Brazda's Fly Fishing

King Salmon Alaska July 7-14, Alagnek River.

 We all set off from different locations in America as far away as Florida and New York State to assemble in the small fishing town of King Salmon Alaska. Christian Elwell owner of “Borealis Outdoor Adventures” my good friend and outfitter for our adventure was there waiting when we got off the plane.

After some introductions and the customary Alaska BAR time we retired to our perspective cabins at Diamond Lodge.

Diamond Lodge is owned and operated by a German lady named Heidi that also has a salmon smoking operation on the premises, her motto is “Sustainably Harvested and Handled with Pride” she has the awards to go with it, and is the finest cold smoked salmon I have ever tasted.

We set off from a float plane dock with plenty of help loading planes and not to much organization, off to the shores of Nonvionek Lake and the beginning of the float. The flight out was breathtaking, a calm clear day not a bump in the sky, nearly worth the price of admission.

As you can expect anticipation was the emotion for the day and soon we were into Rainbows and Lake trout, and Sockeye running up the edges. Of coarse the Sockeye were not in a biting mood. The great day gave way to steady wind and soon we were casting from an ocean beach with treacherous waves, only swamped two of us but the Lakers kept eating the swung fly if you could get it done.

Next day we set forth with the rafts loaded and I had three anglers onboard flailing away in an attempt to catch these damn bows on the move, “we had gotten reports from two weeks earlier that fishing on the move was next to futile” naturally we need to prove that one wrong. Yea,,, should of believed that one as on the move was brutal considering we were floating the wilds of Alaska. Our first day netted 2 dozen bows and a dozen Lakers, we did get some rising trout but for the most part it was NOT on.

Fortunately the campsite was the bomb and the best fishing stop of the first floating day, there we padded the numbers and seeing Matt and Ringo each hook up twice on fat bows made my day. Dinner was served after smoked salmon appetizers from Heidi that melted in our mouth. Main course grilled Lakers, fettuccini with clams and mussels. The preparation was exquisite and not at all what is expected for camping. The food on this trip was top shelf, nothing short of amazing.

 Day three started out with more of the same with tough angling on the move four to the boat on streamers right away did get us all jazzed. By 3 we had traveled ten river miles that looked as if the Madison’s Cameron flats had been relocated to Alaska. When we reached the Kucinich River things all changed!

As we reached the confluence it was evident that the Sockeye Salmon run had arrived in big numbers, Bears everywhere we looked, wads of schooling Sockeye in the rivers currents, it was the beginning of the most awesome wildlife spectacle I have ever seen.

I had seen Brown Bears before on many occasions into Alaska and BC but these where different; they seemed uninterested in anything but the swimmers in the water.

As we floated down river we lost all idea of angling just floating amongst the living, operating, biomass had us awestruck. We floated past twenty some brown bear in thirty minutes heading for our next campsite none of us mentioning that now we are here and now we camp with them. This is where Christian and Jason’s knowledge of Alaska’s Wilderness came through, the first camp spot was taken by rafters that had been there for four days, we had seen them when we flew in. Christian took us down a ways and stopped on a bar and it was our turn to take a meal of Sockeye. Within thirty Minutes we had figured out what they would EAT, thanks to Bill Hart and his lake box that had made its way up to Alaska, a water boatman size 6, every third drift he would hook up the rest of us about every twenty. We kept dinner and off to the camp spot, as where we were standing there was way to much bear activity.

A mile downstream and four lefts and three rights through narrow channels and there it is a perfect swing and a perfect camping spot. By the time we got camp up and dinner cooked all of had caught and released ten –twenty Sockeye each on the Boatman or similar.

 The next morning found Ringo with his mini fly tying kit out and cranking away with a cup of fresh coffee at his side, we tied them on as they came off the vice every one like camp GOLD.

After some morning angling to warm up, with Larry and Jess both swinging the honey hole and pulling on fish nearly every drift, we headed for the King hole just down river. Here we proceeded to catch every species in the system including Kings that pretty much used the heavy currents to take complete advantage. These were chrome bright 15-20 pounders that did what Kings do when there is not a jet boat two steps away, break gear!

