Float Trip on the Kasilof River
Day 5 was absolute perfection. The bar was set for life. Joe and I figured after that kind of experience, we were just hoping for a solid day on the Kasilof River that was a nice chill way to wind up the trip. Jeff (of Wet & Wild Alaska Fishing) had set us up to do a float trip on our final day.
When we got the the boat ramp we met our guide Jarod who introduced us to the other folks that were fishing with us. They were a great couple that had traveled (via RV) to Alaska for a few weeks during what I like to now call “the awesome part” of the year. When I retire, I think that Alaska would be an awesome place to go hang out for a month during July. It’s just incredible weather and the fishing is just off the charts.
Jarod got us all equipped up with our waders and we hopped on his float boat, ready to hammer them again. I was happy to see that Jarod had a bunch of fly rods loaded up for us to use, although I had not used one for salmon before. We cruised on down the river for a while and the Kasilof is beautiful and different than some of the other places we had been on the trip to Alaska. The river is rocky and has areas that are swift water but nothing too crazy.
We passed a few banks of fishermen on the way down river before we found the place our guide wanted us to start. The bank we were going to fish was on the backside of a curve and Jarod gave us a rundown of the technique that we were using with the fly rods. We were to flick the rod to 12-oclock and let the line sink down river to 10-oclock. After you felt the rocks hit the weight on the line, I found it was pretty effective to give it a good rip with the rod tip down near the water near your ankles. I don’t know why, but I was able to get the technique with ease and was on em’ quick. We absolutely starting wacking them one after another and between the current and the fly rods, it was battle after battle we had. The sockeye were soaring out of the water, pulling us all around the bank and it was non-stop action for about two hours. I learned that if I kept the rod tip low when I was fighting them in the current, it helped me maintain leverage against the fish we were fighting.
I didn’t want to stop fishing but we limited so quickly (even though the limit was 6 fish per person on the Kasilof) that we really had to pack up and head out a little early. No complaints here about that. Joe and I had a flight to catch and a long drive ahead of us so we were happy to take our limit to the processor and have some time for a few beers before the flight back home.
As we were heading down river towards the launch we parked at in the morning, there were countless fisherman on about every bank that had a clearing. From the looks of it, many of them had caught good fish as well. The float trip was definitely the kind of fishing I like where it has alot to do with technique and you are really working the fish to get him in. I loved that on the trip we were able to fish so many different styles even within the same species. That really is what to me TFBL is all about. Getting to fish so many different ways for different species with different experts simply makes you a better fisherman. Part of the reason I love fishing is that is requires dedication to perfecting your casting, presentation, technique which takes a lifetime to learn and master. Count me in.
