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AUGUST 3, 2008 – THE DERBY
After conducting an aerial survey with the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game, I realized this was going to be tough. No,
not tough finding fish, but tough finding anything other than pinks. They
had managed to take over entire rivers. They filled every nook and cranny
of these beautiful streams. The aerial estimate for one local river came
in at over 1.4 million fish in 30 miles of river. An actual count from a
nearby fish counting station revealed over a million pinks in a smaller
stream.
 Our
guests this week had come from the other side of the world to fish for the
“fish with vertical strips”, as well as Coho, Dollies, Grayling, and
Sheefish. We boasted temperatures in the 40’s…. Fahrenheit. They are
used to temperatures in the 40’s… Celsius. This translates to roughly
197°F, much warmer than my blood can handle.
We bundled up and hit the river for some fishing .
Pinks were everywhere, and it was a challenge to find some silvers. At
days end, we’d landed several of the chrome beauties. But the real fun of
the day came in the Pink Salmon Derby. First one to release five wins.
Five minutes later I had lost my own challenge. After the rematch and
ensuing loss, we decided to do some real fishing.
 During
the week John and Natalie each landed several beautiful Dolly Varden, as
well as a few nice Grayling. Natalie caught a bright male that measured
in at 29 inches and estimated 8lbs (pictured above). After three days of
helicopter fishing with us, we sent them north in search of Sheefish...
Sheefishing - Submitted by John Robertson
We had just finished our helicopter experience and the fishing had been
unbelievable and we were told the next stage of our trip would be as
fantastic but in a different way.
Two flights from Nome had us landing in Kobuk, here we were met by our
guide Scot and his camp mind for our stay Boris, after quick greeting it
was a short walk down to the river and we headed up stream. Scot has a
custom boat with casting decks front and rear, it was amazing heading up
the Kobuk river and how fast the current was running. I mean at home we
have large tidal flows but this was incredible fresh water flowing rapidly
down stream
at a speed of 3 knots in place.
 A
two and a half hour run from the town of Kobuk had us arriving at the
cabin; it was a very rustic cabin, with two simple rooms, one for cooking
the other for sleeping. It’s very different from the Nome cabin but has
its own appeal to those that really like to get away from the frenzy pass
of work.
The fishing took a bit to get used to, as you were double hauling 10wt
rods with heavy sink tips to get down the 12 feet in the fast flowing
waters, once you got the hang of it though the fishing was hot. Sheefish
are a great fish to catch as they have a long searing run with aerial
jumps, then it’s a hard
slog into the current to boat them. Nat and I landed 40 fish between us,
with ten fish going over 20 pounds.
Other highlights of the trip was a pair of moose swimming across the
river just 200 yards from the cabin, great to watch while eating
breakfast, other animals included beavers, caribou, brown and black bears.
John Robertson 2008
I hope John and Nat enjoyed the trip as much as we
enjoyed having them here. And I’ll be looking forward to a rematch
someday… J
-BR
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