River Fishing
Thorne Bay Lodge is centrally located on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. Prince of Wales offers endless opportunities for your fishing adventure. There are more lakes and streams than one man can ever attempt to fish in a lifetime. The road system gives you access to many of these pristine streams. All of the streams are well suited for wading. Unlike most of Alaska there are no Brown Bears on the island, only Black Bears. Prince of Wales Island gets Steelhead runs and 4 of the 5 Pacific Salmon runs in the river systems of the island. The Steelhead and Salmon runs are as follows:
Steelhead - late April through early June
Sockeye (Red) Salmon - June through September
Chum (Dog) Salmon - mid July through August
Pink (Humpy) Salmon - Late July through early September
Silver (Coho) Salmon - July through September
The Sockeye runs are not very strong on the island so I don't recommend coming to target only that species. The trout fishing is great that time of year so you can come looking at catching some trout and some Sockeye as well. The Chum Salmon runs are very dependent on rain during mid summer. That time of year is a great time to fish the Saltwater for Coho Salmon and Halibut while you are here. The Pink Salmon runs arrive in August. The rivers are boiling with life this time of year. You can catch any one of the four salmon species on your next cast. Pink Salmon dominate the landscape for most of August but you can cover different parts of the rivers and find a variety of species available. If I had to pick one month to visit Alaska this would be it. You have almost all the Salmon species available and Saltwater fishing is great as well.
By the end of September the weather is getting colder and most lodges think it's time to call it a season. They are missing out on some spectacular fishing. What most people don't know is that southeast Alaska is not as far north as the rest of Alaska. We actually closer to Seattle Washington than we are to Anchorage. Just like in the Spring the weather can be unpredictable but the fishing is phenomenal. If you can handle a little more rain you'll be greatly rewarded.
We also don't have any King Salmon runs in any of the river on the island but we do catch them in the waters surrounding the island as they migrate north to the mainland streams.
We also have native runs of Steelhead, Cutthroat Trout, and Dolly Vardon in the streams and lakes of the island.
For more information on Steelhead fishing click here>>>
For more information on Cutthroat Trout and Dolly Vardon fishing click here>>>
Flies we recommend
For Steelhead and Salmon I use heavily weighted flies most of the time, unless I am swinging a fly with a weighted sink tip. Any of your standard marabou patterns will work. Patterns such as the Popsicle, Alaskabou, Prawn patterns, Leech patterns,and most of the traditional flies tied on larger hooks. Again I prefer to fish larger patterns for the Steelhead, especially early in the spring due the colder water. I have fished crystal clear streams sight fishing for Steelhead and had trouble getting a strike until I worked my way up to some of the largest flies in my box. Later I checked the water temperature and it was 37 degrees. The water was pure snow melt so I had to work the fish with something that would get their attention at that temperature. Later in the summer I use medium sized patterns for Pink Salmon and then I move back larger flies for Coho in the fall. For salmon we use weighted flies with a floating line. Simply strip the flies at a steady pace with short and sharp strips. When the salmon are in the rivers there is a lot of activity so a good quick action will help set your fly apart from all the other things swimming around. The salmon react out of instinct when they see something swimming away the naturally want to pursue.
I have also seen egg patterns work well at times but it just isn't my preferred pattern. The Steelhead also get very territorial in these small streams so larger patterns get an aggressive response in many situations. Average stream temperature in the spring is in the low 40's. Below are a few pictures of my standard patterns. I have a few prawn patterns as well as a shrimp pattern I use with an indicator. The last fly on the bottom is a fry or minnow imitation. In the spring the dolly varden ambush the salmon fry on their way downstream and that can be a lot of fun.
