  Why look over your shoulder all day as you drag in fish caught in the other-than-mouth and then let it sit around for a day in the sun before hacking it to pieces?  Do we have to measure our manhood based on the ready to spawn fish caught 13 miles upstream in our freezer instead of the chromer from the ocean?  Exceptionally well taken care of fillets instead of fish that have been through a little rougher treatment...  Hmmm...

Thoughts?  Do I need to create a message board?

-Bob

July 10th,  2008 - A First Hand Report

First the weir counts...

Sockeye:
Today: 568
Total: 14,772

Kings Today:
LG: 14
Med: 2
Jacks: 7
Total LG Kings: 241

The first hand report will be on the blog page,  from our little fishing trip today...

July 9th - Part Two

Bad news from the weir...  294 sockeye and 7 kings last night.  Pretty slow.  Fish and Game is leaning toward a complete closure to commercial fishing this coming week for almost all areas.

July 9th,  2008 - The fly I forgot to add last night...

The folks at Fish and Game went to lunch,  so I'll have today's weir counts in an hour or two.  In the mean time,  i realized I forgot to include the info about the flies that have been working on last night's posting.  Sorry...

This little beast is a Mai Tai.  This has been working well,  catching sockeye both up river and down below the weir.  I think the advantage with this over the "Hots" is that the Mai Tai is weighted with lead wrap around the shank,  allowing it to sink better and get down to the strike zone.  The great thing about the Mai Tai is that it will catch every species we have.  Sparse enough to be a sockeye workhorse,  yet it works great for cutthroat,  pinks,  silvers and even kings.  As an added bonus,  the fly was named by Yakutat's own fly fishing expert Gary Miller.

With sockeye,  the keys to remember are to get it down to the fish,  dead drift with no action,  or swing at all and you need current.  Tides this past week have been right in the middle of the day,  so we had water backing up in the lower river.  No current flow to make the drift work properly.  Better fishing was up river,  yet the crowds stayed below - probably because there were so many fish stacked up below the weir.  Great "snag" conditions,  but not too successful for getting legal takes.  Tides this week will be smaller and late in the evening,  making it good fishing down below all day - every day.

Fly photo courtesy of Hill's Discount Flies

July 8th,  2008 - Another work-horse fly pattern for sockeye

Weir counts as of this morning:
Sockeye:
Total: 13,910
Today: 700
The escapement goal for sockeye is between 30,000 and 70,000.  Gordy said that we keep swapping with last year for the all-time lowest count across the weir for this date.  We'll have a high day and take "second worst",  then have a slow day and achieve #1 status again.  But...  last year we had a late push of fish in July that ended up around 40,000 total,  so our late run can still come out over the goal.  Only time will tell.

Kings:
Total LG: 218
Today: 8
During the three days of the 4th,  5th and 6th,  112 large kings crossed - doubling the total count in three days.  The total escapement goal for large kings is between 450 and 1050,  so we are half way to the minimum escapement goal.

Now for a little "reader perspective"...
"I was just thinking about the fact that in February the sun was at its lowest radiation intensity of its 11 year cycle.  So the Earth is at its coolest point in the cycle right now and it’ll just get hotter from here.  In 5.5 years it’ll be at its peak radiation again and we’ll have warmth.  If fish don’t do well in colder temperatures, that would explain this year’s small numbers, but it would mean that the next 5.5 years will get better and better.  Until, of course, it reaches a temperature at which the fish find the river too hot… "

OK,  so now we know why fishing has been off this season.  Low radiation levels...  Doesn't the Mayan calendar end in 2012?  Looks like we won't live to see the next peak run...  :-)  Thank you Mark for the great theory on why the fish are late.  Thanks Matt for breaking the "end of the world" news.  I think I need to create a message board for everyone to post their fishing theories.  I bet we'd have some doozies for why sockeye do,  or don't bite...  

-Bob

July 3rd,  2008 - Weir Report/What is Working

Weir count for today is:
Sockeye:
Total: 7462
Today: 1266
Over 1000 crossing daily now.