By the end of day four it was obvious the rainbows had migrated else ware and the Sockeye where our game fish of the trip. Armed with the Ringo rendition of a water boatman (tung bead, heavy scud hook, olive dubbing, a pair of rubber legs and a tail of crystal flash and a flash back) we proceeded to float mile after mile watching Bears and stopping on pods of Sockeye staged up running riffles, it was nothing to hook a dozen from one spot in 30 minutes, ah that is a dozen per angler. Poppa Mac and Bill totally crushing them nymphing but Joey, Ringo and Matt used a light tip or even a dry line and long leader it would slide right over the pods and get the biter to come up. When we wanted we tossed dries to grayling and still caught the occasional good sized Rainbow on the swing.

 Day five on the Alagnek found us in the famed BRAIDS region and that name fits, we hit a couple so narrow and fast the paddles where useless and we steered with Bill hanging out the back grabbing bottom with his legs snow sled style, thankfully it was only one wrong turn and a short one at that. Banking on the Sockeye fishing we tried to target Bows again but found only a few. The Braids did offer some interesting close encounters with Bears battling in the middle of narrow channels and some very Mousy looking water, maybe next time. We were now seeing huge Bears 8-9 footers staged along strategic points and riffles, I never stopped being amazed at the variety of there fishing technique, the jump inners, the chase to the beach and pounce, the head first biter and then the snorkelers all seemed to work as they were fat and happy. Again our choice camp spot was taken but by then we were ready for relaxation and another fine riverside dinner, besides the guys on the spot where constantly on guard with a twelve gauge.

Day six found us all rather rummy, could have been the reduction in alcohol weight we attempted the night before but who’s saying. We had great Sockeye angling most of the day even started catching them on the move with a two fly nymph rig, that was interesting with fast water and a ton of lumber in the river and three anglers aboard, we found the mother load this last day, a 100 sq yard bucket below a shallow riffle teaming with sea lice laden Sockeye, I was beginning to love these fish, there battle was vicious and the bite was rather light so it kept us on our toes. We stayed there as long as possible all of us knowing it would be the last stop on the last day, the fishing part was over. We just floated straight out to the pick up, we were all quite ready to be back in a real bed and mostly a good shower, and we silently reminisced about the journey we had all just taken one that will forever be highlighted in our internal journal, one with many angling accomplishments and wilderness experiences. Our two boats got there just in time to break down and load the first Beaver, perfect timing to a wonderful adventure; we came for rainbows got the Sockeye and made friends for a lifetime in angling memories, thank you Matt, Ringo, Larry, Jessica, Bill, Poppa Mac and Joey and mostly Jason and Christian for keeping it real.

40 inch chromer

March 8 2010 

Every year we are looking for that perfect fish, this year we have been settling for the 10 pound chromers with a few teeners and the odd giant. Then we catch this brute and start hooking them daily without much landing success. The planets do align at times….

If you want yours, get in touch and we can get you fishing ,,dates available next week.

I had the opertunity to fish with a young man today on the Hoh river, Nathan Ereth is the son of  Rick Ereth a very good friend of mine and one of my mentors in the field of steelhead fishing. Rick has taught me more than I remember about Salmon and Steelhead, I have many great memories of our time togeather fishing all of western Washington. Rick is currently a LIFER in the WDFW management team out of Montesano. Nathan and I had spoke many times in the last few seasons about fishing, steelhead and management policy or lack there of. He is hot in the footsteps of his father attending Evergreen College and has one more year to go for a degree. Nathan is a young man that will be forging the future management of our beloved Steelhead or whatever the next hot topic may be of his choosing.

