The weather here is so prone to change that Brian and I decided the theme of our trip should be "that's what it is for the moment. Whether it's the forecast it simply immersing ourselves in the day's activities, be in the moment and roll with whatever the moment brings.
Today's weather was warm and clear all day long so we took full advantage. We flew out to a lake over 100 miles away we had spectacular views of Dinali then flew through a long set of valleys surrounded by jagged mountains on either side. Glaciers, tundra, and not a soul to be seen in nearly all of it.
We landed on a lake and hiked about a half mile to a section of river the lake fed. There we fished for grayling with dry flies. The guide had a lot of experience with this section and lead us straight to a honey hole. I was very surprised at the size and aggression of these fish because I'd only ever seen small ones. I caught 4, some if which made powerful runs away from me and took some real work to get them to the net. Brian got several strikes and then caught 2.
The wind kept increasing to the point where the pilot was worried it might damage the pontoons on his plane so he flew us over to the opposite end of the lake. There we fished for lake trout and arctic char.
The owner of the lodge who is also a guide and pilot (and an MD) said the char in the picture above is the best he's seen in several years.
We ended up the day by flying to another lake with the very clear water where tons of sockeye salmon andd to grayling were hanging around just few yards shore. We all caught grayling but only one sockeye.
In the flight back to the lodge the pilot spotted a massive bull moose in a meadow and dropped down from about 7'000 ft to only 50ft with some tight turns so we could have a better look.
Fantastic day!
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