No See Um '09

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Mon, 29 June: This year’s adventure at No See Um Lodge was delayed slightly due to early morning fog at King Salmon. We ultimately arrived there late morning and were met by John & Jack Holman (yes, Jack Holman returned to his old stomping ground but this time as an employee to assist John for a couple of weeks flying and guiding). We then flew to the lodge and after quickly settling into our cabin, we enjoyed a great lunch at 2:15PM. For the balance of the afternoon, we went fishing on the Kvichak River via boat. Our captain/guide was Jack Holman and, of course, it was a great thrill for us to once again be fishing with the founder of No See Um Lodge. We had flies into the water at 4:30PM and then fished until 6:30PM. We had hoped for rainbows but the river was high due to an incoming tide. However, we did manage to get a couple of really nice grayling on dry flies that we spotted, cast to and then, “boom.” Always a great thrill!

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Tue, 30 June: It was very foggy when we awoke and, as a result, it forced a delay in departure till 9:00AM. Then, John first flew us (along with Becky and Bill and their guide, Caleb) to The Gibraltar River. However, anglers travelling by boat had already arrived there so we were on to Plan 2. John next flew over the American River and no anglers were present on its middle or lower sections. So, John, Ed and I hiked into the Middle American. Caleb, Becky and Bill hiked part way with us and then turned further downstream. Initially, we attempted to attract some rainbows on dry flies. However, we had virtually no action so John switched us to nymphs and bam! Among the double-digit numbers of fish we caught was a beautiful 24 inch rainbow nabbed by Lindy. It put up a great fight. The water was clear so John sighted the fish and we cast and caught all day long! The wading was a bit rough due to lots of boulders but we managed it for the most part. Lindy did try a tiny bit of “swimming” (in four inches of water) but it felt good to be a little damp on a rather warm day. It was an impressive start to another wonderful week of fishing at No See Um.

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	Sharing the river with another angler
	The boys with a beautiful rainbow
	John holding Lindy's gorgeous 24 inch rainbow!
	John with another one of Ed's many rainbows
	A view of this incredible Alaskan scenery from the Beaver. My God, there's a lot of water to be fished in that area.

Wed, 1 July: Today we flew to the Upper American with Jack. We arrived just in time to beat out another lodge for the prime spot on the Upper. Jack had us marching in double-time but it was worth the effort to get this great location all to ourselves. Initially, the fish were not readily eating. We did catch a couple using nymphs. Then, as the day warmed up we switched to dry flies. Basically we were site catching. We would locate a fish and then attempt to get it to eat one of our flies. Throughout the afternoon, we each managed to catch and release lots of great rainbows. The highlight of the day was Ed’s exceptionally beautiful 24 inch “leopard” rainbow – meaning its rainbow spots covered its entire body and it has a dark crimson stripe. It also indicates that the trout is resident to that river and doesn’t migrate to or from a lake. It was truly spectacular! We enjoyed an excellent day! Jack compared our fishing to bone fishing in the ocean. That is, we had to spot a rainbow and get the cast just in front of the fish with the perfect drift to get it to take any fly. It was truly challenging and lots of fun!

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	An early morning rainbow
	Jack holding one of Lindy's rainbows
	Ed's beautiful leopard rainbow - check out those spots and that stripe!
	Safely returning the leopard rainbow to the river

Thu, 2 July: Our goal today was to enjoy a float trip down the Big Ku with Parker. As no one had yet tried this fishing this year, we decided to give it a whirl to see what the day might bring. John dropped us and our raft off at the put-in point. After rigging up (including inflating the raft and getting it ready), we started our day. Initially we caught several fish in rapid succession in the waters near the mouth of the river. However, once we began our actual float, very few trout were seen and/or hooked. We did enjoy the great scenery and actually came upon an eagle sitting in her nest and actually saw one of the babies raise its head to look at us! At the last hole of the day, Ed did catch a beautiful grayling which we taped at 18". However, no photographs were taken since the fish managed to get unhooked just before Lindy said “cheese.” After deflating the raft, Parker managed to hike out carrying the bulk of the raft equipment. We followed with everything else and then we all relaxed until John once again came in the Beaver to pick us up.

