· Test list
· Test 2
· Test 3
Snow is falling on evergreens just outside my window. The dark green boughs bend under a blanket of white and the bare branches of deciduous trees are camouflaged against an indefinite gray sky. And so this is winter. The winter has been long but not overly severe. Upland hunting in Montana for pheasants, sharptails, and huns helped pass the time as did a nice whitetail harvested from a ridge of timber in the Ozarks. But still I dream of a day in mid June when I will drive a hundred-plus miles from Anchorage and ply the waters of the Russian River in search of sockeye. I, like thousands of others, am drawn to that stretch of AlaskaÕs fishing water like football fans are drawn to the Super Bowl. Vehicles often back up at the Russian River Campground gate and wait for an hour or longer for a parking spot. This, just to pursue the sockeye.
Watching the snow fall and listening to the crackle of fire I reminisced of past trips to the river. A couple of years ago John ÒMickÓ Comas of Helena, Montana, was visiting Alaska. An experienced trout fisher and accomplished fly fisher, Mick would out-fish most of us on MontanaÕs Missouri or Little Blackfoot rivers but had never fished for AlaskaÕs red salmon. Nor had he ever used a half-ounce of lead on a fly rod. I had the pleasant task of taking him fishing for sockeye on the Russian River. The season had been open just a few days and the reds were running heavy when Tom Betti, Mick and I set out to pursue sockeye.
It was good to be back on the Seward Highway and headed for the Kenai Peninsula and some exciting fishing. The Russian River is a beautiful two-hour drive from Anchorage. Spectacular scenery and wildlife viewing alone make the drive worthwhile. The highway was just as busy as ever. The Canada geese were still trying to usher their broods across the highway at Potter Marsh. Most drivers stopped, but a couple of fuzzy down bodies lay flattened on the pavement, mute testimony that not everyone respects the geese's natural right-of-way. About a dozen Dall sheep clung to rocky precipices along the highway near milepost 110 and another ten or so near milepost 108. The Turnagain Arm wind was blowing and the muddy waters of the arm rushed in with the tide change. Lupine near Portage and in Turnagain Pass was in full bloom, but fireweed blossoms remained hidden in their spring buds.
As usual there was a wait at the entrance to the Russian River Campground and parking area. Sockeye had been streaming up the popular fishery for a couple of days and the Anchorage newspaper had been featuring headlines about the hordes of sockeye in the river. When the reds come it doesn't take long for the word to get out. We managed to get a parking permit after about a 30-minute wait and drove the long mile to the designated area. We were assigned to Pink Salmon lot and there are a lot of vehicles there, but I was sure most of the vehicle occupants would be fishing the Kenai River at the outlet and not in the Russian.
It took several minutes to assemble and rig my eight-weight rod and assist Mick with his setup before heading to the river. From the stairs above the Pink Salmon Hole, I could see several sockeye holding in the tailout. There were a few people fishing the deeper water but none casting to the fish in the tailout. The river was swift and full, but its clear water did little to hide the sockeye moving up in small schools of two to five fish. Rainbow trout that occupied the shallower riffles two days earlier were now hidden in deeper pools, runs, and riffles.
The early run of sockeye does not spawn in the lower Russian but continues to the upper river and its tributaries. This nomadic characteristic adds some amount of complexity to catching these fish because they are often on the move and moving fish are more difficult to fish to. Searching for them isnÕt difficult if you have a pair of polarized glasses and if the water is clear. Singles and doubles may hold behind river boulders in riffles and in small pockets. When you are looking for a half-dozen or more concentrate on larger pockets, runs, or pools. Most fish are congregated in the confluence area known as the Sanctuary and that is where most anglers head when they come to the Russian.
As the season slows, only an occasional salmon will be spotted struggling through heavy rapids and fast riffles, still determined to reach the same water where its life began. Once there it will spawn and die, renewing the never-ending life cycle of Pacific Salmon.
Locating fish today was no problem. They came in waves of four to eight fish and held for a few minutes in the tailout and then the pool before moving on up stream. Thirty minutes after my first cast, I had beached a limit of three sockeye and Mick was still looking for his first. I had been trying to give him some tips on casting with and adjusting the weight to get the fly to drift through the sockeye. As I watched he seemed to be doing the right thing but just not connecting. The take of a sockeye is sometimes subtle and sometimes violent. The violent strike is of course easy to detect but it takes some experience to detect and set the hook on the more subtle strike. My advice to Mick was that if the line stops drifting set the hook.
