--I traveled with John Bilotta to Naknek River Camp (www.naknekrivercamp.com) during 16-23 Sep to swing flies for large rainbows. I met up with some of my other fly-fishing buddies, some of whom also turned 50 this year. This trip was a gift from my wife as a 50th birthday present, so a big thank you to my wife. What a present!
We had a terrific fishing trip, everyone caught personal bests using a variety of tactics. Some of my friends gave it a go with two-handed rods and swinging flies and caught big rainbows. My friend Greg caught a 31" rainbow on his switch rod as he began to get the hang of two-hand casting and fishing.
Myself, I caught two 30" rainbows, one 29", one 27", and several +20" trout, a few char, and few salmon. I fished two-handed swung flies exclusively, so very satisfying to catch these large fish using these tactics. John B also fished two-handed exclusively. I watched John bring to hand some large fish and play one monster that ultimately broke off. I know that John brought to hand at least one 31" trout.
My other fishing buddies commented that they thought this was the best fishing trip they had experienced. Many thanks to Jim and Phyllis Johnson of Naknek River Camp for hosting us during this week. They were very welcoming, and all their guides were knowledgeable and helpful and good people. The accomodations were comfortable and clean. The dining was good fare, tasty and filling. The lodge is more dedicated to the fishing rather than high end living, just like their website says, and that made the stay in my mind. I very much want to go back, there were larger trout that the guides could eyeball lying on the river bottom. The guides were talking 34" trout. I think that must mean there is some 36" leviathan in that river. One day, we were chasing large char, and the guides were directing casts to place flies in front of the giant ones. I never did hook up with one of those, but that would exciting to repeat the attempt.
This trip scratched many itches. It had been a goal to catch +30" trout, double digit in lbs, on two-hand rods with the swung fly. I found that my casts improved throughout the trip, allowing proper presentation of the flies. Very satisfying to make casts with heavy skagit heads, heavy sink tips (10 - 15 ft of T-17, T-20), and light to heavy flies (5in long rabbit strip leach with dumbbell eyes), to put that cast in the slot, and have the hook up. 'The tug is the drug' was the mantra, 'Thou shall not trout set' was the commandmant. The trout often tapped the fly a few times as it was swinging, you had to wait for the take, and then strip set. Sometimes the take was immediate. All very exciting.
The lodge includes a boat trip to Brooks Falls to fish the Brooks river for trout holding behind sockeye salmon. Brooks is the place to see brown bears up close and personal. My friends elected to take this trip, and they said it was amazing to see the bears and the fishing was fantastic, mostly bead 'flies' on light fly rods. John B and I opted out of this because we came to swing flies with two-hand rods, and up to that day I had still not caught the fish I was hoping to catch. The lodge fixed us up with a terrific, hardworking guide that knew two-hand fishing and knew how to put us on fish. If you want, you can even choose to take a fly-out to other streams, leaving in the morning and returning in the afternoon.
I know that John Bilotta is putting a trip together for next year, the week of 22-29 Sep 2018. This should time with more larger trout, more eager to hit the swung fly. During our week, the trout were just beginning to come off the egg bite.
Regan
http://www.tpfr.org
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