Sorry for the delay, had to run out and bonk a quick limit of silvers. Tis that time of year.
Back to the trip report.
So, there we were on the banks of a beautiful lake with a huge pile of gear, not a soul in sight, and really only one thing that could be done, crack a beer and line the wife out on blowing up the raft
![smile smile](/forum/images/graemlins/default_dark/smile.gif)
I am kidding...for the most part.
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Our welcoming party, small schools of fire engine sockeye were cruising the shoreline. The lake, as do most in the area with fresh water connections to the salt, hosts a healthy run of reds. Fishing for them in the lower creek can be awesome at times but we were at the tail end of both kings and reds with silvers being the next fresh (tasty)fish to show up. We were hoping to run into a pile of bright silvers at some point but didn't know if that would happen or not.
So before I get too far ahead, a big part of the motivation behind this trip was to introduce my wife to backcountry float trips, something that I have spent the majority of my free time doing over the last handful of years but something I have yet to pause and introduce my wife to. In the past, it has always been a couple of good buds, a cooler full of beers, and more or less no worries. This time around I was definitely worried about a few aspects of the trip. Less about how my wife would cope, as she is about as solid as they come, but more about the remote aspect of the trip, the technical nature of the rowing, bears, and what would happen if things went wrong with just me to solve the big problems should they arise. In the end, things went off without a hitch, but I will definitely admit that it was hard to relax out of fear for her safety and comfort at points, let alone work the fishing rods, cameras, and keep the boat going in the right direction. More on that topic later.
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There are definitely a few gaps in the photos so you will have to fill in the blanks to some degree. From the strip it is a few miles of frog water through the outlet of the lake before the creek gets rolling along. I have done this float once before, going on 6 years ago now, and the last time around I remember rowing through this section and seeing lots of trout feeding on the surface late in the day. This time around with the water volume being about half what it was 6 years ago, much of the outlet and first mile or two of the creek was shallow, uninteresting, and devoid of life minus sockeye on their way to the lake of which there was plenty.
Soon enough the creek picks up gradient and necks down and starts to become quite a bit more interesting from both a rowing and fishing standpoint. A fair number of kings on their way up were still hanging out in the deeper holes and at times it was hard to keep them off the #2 spinner my wife was tossing for trout.
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Lara battles a king in the upper creek. Never pass up good firewood on this float. It is hard to come by.
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Pretty typical terrain on the upper part of the creek.
Most of the good fishing is concentrated around the mouths of several substantial tributaries, the first of which is about 8 miles into the float.
![](http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n561/climzalot/P1040885_zps14d0b5ba.jpg)
I began the trip swinging the Dolly Lama which was magic last time around. White seemed to be the color of choice, but fairly quickly we started running into spawning kings and I switched to beads. Shortly after doing so it seemed as though more fish were interested in my bobber than the bead under it and so there was really only one option, put the mouse on.
![](http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n561/climzalot/P1040874_zps28f191d1.jpg)
Overachiever grayling
![](http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n561/climzalot/P1040990_zpsc29d9745.jpg)
Mouse eating rainbow, or, rainbow eating mouse, or, however you want to say it.
A fair amount more to come, gotta pull some fish off the grill first.