It’s officially my first day off at the lodge and what better way to spend it than on our “Home” river the Nonvianuk for rainbows. The Nonvianuk flows right by the lodge and it’s about a 5 minute walk to the river and another 5 minute boat ride to the outlet of Nonvianuk lake. While not the best river in Bristol Bay for big fish or even lots of fish it’s still a damn fine river with lots of character and loads of fish in the 18 to 24 inch range and the occasional 27 incher. I started my half day fly fishing adventure by hiking up to the outlet since the boats were all being used. It’s a comfortable 45 minute hike with plenty of eagles and other flora and fauna along the way. When I get to the mouth there are 2 other operations preparing for a float down the river. Fortunately all the clients and guides are getting ready so no one has a line in the water. I rig up a rust colored tube fly (I am really becoming a fan of tube flies up here) and it’s not long before I tie into a fat chrome 16 incher that thinks its bigger than it is. A few casts later a pleasant surprise, my first lake trout of the year, a solid 6 pounder that bulldogs in the current. I know there are bigger lakers in there so I cast a bit more hoping to hook one in the double digits but I do not so I move on. Spring fishing for trout in alaska especially on the bigger rivers involves covering a lot of water by swinging leeches, much like steelhead fishing and can be done with a single handed rod or a spey rod (I am really learning the spey thing up here, more on that in the future). Basically cast your leech out slightly downstream let it swing and if nothing takes move on down a few steps. And so I keep moving down till I hit a nice seam and start getting taps. A lot of these fish will nip the fly a few times before they really hammer it so patience is key. I finally get a good slam and set the hook and immediately see a brilliantly colored 25 inch buck bow clear the water and peel line off my 6 weight. I chase the fish a little and beach him on a gravel bar 5 minutes later. I catch several more fish along the seam all of them in the 16 to 18 inch range. I continue to cover water and catch fish including 4 around 22 inches. All in all I land around 25 fish in about 4 hours and had a blast doing it. I Finally reach the trail and head up to the lodge to do fun stuff like clean my cabin and do laundry but on way up I reminisce on how great the fly fishing is up here and how cool it is to see it in action every day whether i am tossing some line or watching someone else cast during there dream fly fishing trip. I hope it can stay that way for years to come.