PPS Destinations Report 

 Karluk River, Alaska, USA

Date:         October 2007

 Reported by Dr. Brian Griffith, New Jersey, USA

  I have always thought that steelhead fishing was a rather stupid sport.  You stand in cold water in awful weather, cast a thousand times, hook one fish which breaks off, and at the end of the day you tell yourself that was a really good day of fishing.  This October, Pete Esposito and I got to fish the Karluk River on Kodiak Island and try it for ourselves.  The water was cold (38-40 degrees), the weather was certainly not balmy, we did cast thousands of times, but we hooked a lot of steelhead and landed more than I ever expected.

  I arrived in Anchorage on October 13 and spent the night in the Marriot Courtyard hotel which was pleasant, clean, and much more reasonable than some of the places I had stayed in before while traveling through the city.  I had a light dinner across the street and it was early to bed for the 4 AM wakeup call.  The flight to Kodiak left at 6 AM and took about one hour.

  Upon arriving in Kodiak we were met by an Andrews Air representative (the float plane operator) and taken to their office to wait for daylight so we could fly into the camp.  The temperatures were chilly (high 30’s) and the sky was clear.  We had breakfast while waiting for sunrise that happened around 8:30 (sunset was around 7:30).  All four of the fisherman and their gear were transferred to the seaplane dock and we took off in a Dehavilland Beaver at 9 AM.

  The flight in was spectacular.  We had great visibility and little wind.  The island’s interior is incredibly rugged and all the mountains were capped with snow.  The flight lasted 45 minutes and we landed on the Portage section of the Karluk River.  This is the only area of the river long and deep enough for floatplanes and the reason the camp is positioned here.  As we disembarked the previous week’s fishermen told us of great fishing and what a wonderful week they had had.  All I could think of was that old saw, “you should have been here last week”.

  We settled into our camp that consisted of a thirty foot diameter yurt and a separate cook cabin both of which were surrounded by a four foot high electric bear fence.  Inside the yurt were three bedrooms, a living/dining/fly tying area, and a spot to dry waders.  It was heated by a kerosene heater and throughout the week was warm and dry.  The cook cabin contained a sink and shower area as well as the kitchen.  The outhouse was a rude affair with no door (a grizzly ripped it off) outside the bear fence.  The camp is owned by the native run Koniag Corporation and leased to outfitters.  We met Mark Cowan and Paul Tickner, the guides, as well as Arnie, the camp cook/comedian.  After a brief orientation and lunch we headed to the river to fish.  The skies were sunny and the temperatures were in the high 40’s with little wind.  It was truly a perfect autumn day on Kodiak Island.

  After a short walk downstream we were shown a nice run known as the honey hole.  We took our spots and began working the water with down and across casts mending the line to produce as drag free a drift as possible while keeping the flies near the bottom.  We used floating lines, nine foot leaders, and a purple starlight leech pattern with a crystal egg dropper.  Throughout the week the top fly might change but the rest of the rigging on our 8 weight single handed rods stayed the same.  Only one of our group’s members had ever steelheaded before so we were an inexperienced group to say the least.  Within twenty minutes I had hooked a steelhead that I lost and within thirty I had landed my first fish that measured 28 inches (about 10 pounds).  These are amazingly strong fish and fight well.  They are difficult to land even when using a net.  This one was quite bright and the photo will show it was a beautiful fish.

  The rest of the afternoon produced hookups fairly regularly and by the time we headed back to camp I had gone 4 for 10 on steelhead, caught 2 coho salmon weighing 16 and 18 pounds, as well as several dolly varden.  The rest of the week produced similar results.  We actively fished for steelhead for 4 ½ days and during that time I went 23 for 43 on them.  They ranged in size from 24 to 32 inches (Pete landed a 36 inch pig) and were great sport.  If you wanted to you could have fished for silvers and caught them until your arm wore out as there was great holding water right in front of camp.  Two of the days we flew upriver to where it drains from the lake and fished for cohos, dollies, and rainbows.  The cohos were not as bright as further downstream but good sport on a 6 weight.  The dollies were beyond plentiful and ranged from 12 to 26 inches.  The rainbows were not as plentiful but they were all close to or slightly above twenty inches.  We even managed to catch a few late sockeye salmon.

  The river was generally 100 to 200 feet across and quite easy to wade.  The bottom was not too slick and you could reach the entire river with a single handed rod.  The Karluk is a nice mixture of runs, riffles, gravel bar drop offs, and pools (none of which were deeper than four feet).  While it did take some experience to spot steelhead lies it was fairly straightforward to read and by the end of the week even I could spot some potential lies.

  Throughout the week the weather was mostly cloudy and damp.  We did have snow, rain, sleet, and freezing rain at various times.  The wind was not too bad except for the last day when it blew relatively hard during the late morning and early afternoon. The high temperatures for the week were in the upper forties during the day and as low as 14 degrees one night.  As the week progressed the temperatures did drop as did the water temperature and that resulted in a bit slower fishing the last day.  All in all the weather was better than I had anticipated but hardly summer-like.  It had taken some arm-twisting to convince Pete to go as he is not a real fan of cold weather but he was well equipped and did not suffer too badly from the cold.  On the last day I certainly felt the cold in my feet and hands but that was the morning we were all picking ice off our guides so everyone was pretty chilly.

  The highlight of the week for me was the wildlife.  During the week we saw dozens of eagles, tundra swans, several foxes (some of whom were quite bold), and more than a dozen Kodiak brown bears.  The bears were quite well behaved and generally kept to their side of the river.  I never felt threatened and the guides did carry industrial strength bear spray so we felt free to enjoy the show.  We saw single bears, sows with cubs, and one truly massive male.  Several of them caught fish while we watched and in general ignored us.  We found one area that was scattered with what looked like hairballs-the remains of a cub eaten by another boar.  My favorite sighting was during the next to last night. At 1 AM, while trying to get rid of some of the beer from the evening before, I was enjoying the vivid night skies when I heard a splash in front of camp.  Five feet out in the river (10 feet from the electric bear fence that surrounded camp) was a huge bear fishing for salmon.  The air temperature was 21 and the water was 38 and this bear acted like it was 75 degrees.  His eyes glowed in the flashlight beam and he just acted as if everything was completely normal and kept fishing.  It was absolutely magical.

  The camp itself was very comfortable and the food was excellent as well as plentiful.  Beer and wine were provided which made for some excellent after dinner conversations.  There were materials to tie flies with and in general it was one of the better fishing camps I have ever been to.  Mark Cowan is an excellent logistician and really did have all the bases covered.  This is my second trip with Mark (the first was to La Zona in Argentina) and I could not recommend him more highly for any of the venues he fishes.

  All too soon Sunday rolled around and the Beaver was taking us back to Kodiak for the trip home (on this flight we spotted several whales).  This was definitely a trip I would do again.  The only problem is that most normal steelhead fisheries will seem barren of fish after this place.  You will probably not catch a twenty pound steelhead here but the numbers more than make up for it.  I think it spoiled me for any other river.

  I still think steelhead fishing is certainly not for everyone but the Karluk River is an unbelievable place to learn the ropes while actually catching some fish.  When you add in the scenery and wildlife it is hard to imagine a much better experience.

  Mark Cowan can be reached at (800) 908-9011 or through his website at www.remoteflyfishing.com .  If anyone has any questions about this trip feel free to contact me at traydog@enter.net

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