It seems every time I get on and chat some members ask about or mentions bears. I can understand because I am from Kodiak, Alaska. Home to the largest Brown Bear in the world. So big, they are classified seperate from Browns and Grizzlies. Bear stories have a certain mystique about them that seem to entertain fly fisherman. Because of the obvious interest by flies and fins members I decided to write a couple fly fishing stories of mine and my friends that involve Kodiak Bears, Enjoy!
Story 1: Hot Dolly Fly Fishing And Scary Bear EncounterMy friend and I have just moved upriver to escape the crowds of people targeting Pink Salmon. Although it is illegal to fish for Salmon where we are at the time we are targeting Dolly Varden that are waiting for the Pink Salmon to spawn and die. The day has gone well. We are landing 16 to 18 inch Dollies on every cast. My friend says we may catch 50 dollies each. I get a little bored of catching so many on an Alevin so I switch to an Elk Hair Caddis. As I am getting up I see a brown figure 100 yards away staring at us and realize it’s a bear. I run faster than i have ever run. Straight into the river. I start yelling and hollering at the top of my lungs. My friend realizes what’s going on an does the same. The bear bluff charges but we hold our ground even though we are shaking at the big boar. The boar just stares and then slowly walks off. Needles to say my friend and i leave immediately.
Story 2: Stalked By A Bear
I wasn’t there for this story but my friend was and his tale of bear trouble has become famous in Kodiak.Two of my friends were working for The Fish And Game Dept. at the Busking River. The day before they baited traps for crawfish with fresh Red Salmon carcasses (you can see where this is going). It’s 10 in the morning and they are checking the traps that are full of sculpins and a few crawfish. The next few traps are bent and broken and they both realize that a bear has been there. They look at the next few traps and smell the smell they didn’t want to smell! They turn around and 10 feet, yes 10 feet away is a boar bear. The bear is a small 6 footer but it’s plenty big enough to kill em. My two friends slowly back away talking to the bear and avoiding eye contact like you are supposed to. They keep on doing this and the bear never charges and never stops. Just keeps following them at their walking pace. Now, this goes on for 100 yards and definetely was the scariest thing either of my friends experienced. They finally reach the road with the bear still close and in the nick of time a car pull by and stops. Without asking, the boys jump in and the total stranger takes them to The Fish And Game headquarters to tell the now infamous story.
hey kodiak – so i would imagine that pool rotation ediquete applies only to human fisherman. i am sure that the bears get prime fishing location in any given pool…i surely wouldn’t be the one to say, “ok buddy, don’t you think you’ve spent enough time in that spot! haven’t you ever heard of rotating?”
Wild stuff. The only time I’ve ever seen wild bears was hiking in the Canadian Rockies. My wife and I had the requisite bear bells and pepper spray. We went fishing with a guide on the Bow River, and he saw our stuff and laughed. “You know how to tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzlie?” he asked. “Black bear spore is filled with twigs and berries. Grizzlie spore is filled with bear bells and pepper spray cans.”
Good ones. The first reminds me of that other bear joke about the 2 guys fishing when a Griz comes along. The first guy starts to lace up his boots, and his friend says ” don’t you know you can’t outrun a Griz?” and his bud replies “I don’t have to – I only have to outrun you.”
Sorry, but you set me up! Enjoyed reading those, thanks. Many years ago, I spent 5 weeks in AK. Had I been a FF’er then, I probably would have stayed. ~Mike
This is why I allways wear sneakers in bear-country-just run faster then the dude you are with