General Reflections

I'm not a cruel person despite what PETA might say, so I will not force people to read through all my blogification to see all the pictures of fish and landscapes from my trip. As soon as humanly possible for a guy who needs to get used to staring at screens all over again, I'll put all those in an album and post the link here.

First, though, some general reflections on Alaska fishing: Finding the Fish film clip.

That is a fairly typical horde of ripe oncorhynchus nerka (or sockeye, or red salmon), taken on a small stream emptying into the eponymous lake. There is no shortage of sockeyes in Lake Nerka, though experienced anglers will know that it is ironically very hard to get them to strike a fly or lure. Fortunately in any horde of anything there are a few oddballs that break the rules. This one in the photo below took a small fly and then even landed for a special beach shot, perhaps to show off her beautiful crimson swimsuit:



To get sockeyes on the line dependably, you generally have to do something vaguely unethical and "line" them -- instead of letting them strike the fly, strike them with the fly, preferably near the mouth. That's how I got this next one on actual spinning gear (unheard of) and transformed him quickly into an edifying snack at the end of a 24 mile paddling day.





In the Little Togiak River and Lynx Creek, both tributaries to Lake Nerka, I put in some lining time and got sockeyes bright enough to eat. They are great fighters and very tasty, so I have no problem justifying the ethical stretch. Throw in a little hunger plus a dearth of protein in the bear can, and a Liner is born from an Angler every time.

Next post up I'll reflect on some real angling, in a world-class stream that emtpies into Lake Nerka. For now, here are some more long-winded reflections on film, this time regarding Alaska paddling: Kayak Cam film clip.

(I really did paddle around listening to my mp3 player, just like Paul Theroux with his walkman. Scary to think, I may be turning into that guy . . . .)