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THE FISHING

Monday, 6 September:  We began our Labor Day by flying from Fairbanks to King Salmon via Anchorage.  When we left Fairbanks at 7:00AM, it was only 25 degrees.  Thankfully, by the time we arrived at King Salmon it was warm and sunny.  We were met there by Matt Holman.  He subsequently flew us to No See Um Lodge (www.noseeumlodge.com) in a Cessena 206.  Once there, we were introduced to Sue, Amanda, Chris, Joy and Jeff.  We learned that No See Um truly is a family operation.  The owners are Jack & Sue Holman.  John and Matt are Jack’s sons and are both pilot/guides like their father.  Matt’s wife Joy assists at camp as does Amanda.  Chris, Amanda’s spouse, is a pilot and alternate guide.  When he’s not on the river, he helps at camp too.  Jeff (“Cooky”) is the lodge chef (and boy, he does a great job!).  It may have taken us a few days to get everyone’s names straight but we’ll never forget them now!  We next settled into the “honeymoon cabin,” a beautiful stand-alone cabin perfect for a couple. 

We arrived at No See Um much later than the other anglers since we originated in Fairbanks.  So we didn’t meet these fellows until after they finished an afternoon of fishing.  We did so over cocktails and heard the day’s fishing stories.  We then moved to the dining room for a delicious dinner.  There we also met the other lodge members:  Jeff  (“Parker”) and Chris, both guides, and John, a pilot/guide and Jack’s son.  After a wonderful and relaxing evening, we went to bed ready for Tuesday’s fishing.

Tuesday, 7 September:  We were ready to begin the day after a 6:30AM breakfast.  No See Um has two Dehaviland Beavers and one Cessena 206, all on floats, to transport anglers to various spots on the many rivers near the lodge.  All the anglers, pilots and guides were ready to leave at 7:30AM but the weather did not initially cooperate.  A fog rolled down the river and delayed our fly-outs until 10:00AM.  Hey, no worries for anyone as we all knew the fish would still be there and boy they were.  We flew out to a hot spot for char with our pilot, John and guide, Chris.  The char were either dolly varden or arctic char.  Scientifically they are different but without killing and dissecting them they are difficult to tell apart.  Chris did a great job, especially working on improving Lindy’s angling skills.  The tips worked because she caught a great number of char.  Ed had lots of landed fish too with the day’s highlight being a gorgeous 32”x19”, 15 lb. char.  Wow!  It was a great way to begin the week.  We returned to the lodge (a beautiful flight), cleaned up and joined “the boys” (all the other anglers were male) to hear about their day.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and had excellent fishing.  We all enjoyed a great dinner and socialized till time to catch some sleep for the next day’s fishing.

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0907..Lindy and Chris with 24 inch char.jpg (94116 bytes) Lindy and Chris with a nice 24" char
0907.ed and 32x19, 15 lb. char.jpg (107892 bytes) Ed and Chris with Ed's 32"x19", 15 lb. beauty
0907..Lindy and Chris with 25 char.jpg (85342 bytes) Lindy and Chris with a 25" char
0907.bear.jpg (106484 bytes) One of our fishing buddies
enjoying a salmon

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Wednesday, 8 September:  Today we headed out to the Kulik River.  Jack was our pilot and our guide was Parker.  The morning proved to be some tough fishing as the river was still loaded with pink salmon (our quarry being rainbows).  However, after lunch Parker found some great fishing spots and the fish turned on.  We both landed 10-15 rainbows each and we able to avoid snagging too many salmon.  On both flights to/from the river, Ed sat in the co-pilot seat.  He and Jack spent time exchanging stories, including Ed’s fishing adventures in 1965 and 1974.  They even had a few mutual acquaintances – talk about a small world among anglers and pilots!  Anyway, we all enjoyed a great day of fishing with lots of challenge and lots of fun.

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0908..Ed and Parker with 21 inch bow.jpg (100996 bytes) Ed and Parker with a 21" rainbow
0908.Kulik bear.jpg (85947 bytes) Today's fishing buddy

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Thursday, 9 September:  Again, we had our 6:30AM breakfast and were ready for a 7:30AM departure.  We left with our pilot/guide, Matt.  We were headed out for a river that contained both char and rainbows, but weather dictated we return back to the lodge to see if the fog would clear.  We tried again in 30 minutes.  Again the fog and clouds were thick in that direction.  However, Matt saw it was clear to the South and suggested we head to the famous Brooks River.  What a treat!  Most people visiting the Brooks are there to see bears feeding on the salmon.  Ed had been there in 1974 and camped on the beach.  The beach now serves as the parking area for float planes visiting this world-famous area.  There also is now a lodge, cabins and viewing platform which were added since Ed’s visit.  Change comes even to remote spots.

Matt secured the plane and explained park rules about distance to be maintained from bears, proper behavior, etc.  After checking in with the Park Rangers, we began a trek through marshy waters to reach the river.  Evidence of bears was found along the walk and we had to re-route a couple of times to avoid the creatures themselves. 

We finally arrived at a small island after crossing the stream.  It was a great spot.  Each cast landed a nice 18-20” rainbow.  However, it was so good a trio of bears decided they wanted it.  So, after several of the myriad of photographers got very excited about the bears moving into our hole, we backed downstream and ultimately across the river.  We took a hike back through the marsh to retrieve our lunch from the plane floats.  We then decided to get back to fishing a bit further upstream.  Matt suggested we go via a bridge on the trail to the viewing platform as it would be easier than hiking cross-country.  Unfortunately, that bridge was closed due to bear activity.  So, we re-hiked the marsh and crossed the river to ultimately join the trail.  We also stopped by the bear viewing platform at Brooks Falls which was empty since the main trail was closed.  Oh well, some enterprising photographer will ultimately figure out waders can be used other than for fly fishing.  After watching for a bit (Hey, you’ve gotta do it when you’re there!), we headed up above the Falls for more fishing.  While the bears were always close, none wanted our fishing spot.  We continued to catch lots of fish and Ed landed a beautiful 24” rainbow and Matt got a 24 ¼” beauty.  Very nice for the Brooks!  We took lots of photographs of fish, anglers and the bears.  It was a great day!