Fishing for sockeye is not easy although many fishers manage to hook and land a few in spite of sloppy methods or no method at all. The key to regularly hook sockeye is to know where the fish are holding and make the proper fly presentation to the fish. That, and the need to protect your eyes from errant casts, is why polarized glasses are so very important to sockeye fishers. Why waste time fishing where there are no fish? The proper fly presentation is a dead-drift directly into the holding sockeye while at the same time not allowing slack in the line. (A dead-drifted fly is a fly traveling at the same speed as the current.) Sockeye hold within a foot of the river bottom and are most often found from 6 to 8 inches above the average strata. The size of weight and the distance of the weight from the hook comes into play in determining how to get your fly to drift 6 to 8 inches from the bottom. The faster the current and deeper the water the more weight is needed. Moving the weight farther from the hook will result in the fly drifting higher above the bottom. The proper amount of weight is determined by feeling a tap every few seconds as the fly drifts with the current. If no tap is felt the fly is likely riding too high. If you are constantly hanging up on the bottom your fly is too low in the water. After you determine the right amount of weight adjust the weight closer to or farther from the fly to get the right drift height. In the fly-fishing only waters of the Russian and Kenai rivers the weight cannot be closer than 18 inches to the fly.
I knew Mick had found the right combination when he yelled Òfish onÓ and I heard his line hissing through the water as a sockeye, firmly attached to his terminal tackle, headed for the Kenai. The sockeye ran out his 90 feet of line in a matter of seconds and then turned toward the near bank. Mick played the fish perfectly, retrieving line when the fish allowed and letting it run when it wanted. Soon his first sockeye was on the bank and he was back after his second.
A few casts later and MickÕs fly was solidly hooked into the jaw of another seven-pound beauty. The humming reel, bent rod, and frenzied run of this fish brought a smile to his face that could only be equaled by a four-year-old turned loose in a toy store. Mick clearly had the sockeye fever and had quickly adapted to the unusual style of fly fishing.
The Russian River is often touted as the most popular fishery in Alaska and I have no problem believing that. Sockeye, or Òreds,Ó are the next to smallest of the five species of Pacific salmon but provide more entertainment to summer fishers in Alaska than any of the other species. And a major portion of those come from the Kenai/Russian River area near Cooper Landing, Alaska.
In my opinion sockeye are the bluegill of Pacific salmon. All of the salmon are fun to fish and catch, especially on a fly rod, but I favor the sockeye. Kings, also known as Chinook and tyee, are big, strong, and bullish; but when hooked, they often head for the bottom and just hold. Silvers, also called coho, are very acrobatic, usually jump like rainbows, and you can depend on at least two good runs. Chums, also known as dog salmon, are very strong fighters, especially fresh from the ocean. Pinks, also called humpies, are the lightweight of the Pacific salmon and are not real great fighters but can be a lot of fun on light tackle. Still, in my opinion, pound for pound, sockeye are the toughest and best fighting fish of all the Pacific salmon.
FLY PATTERNS FOR SOCKEYE
Terminal tackle for sockeye is usually some sort of fly. The most widely used fly for sockeye is undoubtedly the coho or ÒRussian River Fly.Ó The coho, a salmon fly tied in a multitude of colors, is what you will find 90% or more of those fishing the Russian and Kenai rivers using for terminal tackle. The coho is a hair-wing streamer tied on a Mustad 36717 hook. They are tied un-weighted and come in a variety of color combinations. The most popular colors seem to be red/white, blue/white, and orange/yellow. Traditionally, the coho is tied with dyed bucktail, but synthetic Fish Hair in fluorescent colors, especially green and pink, is being used more frequently nowadays.
Many anglers argue that the bright flies are the best flies to use for sockeye. The bright colors do have the advantage of being seen as they move through the water in clearwater streams. This might be helpful on clear streams but certainly doesnÕt help on the heavily silted Kenai and Kasilof rivers. My favorite color is a light blue and white sparsely tied fly on an extra-heavy size 6 hook. I believe the smaller more neutral color is less likely to alarm the fish and have them move away from the fly. A fly that I find very effective on bright, sunny days is an all white fly that I call La Pluma Blanca. I also tie this fly on a size 6 hook. The body material is white chenille, and it has a white feather wing and hackle.
I have also had good success with the ÒSockeye Blue,Ó especially in Bristol Bay streams. The fly is tied on a number 6 or 8 Mustad 90240 hook. The body material is dark blue tinsel. The wing is blue calf tail with an overwing of blue Krystal Flash. I tied a similar fly, substituting silver tinsel for the body, and it worked equally well. There are many streamers and bucktails listed in the book Fly Patterns of Alaska that are suitable for sockeye.
