Fish: It's what's for dinner

I want to wish our country a Happy Birthday and hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend. Please be careful with any fires you build and obey whatever burn bans are in place. As a survivor of the Miller’s Reach fire in 1996, I have great empathy for the Willow folks affected by the recent Sockeye fire. I wouldn’t wish that experience on my worst enemy.

Bait became legal on the Little Susitna River at 6 a.m. this morning (July 3) and will continue through July 13, the end of the king salmon season.

Now that we’re into the final few days of the king salmon season and significant silver salmon numbers are yet to arrive in our Northern District waters, avid anglers are in a “betwixt-and-between” situation. Now would be a good time to discover the fine lake fishing available here in the Valley.

This story happened a few years ago. I often fished on a lake less than a mile from where I live. I had fished this particular lake many times over the years. I had a good idea where the stocked rainbow trout were in the lake at different times during the season and usually went home with my five-fish limit.

This lake has very limited public access and the best way to fish it is from a small boat or canoe. I usually used my canoe, which was set up with small outriggers and a cargo box for carrying gear including a small anchor and line. I liked to anchor up a good casting distance from the fish concentrations, once I located them, and cast on the edge of the group to tease the fish out of the “school.” Once the fish would bite, I would play it without causing much disturbance to the other fish.

I usually fished with an ultra-light spinning rod and reel using four to six-pound test line. However, for my birthday one year, my wife gave me a gift certificate to a fishing tackle store located near Mile 49, Parks Highway. The business closed shortly after, but not before I picked out a nice fly reel and a wooden landing net perfect for use from my canoe.

I bought a four-pound fly rod, the proper size line and backing, and mounted the reel. I planned to try using it to cast flies to those rainbow trout in “my” lake. I thought it would be fun to try a different style of sportfishing. To be honest, I am not much of a fly fisherman. I tend to beat the water to a froth and the fly still only goes 15 to 20 feet from my location. I’m working on the finesse part of the fly-casting routine.

Practice just makes me tired, so I visited the lake a little later in the day than usual and spent some time paddling around the lake looking for the schools of trout. Apparently, the schools had broken up into smaller groups and scattered into deeper water. The sun was shining and the surface water was warming up, so I figured the fish may have moved from the shallower spots where I normally found them.

As I paddled by a boat dock on the opposite side of the lake from where I usually fish, I saw a small group of trout in the shade under the dock. There was one very nice sized fish in the group.

The wind was calm so I didn’t worry about the anchor. I broke out the fly rod and started casting a fish-egg-pattern fly toward the fish. I couldn’t cast under the dock so I had to hope the fish would come out to check on the sinking fly. The big trout shot out and grabbed the offering. I set the hook and the fight was on. I had never hooked into a trout on that lake that pulled as strongly as this fish.

For a few seconds, I was all thumbs trying to reel in the extra fly-line from the cast so I could fight the fish using the reel — not trying to hold onto the rod and the loose line, control the canoe’s movement and use the landing net all at the same time. I’m just not that talented or even coordinated!

After towing the canoe several feet, multiple jumps and head shaking, I landed the 17-inch trout in the wooden handled net.

We had fresh fish for dinner that evening!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.