My daughter with a nice Coho buck on Tawah Creek.
My oldest daughter and I were able to head up to Yakutat this past week for our annual fishing trip. This year it was just us and we had 5 days of incredible adventures, all kinds of crazy weather, high water flows and ultimately a lot of fun chasing after dime bright chrome coho salmon in one of the most beautiful places on earth in SE Alaska.
The trip started off with a bang with our 737 Max airline being hit by lighting roughly 3 minutes out of Yakutat. The experience was a bit surreal as all of the passengers heard and saw what had happened however none of the flight attendants or crew said a word. It reminded me of that old Monty Python skit of "don't mention the war" - nothing to see here folks...just another day in the air landing into Alaska.
Thankfully the plane landed safely, and we were excited to start our journey. Only one problem, the car rental place forgot our reservation, but this was just a small road bump in our week, and we were not going to let it ruin anything. I did the quick 200 yard walk over to the rental place and obtained likely the nicest vehicle I've ever been able to rent in Yakutat with a late model Ford Expedition.
We drove to Glacier Bear Lodge and checked in, got our rods and reels set up and headed out to chase after some Dolly Varden trout up at the 9-mile bridge, as the tides were not in our favor for the late afternoon/early evening salmon fishing. Although there are plenty of coho salmon at 9-mile on the Situk, the majority are pretty dark fire trucks. We've been hearing from other groups that orange was working well for salmon this year and we weren't surprised, as we've found our main go to lure in Yakutat for most heavy flowing water is a silver and orange little Cleo spoon in 2/5oz or 2/3oz sizes is a great lure for both Dolly Varden and Coho Salmon on the Situk.
When we arrived at the 9-mile parking area, we were surprised to see several cars however this was due to the lower Situk being completely blown out with high water due to lots of rain over the past several days. We walked upstream and started fishing a hole that normally produces quick results of Dollys with the little Cleo spoons however even there the flow was simply too fast. I picked up a 3/4oz little Cleo orange and fluorescent white spoon just a few days before the trip assuming it would be another good tool for the toolbox and gave it a shot.
It did not disappoint, with the first cast producing a nice 16" dolly that hit it like a freight train. We attempted several other holes with little success as the water was so high it was hard to get a line in the water with a good angle until the crowds cleared out and we could walk about 1/4-mile up stream to the top of the 9-mile trail system and fish what we call the "Dolly" hole.
We made quick work there picking up 4 more smaller fish (2 each) before calling it an evening and heading into Glacier Bear Lodge for a meal. We were only a few hours into the trip and already had some success in some pretty crappy river flow conditions, but we were both just happy to be back in Yakutat. I'll post more about the remainder of the trip in coming days. Needless to say, spending 5 days with my daughter was priceless and we made the most of the experience.
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