EQUIPMENT
I prefer fly-fishing tackle but a lot of fishers use spinning gear. On this day, I was using an eight-weight Sage graphite-rod and a Ross G3 reel. The line was a balanced eight-weight sink-tip, with 20-pound nylon backing. The leader/tippet was short, about six feet in total length, and was 15-pound level monofilament. I used an un-weighted blue and white fly tied on a number six hook. The fly has a white underwing and a pale-blue overwing.
Spinning tackle is often used for fishing sockeye and can be very effective if used correctly. One of the most common errors is the fisher that wades out to where the fish would normally run and casts to the far side of the stream. The first thing to learn is to not wade into the fish and second is to not cast all the way across the river and retrieve line as you do when fishing a spinner. To fish spinning gear correctly it should be used much like the fly tackle, let out enough line to cover the area where the fish are holding or running and flip that same amount of line out each time you make a drift through the holding fish.
Waders are a must to be successful in the Russian and Kenai near the Russian River ferry crossing. More than 99% of the anglers will be in some sort of wading boots and will be standing in knee deep or deeper water. Anyone trying to fish from the bank will very likely be unsuccessful and will wind up hooking more fishers than fish.
WILDLIFE
Moose, both brown and black bears, eagles, gulls, and many smaller birds frequent the Russian River. To some, the wildlife viewing can be as exciting as the fishing. Every year there will be some fishers that meet up with a bear along the Russian and Kenai rivers. These encounters need not end in tragedy and seldom do. If fishers use common sense when bears are present there is seldom trouble. Simply put, if a bear shows up, leave. Fishers and hikers alike would be well served by reading the Alaska Department of Fish and Game brochure titled ÒBear FactsÓ before recreating in or along Alaska rivers and streams. Fishers should also give a wide berth to cow moose with their offspring.
WHEN YOU GO
Sockeye start entering Alaska's freshwater rivers and streams in June. By the first week in July, the fish will be swarming into the Russian and other rivers of the area. Most sockeye fishers do it on their own and seek out the feisty salmon in the Kenai and Russian rivers. If you seek more comfort and guided fishing, there are many reputable lodges and guide services located in Cooper Landing, Soldotna, and Kenai, that will be happy to assist you.
Jerry Wylie is a regular contributor to Fish Alaska magazine and currently splits his time between homes in Missouri and Anchorage; his last feature was on AlaskaÕs northern pike and can be found in the October/November issue.
· Test 2
· Test 3
Snow is falling on evergreens just outside my window. The dark green boughs bend under a blanket of white and the bare branches of deciduous trees are camouflaged against an indefinite gray sky. And so this is winter. The winter has been long but not overly severe. Upland hunting in Montana for pheasants, sharptails, and huns helped pass the time as did a nice whitetail harvested from a ridge of timber in the Ozarks. But still I dream of a day in mid June when I will drive a hundred-plus miles from Anchorage and ply the waters of the Russian River in search of sockeye. I, like thousands of others, am drawn to that stretch of AlaskaÕs fishing water like football fans are drawn to the Super Bowl. Vehicles often back up at the Russian River Campground gate and wait for an hour or longer for a parking spot. This, just to pursue the sockeye.
Watching the snow fall and listening to the crackle of fire I reminisced of past trips to the river. A couple of years ago John ÒMickÓ Comas of Helena, Montana, was visiting Alaska. An experienced trout fisher and accomplished fly fisher, Mick would out-fish most of us on MontanaÕs Missouri or Little Blackfoot rivers but had never fished for AlaskaÕs red salmon. Nor had he ever used a half-ounce of lead on a fly rod. I had the pleasant task of taking him fishing for sockeye on the Russian River. The season had been open just a few days and the reds were running heavy when Tom Betti, Mick and I set out to pursue sockeye.
It was good to be back on the Seward Highway and headed for the Kenai Peninsula and some exciting fishing. The Russian River is a beautiful two-hour drive from Anchorage. Spectacular scenery and wildlife viewing alone make the drive worthwhile. The highway was just as busy as ever. The Canada geese were still trying to usher their broods across the highway at Potter Marsh. Most drivers stopped, but a couple of fuzzy down bodies lay flattened on the pavement, mute testimony that not everyone respects the geese's natural right-of-way. About a dozen Dall sheep clung to rocky precipices along the highway near milepost 110 and another ten or so near milepost 108. The Turnagain Arm wind was blowing and the muddy waters of the arm rushed in with the tide change. Lupine near Portage and in Turnagain Pass was in full bloom, but fireweed blossoms remained hidden in their spring buds.
