Having used my 2011 travel fishing budget in Mexico a couple months ago, I went out on a limb when I got this nearly last minute chance on a discount steelhead trip to SE Alaska. I've thought about going to the popular Situk a number of times, but it's popularity has dissuaded me from spending the coin and travel only to experience Lewis St. bridge style crowds in the Alaskan wilderness. This trip is different. Small streams, difficult to access, small steelhead runs, and for those reasons, no people.

Here's a few trip pictures:
An airstrip barely long enough to land a 737. I've never seen wing flaps extended so far.


Dragging the dinghy up through the intertidal area so that it will be accessible when we return to it at high tide.


Typical steelhead. Most run 7 or 8 pounds, with a few larger and smaller.


Small pools and pockets between rapids and waterfalls. Not the usual Skagit or Hoh River experience.


A close up view of the run. It held several fish beyond that rock. Yeah, that bent rod is playing another steelhead.


One of my favorite pools, only about 150 yards from the ocean at high tide.


I landed a couple fish from it that day.


The major obstacle to fishing here is access. We run anywhere from 10 to 20 miles from town in a 32' ocean worthy boat powered by twin fuel sucking 250 hp outboards. Then we anchor that boat offshore, take the dinghy from the roof, put it in the water, slap the little 2 1/2 hp kicker on its transom, then putt into shore, and pull the dinghy up above high tide. Then begin hiking through trail-less pristine forest replete with fallen timber, devil's club, stream-side boulders, and generally rough enough terrain to get me huffing and puffing. You cannot dress appropriately for this kind of fishing. You sweat when you hike, and you get cold when you stop to fish; there is no comfortable place in between. However, there is a stove going in the cabin on the 32' craft, so you warm up quickly upon returning.

As a bonus, we stop and run the crab and shrimp pots every couple days on the way back in, so it was fresh seafood for dinner every evening. Not a bad trip, and I'll recover financially in a couple pay days.

Sg

Nice report SG. Looks like fun trip.

Damn, SG! That is what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Absolutely awesome!

Just outstanding!

Thanks for sharing.

Nice.

Fish on...

Todd

Salmosalar,

Rick was going to take us to the only nightlife in Wrangle - Thursday is karaoke night at the Marine Bar - but I think he got too drunk before it started. For such a small town, the 3 or 4 hotties sure stood out, but they haven't been "Matneyed" yet.

Stam,

Although you could do some damage with a gear rod, you wouldn't outfish Rick on those creeks. You'd probably do more damage than I could however, but I learned a new thing or two about steelheading last week. In fact, while there I was thinking this is something that Stam could get excited about. In Rick's hands, the fly rod normally hooks 100% of the steelhead in those streams. It would be hard to do much better with any other gear.

Sg

Looks like a great trip!

Thanks for sharing! Bet those rockets kicked your arse on fly gear in those creeks. AWESOME!!! Scenery and obstacles remind me of the Nemah.

Looks like you had a great time, Steve! Looks like fun!

Very cool trip thanks for posting. What technique did you use in such a small creek? Looks too small to swing and forget the spey rod. Czech style nymphing I'm guessing? Or did you submit to an indicator which would no doubt be very effective.

Cool post/report, never fished the Situk but have caught alot of steelhead out of alot of S.E. AK. rivers, streams and cricks, many with no names and little or no pressure, perfect!

Very cool report. Different from what we do down here for sure. Trout water with steelhead in it - nice! I bet you did learn a few new tricks.

Any dry fly action?

Thanks for the report! It looks like you had a blast!

Same creek they did that seasons on the fly on out of Wrangle? at least thats what it looks like.

Stam- Its not even fair I'd work all day for a couple on the fly if I was lucky.... then huck spoons to see what was really living there....

Snit,

Hooked to landed ratio tends to be low. When fish head down waterfalls or to the ocean it's time to hold the line and break off. My best day was landing 50% of the fish I hooked.

Jam,

Limited opportunities to fish the swing for sure. Mostly nymphing. I took one small Spey rod and used it on the big crick.

FF02,

I took some dries because the guide rose one to a mouse last year. Late spring this year, and with water temp at 39 - 40*F, no dry fly action.

OP,

Many, many creeks around there. None of these had special use permits until this year. No need for the spoons. The guide usually counts all the fish in the pool before we begin fishing, and he's got eagle eyes, consistently sees two to three times as many fish as I do. And I thought I could see fish. I think he got pissed at me the day I spooked the fish so badly that we left two that didn't get hooked. He's of the "catch 'em all" philosophy.

Sg