The last I had seen Nathan he was in his gangly years, living with his dad and well basically running amuck. He has allways had a passion for fishing and if I remember right he caught his first steelhead on the Dickey river at the age of four or so, beat most of us to that feat by at least 10 years. His uncle had mentioned his angling prowess a few months back and I was pleasently suprised to find a fantastic angler ready for anything the rivers could bring. I refrained from coaching too much as these kids are sponges these days and we don’t want to make it too easy. As the day progressed the fish took over the NOT making it easy routine but Nathan never lost focus or intencity for that next bite. We fished Spruce creek to Minnie Petersons, the sun was out and the river on the low side, we chose this run to stay out of the Gill Net zone down river,(don’t want to open that can of worms with an Ereth) and to see how the runs would fish that low. As I had seen before the Disco Ball effect was in play and the angling was rather tough by recent standard, we did have a bite or two in shady spots but nothing heavy happened till low sun angle.

Nathan, again hitting a good slot hammerd into a nice 12 pound buck that battled well above his size, the fish was his first on a fly rod and he faught it as if he had handle the fly pole many times before. We had another good bite in the tail out then stuck a decent hen in the next run landing two for two in a short day very good for the first time fly fishing an eight weight and my JUNK. Now if I can get him to roll away form the tree just a little farther:)!

Warm weather and daily showers have us all confused, great fishing with the warm water temps and a fairly good run of steelhead, will it continue?

I have been fishing every day and every day we are looking for that next delluge to bring the high flows and cold weather of any normal February but it just stays like spring, I only hope its not some sick trick by mother nature and she will unleash here wrath come March when the big push of clients and steelhead are coming. Just a few pics to let us look back on when its gone!

Some very good fishing on the OP right now, been fishing different rivers and stretches every day with pretty much the same results good angling has good catching. Even with the tribe netting non stop to fill there DAYS quote for the season there are enough fish getting through to have some fun,,,,,it’s not too often you will hear me say that!

Still running into the daily monster and sometimes wining the battle.

won this battle

Net Marked

Got to this one after it escaped certain death by gill net, it was one hot puppy, probably why it was able to free itself.

Another season on the coast of Washington has begun with great weather and fantastic early wild steelhead. I generally spend three months a year chasing the wily chromers of the temporal rain forest surrounding the Olympic National Park. This season has the making of another great run with even bigger results, the steelhead have started there migration earlier than in the past few years with the tendency to be larger too. In just five short days of scouting the seasonal changes in the Hoh, Sol-Duc and Bogachiel we have encounterd more than normal sized steelhead with regularity. The first ten fish hooked where simply too hot to handle even on the big Spey rods. Generally these early wild fish run 9-14 pounds but what we encountered had the liking of Chinook with blistering runs and chaotic jumps revealing there shinny sides and white bellies. The Ten day forecast is for normal or average rainfall so with all considerations NOW is the time to fish as the March mob is yet to come and the fish are here now!

I am presently lightly booked in early February and any anglers wanting to jump on this early run of natives should do so soon wile weather is cooperating.

After thirty five years fly fishing in the NW chasing steelhead and trout a guy gets,,, well,,,,for lack of a sophisticated word,,,, bored with it. Now don’t get me wrong I love my job and lifestyle I crave the next big pull from a pissed off steelhead and the painstakingly slow take of a big brown trout to a dry fly. But for one that is in limbo between the peak fisheries I have re-found the passion that has been simmering in me for many off seasons. The same passion that burned so strong when I caught my first steelhead at 13 has been rediscovered on the flats of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Not only has it re-ignited my desire to fish more but also my excitement for discovery, a thrill I thought scarred out of me on many trips searching for steelhead in SE Alaska twenty years ago. There is a whole world of angling out there that is now newly available to me, a fishery that has eluded my attention for way to long.

Some of it could be the fact that it takes place in a much warmer climate, a habitat as diverse as any on the planet, now instead of grizzly bear’s there are alligators, instead of drift boats there are Pangas, and instead of  driving rain and rising rivers, there are sunburns and north winds, hardly as annoying.

The fine people of the Yucatan are Mexican and Americans, the homes for lodging are mostly Americans and the guides are true indigenous Mexicans. The country of Belize is a short water taxi away, another world yet to be fished on a later date.

