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Monday, September 11:  We took a couple of days of rest after fishing for silver salmon on the Unalakleet River, then we flew to King Salmon for our transfer to No See Um Lodge.  There we ran into Lee and Pete, fishermen we knew from last year’s season.  When the balance of our party arrived (Bob, David and Dan) we were flown to No See Um in the lodge’s Beavers.  It was a beautiful day and after a quick lunch, we flew up to the braids of the Kvichak River.  We fished that afternoon with Scott, one of the five guides at the lodge.  On Lindy’s first cast, she hooked and landed a 27” rainbow.  Great way to start the trip!  We both caught lots of other fish but the other star of the day was a huge 19” grayling caught by Ed.

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Tuesday, September 12:  Today we returned to one of our favorites spots, the Morraine River.  John was our pilot and our guide.  Thankfully, it was a beautiful sunny day because Lindy did a bit of swimming – falling not once but twice in no more than 12” of water.  At least she didn’t lose the fish she hooked!  Needless to say, Lindy kept John close by her side the balance of the day and Ed was left to fend for himself.  That being said, we both had great fishing and enjoyed a spectacular day.  We had several fish in the 25” – 26” class and the largest of the day was Ed’s 27” rainbow.  Unfortunately, Ed lost one early in the morning that he fought for ~20 minutes right near the shore that exceeded all others by quite a bit.

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Wednesday, September 13:  We headed to the American River with Chris flying the lodge’s Cessna 206.  This was the first time we had fished with Chris in our three years at the lodge.  We had an absolute blast!  The weather was very, very cold so we started with some hot chocolate.  Then after boating to the Lower American we set off on foot to stalk these beautiful trout.  It was great fun as we were able to spot the fish and then cast to them.  On one hook-up, Chris turned “superhero” to help Lindy land a beauty.  He had to unwrap the line around a stump, move a log the fish tried to hide beneath and finally “toss” the fish back into the stream so Lindy could continue to enjoy the fight.  As Chris told us, you feel like a kid again when fishing this river.  We landed many rainbows of 24” or better with the largest ~25” and a beautiful dolly varden of ~26”.  We also had a great picnic in this wonderful setting.

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Thursday, September 14:  Today the weather turned nasty – cold, windy and rainy.  Initially, it was impossible to fly out.  About 10:00AM, our pilots (Jack, John, Matt and Chris) decided the weather would allow us to get out.  Jack suggested we try the famous Brooks River (yes, the one with the bears at the Falls) as it would offer the best protection from the wind.  We arrived and had a quick picnic lunch during a break in the rain.  We then spent the balance of the day fishing the Upper Brooks with Parker.  We had a thoroughly enjoyable day despite the late start and the weather.  We were very protected and were able to catch lots of rainbows in the 24” range with Ed’s 25” rainbow being the largest.  We also walked out via the famous Brooks Falls and enjoyed a few minutes watching the bears catch fish.

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Friday, September 15:  Again, the weather continued to be windy and rainy so we once again opted to fish the Brooks River with Jack as our pilot and guide.  Again, we fished the upper portion of the river but this time fished the regions many anglers just walk past en route to lower holes.  Jack shared some fishing techniques with Lindy and she truly appreciated his tutoring.  We did have to move occasionally due to the bears but that’s to be expected.  The only real scare we had was when a bear came out of the woods immediately behind Ed.  He was busy fighting a fish but Jack & Lindy spotted the bear.  It was only between 6-8’ from Ed so he had to act quickly.  Ed had a fish on the line and wasn’t able to break it off so he let out line and quickly moved upstream towards Jack & Lindy.  The fish stayed hooked and Ed ultimately landed it from the safety of the middle of the river.  That was a bit too close of an encounter!  All in all, the day turned out to be a lot of fun with some nice trout too of up to 24”!

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Saturday, September 16:  Today we headed to the Kulik River with Matt as our pilot and guide.  This was pretty amazing fishing.  Basically, it was almost a fish a cast!  These trout were very feisty and some were 24” long and more.  It was nice to enjoy a beautiful day with the ability to cast to any spot chosen thanks to the lack of wind.  We did, however, encounter lots of bears and they typically moved us from our best fishing spots.  No arguing with them!

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Sunday, September 17:  We spent our final day (this year) of fishing working the braids of the Kvichak with Jack.  It was tough fishing but Ed did manage two really nice fish.  The first was a 25” beauty which he caught in the morning.  The second fish was caught in the last 30 minutes of the day (and the trip).  We brought the boat up a narrow channel and beached it.  Jack pointed out a seam where two flows of water met and directed Ed to cast there.  Jack said:  “There’s got to be a good one laying in there.”  BOOM!  One cast and the fish was on.  It was like Babe Ruth pointing to the stands and hitting a home run there!  We got into the boat and chased her out into the main channel.  She gave us six spectacular leaps clearing the water by a couple of feet or more each time.  What power!  After a lengthy fight, Jack netted her and we took her to the shore for photographs.  She was a beauty that Jack measured at 29.5” and weighed about 12 lbs.!!  It turned out to be Ed’s largest trout of the trip as well as Jack’s largest trout of the season.  It was a great way to end the trip and to end the day.  Wow!

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    Again, this is a wonderful fly-out lodge experience.  The guides (Jack, John, Matt, Parker, Chris & Scott) are excellent anglers and really put you on the fish.  The lodge staff, esp. Sue Holman, do a tremendous job.  This year Sue was assisted by Chef Gerald, Aleta, Mark and Sam.  Great going guys!  We’ll be looking forward to enjoying No See Um Lodge next summer (in fact, during the Fourth of July)!!

If you're interested in exploring our other adventures at No See Um lodge, just click on a link below to go to that year's trip:

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