Friday, October 9, 2009
The glass is shaking in our windows and the river is blown.
Seven more days of guiding to go and I'm still in Alaska. Today the winds blew in and the river blew out. I've had a few glasses of wine and the bar is in my near future. I will probably still be fishing the river tomorrow regardless of how visible my feet are to the polarized eye. My clients will likely be nursing their hangovers while casting fiercely into insane winds at milky green water. I've been at this four months and some days and I am still not cranked to leave. Nevermind that fishing on this badass river has been spotty and at times disappointing lately, but here is a damn good reason why I love this river, this place, this life:
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river blown out, but still have fisherman around to talk about fishing! That sounds not very bad to me... : ) What a fish! good reference! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteK8,
ReplyDeleteSo I googled "spey casting" and your picture was under the image results and I posted it on facebook because I was talking about "finding my future wife" (one that is beautiful and likes to fly fish).
I find this funny because Thad Robison commented on it and sent me a link to your blog. He also stated you were taken. haha.
I'm diggin your fish! I was in Alaska last summer for an internship doing salmon migration studies. I loved it there!
Tight lines!
Derek B.
Hey Derek, very flattering thanks. :) Please fill me in on your salmon migration studies as I am quite curious about their migrating tendencies, like for example do they move into the river system and at times move back out and then in again? Do they or don't they move up into the systems and oftentimes fall back regardless of water levels? so many migration questions for you! Were you in Bristol Bay or southeast?
ReplyDelete-k8
Blue Angler it is great to hear from you again!
Your welcome! =) haha. maybe slightly creepy, but I'm totally over it.
ReplyDeleteI managed to get a field job in Kenai, AK but most of my field work was on Lake Chelatna which was roughly an hour float plane ride north of kenai. Beautiful! Mountains surrounded by a glacier fed lake. Managed to fly fish just about everyday =)
We were dropped in the middle of nowhere to access the migration of sockeye smolt. Our methods for conducting the research was basically trapping, counting, and taking scale samples of a select few in order to get a good look at where they were comming from, age, etc.
I believe that most salmon prefer the high, cooler temperatures. We had one day where the ice melt had risen the levels so high that our trap almost floated downstream but we managed to catch a greater population of Sockeye/Coho smolt during that period.
I'm not quite sure on whether or not they will leave a stream and manage to come back up again. I've noticed that most manage to stay up within a stream.
Currently I'm a graduating Biological Science major at my college and looking for a great fly fishing area. I live in Upper Michigan which is really nice, but I was thinking more along the lines of Portland, Oregon.
Side note: I would love to learn how to Spey Cast, is it easier then it looks?
Take Care!
-Derek