Chasing Rainbows, an end of summer TR
It comes to pass every August that the last rainbow will be caught and the last grayling will rise, to my fly anyway. Here in Alaska trout know borders unlike their bretheren south of the second border south, stocking trucks don't roll to every little drainage and mountain bounderies actually mean something. The trout don't leave but I do. From a birch forest to a rainforest of hemlock and sitka spruce. Moose don't dominate the woods but bears and deer and O. Mykiss makes an all but too breif apperence in the streams returning for a month to spawn. Replacing O Mykiss is O Clarki clarki, aka the coastal cutthroat trout, along with its char counterpart the dolly vardern there is little room for rainbows. Alas the journey is half the adventure, and like geese moving sound I must as well, a new beggining awaits. Before I leave I stop to enjoy my favorite fish, the rainbow trout, with my friends who make the southward migration as well.
When on a trout stream you see things and adapt, on this day I saw a rise out of the corner of my eye. In this part of the world a rising fish is rare but when it happens the fish is sure to eat on top. Switching from my egg patter to a humpy yeilded 3 hurried take, in typical grayling fashion the fish missed twice and ate on the third.
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Grayling are a true gem of a fish, sure they fight like wet socks that kind of wiggle, but they hit dry flies and match colors with any fish of the north.
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Sometimes when things all come together the teacher and the taught connect, and two friends find themselves in trout bliss
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In late august in Alaska the rule seems to be eggs or flesh, leaving nothing to the fish giving them no chance to eat the abundant food of the river, it is at these times that fish will connect with those who make the extra effort and fish the wrong fly at the wrong time in the right place.
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As I travel I move out of the realm of the rainbow and into the inteior rivers where the grayling and whitefish are chased by the pike and lake trout. I stop at one of these rivers on my southward journey (in ALaska you must go north before you can head south) My companion and I fish delicate dries to delicate fish, my the student of the rainbow now being the teacher of the grayling.
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For the begginer there is no greater thrill than watching a fish take a fly on the surface, and for the expert there is none greater than watching the begginer be thrilled
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As one travels one must remember to appreciate the land that flies by his window, here is my tribute to it.
The great Gorge of theMatanuska
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Frog Pond with Rainbow
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The mighty Copper
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Sunset on the poplar
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Doubled up
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Eclipse 1
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Eclipse 2
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When we reach our destination, we can sit back relax and enjoy the show
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