Kings:
Totals
LG: 77
MED: 46
Jacks: 16

It is always nice to get a little feedback.  Yesterday,  a gentleman came in,  leaned on the counter and asked,  "What do you have to do to catch these fish?".  I went through my little song and dance and pulled open the sockeye fly drawer.  Told him how I do it and sold him a little handful of flies.  Today,  he came back in with his buddies this time.  He said he fished all day with no success at all.  Finally "out of desperation",  he put on the fly I recommended - apparently he didn't like the way it looked,  so didn't think the fish would...  :-)

An hour later,  he had 8 sockeye under his belt and he said ALL of them were clearly takes hooked inside the mouth.  None of that "lining" crap.  This week,  it has been the "Rainbow Hot" that has been the most reliable.  Fished with a Type 8 sink tip and only about 3 feet of leader.  The "Red Hot" is usually the most popular,  but this pattern has always been more successful for me as well.

Photo courtesy of Hill's Discount Flies,  available through them,  or here at the shop.  This is tied on a #4 Gamakatsu Nickel Octopus hook with a very sparse tuft of rainbow Krystal Flash.

July 1st,  2008 - Good news!

First,  the weir:
Sockeye:
Total: 6143
Today: 849

Kings:
Total LG Kings: 73
Today: 25

Essentially,  1/2 of the total passed the weir in the last three days - almost 3000 fish.  This all happened while the commercial fishing nets were in the water,  so they still managed to pass the gauntlet of nets to double the count.  A few fish trickling up above the bridge (which was barren last Friday),  but not a whole lot.  More and more fish every day by nearly a thousand!

Out on the Akwe,  my commercial fishing was VERY slow.  On Monday,  there were a lot of fish starting to stack up at the mouth and the estuary where the Akwe and Italio meet,  but with tiny 6 foot tides,  it wasn't pushing the fish up into either river.  The Italio was totally barren.  Not a single fish seen as I jet-boated up the river to the big logjam.  Again,  a few fish in the Akwe upstream,  but not a whole lot.  Tanis did hook into his first king while I was up-river checking the net.  I had my cousin and his family up for the week and they graciously helped Tanis tighten the drag down - after all,  the king as big as he is didn't come to shore right away.  Well,  I don't need to tell you what happened next...  Here he is with one from the net...  Ya,  so I cheated,  but he is still one heck of a cute kid holding a cool fish!

June 28th,  2008 - No report,  but a photo...

No fish report today (Fish and Game is closed,  so no weir report),  but I do have my photo of my little resident rainbow I caught yesterday...  See you on Tuesday when I come back to town...

June 27th,  2008 - My own report:

I didn't call Fish and Game in time today to get the weir counts,  but I do have my own count!  Matt and I went up to 9 Mile to see what the river looked like.  Strictly a "work" day of course.  There were absolutely no fish up above "Anne's Hole" (the first curve above the bridge).  The hole under the bridge had a lot of fish - looked like they were mostly sockeye.  My guess would be about 200 fish give or take.  We also walked downstream from the bridge and did see a couple small groups of sockeye 20-30 fish tucked tight under logs and trees.  They are making it all the way to the bridge,  but as yet not beyond.

OK,  yes I did land one fish - a beautiful rainbow about 16-17 inches.  Big fat belly from feeding on all the steelhead eggs.  We also trekked over to one of the ponds nearby (old gravel pit from building the road that has filled with water and therefore salmon and their offspring).  Saw a lot of smolt flipping and a few cutthroat,  but didn't touch any this time.

In a nutshell...  the steelhead have flushed downstream quite a ways and aren't in the upper river,  or around 9 Mile any more.  Sockeye are throughout the system,  although not in any great numbers.  Fishing this week is best down at the bottom end below the weir for sockeye.  The run is obviously late,  but is starting to show.  Commercial fishing this week has been cut back to 36 hours - Sunday 6am to Monday 6pm to give the river a chance to get some escapement.

I head out to the Italio tomorrow morning early,  so I won't have any fish reports till Tuesday.

-Bob

June 26th,  2008 - First-hand Reports

First,  today's weir count:

Sockeye:
97 today
2610 total
There are 300-400 sockeye immediately below the weir that aren't in a hurry to move through.

