Sharing the water

One of the greatest rewards of wilderness fishing is the chance of viewing wildlife in their natural setting. Not having smelled our scent, this mother Moose and her twin babies came virtually within an arms reach of my anchored boat this Spring. What a sight!

2011 Salmon season

As predicted, Southwestern Yukon rivers are experiencing strong runs of Chinooks and Sockeyes this season. Lets hope this situation continues into the future.

Best day ever - 11 trophy Lake trout

What an incredible day it was recently at a remote Yukon lake. The Sommer family, a party of four from Switzerland, caught and released 11 trophy Lake trout such as the one pictured above. In the Yukon, a Lake trout is considered a trophy if it measures over a meter.

Short of not fishing at all - releasing fish back into the water is the single greatest personal contribution an angler can make to a local fishery. Let them go...its the right thing to do.

How big is the fish in that picture?

At first glance the Lake trout pictured above seems pretty much the same size as the one below, right? Well, not really. In fact, many would be surprised to learn that its almost twice as big (45 lbs versus 25 lbs).

Spring in the Yukon means new fishing opportunities and of course new tales of gargantuan fish, complete with impressive photos to enhance the story. But really how big is that fish you so often see so well positioned in a photo? Here's some things to consider:

1. If if looks exceptionally big, it probably is...sounds simplistic, but a truly big fish stands out like none other, no matter what the camera pose.

2. Be careful of pictures showing the head pointed toward you. It looks impressive, but its very difficult to accurately tell the size of the fish.

3. Fish held up close to the camera and away from the body generally look much larger than they are.

Yukon Steelhead - fact or fiction?

Arguably one of the most majestic sportfish on the planet, Steelhead, or sea run Rainbow frequent many rivers from California to Alaska. In the Yukon, however, its a different story. Although Rainbow trout are native throughout the Tatshenshini/Alsek watershed very few people can say they've caught a Steelhead there. The reason, probably, is that when Steelhead do run in April and May, the Upper Tatshenshini is virtually inaccessible except by ski-doo, which doesn't exactly inspire one to head out on a fly fishing trip. The fact is, however, that Steelhead do run up the Tatshenshini, although in very small numbers.

More good King Salmon news

If the pre-season abundance index recently released by the Pacific Salmon Commission is anywhere near accurate, one can expect good runs of Chinooks again this season on rivers draining into Southeast Alaska. According to the Commission's Chinook Technical Committee, the 2011 pre-season abundance index for Southeastern waters is up an impressive 25% over that of last year, which in itself was not a bad season at all. For rivers such as the Tatshenshini, this is very good news!

Streamer flies for the minimalist

Minimalism can mean many things to many people. For some, it means doing the least possible to sustain one self. To me, however, that only makes sense if you want to hibernate. Rather, I like to think of minimalism as the key to maximizing one's day to day life; by focusing on what's important and getting rid of anything unnecessary or irrelevant.

When it comes to trout fishing with streamers, there are actually hundreds of patterns out there. In fact the choices can be mind boggling...you could literally stand on the bank of a stream for days, steadily casting, with a different fly tied on each cast. So how does one chose the right fly? Many people do it just that way; i.e. changing the pattern pretty much every cast until they hit success or run out of time.

However, if you don't want to waste time, one fly that works well for all trout species across virtually the whole continent is the Woolly Bugger. If you could only have one streamer in your fly box, it should be a Woolly Bugger.