I feel the urge to spend days on the flats camping on remote beaches hunting in an all new way, picking through mangrove rivers to undiscovered lagoons where one may find tarpon and snook that have never seen a fly, once again my fishing imagination can run wild.

I can hardly wait for my next trip to the region; I won’t have to wait long as it’s already in the works. The first ten days in May 2010 will find me and whomever I can convince to go along on the search for that next big Permit, Tarpon, Snook or Bonefish.

Any Takers?

Jim Brandt with the first steelhead on self made Bamboo 8wt.

Jim and Mike steelhead day of days #3

Time does fly when fishing has been good, I get into the day to day roll of guiding and feel as if I am never looking up. The weather is on another change to partial snow and rain mix with 50 mid day temps, I knew this when I walked outside this morning, before I even looked it up. This will be great for the hardened steelheader’s but tough on the boy anglers. The leaves have turned into there beautiful orange and yellow hews much sooner down here on the Yakima than upon the Methow where green and brown still prevailed when I left Friday night.
The rains are raising the rivers again and that will shuffle the deck and spread out the fish already in the system, new ones are sure to arrive. The salmon will be hard on the spawn with the shortening days and the lower light of cloud cover. The first of the Coho I seen arriving Friday will already be finding there zones, rustling in with the steelhead and cautiously avoiding the Chinook.
I will be happy to find the rivers nearly blank from anglers and full of fish upon my return from a short week-end off. These respites always renew my already eager enthusiasm to find the next pod of biters. The next few weeks will be the best in my world, I may get a day off to fish, the Chinook will finish there spawn and the steelhead will be very curious biters again, sampling my swung presentations, some with HATRED on the minds, as one good friend and client once said.
The rivers angling inhabitants are of a slightly different breed in November, they are of the seasoned sort. Old tattered leaky waders and heavy wool sweaters with sticks from the Kispiox or Dean still stuck into the fabric. Anglers down to there oldest left over spey rods cause they have broken three this season and the return time will not be waited on.
Upon the banks we hear stories from around the pacific coast on how the steelhead runs are doing and what new or old flies worked again this season often told over a dented old silver flask of scotch.
For me this is the best fishing in my world of guiding, colors abound, life and death in every run, steelhead eager to bite a good presentation. We can catch them ANY way we want, skated dries, deep nymphing, swung wets you name it. I am living my childhood over and over again every fall, I have birds on the horizon, salmon on there beds and steelhead in every run.

