June in Southwest Alaska

      As I tie the 1/32 oz black headed jig with its tiny size 10 hook on the 8 lb test line threaded thru the  light TFO spinning rod and then glance at the mass of 25” – 30” Arctic Char not 10 yards below me in the dark pool of Alaska’s Iliamna River, I feel like I’m holding a bone in front of Killer, my massive Rottweiler.  After crimping the ½” piece of hollow lead wire about 18” above the tiny brown and black jig I hand the spinning rig to my client and tell him to cast it across current, free spool about 15 feet of line, let the jig settle in the hole below us and hit the slightest tug on the line.  As the jig settles into the pool I’m watching the rod tip.  When it sinks the tiniest bit I say “hit him!”  As my client raises the rod tip the rod suddenly bends in half and the drag on the reel whines as the big char feels the hook and strips off line in its first frantic run.  The only advice I have for my client is to keep the rod tip high so the fish fights the rod and not the line, hang on and keep your fingers away from the fast disappearing line!
It’s early June in southwest Alaska’s famous Bristol Bay watershed and the beautiful Arctic Char of southwest Alaska have been “surviving” all winter under several feet of ice in the deep holes of the Iliamna River, having lost upwards of 30% of their body weight during the long Alaska winter.  5 years of tagging and telemetry  studies by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game on Alaska’s remote Iliamna River has shown that although some of the resident Char migrate back into Lake Iliamna to spend the winter, many of them winter in the river itself.  It  is now early June and the Arctic Char are gathered in the deep holes of the upper river waiting for the schools of Sockeye fry to make their frantic dash down river to spend their first summer along the shores of Lake Iliamna feeding on the abundant terrestrial  insect life that lives in the lake.  The huge runs of Sockeye Salmon ascend the Kvijak River from the Bering Sea where they spent the last 3 years, into the 85 mile long Lake Iliamna and then into its feeder streams of which one is the Iliamna River.  The Sockeye show up in the lake flashing bright silver, but within a week they begin to develop the green head and bright red bodies that give them the nickname “Red Salmon.”   After milling around the mouths of the tributaries of the lake for 5 – 7 days the Sockeyes begin to venture upstream where they fan beds in the gravel and begin to lay their eggs to complete their life cycle.  Within 30 days of the time they have left the ocean they will have spawned and are playing “Gold Fish” floating belly up washing onto the bank and decaying in the river, providing nutrients for the river and the Sockeyes developing eggs.  Each mature female Sockeye Salmon can produce 3,000 – 5,000 eggs, the lucky ones getting fertilized and working their way into the crevices in the gravel of the river bottom to spend the long winter developing in their egg sacks.  At ice out in mid May, the fry “hatch” and the 1/2” fry work their way out of the gravel that has been their winter home and migrate into the shallow shorelines of the river where they collect in big schools containing hundreds of individuals.  The fry seem to know numbers means security and when several hundred have gathered they all move out into the current of the river and begin to float down thru the awaiting gauntlet of Char and Rainbows.

There is not an overabundance of Rainbow in the Illimani River in June as most of the bows follow the Sockeyes from the Kvijak River and Lake Illimani in mid July…..but Char, now that is a different story.  About 10 years ago the Alaska Department of Fish and Game designated the Iliamna River as a “catch & release only river” for Arctic Char, and this wise management scheme is producing char in the 25” – 32” category!  The fishing pressure is very light on this remote Alaskan river as the majority of Char live in the upper river, a 45 minute or better jet boat ride thru the log jams from Lake Iliamna.  There are no stretches on the upper river long or deep enough to land a float plane and the surrounding mountains come down to the rivers edge. Thus you can only access the Char by fishing with the 2 or 3 lodges that offer guided trips on the Iliamna River.  I was general Manager of the best known of these lodges, Rainbow Bay Resort, for 4 years and had the privilege to guide anglers on this beautiful remote river about 5 days a week for 4 months a year…tough life….but someone has to do it!  Some of my fondest memories of guiding in Alaska are of piloting a 18’ flat bottomed jet boat up the Iliamna river with clients, thru the myriad of log jams of the upper river to the awesome unnamed emerald green pools we named Gherkins hole, Bob’s Run, the Upper and Lower Rainbow Run, Emu’s Char Hole, The Green Hill and the Top Hole for the beautiful steel gray Arctic Char featuring bright pink spots down their flanks.  In a day’s run up the river it was not unusual to see Brown Bear, Black Bear, Bald Eagles, Otters, Beaver, Mink, Ermine, wolf and even a fresh water seal while being surrounded by the Chugach Mountains.

       

Char Jigs & Flies

    In mid June the Sockeye Fry are still very small, 1 inch or less and your jigs and flies must match these or you will suffer a greatly reduced number of strikes.  Early in June I have found that a 1/32 oz jig head (black or gold) with a size 10 hook simulates the size of the fry correctly.  Tie about a dozen hairs from a natural Whitetail Deer tail (approx 1” long) with 2 strands of Flashabou behind the head of the jig and you will be ready to “fry em up.”.  One of my guides at the lodge, Kenny Baldwin, liked to tie about an inch of black Marabou feathers on instead of the deer hair.  This seemed to work well as black is the “go to” color for Char when one is in doubt as to color.  Later in June and early July before the Sockeyes are spawning, a 1/16 oz jig sporting a #6 or 8 hook with 1 ½ of deer hair tied behind it works well as the fry are getting larger.  Once the Sockeyes begin to spawn and there are eggs in the water the fry patterns tend to quit producing as the Char are interested in this new food source.

     If you are interested in fishing for Char as well as Rainbow, Pike, Halibut & Grayling in June give me a call and we will get your trip booked for next year.  Although I am no longer General Manager at Alaska’s Rainbow Bay Resort, I still book and host trips for this fine lodge which is accessible only by air 180 air miles southwest of Anchorage on Lake Iliamna.  Once the Salmon begin running we offer fishing for all five species of Pacific Salmon and Sea Run Dolly Varden as well.