July in Alaska is a pretty exciting time. Warmth, sun, and constant day light can give an angler the opportunity at a never ending fishing day. The south central rivers begin choking with sockeye salmon leading to a population boom in many of the surrounding small towns with an influx of salmon fishermen. The fishing is great with plenty of salmon to go around, but the combat fishing in the easily accessible roadside rivers can be hectic.
With my freezer already full from the first run of sockeye I opted to travel north to interior Alaska to dry fly fish for arctic grayling while the hordes of people head south. A buddy and I were to make the five hour drive together but a last minute cancelation had me going Han solo. Dreading the boring drive alone I checked out plane tickets just to see. To my surprise it was cheaper to fly round trip than drive using two tanks of gas in my truck. Hell yea! Cheaper and cut my travel time from five hours to 50 minutes!
I fly to Fairbanks and get picked up by my buddy Dennis. We start our trip driving to his place in North Pole. We hitch the boat to his truck and pack it with both our gear for the trip. In the morning we would drive to Delta Junction. We wake up at 7:00am to find out it is pouring rain. From North Pole it is roughly a two hour drive to Delta Junction so we hope the weather will cooperate with us there. The Clearwater River has unbelievable dry fly opportunities. The fish feed on the top when the sun it out. During cloud cover or rain they shut off feeding on the top. FIsh can be caught using subsurface flies but we travel there to give it to them dry!
It rained the entire drive. We decide to just get a camp spot and hit the water and deal with setting up camp when we get back. Rain gear on and boat in the river we ride out to our usual productive spots. Throwing egg sucking leeches and stone fly nymphs produces some fish right away. Fun? Yes of course but I keep looking at the skies for any sign of clearing.
After four or five fish caught I remember that I had brought some mouse patterns with me. Never having caught a fish using a mouse, and rarely seeing or hearing anyone doing so with grayling I thought why not? First cast I hit the other side of the bank and start skating the mouse across a deep pool and as soon as it starts swinging, wham! And a miss. Second cast, wham and a miss! Third cast, wham and a miss! I am using a three inch top water fly and a grayling's mouth is pretty small but on the fourth strike it was fish on! I was stoked I caught one on a mouse, very cool. After a few photos I look up and notice there is some clear sky! Perhaps the sun will show itself today still.
We decide to move to a spot further up river and as we come to a stop to tie the boat off the sun starts shining. Finally! We eat lunch and let the sun do its magic on the water before we try fishing again. That's all it took, just the sun and the fish begin popping the top like popcorn. All sub surface flies are put away and nothing but dry flies were used from then on. The fly of choice is a blue dun in size 12 or 14. You can use the usual dry flies but for some reason the blue dun will out fish them all.
At one hole the water was boiling with so many fish rising it seemed like a dream. Almost impossible that this was happening. The excitement at seeing this before me and watching my buddy to my right hooking up with fish after fish is the apex of fishing for me. There is just something in seeing the fish hit the top water at your presentation, being in pristine waters and wilderness with literally miles of river with just you and your buddy that brings a different type of smile to your face.
We literally fished until our arms and backs couldn't take any more. One looses track of time with the sun in the sky so late. We were pulling 13 hour days of fishing that I felt like a 90 year old man getting up in the morning the next day. Pills were popped for sure. I wouldn't have it any other way.
With so many fishing opportunities in July it truly is an exciting month. But with the extra hours of day light I prefer to chase the midnight sun north for arctic grayling.
Tight lines, enjoy some pictures.
Meat eaters
Leeches were thrown when it was raining
