BACK TO INDEX

Time: 7:00pm
Air Temp: 43°F
Wind: SW at 15 gusting to 24 mph
Weather: Mostly Clear

We’ve had a late spring here in Nome. Temperatures have been cool, mostly in the 30’s and 40’s. We had one week in May with 50-60 degree temps, but that’s it. There is still about 2 miles of ice clinging to the shore of the Bering Sea in front of town, spanning from Cape Nome in the east all the way to Sledge Island west of Nome. The landscape is brown, with quite a lot of snow patches here and there. The supply barge that was scheduled to arrive to this roadless community today will by all accounts be a couple weeks late.

I’d been out fishing the Nome River for the past three nights. The water is down to a normal level, and has cleared up nicely from the muddy runoff that existed just last week. The first two nights yielded nothing but a few nibbles, a lost fly, cold hands, and the realization that my equipment needed some cleaning.

Back on the river tonight with a smooth casting six-weight, I found a bend in the river that was protected from the wind. I got into my nylon waders again, and out I went. The water was cold, but as soon as I saw the first Dolly Varden break the surface, the cold went away. There seemed to be several of them in a sort of feeding frenzy. They were breaking the surface violently multiple times. Then it would be quiet for a minute or two, then start up again. I began casting a small fry pattern to imitate the hundreds of thousands of Salmon fry present in the river. I was barely able to get the first strip in when a Dolly took the fly! After a few minutes I had landed the fish, dinner tonight. It turned out to be a 20 inch beauty.

I fished for about another fifteen minutes and landed one more, measuring in at 21 inches. After releasing the fish, I was ready for dinner, so I headed back into Nome. About halfway back, my fingers began to thaw out. When I cleaned out the fish, I found just what I suspected; a stomach full of fry. They were all about one inch long with silver bodies, green backs, and a small yellow remnant of the yolk sac left attached to their underside, right behind the head.

BR

BACK TO INDEX