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0909. Ed's 24 inch bow. jpg.jpg (57591 bytes) Ed and Matt with Ed's 24" rainbow
0909.Lindy with 22 inch rainbow.jpg (46613 bytes) Lindy and Matt with a 22" rainbow
0909.Brooks.Bear.jpg (97095 bytes) The guys who took over our fishing hole
0909. Lindy and friends.jpg (60740 bytes) Lindy sharing a fishing hole
in the afternoon
0909.Matt with 24+ inch bow.jpg (70163 bytes) Matt and his 24 1/4" rainbow

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Friday, 10 September:  Today we were once again bound for the river we had intended to fish on Thursday.  We had a real treat.  Matt again was our pilot/guide and we insisted his lovely wife, Joy, join us since the 206 Cessena easily seats four.  It was a chilly morning so we had a fire at our first spot of the day.  It was a great way to warm up while we watched someone else cast.  There wasn’t too much warming up, however, as we rotated among the four of us since we typically each got a fish a cast, both rainbows and char.  Ed had a 26”x15” rainbow that was the highlight of the day.  We also ran into bears again and one came very close but again was more interested in salmon than in us.  Later in the day, we spread out and fished together.  Matt and Joy got a late afternoon double.  It was a great way to finish the day before we headed back to No See Um.  There we joined the boys for happy hour before enjoying another delicious dinner (this time, thanks to “Chef Sue” who covers for Cooky on his day off).

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0910.Ed with a 24x15 rainbow.jpg (89868 bytes) Ed and Matt with Ed's 24"x15" rainbow
0910. Ed with 10 lb. char.jpg (96504 bytes) Ed with a 10lb. healthy char
0910.Matt and Joy.jpg (103879 bytes) Matt and Joy with a beauty!
0910.Matt and Joy with friends.jpg (65705 bytes) Matt and Joy with fishing friends

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Saturday, 11 September:  This morning we left very, very early with our pilot/guide, John, and headed for a secret rainbow river.  To get the best spot, we hiked ~45 minutes through the bush.  It was a great way to warm up from the early morning chill.  And boy, was the hike worth the effort.  This turned out to be some of the best trout fishing we’ve ever had.  Each proper drift caught a 19-20” healthy, beautiful rainbow that was an incredible fighter and jumper!  Ed’s largest fish of the day were two huge 25”x15” rainbows.  He also caught a beautiful 24” rainbow as did Lindy.  It was a very full day of incredible rainbow fishing!

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0911.Ed with 25x15 bow.jpg (77290 bytes) Ed and John with Ed's 25"x15" rainbow
0911.Lindy and her 25 inch bow.jpg (102562 bytes) Lindy with her own 25" rainbow
0911.Ed with another 25 inch beauty.jpg (70676 bytes) Ed with another 25" rainbow
0911.John and his beauty.jpg (82953 bytes) John with his own beauty

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Sunday, 12 September:  Again we had John as our guide.  We headed up the Kvichak River (No See Um sits on the Kvichak) via a Beaver and landed a few miles from the start of the river were we transferred to a jet outboard boat for drift fishing.  Drift fishing is a pretty unique approach for fly fishing and it takes a very talented guide.  The guide must decide where he thinks the rainbows will be found, position the boat upstream from that location and then have the boat drift through the area while angler’s cast.  John did a terrific job!  We had lots of small rainbows (probably 6-10 each) throughout the day as well as several char and even one whitefish.  Each of us caught a 24” rainbow and Ed caught three really nice rainbows – the stuff dreams are made of.  The first was 27”x15”; the second was 27”x15”; and the third was 28”x16”!  Really nice!! The second 27”x15” fish jumped 14 times (yes, we all counted) – a new record for any fish Ed had ever caught.  Lindy hooked a very nice fish (the guys thought 27”) but unfortunately lost it at the boat.  Oh well, another try next year!  We enjoyed our final evening at No See Um relaxing with the other guests and lodge members.

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0912.Ed's 1st 27x15 rainbow.jpg (88438 bytes) Ed's first 27"x15" rainbow
0912.Ed's 28x16 beauty.jpg (75951 bytes) The icing - Ed's gorgeous 28"x16" rainbow
0912.Ed's 2nd 27x15 rainbow.jpg (76553 bytes) Ed's second 27"x15" rainbow
(the "Jumper"!)

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Monday, 13 September:  This morning we enjoyed a farewell breakfast with the staff, guides and anglers.  We were then flown to King Salmon to catch our commercial airline flights.  We arrived in Fairbanks at 2:30PM where we relaxed and continued to savor our week at No See Um.  We’re definitely looking forward to our 2005 visit!!

THE SETTING

No See Um Lodge is located on the banks on the Kvichak River.  It offers great views, especially at sunrise and sunset, when the light and colors dance off the water surface.

The main social area is a lounge that is flanked by four guest rooms and two shared baths.  It has a fully stocked, self-service bar (all included), a wood stove and lots of comfortable seating so it’s very cozy.  Pre-dinner appetizers are served here each evening at 6:00PM.  It’s definitely the place to unwind and exchange stories about the day’s fishing.  A hot tub is located outside on the deck.   The dining room/kitchen is a large room that accommodates not only guests but guides and staff at meal times.  We really like these individuals being included at meals because you get to know everyone this way.  It’s part of what makes you feel like “family” at this family owned and operated 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:

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