With our primary aircraft, a 10 place Otter, out of commission, a fixed wing Cessna 180, and a small helicopter, were our only way to reach the coho-rich rivers. This meant that only 3 anglers could fly at any time! Since our group has some tenure with the airline, we were assured at least 2 days for a fly out.
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Our first two days we all flew out to the Akwe River, which was to be fishable until the big typhoon hit our area, and high water would keep us away.
We were not disappointed with silvers crowding the river, on their way to the "happy spawning grounds". All around us, as usual, Alaska beauty was in abundance!
Of course, most of our fish were released, but we did keep a few for the trip home!
Bright "chrome" silver salmon, were also in abundance and our group scored limits the first 2 days.
As it turned out, 6 of us were able to fly out the 3rd day, to a different river, but our first group of 3 anglers, were not able to land due to the heavy fog. Not to me undone, our pilot, Hans, decided to wait out the fog on a small helo pad, high on a nearby mountain.
It turned out to be an exciting detour for the guys, with mountain goats looking on.
When the fog lifted, 6 of us flew out to a lagoon, near the ocean, and with the lack of rain, the salmon were really stacked up, ready to greet the high water.... and eager to play!
Since the lagoon was shallow, I decided to fish my Polliwog Gurgler, and it scored 12 coho on the first 15 casts! Most of these fish were big males, over 10 lbs.!!
This top water action is simply amazing as big predatory males push up on the gurgler, inhaling the pink offering.
A face only a mother....and a coho angler.....could love!
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Previously, I had tied a simple fly, on a 60 deg. jig hook, and the results were incredible!
In fact, I tied up a number of these flies for our group, and they all loved the fly. Fishing my jig hook pattern, we dropped very few fish, between us.
The typhoon really stopped air travel for most of the remaining days, and limited our total catch, but we were thankful that we were able to get out and enjoy wild Alaska and its bounty!
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My buddy, Jeff, with a nice coho!
Note: Jeff lives in Cape Coral, Fla. and fortunately Jeff was able to return home from Alaska, hours before hurricane Ian made landfall. (September 25, 2022) With shutters in place and his skiff safely stored in the garage, Jeff sustained minor damage...unlike many people devastated by the powerful winds and flooding.
Lord Have Mercy!
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