Kings:
1 large today
2 medium today
1 small today

13 large total
11 medium total
2 jacks total

Now for the first hand report...  I sent "Little Garrett" out to do a little research.  The report of steelhead flushing out of the lake and holding in the area of the bridge was confirmed.  There were a lot of fish at 9 Mile,  mostly steelhead,  a few sockeye and two very large kings that were driving a lot of people nuts.  It is always fun to watch the sight-obsessed Pixie-chuckers doing all they can to bonk those kings under the bridge.

Garrett and company also had a lot of success in "Beanbelly Lake" out near the end of the road catching cutthroat trout.  One of the guys had never touched a fly rod before and had one landed in about 5 minutes.  The hot fly for the cuts was a Mai Tai,  invented by Yakutat's own Gary Miller.

So...  with multi-species throughout the area,  looks like I need to take another day off.  Teen will be taking the reigns tomorrow while Matt and I do a little research of our own.

June 25th,  2008 - Current Weir Count

No fishing reports to speak of,  but I do have the latest weir counts.

Sockeye:
2513 total
392 today

Kings:
12 large kings
9 medium kings
1 jack

One guy leaving today said he had been able to catch quite a few steelhead AND sockeye in the bottom end this week.  He had a great time,  having the river to himself most of the time.  Sounds good to me.

June 24th,  2008 - Sockeye moving in!

As of yesterday,  the sockeye count across the weir was around 2000.  Today's count only added 42 more fish.  The reason?  A family of river otter were keeping the fish on edge and holding below the weir opening.  The fish are starting to arrive and people are finally reporting some good fishing in the lower river.  The official count for large kinds holds steady at 11 fish.  One report from a river guide was that a large number of steelhead just flushed out of the lake,  putting thousands of steelies in the upper part of the river and around 9 Mile Bridge.  Didn't anyone tell them it was the last week of June?!?!

Commercial fishing off the cape was much slower this week than last.  They are not intercepting as many fish bound for the Situk as they had been the week before.  I was told only about 1000lbs of fish had been caught on the Alsek River this week.  There are a few pockets of sockeye that have moved into the East River.  I was on the Akwe for the commercial opener and it was very slow and irregular (yes,  until the fly shop gets off the ground,  I remain a commercial fisherman through the sockeye season...).  It was my second worst opening week EVER commercial fishing,  but I expected it to be very slow with the late runs.  My estimate is that about 300 total fish were caught on the Akwe.

June 20th,  2008 - Some bright news...

The weir count on sockeye remains at only 5 fish,  however that may change today.  The weir is set up to trap downstream steelhead and it makes it difficult for upstream sockeye to get through.  The configuration is being changes as I type this to allow easier passage for upstream sockeye.  Fish and Game reported that there were about 100 sockeye loitering directly below the weir and a scattering of fish in the lower river.  The fish are starting to show up and enter the river.

It was also reported that there are about 500 sockeye in the lower end of the East River and a few seen from the air in the Akwe mouth.  The fish are starting to arrive,  so looks like they are about two weeks late.

June 18th,  2008 - Weir Counts and Commercial Fishing Results

Steelhead: Weir counts as of 10am this morning,  the outbound count for steelhead sits at 5,724 fish.  On an average year,  that would be close to half the run,  so there are probably about 5,000 more fish left upstream waiting to come out.  Gordy,  our commercial fisheries biologist also explained to me the process for protecting the steelhead run after the commercial fishing season opens.  Essentially,  they just keep the weir closed trapping the steelhead inside the river while the nets are in the water.  After the closure,  they open the gates and start counting again as they flow downstream.  This seems to do a good job of protecting the steelhead during the 2 1/2 days fishing is open.

Sockeye: The total count for sockeye crossing the weir is still only 5 fish.  gill-netting opened Sunday at 6am and closed Tuesday at 6pm.  During the 2 1/2 days,  a total of about 2500 sockeye were caught.  In other words,  there are some good numbers starting to enter the estuary,  although they haven't headed upstream into the Situk yet.  We have 4 1/5 days till the next opener,  so plenty of time each week for the fish to freely migrate up into the river between set-net openings.

I'll try to keep updated on the weir counts throughout the weeks to come and update this if not every day,  at least when there is a change worth reporting on.

June 14th (part 2) - News Flash Just In!

