Alaska Arolik River (Mini Version)

Greetings fellow ROFFians,
I just got back to reality after spending ten days in Alaska, nine of the
days on the Arolik River away from life in the city, and some of the most
beautiful fishing I've ever encountered. I was amazed to see such a variety
of fish in such a small area, as we averaged 12-15 fish each day, catching
Lake Trout, Leopard Rainbows, Arctic Grayling, Arctic Char, Dolly Varden
Char, King Salmon, Chum Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, there are also Coho Salmon,
and Pink Salmon, but didn't see many of those. We also didn't see any bears,
but a few bear tracks, one robin, and one caribou.

PapaBear Adventures see many fishing enthusiast from all over the world.
I've met people from Europe, Russia, Asia, and of course the US and got to
chat with many of the locals. I was surprised to learn that I was one of the
few "dry-fly fisherman", as most anglers fish with heavy leeches, droppers,
and nymphs. I never thought I would tire of fishing, but after awhile I was
wishing the grayling would unhook themselves. As for the King Salmon, after
you catch your third 30-40 pounder and they spool you to the backing and
take you a 1/16 to 1/4 mile from where your standing to land them, just to
release the beauties, you're pretty much spent. But man do they fight, I
actually burned my fingers of my line hand as they took me for a
run...lesson learned.

The most exciting for me was the huge Leopard Rainbows, unlike any
California trout I've caught. At first I was using my 8wt rod with 9 1/2 ft
4x leaders and 6 lb tippets, and Zuddler Leeches to try, but towards the end
of our journey I was using my 5wt, with 9 1/2 ft 6x leaders and 3 lb tippet
material, hooking 4 pounders on the dry flies. These huge Alaskan rainbows
are very aggressive and come out of the water 3 to 4 ft, shaking their heads
violently, not one time, but at last 6 to 7 times. And they will take out 50
ft of line in seconds. I sure glad I had a mid flex rod and used
monofilament leaders and tippets, as my friend had a hard time with his
stiff rod and carbon leaders. You need that bend in the rod and the stretch
of the monofilament to not lose these monsters. These rainbows do not want
to come in, even after 20+ minutes of fighting them, truly the highlight of
my trip. In all I had a great time and will repeat.

A few photos, as I will also write a report in detail:
http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Alaska_2006_018.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Alaska_2006_021.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Alaska_2006_022.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Alaska_2006_025.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Alaska_2006_033.jpg
-tom

Tom Nakashima typed:
Greetings fellow ROFFians,
I just got back to reality after spending ten days in Alaska, nine of
the days on the Arolik River away from life in the city, and some of
the most beautiful fishing I've ever encountered.

snip
Way cool, Tom. Thanks for the report and photos. Beautiful.
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

On 7/17/06 10:10 AM, in article , "Tom
Nakashima" wrote:

Greetings fellow ROFFians,
I just got back to reality after spending ten days in Alaska, nine of the
days on the Arolik River away from life in the city, and some of the most
beautiful fishing I've ever encountered.

snip

Thanks for the report Tom. Looks like quite a trip!

Bill

Tom Nakashima wrote:
(snippage of a great TR and pictures)

Thanks for the pictures Tom, makes me want to live in Alaska again. The
pity is I was a spinning rod guy then. :-( What a welcome break from
the interminable ****ing contests we deal with here on a daily basis!
As you surely know, you didn't miss a thing.

Frank Sr.

"Frank Church" wrote in message
news:LbPug.3419$rT6.1376@trnddc03...
Tom Nakashima wrote:
(snippage of a great TR and pictures)

Thanks for the pictures Tom, makes me want to live in Alaska again. The
pity is I was a spinning rod guy then. :-( What a welcome break from the
interminable ****ing contests we deal with here on a daily basis!
As you surely know, you didn't miss a thing.

Frank Sr.

Thanks Tim, William and Frank, it was a much need vacation to get away.
And the only ****ing contest I got into was with my fishing buddy, to see
who had the best ****manship on the smooth part of the gravel
bar...naturally I lost even with 3 letters in my name.
-tom

Tom Nakashima typed:
"Frank Church" wrote in message
news:LbPug.3419$rT6.1376@trnddc03...
Tom Nakashima wrote:
(snippage of a great TR and pictures)

Thanks for the pictures Tom, makes me want to live in Alaska again.
The pity is I was a spinning rod guy then. :-( What a welcome break
from the interminable ****ing contests we deal with here on a daily
basis! As you surely know, you didn't miss a thing.

