Prince of Wales Adventure
by Nick Amato
Prince of Wales Island is where do-it-yourself steelhead fishing dreams really do come true. All you need is a cabin, food, vehicle, fishing tackle, appropriate clothing and the burning desire to explore the Island's many picturesque streams. On any given day during the steelhead season you could find yourself in heaven.
The image in the background is a perfect example of what can happen. Kenji King, Bruce Belles and Jake Gregg are overlooking a typical Island creek. This is easily accessible bridge is located just a few pools from a lake outlet and only a mile or so from saltwater. When we were there you could see at least 25 pre-spawn steelhead, and trust me, they were eager biters. The pools and riffles between the bridge and saltwater were even more amazing. Every pool was filled with steelhead and the gravel between was covered with spawning steelhead. In 35 years of steelhead fishing I've never seen a larger concentration of fish in such a short stretch of stream.
During any given steelhead season runs like this are common. Prince of Wales Island is located in southeast Alaska and is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west and Clarence Strait on the east. Runs of steelhead return to nearly every good-sized watershed, many of which are easily accessible by the every-improving road system. The trick to really good fishing is knowing which river or creek is producing well.
One of my personal favorite days of the trip was spent with Bill Black of Spirit River Fly Company. A diminutive stream that flows under the road leading to Craig had caught my eye. We found and old spur road that follows the creek downstream s short distance before it veers off into nowhere. I talked Bill into hiking down a tributary to the main creek. It ended up being a lot more work than anticipated, but I love nothing more than finding access to absolutely untouched water.
We spent the day fishing one beautiful pool after another, and didn't hear one man-made sound or see another angler. If a fish hadn't been touched not a better day could have been had. But this is Alaska. We managed to catch three fine-looking, fresh steelhead and a number of cutthroat trout. I think I wore Bill out, but his company's jigs fished well, and I'll bet he looks back on that day with the same fond memories that I do.
This trip was organized by Glenn Hall (host) and Taj Gombart (cameraman/producer) of the fishing show Hawg Quest. Bruce Belles and Jake Gregg of Clackacraft drift boats (pictured holding up the enormous claw), Bill Black of Spirit River and of course myself were fortunate enough to tag along. Although I've known Bruce my whole life this was the first opportunity I'd ever had to fish with him. Everyone had an absolute ball. Bruce brought along his center-pin steelhead gear and put it to good use. The day we arrived he was immediately in to steelhead. Unlike the rest of us late-nighters, he caught numerous bonus steelhead each morning on the famed, and nearby, Thorne River, before we were out of bed.
I'm still young enough to enjoy late-night cocktails with the best of them, and then get up early and hike all day. But as time passes I'm finding it more and more enjoyable to take striking images of nature, fish at a more relaxed pace, and enjoy all the gifts that encompass a magnificent steelhead adventure. Sharing techniques and the camaraderie that does along with this type of trip are the gems that last long after an adventure like this is over. Price of Wales Island is everything that Oregon must have been long before I was able to fish her streams and rivers. I cherished every moment knowing that houses are being steadily built on every available water-front property back home.
The steelhead of Prince of Wales Island return from November through May. The best time to target fish is during April and May because all of the fish are in the rivers and streams. Depending on the weather steelhead fishing can be very good in late fall and throughout the cold months of winter, but it would take a hearty soul to zero in on them. The potential frigid weather might also make even the freshest fish a bit lethargic. When spring weather warms the lakes and streams the final and largest push arrives. You'll find a mixed bag of dark early-run fish, chrome-bright spring fish and a smattering of hard-fighting downstreams.
In the background, piscivore Jake Gregg pillages one of the finest steelhead pools I've ever had the pleasure of fishing. I'd be surprised if I ever fish another spot again that holds as many wild spring steelhead. This particular stream is lightly fished and defines the dreams of a steelhead addict. Some years this particular spot is void of fish, but what commonly happens in all of southeast Alaska is that some rivers or creeks will receive an abundant run, while others will see only a very limited return. The return varies from watershed to watershed each season. The key to successful fishing is to either explore and find the fish or get some local knowledge right before your trip. I had the foresight to ask some departing anglers what to expect, and their tips were spot on. We were using custom jigs and balsa floats, but a swung fly would have been extremely effective and pleasant to fish. The waters of the Island are perfect for fly fishing because they have all the right ingredients. Easy-to-cover water that is rarely deep and aggressive wild steelhead are an unbeatable combination. I look forward to fishing these same areas with a light spey rod.
Kenji King with chrome-bright wild hen. This small stream was also heavily laden with aggressive steelhead. Kenji and I easily hooked more than 10 fish in less than half a day. Our strategy was simple-park at a bridge and start fishing our way downstream. A little-traveled road parallels this creek, making fishing very easy. When it was time to leave, we simply walked back upstream to the truck.
Many years ago when Brent and Kenji first started exploring Prince of Wales Island, they learned a little trick to determine if any given stream had returns of steelhead. The key is to look for salmon bones. The Island's numerous black bears love salmon. Any river, creek or lake tributary that has salmon bones along its shorelines will probably have runs of steelhead, too. The bears will leave fish skeletons on loges near the stream during salmon season, where they will remain frozen in place through winter. With the warming of spring they are revealed once more.
Believe it or not there is more than just steelhead fishing on Prince of Wales Island. Runs of chum, pink, sockeye and silver salmon are prolific in most of the Island's road-accessible streams and rivers. Although I haven't experienced the fishing in summer and early fall I've seen the pictures. The same streams we steelhead fished are clouded with salmon. these fish are good biters and make fore great sport on light tackle. There are also ample numbers of sea-run Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout.
Let's not forget about the saltwater-fishing opportunities. My favorite evening was, without a doubt, seafood night. Brent Dickinson (owner of Thorne Bay Lodge) took Glenn, Jake and I on a short distance out of Thorne Bay to pull his prawn pots. Although they were set very, very deep a real pain to pull up, it was worth every whimper. We also pulled a few crab pots that were full of bounty. Those fresh prawns and Dungeness crab were a treat that I'll never forget. Next season I'm going to chase kings, silvers and halibut in the salt and spend some time river salmon fishing with a fly rod. I can't wait!
This article is from the May 2008 issues of
Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine
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