Gulf Coast Secrets
Steelhead are my obsession, my addiction, and like any junky, I’m at a loss to explain exactly why. They goad me when the weathers of spring and fall are at their rankest and, like a knight seeking his Holy Grail—or, perhaps, more like a fool—I’m driven to step out and answer their call. The appeal is complex, but simply put, everything that draws me to flyfishing can be found in chasing steelhead.
Rainbow Connections
To fish for rainbow trout in an Alaskan river at dusk is to tempt a monster. Depending on where you’re fishing – say, a wilderness dream like Southwestern Alaska’s Alagnak; the swift, mountain-clear waters of Southcentral’s Russian; or an evening tide in April on the whiskey-tinted streams of Southeast’s Prince of Wales Island – nighttime here is the venue of 20-pound legends.
What the Coho Said
An 11-pound buck with a faint ruddy blush attacked so swiftly that I scarcely had time to react. Pow! Leaping two feet into the air, haloed by a galaxy of droplets, the fish resembled an exploding star.
The Art of Grayling
Ancient, elegant and, in a most innocent sense, gullible, grayling are unique characters cut from the rare and precious tapestry that is Alaska. For a few old-timers (and for this one in particular) they compose the first lines of a long, colorful angling story.