As usual there was a wait at the entrance to the Russian River Campground and parking area. Sockeye had been streaming up the popular fishery for a couple of days and the Anchorage newspaper had been featuring headlines about the hordes of sockeye in the river. When the reds come it doesn't take long for the word to get out. We managed to get a parking permit after about a 30-minute wait and drove the long mile to the designated area. We were assigned to Pink Salmon lot and there are a lot of vehicles there, but I was sure most of the vehicle occupants would be fishing the Kenai River at the outlet and not in the Russian.
It took several minutes to assemble and rig my eight-weight rod and assist Mick with his setup before heading to the river. From the stairs above the Pink Salmon Hole, I could see several sockeye holding in the tailout. There were a few people fishing the deeper water but none casting to the fish in the tailout. The river was swift and full, but its clear water did little to hide the sockeye moving up in small schools of two to five fish. Rainbow trout that occupied the shallower riffles two days earlier were now hidden in deeper pools, runs, and riffles.
The early run of sockeye does not spawn in the lower Russian but continues to the upper river and its tributaries. This nomadic characteristic adds some amount of complexity to catching these fish because they are often on the move and moving fish are more difficult to fish to. Searching for them isnÕt difficult if you have a pair of polarized glasses and if the water is clear. Singles and doubles may hold behind river boulders in riffles and in small pockets. When you are looking for a half-dozen or more concentrate on larger pockets, runs, or pools. Most fish are congregated in the confluence area known as the Sanctuary and that is where most anglers head when they come to the Russian.
As the season slows, only an occasional salmon will be spotted struggling through heavy rapids and fast riffles, still determined to reach the same water where its life began. Once there it will spawn and die, renewing the never-ending life cycle of Pacific Salmon.
Locating fish today was no problem. They came in waves of four to eight fish and held for a few minutes in the tailout and then the pool before moving on up stream. Thirty minutes after my first cast, I had beached a limit of three sockeye and Mick was still looking for his first. I had been trying to give him some tips on casting with and adjusting the weight to get the fly to drift through the sockeye. As I watched he seemed to be doing the right thing but just not connecting. The take of a sockeye is sometimes subtle and sometimes violent. The violent strike is of course easy to detect but it takes some experience to detect and set the hook on the more subtle strike. My advice to Mick was that if the line stops drifting set the hook.
Fishing for sockeye is not easy although many fishers manage to hook and land a few in spite of sloppy methods or no method at all. The key to regularly hook sockeye is to know where the fish are holding and make the proper fly presentation to the fish. That, and the need to protect your eyes from errant casts, is why polarized glasses are so very important to sockeye fishers. Why waste time fishing where there are no fish? The proper fly presentation is a dead-drift directly into the holding sockeye while at the same time not allowing slack in the line. (A dead-drifted fly is a fly traveling at the same speed as the current.) Sockeye hold within a foot of the river bottom and are most often found from 6 to 8 inches above the average strata. The size of weight and the distance of the weight from the hook comes into play in determining how to get your fly to drift 6 to 8 inches from the bottom. The faster the current and deeper the water the more weight is needed. Moving the weight farther from the hook will result in the fly drifting higher above the bottom. The proper amount of weight is determined by feeling a tap every few seconds as the fly drifts with the current. If no tap is felt the fly is likely riding too high. If you are constantly hanging up on the bottom your fly is too low in the water. After you determine the right amount of weight adjust the weight closer to or farther from the fly to get the right drift height. In the fly-fishing only waters of the Russian and Kenai rivers the weight cannot be closer than 18 inches to the fly.
I knew Mick had found the right combination when he yelled Òfish onÓ and I heard his line hissing through the water as a sockeye, firmly attached to his terminal tackle, headed for the Kenai. The sockeye ran out his 90 feet of line in a matter of seconds and then turned toward the near bank. Mick played the fish perfectly, retrieving line when the fish allowed and letting it run when it wanted. Soon his first sockeye was on the bank and he was back after his second.
A few casts later and MickÕs fly was solidly hooked into the jaw of another seven-pound beauty. The humming reel, bent rod, and frenzied run of this fish brought a smile to his face that could only be equaled by a four-year-old turned loose in a toy store. Mick clearly had the sockeye fever and had quickly adapted to the unusual style of fly fishing.
The Russian River is often touted as the most popular fishery in Alaska and I have no problem believing that. Sockeye, or Òreds,Ó are the next to smallest of the five species of Pacific salmon but provide more entertainment to summer fishers in Alaska than any of the other species. And a major portion of those come from the Kenai/Russian River area near Cooper Landing, Alaska.
