Based out of King Salmon Alaska is a Guiding Operation, run by Christian Elwell, called Borealis Outdoor Adventures. They specialize in remote wilderness fly fishing floats deep in the Alaskan Bush. Now I didnt know what to expect when Christian contacted me early this past spring but I was not dissapointed. After missings 2 different planes re-arragning flight times and spending the night in the 115 degree weather of Pheonix, I finally made it to King Salmon.
WOW…. Now King Salmon thats a serious fishing town that might only be trumped by Naknek. Anyway I met up with the boys and went straight to the bar which is right next to the airport, another bar and the grocery store. After a few beers I found my balance and was able to start conversing about the trip agenda. The Plan was simple; catch a plane at Branch River Air and fly out to camp to meet the boats. Good enough. The next morning found us all anxiously waiting our departure. before we knew it we were on a beaver and into the air looking out over the vast Alaskan Tundra. After a quick 75 minute flight we landed on the mouth of Nonvianuk Lake.
We camped the first night at the mouth of the lake and had spectacular fishing. We busted out the spey rods and waded out into the lake where there was enough current to get a good swing. A big purple and black intruder was a hot fly and we hammered Lake Trout, Sockeye and Rainbows on the swing. Jeff Brazda was on fire and landed a 15 lb Lake Trout early in the afternoon.
This was the start to our 6 day float down the river. It was my dads birthday and he mentioned that “there was no better way to spend it” after his 3rd Jack. I couldn’t have agree more with him.
Let me tell you a bit about Christian Elwell and Borealis Outdoor Adventures. When one hears of camping for 6 days one might think wow thats a little rough and another might think that it is no problem. But, with BOA they bring the Lodge to the river! So all of you who might think that it is a little rough follow me here. The food, which is prepared by Christian, is off the charts. No hot dogs, hamburgers and smores every night. NO NO NO we went with style. Fresh Alsakan Seafood Pad Thai, Spice Rubbed Pork chops, Fresh Blacken Sockeye Salmon were just a few on our dinner table each night. 2 people slept in 6 person tents with cots and sleeping pads so there was no cramping in a tent and sleeping on the wet ground. And since we were living on the river we could fish for almost 24 hours a day. More like 18 hours..which was aided by the perpetual sun shine.
Christian Elwell Rowing Down The Alagnak River, Alsaka
Night 5 Camp Site Near The King Hole, Alagnak River.
FISHING
The fly fishing was great.. well it is Alaksa and when there are that many fish in the system it is difficult to complain. We were dead nuts in the middle of a solid Sockeye Salmon run and we railed the hell out of them . Once you found a pod of them it was realatively easy to get them to bite. Now I know that “they” (whoever they are) say that salmon do not bite but after taking multiple $4.oo flies out of thier mouths I can assure you that they do. Probably not out of hunger but out of aggression. These little rocket ships ranged from 8-15lbs and fought real hard. Jumping, tail walking and making hard runs. Some of them still had sea lice on them and were insanely fresh.
Rainbow Trout, well well well, the rainbow trout. Now everyone wants to catch big rainbows on mice in Alaska and we were not the exception. But, we didnt. The rainbow fishing was slow. One of those High water, late spring, El Nina messed up years. So we didn’t crush the Bows like they usually do but we did get em’. The fish we did catch were big an beautiful. One afternoon we whitnessed a Green Drake Hatch, of course our dry flies where in the other boat (our bad) but we were able to tie on bigger prince nymphs and swing them up.
Grayling. We caught a pile of grayling on driy flies, streamers and nymphs. Some Big ones too! they are a cool fish the colors on the big dorsal fin are remarkable and they fight like Mike Tyson. This isnt a great shot but it kinda shows how colorful these fish are.
BEARS
We were told that the difference between Brown Bears and Grizzly Bears was the food source. Brown Bears are more coastal and feed on fish and humans and Grizzly Bears live more interior and feed on berrys and humans. Either way we saw a ton of bears. We knew going in that we would be in “bearville” and had no problem with it. So the first 2 days we did not see an bears but could tell by the big piles of scat that they were near by. So we kept a remarkably clean camp and made lots of noise when entering the woods to make our own scat. Day three was an interesting day. We were floating down a section of the river that looked like the Madison River in MT when Christian siad “look at that pile over there” We glanced over and saw a half burried moose with bloody antlers sticking out of the pile. We were studying the figure pretty hard until we got about 30 yards away and thats when it happend. One of those no breathing, mouth open, eyes gluded, ass puckering moments. A Brown Bear Bigger than life charged the boat. It was a bluff charge but a charge none the less. It growled and gave us a piercing stare as we floated by in awe. WOW talk about feeling insignificant.
From that moment on we saw a lot of bears. But, they were more concerned with the salmon swimming by and not us. Here are a few shots.
Photo By Jessica Ginger and Larry Tuber
We ended our trip about 70 river miles from the lake. We watched the river change 50 different times, saw countless bears and eagles and caught fish until our arms were tire. It was a great group of people and I am thankfull I got to shre this experience with my fater as well as make some new friends. Keep checking back for the video that is soon to come. Thanks for reading.
j-
