October is my favorite month of the year. Deer season is in full swing, duck season starts and the trout fishing is phenomenal. But, their is one thing that stands out, the one thing I wait for and the one thing that kodiak Alaska is world famous for. Fly Fishing for stillwater Silvers. Nothing is better to me than casting to hundreds of chrome Salmon in a float tube or pontoon boat. Most people fly fish for Salmon in rivers or the ocean and lakes are not as common. However, on Kodiak Island, mostly all the lakes are within a day’s travel so you can catch chrome fish that are full of spunk in open water. The reason I love stillwater Silver Salmon fly fishing has to do with the fight. Silvers in rivers fight hard but nothing like in a lake where they can go wherever they want. It is normal to have screaming 50 yard or even 100 yard runs with multiple leaps.On saturday my dad and I arrived at a local lake eager with anticipation. The run is late this year so there are still plenty of chrome fish and most of the tourists are gone. We immediately notice all the cars but we don’t worry because we know it’s opening day for duck season which is always a madhouse. We start to paddle out just as it’s light enough to see the back of the lake and sure enough there are wakes and tails everywhere, very similar to bonefish on the flats. This part of the lake is very shallow so you can see hundreds of tails out of the water and if a fish decides to follow your fly you will see his wake well before the strike which makes it extra special. My father and I get to a school of about 150 fish just laying in one spot, resting i guess. I cast out a bead head wooly bugger three feet in front of a dorsal fin and I start to strip. I see the fin dissapear and the i see a wake moving like a bat out of hell straight towards my fly and i say, “here he comes dad.” Immediately following those words WHAM! The fish hits so hard it sets the hook itself and takes off 30 feet of line and completely clears the water. I realize this is a big fish while my reel is screaming and before i know it the fish is 80 yards away from me. Thus begins the slow and tedious task or reeling the fish in. I eventually land the fish which is an absolute hog. I have caught much bigger silvers but this one was the fattest. I would say about 16 pounds which is huge for it’s length. I release the fish and my dad hooks up and this is how it was for 5 hours. Constant hook ups, screaming reels and leaping Coho Salmon. Everytime i set the hook i was reminded why I love October in Alaska!
wow – that sounds sweet….what kind of flies do you guys use other than wooly buggers? I like the fact that you cast to the salmon – strip and they chase down your fly – — you are right – sounds alot like bone fishing on the Alaska Flats – although i would argue that – although bone fish rip and tear off line – a hot silver in shallow water flats might just be the ultimate in screaming reel fly fishing. that whole experience is something i would love to do here is why.,
1. you are sight fishing to these fish
2. you are stripping streamer patterns
3. the fish are chrome
4. the fish are BIG
5. no people
6. very visual from beginning to end
– one question – i don’t personally care too much for fly fishing from pontoon boats or float tubes or kyaks or drift boats. i love to fly fish from shore – unless it is totally imposssible to get a certain species from shore – – so my question is this — if i went there are any of the fish within wading distance on the flats or from shore? thanks.
Sounds like Fun..it must really get your heart pumping when you see the big dog chasing your fly down. Thanks for the post.
j-
There are lots of lakes on kodiak with silvers and this is the only one you can sight fish like this. That is because it is real shallow so you can defenetely wade to the fish. It’s a little muddy so you need to watch your step but depending on your height you can wade almost to the middle of the lake.
Woops i forgot to awnser one of your questions in my previous reply. You asked what other flies we used. Besides woolybuggers you can’t go wrong with lightly weighted egg sucking leeches, bunny flies, flash flies or Clausers. I think the two best flies are a bead head woolybuger or a clauser with bead chain eyes.
Unlike Jeremy, I love to fish from a float tube. Could I come to Alaska, step of a plane rent a vehicle and drive to one of these lakes to fish or must I use an outfitter?
No Outfitter needed, all of the lake i fish are easily accessed by road. It’s worth noting however that depending on the time of year there can be quite a few other boats. There are a few groups from idaho, montana and utah the come in late september but this time of year there are far less people. On average there are less chrome fish this time of year (late run this year) but it’s still around 40 to 50 percent chromers and i would rather fish throug a few old silver with less people than through the crowds with all chromers.