Frank Sr.

Thanks Tim, William and Frank, it was a much need vacation to get
away. And the only ****ing contest I got into was with my fishing
buddy, to see who had the best ****manship on the smooth part of the
gravel bar...naturally I lost even with 3 letters in my name.

Yeah - "O"s and "M"s are easy, but cursive "T"s are tough.
--
TL,
Tim
(ever try dotting the "I"?)
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

"Tim J." wrote in message
...
Tom Nakashima typed:
"Frank Church" wrote in message
news:LbPug.3419$rT6.1376@trnddc03...
Tom Nakashima wrote:
(snippage of a great TR and pictures)

Thanks for the pictures Tom, makes me want to live in Alaska again.
The pity is I was a spinning rod guy then. :-( What a welcome break
from the interminable ****ing contests we deal with here on a daily
basis! As you surely know, you didn't miss a thing.

Frank Sr.

Thanks Tim, William and Frank, it was a much need vacation to get
away. And the only ****ing contest I got into was with my fishing
buddy, to see who had the best ****manship on the smooth part of the
gravel bar...naturally I lost even with 3 letters in my name.

Yeah - "O"s and "M"s are easy, but cursive "T"s are tough.
--
TL,
Tim
(ever try dotting the "I"?)

Wolfgang Siebeneich

Need I say more?

Wolfgang
there ain't enough coffee.....or beer......

"Tim J." wrote in message
...
Tom Nakashima typed:
"Frank Church" wrote in message
news:LbPug.3419$rT6.1376@trnddc03...
Tom Nakashima wrote:
(snippage of a great TR and pictures)

Thanks for the pictures Tom, makes me want to live in Alaska again.
The pity is I was a spinning rod guy then. :-( What a welcome break
from the interminable ****ing contests we deal with here on a daily
basis! As you surely know, you didn't miss a thing.

Frank Sr.

Thanks Tim, William and Frank, it was a much need vacation to get
away. And the only ****ing contest I got into was with my fishing
buddy, to see who had the best ****manship on the smooth part of the
gravel bar...naturally I lost even with 3 letters in my name.

Yeah - "O"s and "M"s are easy, but cursive "T"s are tough.
--
TL,
Tim
(ever try dotting the "I"?)
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

Yes agree, crossing the t's takes great skill, but I have to blame it on the
mosquitoes for the poor ****manship!
Let's just say I was a bit rushed.
-tom

"Wolfgang" wrote

Wolfgang Siebeneich

Need I say more?

Wolfgang
there ain't enough coffee.....or beer......

i never thought i would see you decline participation in a ****ing
contest.

yfitons
wayno(oh, how the mighty have fallen)

Tom Nakashima wrote:

The most exciting for me was the huge Leopard Rainbows, unlike any
California trout I've caught. At first I was using my 8wt rod with 9 1/2 ft
4x leaders and 6 lb tippets, and Zuddler Leeches to try, but towards the end
of our journey I was using my 5wt, with 9 1/2 ft 6x leaders and 3 lb tippet
material, hooking 4 pounders on the dry flies. These huge Alaskan rainbows
are very aggressive and come out of the water 3 to 4 ft, shaking their heads
violently, not one time, but at last 6 to 7 times. And they will take out 50
ft of line in seconds. I sure glad I had a mid flex rod and used
monofilament leaders and tippets, as my friend had a hard time with his
stiff rod and carbon leaders. You need that bend in the rod and the stretch
of the monofilament to not lose these monsters. These rainbows do not want
to come in, even after 20+ minutes of fighting them, truly the highlight of
my trip. In all I had a great time and will repeat.


Great report. Post some more pix!


I agree about the fight in those Rainbows. Supercharged fish! The
largest Rainbows caught by our party last year were on "dries" (although
the most were caught on eggs). Chas caught one of them on a
traditional dry and I caught my biggest on a mouse pattern.

Why did you go to 6X tippet? It's not like those fish are leader shy.
A 20 minute fight is tough on a trout.

We're headed up to the same area in a few weeks. How bad were the bugs?

Willi