We got in after midnight yesterday and missed the views on the way in, then woke up around 8 when it was still dark out and couldn’t make out our surroundings. The wait was worth it though, and the view from our corner hotel room (Reese’s parents hooked us up) certainly did not disappoint.

Cook Inlet on one side...

Chugach Range on the other side...

We spent the day taking it easy and exploring Anchorage. We stopped in a couple shops downtown, and I thought the coolest shop was probably the Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers Co-op. I’m not much of a “shopper,” but I have to admit the fiber from the musk ox was a remarkably soft and warm. Hope things cool off some, otherwise I think the hat Reese picked up is going to be a bit warm!

Reese sporting her new Qiviut hat

We drove around a bit and tracked down a couple of fly shops.  We stopped in McAfee’s Fly Shop first and didn’t hear any promising news  (although he was helpful and forthcoming with info).

Reese snuck this pic in... getting the bad news

I wasn’t quite ready to give up so we checked out the World Wide Angler shop. It was a sweet shop and was HUGE, but unfortunately the news there wasn’t any better than at McAfee’s. Fly fishing Alaska in late November just wasn’t meant to be for me. Guess I’ll just have to come back in season!! Ended up talking skiing for a bit with the WWA crew and I’m hoping we can work in some skiing time at Alyeska before we head home. Looks like they’re going to open up in the next day or two.

I know it’s going to be all kinds of cold and dark, but I figured (well, maybe hoped it a better word) there would be some sort of fly fishing option while I’m out there… Well, I’ve almost given up hope at this point.

After trying the folks at Deneki Outdoors (fan of the blog for sure), Alaska Troutfitters, Mystic Waters Fly Fishing, and X-tream Alaska, I’m still coming up empty. Deneki Outdoors gets the award (hands down, they’re the only ones I was actually able to make contact with) for being the most helpful, but I’m striking out nonetheless.

Don’t have much time left to do any sort of planning, but I thought I would give it one last effort… Any suggestions of who I should talk to about doing some Alaska fly fishing in late November (and by late November, I mean next week)? Is it even possible?

My buddy Chris (fished with him last week), suggested I ditch the fishing idea and opt for skiing instead. Not looking like a terrible idea…

It had been a long day at work getting things squared away for Friday and road trips, even in the ~4hr range, are always tiring. The last thing I wanted to hear was “we don’t have a room for you,” but it turned out to be a good deal. They put us up in a different hotel for the night and then put us up in a “villa” when they brought us back the next day. Saved some $ and got a sick upgrade, not bad.

Woke up Friday to a beautiful day. Low 60’s, sunny, no wind… The ladies were going to spend the day doing some shopping, and considering that malls are probably my least favorite place on the planet, I figured it was a good opportunity to try and get in some time on the water.

I had scouted out some spots (God bless google maps), but after consulting with the King of rough fishing in the Lone Star State, I discovered the spots I had been thinking about were posted no-fishing. Whoops.

Would have probably ended up arrested (or at least heavily fined) if it wasn’t for Dave, but instead, he put me on a killer spot. It was silly how good this spot was, not kidding, silly.

Within the first half hour I missed two definite takes. Was borderline frustrated and mad that I had spooked a couple spots holding nice pods of fish, when I noticed a gulping mouth come out of the vegetation a few feet directly in front of me. It wasn’t even fair… a little dap dap dap, and the skunk was off my back.

No chance

I had developed a small gallery of on-lookers on their smoke break and not wanting to give anyone any ideas for after work activities, I moved downstream for a bit to check things out. Promptly botched a hookset and spooked another group of fish and hunted around unsuccessfully for a bit before heading back upstream.

Ran into a spotted gar parked in the middle of the creek and gave it a good effort, but couldn’t manage to get its attention. Literally dragged the fly across his nose at one point, and the only response was a little flick of the tail and a slight change of direction.

Look in the middle...