In my opinion sockeye are the bluegill of Pacific salmon. All of the salmon are fun to fish and catch, especially on a fly rod, but I favor the sockeye. Kings, also known as Chinook and tyee, are big, strong, and bullish; but when hooked, they often head for the bottom and just hold. Silvers, also called coho, are very acrobatic, usually jump like rainbows, and you can depend on at least two good runs. Chums, also known as dog salmon, are very strong fighters, especially fresh from the ocean. Pinks, also called humpies, are the lightweight of the Pacific salmon and are not real great fighters but can be a lot of fun on light tackle. Still, in my opinion, pound for pound, sockeye are the toughest and best fighting fish of all the Pacific salmon.
FLY PATTERNS FOR SOCKEYE
Terminal tackle for sockeye is usually some sort of fly. The most widely used fly for sockeye is undoubtedly the coho or ÒRussian River Fly.Ó The coho, a salmon fly tied in a multitude of colors, is what you will find 90% or more of those fishing the Russian and Kenai rivers using for terminal tackle. The coho is a hair-wing streamer tied on a Mustad 36717 hook. They are tied un-weighted and come in a variety of color combinations. The most popular colors seem to be red/white, blue/white, and orange/yellow. Traditionally, the coho is tied with dyed bucktail, but synthetic Fish Hair in fluorescent colors, especially green and pink, is being used more frequently nowadays.
Many anglers argue that the bright flies are the best flies to use for sockeye. The bright colors do have the advantage of being seen as they move through the water in clearwater streams. This might be helpful on clear streams but certainly doesnÕt help on the heavily silted Kenai and Kasilof rivers. My favorite color is a light blue and white sparsely tied fly on an extra-heavy size 6 hook. I believe the smaller more neutral color is less likely to alarm the fish and have them move away from the fly. A fly that I find very effective on bright, sunny days is an all white fly that I call La Pluma Blanca. I also tie this fly on a size 6 hook. The body material is white chenille, and it has a white feather wing and hackle.
I have also had good success with the ÒSockeye Blue,Ó especially in Bristol Bay streams. The fly is tied on a number 6 or 8 Mustad 90240 hook. The body material is dark blue tinsel. The wing is blue calf tail with an overwing of blue Krystal Flash. I tied a similar fly, substituting silver tinsel for the body, and it worked equally well. There are many streamers and bucktails listed in the book Fly Patterns of Alaska that are suitable for sockeye.
EQUIPMENT
I prefer fly-fishing tackle but a lot of fishers use spinning gear. On this day, I was using an eight-weight Sage graphite-rod and a Ross G3 reel. The line was a balanced eight-weight sink-tip, with 20-pound nylon backing. The leader/tippet was short, about six feet in total length, and was 15-pound level monofilament. I used an un-weighted blue and white fly tied on a number six hook. The fly has a white underwing and a pale-blue overwing.
Spinning tackle is often used for fishing sockeye and can be very effective if used correctly. One of the most common errors is the fisher that wades out to where the fish would normally run and casts to the far side of the stream. The first thing to learn is to not wade into the fish and second is to not cast all the way across the river and retrieve line as you do when fishing a spinner. To fish spinning gear correctly it should be used much like the fly tackle, let out enough line to cover the area where the fish are holding or running and flip that same amount of line out each time you make a drift through the holding fish.
Waders are a must to be successful in the Russian and Kenai near the Russian River ferry crossing. More than 99% of the anglers will be in some sort of wading boots and will be standing in knee deep or deeper water. Anyone trying to fish from the bank will very likely be unsuccessful and will wind up hooking more fishers than fish.
WILDLIFE
Moose, both brown and black bears, eagles, gulls, and many smaller birds frequent the Russian River. To some, the wildlife viewing can be as exciting as the fishing. Every year there will be some fishers that meet up with a bear along the Russian and Kenai rivers. These encounters need not end in tragedy and seldom do. If fishers use common sense when bears are present there is seldom trouble. Simply put, if a bear shows up, leave. Fishers and hikers alike would be well served by reading the Alaska Department of Fish and Game brochure titled ÒBear FactsÓ before recreating in or along Alaska rivers and streams. Fishers should also give a wide berth to cow moose with their offspring.
WHEN YOU GO
Sockeye start entering Alaska's freshwater rivers and streams in June. By the first week in July, the fish will be swarming into the Russian and other rivers of the area. Most sockeye fishers do it on their own and seek out the feisty salmon in the Kenai and Russian rivers. If you seek more comfort and guided fishing, there are many reputable lodges and guide services located in Cooper Landing, Soldotna, and Kenai, that will be happy to assist you.
Jerry Wylie is a regular contributor to Fish Alaska magazine and currently splits his time between homes in Missouri and Anchorage; his last feature was on AlaskaÕs northern pike and can be found in the October/November issue.