Don't know how much credibility this has (although it did come from a ADFG employee),  but there was a report of catching a lot of fresh steelhead in Yakutat Bay during last week's commercial set-net opener.  These were supposed to be yet-to-spawn fish!  Odd report to say the least!

June 14th,  2008 - Server Down...

Sorry for the delay in this update.  I actually had something to update here,  but couldn't access the server to make the fishing report.  Because I actually went fishing!!!  First time this year!  Anyway...

Not exactly spectacular news,  but at least it is first hand.  "Little" Garrett and I wandered upstream above the bridge Wednesday night.  The river was up a bit,  but a really good flow level.  Unfortunately,  the rain had stirred up some silt,  so it was tough to see into the deeper pools.  Spotted a handful of STILL BRIGHT steelhead scattered around the flats here and there,  mostly paired off over redds.  We walked up to the West Fork.  Saw a sow with two cubs that didn't seem to care in the least that we were there.  Hooked three,  landed two small ones.  Back down by the bridge,  we hit a batch of dollies,  but couldn't see anything in the water at all.  Bugs are definitely out in force now.  The shot of warm rain we had this week made for an ideal hatch.

Second hand report from yesterday said there was a group of about 8 steelhead in the riffle above the bridge,  so...  more fish than I saw as the water dropped and cleared up the next day.  ADFG has a 3,800 count of outbound steelies and (drum roll please...) five (5) sockeye have passed the weir.  That leaves virtually all the steelhead run still in the river above the weir.  Commercial fishing is scheduled to open tomorrow in the Situk/Arhnklin Inlet.  We'll see how many sockeye are down holding in the estuary and how much damage they can do to the steelhead run.  It is only open Sunday and Monday,  so we have 5 days for the fish to head out/in unrestricted.  Definitely something to keep a close eye on though.

The few sockeye fishermen that came early were definitely disappointed by the late showing this year for salmon so far.  But...  It is the 14th of June and there are still thousands of steelhead in the middle river down to the weir.  We'll probably still be catching steelhead into July!  With a count of 4 sockeye,  it isn't bad news.  They are coming,  but they are just very late.  Last week's commercial catch on the Alsek River was about 50 total fish for 14 fishermen.  Many were skunked with their 50 fathoms of net a piece.  The total ran about 50:50 sockeye to kings.  If the Alsek is that late,  then we have a good couple weeks before the run will really arrive.

Halibut fishing is good in the bay.  Steelhead in the middle river.  Still makes for a really great wilderness trip,  even if the sockeye aren't here yet.  If you are scheduled to come up in the next couple weeks,  just be prepared to adjust to a different species.  You'll still have a great time.

June 9th,  2008 - Not much to report...

OK,  I have been hesitant to put a lot of "filler" updates in here,  with not a lot to report.  But...  since I have received more than a few comments asking for more updates anyway,  here is what I know as of today:

Commercial gill-net fishing opened yesterday in Yakutat Bay.  At least one fisherman caught ONE sockeye in his net...  The Situk officially opens for commercial fishing next Sunday,  but NOT A SINGLE SOCKEYE OR KING has been counted at the weir.  There have been approximately 3,500 steelhead migrating out so far (ADFG counts outgoing steelhead,  since both winter and spring runs usually all exit in about a month's span of time as opposed to counting incoming fish continuously from October to June).

As of today,  there are still a LOT of steelhead in the middle river - at least a full month late.  The Situk below the weir is still "barren".  A few sockeye fishermen have come in through the shop wondering what fly to use...  Um...  there isn't a fly that will catch a fish that isn't there.  Sorry.  The water temperature is still in the low to mid 40's at the 9 Mile gage.  It briefly spiked up over 50 on Saturday,  but dropped down over 10 degrees right after that.  Flow is just shy of 240 CFS,  so great water levels just a hair above the historic average for right now.

I brought my gear into town from the Italio last weekend,  so I'm planning to get on the water (for the first time this year) Thursday.  After two months of "other people's reports",  I'll be able to give you my own later this week.  I haven't landed a steelhead with my bamboo rod,  so that will be my goal.  One more species to check off my bamboo list!

June 6th,  2008 - Expect more late runs...