A little nookie - Alaska West Week 3

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Through chance, luck and a bit of timing, I found myself heading to Alaska West on the Kanektok River for their third "Spey Week", June 25 - July 2. A week of swinging flies for chrome chinook? Can't begin to tell you how excited I was. Needless to say, I had an amazing time. Fishing was great, accommodations relaxed and comfortable, and of course the company was fantastic. The Kanektok is a gorgeous river, with gravel bar after gravel bar of some of the juiciest swinging water ever. The lower end is tidal, and during high tide anchoring up and casting single hand rods from the boats was both fun and effective. In addition to chinook, we caught a lot of chum, and they are cleaner than any others I have seen. Also, sockeye, pinks, gorgeous leopard rainbows and dollys are available, and somehow I managed to land four tiny little flounder. Working the run, thousands of ooligans swim by your feet and salmon slash and roll all around you. Bear tracks litter the beaches, birds fly overhead and sing all night long, and yes, there are mosquitos wanting to get up close and personal. Here are a few shots from the week.

Last light lasts forever.

Getting ready to head out.

Bow-bow

So chrome.

These tracks weren't there yesterday.

A fresh tidewater fish.

George Cook was on hand to give spey casting intruction.

The release...

-Trevor Covich photo-

Casting at the mouth: next stop Russia.

-George Cook photo-

Mice, chinook flies, sculpins, eggs, flesh...the rainbows are voracious.

-Whitney Gould photo-

Guide and amazing friend Whitney.

Yes, they have spots on their eyes.

-Whitney Gould photo-

Guides Garrett and Matt get comfy.

Big grabs, beautiful fish... can't help but smile.

-Trevor Covich photo-

Heavy rain and no wind = moquito attack.

-Garrett Sullivan photo-

The Kanektok isn't the only river in the area with big chinnies.

-Matt Hynes photo-

You can see forever: the mountains are 90+ miles away.

Be warned, you will become addicted to these fish.

-Trevor Covich photo-

Alaska West is on an island: Flag Channel meets the mainstem.

What's a little rain when you're fishing?

For more information visit the Alaska West website here. They also have regular updates on the Deneki Outdoors Facebook page here.

Thanks so much to the crew at AK West for a great trip!