We were leisurely going through our morning when I got a phone call. Daryl is a Sitka resident we met on the ferry coming here.
Steve asked him several questions, and I finished up our trip asking him more trying to gain as much local knowledge as possible. By the time we had docked, I had given him my name and phone number, and he said he would call about a fishing charter recommendation. Well, a couple days ago, he did call with a name and number.
But today, he called to let us know that his son, and avid fly fisherman, was going up to Beaver Lake where Steve and I hiked the other day (See Day 31 for details and photos), and he said he would be willing to meet us there and provide some tips on fishing for the stocked Arctic Grayling there.
Steve opted out, so just Linda & I decided to go. I got our gear and waders together, and we drove out to the Beaver Lake trailhead. Young Austin, age 18, showed up and he was a super kid.
We talked all the way up the steep initial climb, and we followed him to his first recommended spot on the lake. He gave us suggestions on flies to use, and we set up our fly rods and put on our waders.
Austin was soon in the water, and we watched as he expertly cast.
We were a little nervous as we hadn't fly-fished in a long, long time, and we'd never fly-fished a lake in waders. But we trudged on out into the water, and some memory of technique came back for me.
I was still quite rusty, but at least I didn't wrap the line around my head or hook myself with the fly. Linda was also rusty with the casting, but she was more worried about her footing in the lake and was concerned with falling.
It turned out to be a little windier than we'd hoped and casting wasn't easy. Also, the wind kept the bugs down so the fish weren't showing themselves.
We had no luck in that spot, so we continued around the lake on the trail. There just aren't many easy access points, and I think Austin avoided some spots because he knew we would struggle to get to them.
He tried one more place with no luck, and then we followed him to the smaller pond at the end of the lake. It was more sheltered, less windy, and we could see fish hitting the surface.
Footing was still an issue as we kept sinking in the muck. He told us to keep our feet moving so we wouldn't get stuck.
Soon, I was casting toward a fish that had just broken the surface, and I caught it. My first fish on a fly rod in a very long time, and that leads me to this short story.
The first fish I ever caught on a fly rod was in Alaska in Denali National Park at the Kantishna Roadhouse back in 2004. They had loaner rods all set up, so I took one out to the stream around 11:00 at night. I could see a Grayling, but I had no idea what I was doing. Somehow I managed to get the fly toward the fish, and he took it. Somewhere, I have a photo of that first fish.
Here we are 15 years later, and the first fish I catch in Alaska on this trip on a fly rod is once again an Arctic Grayling. Austin was more excited than I was since he said he has buddies that have come up here several times and haven't caught a fish with a fly rod. I quickly caught a second one, and he took a picture with his phone. Hopefully, he'll send me a copy as I was more concerned about releasing the fish than getting a photo.
Austin found Linda a solid spot to stand in the water and, before too long, she caught a fish as well. He took another picture to tease his friends.
Moving around the pond, I ended up catching another couple fish. Grayling aren't a very big fish anyway compared to salmon, and all mine were pretty small. Austin got going and he quickly caught three or four, also small. But it was still fun.
It was getting late in the day, and we were supposed to go out to dinner tonight with Esther & Steve, a rare meal out, so we wrapped things up and began our hike back to the Jeep.
Austin gave us some tips on some other fishing spots, and he was just such a nice guy. It was a pleasure spending time with him this afternoon.
After our fishing and hiking, we were pretty stinky and it looked like we were going to be late for our dinner reservation. But we hustled home and both of us got showers in about ten minutes. We made it to the Channel Club only five minutes late, and we found Esther & Steve seated by the window overlooking the ocean.
We ordered a couple of appetizers to split and the salad bar. The Lamb Lollipops were excellent.
After our nice meal, I remembered to take photos - a bit too late as cars were now parking out front due to the full parking lot. But we had an unhindered view of Mt. Edgecumbe and the water during most of our dinner.
We made the short drive back to the campground where we decided to skip the evening campfire. However, I still made my usual walk to dispose of trash and check out the estuary.
No bears tonight, but I got a nice shot of these deer staring at me. I brightened up the photo a bit for sharing.
And thus ended Day 34 of our trip.
Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty rainy, so we'll play it by ear, but we may move to an RV park. Stay tuned.
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