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Fri, 3 July: Today we hijacked Chris and the Cesena float plane and flew to the Lower Moraine River. Lindy started the day off with a “splash” (literally) when she did a face plant off the float into the water. Thankfully, only her face got wet since she was wearing good rain gear. It did start the morning off with a good laugh for everyone and several more throughout the day as we all recalled the event. The action began as soon as our lines were in the water. Lindy caught two fish right away and then Ed followed with a great 28 inch rainbow. Next, we began working along the banks with constant action. We lost count of the number of fish caught. It was amazing too that almost all were 20 plus inches! We had eight rainbows over 25 inches. Wow! Lindy’s biggest rainbow of the day was 27.5 inches. In addition to Ed’s first 28 inch rainbow, he also landed a 25 inch rainbow and ended with day with another 28 inch monster! Talk about some incredible fishing!

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	Chris and Lindy with a beautiful rainbow
	WOW, a 28 inch rainbow; what a thrill for both Ed and Chris
	The guys are still at it! This rainbow measured in at 25 inches!
	Lindy gets into the big action too with her own 27.5 inch rainbow. Another, WOW!
	Look at the rod bend - FISH ON!
	WOW, again!! This is Ed's second 28 inch rainbow of the day and this one is really fat, healthy and gorgeous!
	Those large rainbows just keep coming! Chris is holding Lindy's 25 inch beauty.
	The setting and our "limo" to/from the Lodge

Sat, 4 July: Happy Independence Day! We once again hijacked Chris and this time we headed for the Lower American. In past years, we had hiked upstream to fish and decided to see what it would bring again this year. After securing the airplane, we took a motorboat as far as allowed into Katmai National Park. Then we walked upstream to fish various pools. Fishing was really good; however, it was not as amazing and pristine as it had been in past years since rafters (two groups) had floated down and some 16 anglers had hit the waters. As a result, footprints were everyone (when in the past there had been none) and the fish were much more wary. That being said, we still enjoyed ourselves albeit the two mile hike upstream did wear us out a bit. Thankfully, you can only go upstream one way! Back at camp, we enjoyed watching the usual holiday festivities - water skiing, fire works and a BIG celebration!

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	Chris encounters a bear in the river (and Chris holds his ground till the bear departs)
	Look at the hump on this fellow's back!
	A great photograph of a beautiful rainbow and two good-looking fishermen!
	Chris holding a beautiful 24-25" rainbow landed by Lindy - our biggest fish of the day
	A view of the American River from the plane

Sun, 5 July: We spent our final day of this year’s fishing once again with Chris. We decided to hike into The Headwaters. After securing the plane, it took us about an hour to hike across the tundra to access the river. It was well worth the effort as we enjoyed some exceptional fishing – over 45 trout caught and released! At the end of the day we were once again had to trek across the tundra fighting off both the heat and the bugs. When we arrived back at the plane, the temperature read 90 degrees. Yikes! We decided it was okay for all of us to feel a little worn out; the fishing was well worth it!

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	A small but colorful rainbow
	Chris holding one of Ed's many rainbows
	Hey, we've got a double!
	Another sample of the many fabulous rainbows we enjoyed catching this last day of our 2009 season

Once again, we enjoyed another terrific week at No See Um lodge. The fishery has remained great throughout the six years we’ve been visiting the lodge. No See Um itself is a great place to enjoy the company of other anglers and guides where you can relax, leave the Lower 48 behind and enjoy after-dinner activities. It’s also a wonderful way to experience the great outdoors of Alaska. We’ll be looking forward to our next adventure at No See Um Lodge!

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:

	Parker holding one of our rainbows
	Parker and Ed with a rainbow
	An eagle's nest