Tired of getting “the finger” from the gar I moved upstream some more and hit the jackpot. Carp were feeding everywhere I looked, and close. They were burying themselves in the junk and were going to town on whatever was inside. Stripping the fly in/around all the junk what impossible (at least for me), so I resorted to casting the fly on top of the junk, and then just vibrating the line to give the fly a bit of life. Did the trick. Saw a nose move up around the area I thought my fly was and set the hook…

Had a great time “trying” to steer him away from all the trouble around and managed to get him in pretty close. Tried to scoop him in the net when he gave the standard “you think I’m tired, but I’m not… I’m gonna go on another run” to me… and snapped my rod before I even knew what was going on.

####… Really??? Again?? Another broken rod? I feel like I JUST had it repaired. I ended up pulling him in by hand… just had to get a shot of the fish responsible for the breakage.

Sage, get ready for another warranty claim... sorry, really I am.

Had to call it a day… really wish I would have packed a spare rod, it was a crazy good spot. Definitely motivated to find something similar in my own backyard. If you’re trying to get into some rough fish in the DFW area, you’ve gotta book a trip with Dave Speer. Stand up guy… knows how to find ‘em and catch ‘em.

Closed out the Dallas trip with the game on Sat. I’m a lot more comfortable on the banks of a creek than in the chaos of the TX state fair on game day, but it was still a hell of a time.

Ocean of orange and red

The game was obviously disappointing, but it was definitely fun and exciting… I think I could make a strong argument for having the best seat in the house.

Literally on the 50, high enough where you can still see everything, but not too high that you miss out.

 Yeah, I may have been sitting next to TX fans, but they weren’t d-bags so it was all good. Woulda been nice to walk away with a W though.

Got home just in time on Sunday to make the drive to Norman… time to close out the weekend with some straight up entertainment!

Opened with the Black Eyed Peas

And closed with the one of the biggest of all time….

U2!

Broken rod, lost game… still don’t think the weekend could be beat. Hell of a time.

Makes Monday awfully rough though. Ward needs a nap. Bad.

I woke up on day 4 wondering how I was going to top day 3… I knew full well that I had my work cut out for me, but why not try?? Reese decided to sleep in and explore town while I went in search of more wild trout. I started off the day on a certain little creek in the park:

so many fishy hideouts and so little time...

Bounce a caddis off a boulder.. fun and productive game

 Caught some great fish that morning, lots of rainbows and a few small brookies… gave me a good chance to do some more experimentation with the underwater capabilities of my camera.

Staring me down...

Tried this one with the flash...

Enjoyed the reflection on this one

 I was having a lot of fun exploring the creek, but I was starting to itch for something a little different. I remembered noticing a creek running through a nice meadow during our hunt for Goldens. Decided to give it a shot…

Surrounded by mountains... clear cold water, undercut banks, overhanging vegetation... a dream

I explored this thing up and down… had to fight a strong headwind all morning and early afternoon. Caught lots of small brookies and browns, but not many rainbows. In a lower section of this creek I started catching some larger silvery rainbows… obviously stockers. Packed it up after dragging in a couple  of them… travel over a thousand miles for stockers!

After taking a break for a couple hours to eat with Reese back in Mammoth I closed out the day back in the park. I had a few friends land on me when I got out of the car after arriving and new it was going to be  a nice late afternoon/evening.

yum

Bugs were everywhere and the fish were definitely happy. They were so happy in fact, I didn’t even notice the mosquitos on my shins until the next day… I don’t know if it was just because I knew we were headed for San Fran the next day or what, but it seemed like every fish I caught that evening was extra colorful and special. 

Rainbow in the sun

Rainbow in the Shade

It was hard to make myself leave. The fishing was crazy good, the fish were crazy pretty, and I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to do something like this for a long time… but I really didn’t want to take the Tioga Pass down at night. It was intense enough in the day with the rental’s shakey/squeeky brakes. I ended up being glad I left a little before dark… The sunset on the drive home was a great way way to close out a day fishing.

A few of the shots out the window turned out surprisingly well

Thought the moon was a nice touch

 What a great time in the Sierra’s. Nearly everyone I spoke with about the trip before we left kept telling me how the Sierra’s were the most impressive, beautiful, enjoyable mountains anywhere… I was afraid that I was going to think they were overrated. Not at all…. Not one bit.

Happy faces to start off the trek

I expected the altitude to make life difficult for us “flatlanders,” but it wasn’t too bad. Maybe the landscape was just so incredibly beautiful that it didn’t matter!

