Alaska Wilderness Safari Hosted Trip - September 9-16, 2006
Matt with the first of many silver salmon caught during our week at the Alaska Wilderness Safari Camp!
This past September, McLellan’s Fly Shop hosted a trip to one of the most remote costal silver salmon camps in all of Alaska, and the trip was a huge success. By the end of the first full day of fishing, we all agreed that the fishing was so good that just one day was worth the trip—though I don’t recall anyone getting on the satellite phone and calling for a ride out!
Gearing up for a full day of spectacular silver salmon fishing!
Rus Schwausch’s Alaska Wilderness Safari Camp overlooks Nakalilok Bay which is located in the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge. We fished in this beautiful, untouched wilderness without seeing any other anglers for the entire week—except, of course, for the bears and the seals!
We saw bears everyday, but we never felt threatened or even uneasy. There was plenty of salmon to go around, so they were all fat and happy and kept their distance!
The truly remote location of the camp became evident during the flight from King Salmon, as we flew through the mountain pass and down the rugged but beautiful coastline to the camp. The charter plane lands on the tidal flat below the camp, so flights to the camp can only happen during low tide—when the “runway” isn’t covered up by the Pacific Ocean!
The Nakalilok Bay Airport is only open for a few hours each day!
The tent camp itself is perched on top of a ridge overlooking the bay, just a short walk from some of the most spectacular silver salmon fishing in the world! The Weatherport cabin tents are very comfortable. In addition to several two-person tents for the clients and staff, the camp is also equipped with a large dinning/kitchen tent, a hot-shower tent, and a drying tent for wet waders and gear.
Matt M. and Terry taking in the spectacular view from the observation table before dinner.
Aaron and Amanda prepared excellent meals all week!
The food was excellent—definitely not your typical camp food. We feasted on fresh (only minutes old) salmon, char and halibut; steaks “as big as your face,” and perhaps my favorite, wild blueberry pancakes made from berries picked just up the hill from the camp!
Mark with a nice silver on the tidal flat!
Karen landed her first silver salmon of the trip quickly, and as this photo shows, it was still pretty green!
The silvers were all big, powerful, and very hard fighters–we broke three eight-weight rods and one spey rod during our week at the camp!
The silver salmon fishing was nothing short of phenomenal! It surpassed all of our expectations. The first four days were absolutely beautiful, sunny days which make for perfect topwater Wog fishing! One of the main attractions to the Alaska Wilderness Safari Camp is the Polywog fishing. Imagine casting a hot-pink bass popper across the current and stripping it back with a steady retrieve, causing a fifteen-pound silver to peel off and track your fly creating a fast-approaching V-wake, often striking two or three times before hooking up—I couldn’t help but hum the theme from the movie JAWS!
The topwater action for silvers was absolutely spectacular!
When the top-water action slowed, we switched to several different streamer patterns made mostly of marabou and rabbit strips dyed hot pink, purple, chartreuse or sometimes black worked well.
Mark releasing a nice silver on the flats!
Mark and Terry doubled-up in the mouth of the river with the volcano in the background.
As if the silver salmon fishing wasn’t enough, the arctic char fishing was equally impressive. Just a short hike up the river got us into some world-class char fishing! The char were gorging on the eggs from the pink and chum salmon that were already up the river spawning, and as a result, they would attack our egg patterns almost as fast as we could get them in the water. Strike indicators were optional—just lift your rod and there was usually a fish on the other end! As the afternoon wore on, and I knew we would have to start hiking out soon, I was literally pulling my fly away from sixteen-inch fish (fish that I would normally be perfectly happy catching) trying to get my fly in front of the twenty-plus incher at the bottom of the pool!
At the end of our hike, we just paused long enough to snap a picture before we hit the river for some sensational char fishing!
Matt B. with a nice, colored-up char!
Matt M. with a HUGE char! We all caught lots of char, as well as some very large ones.
When conditions were right, we even caught some halibut on the fly!
Of course, there was a lot more to do than just fish: Easy hikes to tidal pools and beautiful waterfalls just to name a few.
During our last two days at the camp, a weather system moved in (it is Alaska after all), bringing plenty of wind and rain with it, but even in these adverse conditions, we were still able to hook several silvers on weighted streamers.
Terry with a MONSTER silver after the weather set in!
Kevin hooked this nice silver in the stained water on an Egg-Sucking Leech.
Clay with another HUGE silver salmon inspite of the weather!
Matt M. with the last silver of the week.
The trip was such a huge success, that we have booked a return trip for the best silver salmon week of 2008 (the best weeks book-up almost two years in advance). We have already filled many of the spots, so if you are interested in joining us in 2008, be sure to let us know as soon as possible!
Toasting the sensational fishing at the end of the day!
To learn more about the camp and our hosted trip, give us a call or stop by the shop, and be sure to check out the Alaska Wilderness Safari Webpage as well.