2006
-June 4
-June 9
-June 16
-June 18
-June 21
-June 27
-July 8-12
-August 18-26
-Fall Fishing
             

      

Journal

  • JUNE 4, 2006 – SPRING DOLLIES

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.  ... read entire story.

  • JUNE 9, 2006 – LATE NIGHT

Time: 11:30pm
Air Temp: 50°F
Wind: Calm
Weather: High Overcast, Light Rain

Well, Northland Services, the barge that I mentioned in the previous report, arrived this morning, only 5 days late. It appears that they were able to follow an icebreaker through the ice and into the port.  ... read entire story.

  • JUNE 16, 2006 – JET LAG RELIEF

Time: 2:00pm
Air Temp: 68°F
Wind: NW at 10 gusting to 20 mph
Weather: Clear

Today was like the first day of summer. 53 degrees in Nome, 68 degrees inland off the coast. Dave and Steve were up from Colorado, recovering from the all-nighter from Denver. No sleep was needed, just a hot cup of coffee, and we decided to head out and make the most of the day. I’d been fishing the Nome, just a short drive out of town. We had a nice drive and were able to catch up; it’d been almost a year since they had been up last.  ... read entire story.

  • JUNE 18, 2006 – FATHER'S DAY

Time: 3:00pm
Air Temp: 68°F
Wind: Southeast at 10mph
Weather: Clear

Happy Father’s Day to mine and all fathers out there today! We were able to spend the day together and with other friends preparing the site for our new cabin on the Snake River. It was another beautiful day on the Seward Peninsula. With several more of these, the snow on the peaks in the area might actually melt before July. During a quick lunch break we were able to sneak in a little dry fly action for some hungry Grayling. We didn’t even bother putting on the waders; instead we were able to cast from the sandbar just downstream of the cabin site. ... read entire story.

  • JUNE 21, 2006 – THE DROPPER

Time: 6:00pm
Air Temp: 44°F
Wind: Southwest at 6mph
Weather: Overcast

Dave, Steve and I went for a walk around the property here at the Snake River site. We saw very few fish rising on this cool, overcast afternoon. We headed to some well known pools and places that we had seen them before. Dave tied up a double rigger with a caddis dry and a dropper. Within minutes he had hooked into this beauty (it went for the dropper).  ... read entire story.

  • JUNE 27, 2006 – SALMON!

Time: 6:30pm
Air Temp: 45°F
Wind: South at 12mph
Weather: Overcast, light rain

We’ve been busy building the cabin on the Snake River, but today we’d had enough. It started raining pretty hard and since the rest of our work needs to be done from ladders, we chickened out today and went fishing instead (you can still do that in the rain!). The Pink salmon are returning in full force, and just showing up in area rivers. The even year returns here are much larger than the odd years, and we are expecting around a million salmon in the Nome River alone!  ... read entire story.

  • JULY 8-12, 2006 – 5-DAY FLOAT

Fred DeCicco and I headed out with Peter Cockwill and Lou Hegedus for a week of Grayling fishing. We had a clear sunny day to start the trip, and the helicopter flight the drop off point was a beautiful ride. The pilot dropped Lou and I off first on a small island in the creek, just large enough for the helicopter. As I readied the equipment, Lou tied on a bugger and had a little fun with some Pink and Chum salmon. By the time we were all on-site, it was time for lunch. ... read entire story.

  • AUGUST 18–26, 2006 – DAILY FLYOUTS

... As I stepped out of the door for the short ride across the river to the guest cabin a thick frost coated the porch deck and four wheeler seats. It was August 21, 06 on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula.  The sun was not over the mountain yet and the temperature was 28 degrees... 
...  I met Al at a deep hole in a side channel of the river, and he had his eye on a couple very large fish.  He had already landed one, just another 20” dolly.  The water was very clear, and we knelt at the head of it so as not to spook the large fish that were swimming big, lazy laps around the pool.   ... read entire story.

  • FALL FISHING

Fall in Western Alaska comes early.  It always seems as though the grass and willows have just greened up, and the snow from last winter has almost melted.  We’ve just began to enjoy the warm weather, the fishing, and being outdoors in shirt sleeves...  The termination dust has made its first appearance on top of the highest ridges, and will continue down the slope as the temperature gradually cools.  The streetlights finally come on at night  ... read entire story.