Trail Panorama (gotta click to appreciate)

Reese was definitely a trooper… The hike was a little longer and had a lot more elevation gain that I had pitched it to her (honest mistake). The last leg was pretty intimidating looking up from below, but once we got on top it was all smiles again.

Can you see the relief??

Just had to drink some...

Snooooooow

After eating some lunch it was game time… Found a good looking spot and managed to get a take (on the dropper) on the first cast.

1st cast

Giddyup

Even more stunning in person... Crazy to see their colors through the clear water

I felt like I was going to have a case of the “fish on the first cast curse” after this one… I made casted to some risers for at least 30 min without even getting a look (that I could see). Threw every dry I could think of, soft hackles, emergers, you name it… couldn’t figure ‘em out. Didn’t want to spend all day on those fish so we moved on to find some others…

Trying to sneak in...

Another dropper victim

Good look from above

I didn’t have crazy success up there, but I did manage to bring in a handful. The winds were consistently strong and made casting the 2wt a chore. I thought I had become pretty proficient at casting in the wind thanks to all my okie fishin’ time, but throwing a 2wt into a headwind made me think otherwise. I don’t know what is considered a “good” day fishing these alpine lakes, but I’m very pleased with the results of this outing. A handful was enough to seem like a lot while still making each fish seem valuable! It’s hard to say which was prettier, the scenery or the fish!

So blue.. and it's not even post-processed!

Catching fish like this everyday would make you spoiled... ha

The hike down was a heck of a lot quicker than the hike up and we made a few pit stops on the way down for Reese to get in some fishing…

Looooks good to me...

"I GOT one!!"

"Cute little brookie!"

Not a bad way to close out a sweet little adventure!

Once we got back to our place in Mammoth it didn’t take long to wind down and hit the sack…. Only we didn’t stay asleep long. We woke up to loud crashing outside and I immediately hopped out of bed and high stepped it over to the window to look out and see if it was a bear. Was so pumped when I looked out and saw it out just across the street trying to get into one of the dumpsters. We got out our cameras and tried to snap some pics of the beast below, it was HUGE (granted I have nothing to compare it to). Seemed like it was as big as the cars down there. Reese’s camera wouldn’t actually take the shot, I guess if it can’t focus it wont snap the shutter (too fancy for me to understand)? My flash didn’t help at all either, but after adding some fill light to the picture you can see the outline of the bear at least…

BEAR... very black

Really don’t know if we could have packed in any more cool stuff in one day…

The flight from OKC to Vegas was pretty uneventful… but once we got to Vegas things got a little bit more interesting (standard for Vegas). While we were waiting to board our flight to Reno we heard some commotion… Looked over and saw a woman choking and turning a eerie blue. A man next to her started doing the heimlich maneuver, but was unsuccessful after about a dozen tries. The woman definitely looked like she was in bad shape and things were getting pretty intense. A few military personel ran over and went to work… it took them a few tries, but they ended up dislodging whatever was keeping her from breathing. Taking care of business at home and abroad… very nice. I wish I would have pulled out my camera for a quick video…would have made for a great youtube vid, but things were a little too intense to think of it at the time.

We were delayed a few minutes while doctors checked out the lady, but she checked out and we boarded pretty quickly. Soutwest is weird, they don’t give you seat #’s and it’s a bit of free-for-all to get a seat. Reese and I grabbed a couple of seats by the window and waited to see who would be joining us… a fun waiting game. We lucked out hard core and sat next to a guy named Steve Keegan. He was a really nice guy, offered us a couple of congratulatory cocktails after noticing Reese’s ring and struck up a convo that lasted the whole (short) flight. Turns out he’s a pretty big name photojournalist who’s now doing some wedding photography to pay the bills. He was able to give us a ton of information about the Sierra’s and Napa and we definitely landed in Reno more prepared for our adventures than when we boarded.

We picked up our fly ride (impala baaabaay) and after a quick pit stop at an In and Out Burger we were on our way. Most of the drive was in the dark, which was disappointing to miss the view along the way, but the drive to Mammoth Lakes went pretty quickly regardless.