This season has been exceptionally crazy. The pressure has been pretty bad on Fridays and Saturdays but other than that it is only the added guide pressure from some of the other services in the state, you can notice them by there lack of grey hair or facial hair for that matter. Well since I have been guiding on the Methow for steelhead since it’s reopening in 2002, this season has had the highest guide use yet I would say four times as much. The best thing is that most everyone is sticking to the code, “not fishing others water, not rowing out in front of other anglers all that stuff that let’s the other anglers know you care about their day too,treating others as you want them to treat your present fishing water. The steelhead are in every run and riffle, they will bite at some point in the day. The deck is getting shuffled daily and new fish move in and out of your favorite holes, all the good stuff you notice when on the water daily.
This season stands apart by the Trespassers and there propensity to try and fool everyone by parking a ways away nonchalantly walking down the road and diving through the signs when they THINK no one is looking. I swear some of them act as if they are CIA spies or homeland security just popping up in all black standing silent in the run. THINKING no one knows what they just did. The bad thing about it is it gives a bad taste to the locals about anglers, and I would rather not have them pissed at us, since I like to ASK for permission.
Somehow mysteriously last week a lot of spots normally flooded with the lowly trespasser where open to angle, the parked rigs on the road are gone, new signs in place and I would bet some hefty fines given out, hallelujah!! Finally the law is working on my side, a first for me. The story behind the story is just ask permission, do some leg work, find the owners they are usually very nice and will grant you the day’s permission to trespass.
I floated the lower river (Methow) today with my wife to take a look at how many steelhead where waiting for me down there. I acquired a private launch with some kind conversation, mutual friends and old relatives in the valley.
Upon floating into a great looking run I see a man on top of a very large rock chucking a spin pole, when I snuck down close and loudly asked how the fishing was he nearly fell to his death in fright from said rock into the water frothing around like a drowning cat, he chokingly gains his composure and reels in. When I saw the thing at the end of his rod I was in total amazement, two Hildebrandt spinners stuck together and a plastic kids toy shrimp attached with what appeared to be dental floss, dawning a 4/0 hook that was clearly barbed. I asked the rhetorical question did you catch any on that thing there? He was not in the talkative mood, and as I kindly said the river was closed down here he stumbled off like a teenager caught looking at porn by his mom.
The next group used the no speak da English on me and kept on fishing, I could see the gut piles in the water and the well used trail up and down the bank, they had very good gear for not knowing English. This time I called the law, one of the first times I ever did this, the poaching hotline, they the WDFW referred me to 911 or the state patrol, so I called them, they asked where I was and then to stay on the line. When the lady came back she said and I quote; “there was an incorrect posting of the opening in that stretch that is actually going to open next Wednesday” and that they were not giving citations for the infraction! WTF so I said great I will go get my rod, “ah no you can’t do that sir” she say’s. So as it would appear I can not fish when others can because I do know English?
No sir that’s not it there was a conflict of posted opening dates by WDFW and it is closed but no citations are being given out.
Drifting on sighting more steelhead than I have ever seen before in a lifetime of angling them, I come to the lower three holes, there stands the best of them all, Tom Miller as I was to find out, Colville Indian. I asked him if he knew the river was closed he said NOT FOR ME , while I was laughing out loud, I knew right away he was tribal. My wife and I stopped and chatted with him for a while he proceeded to hook and break off three steelhead in fifteen minutes; it took five minutes to re-tie each time. He was a very nice man we had a great talk about life in the valley and how the river would be as crowded as hell next Wednesday and that his season would be over with all the white men now fishing his hole. I think I will go stop in and see him again someday, just to get a little view of the world from his angle. I could not help but feel connected to this native Tom Miller, he seemed like a great man with the desire for a simple life.

I am pretty excited and fearful of what I might see when it finally does open up down there, it’s been a few years since the last opening, and it was pretty amazing then in a psychotic sort of a way, like a strange horror film or a freeway accident you just have to look.

I love to strip a bugger on a sinking line or better yet an I line, it is the closest thing to the bite of a steelhead on the swing, which just so happens to be what I live for. It is a great way to fill the gaps in fishing seasons, April/May fly fishing in Washington state can constitute some really good lakes with impressive trout and scenery. Impressive trout being found easily at Issacks Ranch during April and May.

Upper lake at Issacks

Lower lake at Issacks

Now wile in Montana we are surrounded by historic trout streams and rivers and the lakes are nearly untouched, well, until the word gets out. Last week Mark and I went up to Clark Canyon Lake expecting to see the thirty boats that have been there on past trips. Not a soul around, four boats to a thousand acre lake, I instantly think “ah shat bad idea”. Well we hit it very good on all prospects, no boats, good weather and best of all great fishing on the stripped bugger. This lake is unlike many of the lakes in Washington instead of shoals with mud flats in between, we fish a creek channel entering the river (the red rock river). It will run from 2-3 ft with grass into a five to twenty foot wide channel that will be 7-15 ft deep and has the bottom contour of the origional creek, deep on the outside bends and all that. Good positioning of the boat and an angler can cast up and down the channel. The neastest thing is how the fish will ball up in a particular location within that channel, when thebite is on there is no mistaking where that spot is as fivbe casts in a row will produce good hookups.

Mark on Clark Canyon Lake one of many from the inside channle.

First fish of the day, olive bugger on an I line. Note the wild fish dorsal fin, we get a good number of these I think they are from the Red Rock river.
We finished up without five minutes of down time just before the terrential downpour, heck of a good day.

Next season I will be on Issacks in eastern Washington for three trips April and May dates, come on over with me and get your game on after the steelhead season and during the run off for some lake fishing for trout!