Alaska: day one captions

Six full days of fishing; six different rivers.  I've divided the photos by day.  A "report" for each day is too daunting but can't hurt to roll out some pics with captions.

Our transport.  All days but one we loaded gear into beaver planes and took off from dock just as one would typically leave via boat.

The vibe inside the plane.  Seven people max.

Air tours were another mode of "by-catch" each day.

From planes to boats, which are stashed on each river.

First day we fished a short connector river between two lakes.  It was nymphing, same as home, only the fish were a lot bigger and we were using egg patterns.  JM got a dark dolly right away; mostly though we caught unlimited rainbows and a good number of arctic char.

Surrounded by dying sockeye salmon all day.  Some struck flies but they were not a target specie.

An "average" rainbow on the day.

This is the water.  Cut it into strips and fish it just like one would fish small water at home.

Exciting and eerie to be surrounded by fish in varying states of death and decomposition.  But again, they are the food source: eggs and flesh.

Leopardy rainbow.  Not sure how many we caught but it was a lot.  Some small pieces of water would give up half dozen fish in a short time.

JM with our guide for the day Corey who was great.  He knew we were nymphing machines and he let us go at it.  He's a real steady demeanor with good dead-pan humor; knows a lot about the rivers and the fish.  The feeling was of three guys hanging out on a river.  Talking and drifting beads.  What a way to start things off.

The"fly box" fascinated me.  It's an egg box.  What we used nearly all day.  Cool to watch him peg the eggs.

We got maybe a dozen char mixed in with bows. 

Good view of the water and the sockeye.

JM sight fished to a big bow.  Corey changed from egg to big streamer and on the first drift the fish thumped it.

Think this fish was 25 inches long.

Our group with the pilot, who is from Norway.  JM on camera.