We had a terrible time trying to find a place to stay near Yosemite, but managed to find the Cinnamon Bear Inn a few days before we left. Turned out to be another lucky find… it was a great place. Comfy bed, living room, full kitchen… we were definitely a lot more comfortable than we would have been camping.

No AC, but the open window cooled things down

Not a bad spot to chill out after a long day

All kinds of Convenient

*you can click any of the pics (including ones below) to see them enlarged

Didn’t take long to crash… driving wears me out and had a long day of fishing/sight seeing ahead of us…Woke up and hit up the complimentary breakfast. They do it right..

It was nice to get outside and finally see the beautiful country that we were in. Ran into an interesting specimen while gassing up…

Never seen anything like it...

The short drive to the Tioga Pass leading into the park was pretty, but the view once we were on the pass was crazy pretty.

Once we finished the steep trek into the park I was greeted with more open water than I knew what to do with. I started fishing one particular creek that had been (VERY) kindly recommended to me…

Cold, clear, and FISHY

Didn’t take long after tying on a EHC and caddis puppa dropper to see some success. The first of many out of this creek was a pretty rainbow (turned out to be one of the larger ones I caught out of the creek).

Stealth was harder in the trees/boulders than I imagined

Can't even express how much fun it is to catch wild fish, nice way to start things off

Nice to have clear water for the underwater shots... Definitely not used to that

The first few to hand were all bows and they seemed to get progressively smaller, but I stumbled on to my first Brookie in no time.

Check another one off the list!

Pretty soon after the Brookie, I noticed Reese walking downstream (had been working my way downstream and left her set up with a camp chair and book on a boulder) looking for me. She had missed me crouched on a boulder and had passed… had to hop across stream and chase her down, but she had already become a little worried (ok, very worried) that we had been separated. Strike one… Note to self, be more careful to stay in sight!

I put up the fly rod for a few hours to make amends and we did some sight seeing… Took a while to get down to the Valley and we were met with huge crowds, but it was still nice to see the sights.

Lucky charm?

Another of the many impressive views

Don't know the name of this one... but I was exhausted just watching these guys/girls climb

After making the rounds, we headed back over to the east side for some more fishing before calling it a day. Found a nice little meadow and decided to give it a shot.

I love this place

I closed things out with another handful of rainbows and brookies before hooking into my first brown of the trip.

3/4 of the way to a slam

A pretty great way to start off the trip… Lots of fun, feisty, wild trout… and some great scenery that I’m sure I’ll never forget. On top of it all I got to share it with the girl I love more than anything… pretty much a dream scenario. It’s official, I need vacation more often.

Hope to throw up a post of day 3 (alpine lake/golden trout day) tomorrow, but we’re headed to Napa to have our fill tomorrow, so I’m not sure what kind of “posting condition I’ll be in.

-Ward

Black bear… Check.

Grand slam (bow, brown, brookie, golden)… Check.

Accomplished my trip goals, but I really think I could spend the rest of my life exploring and fishing the sierras and never get tired or bored. Seriously…what a destination.

Pretty much had a panic attack driving in the Oakland/San Fran rush hour traffic.

Gonna set up shop in starbucks (or quit being a cheapo and buy the hotel Internet) tomorrow and post some pics.

Today… The hunt for goldens begins!

Got in late last night after a pretty eventful day of traveling… I’ll fill you in on details later…Havent figured out the wifi situation at our place in mammoth lakes yet. Hope to figure it out later so I can post some reports in the evenings, but if I can’t figure it out I’ll post once we get to San Fran/napa. Time to go track down and check out the breakfast and then go find some WILD trout.

Storm Much? (image courtesy of weather.com)

I’ve decided the vacation is definitely necessary. With only minimal time on the water the past couple weeks and a predicted lousy week and half coming up… It’s time to get outa here for a while.

THANKFULLY, Reese and I have access to some frequent flyer miles that need to be burned.  I’m not the most accomplished traveler around… so I thought this would be a good oppurtunity to tap into the collective experience of everyone reading out there.

These are the options:

SouthWest's Route Map

What do you think? I’ll definitely be looking for some fun water to fish, but having things to for Reese to enjoy (other than fishing!) will be just as important!! We’re thinking Aug 1-8th will work out the best schedule-wise. Can’t wait to hear your advice!