I have fished the Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark National Parks area of southwest Alaska since 1989 and managed Angry Eagle Lodge, formally Rainbow Bay Resort, for 6 years. This area of Alaska is known for its huge runs of the 5 species of Pacific Salmon and its big Rainbows, but the Arctic Char have held a special interest for me. You could call the Arctic Char a sub-species of Dolly Varden, as an Arctic Char is simply a land locked Dolly that does not have the ability to migrate back to the ocean. It takes a trained biologist examining a small bone in the cheek of the fish to determine if it is indeed an Arctic Char or a Dolly Varden. At the lodge we would catch true sea run Dolly Varden while fishing for Chum, Pink and Silver Salmon in the tributaries of Cook Inlet. Some of these Dollies would often be 30+ inches long weighing 10+ pounds, although most would be 15-20” long and weigh several pounds. These fish were normally caught on beads simulating salmon eggs, fished below the salmon which were near the surface ascending the streams to spawn. Occasionally you could catch them by skittering a Humpy or an Adams dry fly on the surface if there were not a lot of Salmon present. These Dolly Varden were dark gray on their backs, smoke gray on their sides and silver gray on their stomach with sometimes hard to see spots on their sides
We would catch true Arctic Char in several Lakes in Lake Clark National Park where the Char were land locked. We were normally targeting these Char as well as the Lake Trout at the mouth of tributaries that flowed into the lake using streamers, spoons and spinners. These Char averaged 12 – 20” and usually weighed a couple of pounds as they were restricted mostly to a diet of their fry and Lake Trout fry in these diamond blue lakes created by melting snow from the surrounding mountains. These lakes were very deep, and structure was nothing but rocks and boulders providing a very stark landscape for the virtually nonexistent terrestrial insects. These fish could be spectacularly colored, sporting a light gray blue back, blue-silver sides with very distinct spots and a white belly. When they began to spawn their sides and belly would sometimes turn gold!
The Char I enjoyed fishing for the most lived in tributaries to Lake Iliamna and in particular, the Iliamna river at the north end of the lake. Due to a huge die off of Char in the Iliamna river in the 1980’s, the river was designated a “Trophy Char River” in the early 1990’s meaning you could fish for the char, but you had to release all Char caught. Over the 30 years I fished as a client and guide for what is now Angry Eagle Lodge, formally Rainbow Bay Resort located at Pedro Bay on the north end of Lake Iliamna, I had the opportunity to watch the Char population blossom from the 12 – 14-inch Char we caught on the Iliamna River in the late 80’s to the huge 30-inch Char we are catching today. We learned a lot about how to catch these Char over the years. In the late 80’s we mainly used black 1/8th to 3/16th oz “Crappie jigs” very effectively for the smaller Char available at the time. After guiding for years and spending 3 – 4 days a week guiding on the Iliamna River we continued to use small black and light brown jigs and Clouser type flies to simulate the Sockeye smolt the Char were feeding on as the freshly hatched smolt would migrate in huge swarms from the Sockeye spawning grounds upriver down to Lake Iliamna where they would spend their first year. The Char would congregate in the deep holes of the river and feast on the smolt as the descended the river. Fishing with 6 – 8 lb line on ultra-light spinning tackle or 5 & 6 wt fly rods, it was not unusual to catch 30 – 40 Char in a day’s fishing in June. The Sockeye Salmon historically showed up at the north end of Lake Iliamna the end of the first week of June and began ascending the tributaries to the Illie as we referred to it, the end of the 2nd week of June. By that time most of the smolt had made their run down the Illie to the lake and the Char changed their eating habits from feasting on Sockeye smolt to feasting on the fresh Sockeye eggs and we accordingly changed our terminal tackle from small dark jigs and flies to bead patterns that simulated salmon eggs as using real salmon eggs was illegal. Fishing beads was a game of constant modification, as in mid to late June we used bright orange eggs, usually 6 or 8 millimeters in diameter to simulate freshly laid eggs from the spawning Sockeyes. By the 2nd week of July there were literally millions of Sockeye eggs in the river and it became a game of painting beads with light pink finger nail polish, modifying their appearance to look like eggs with the embryos beginning to mature or using light purple colored beads to simulate “dead” eggs. It was amazing as one day the Char and Rainbows would be taking bright orange eggs and the next day, or maybe just a run upstream the Char and Bows would be taking orange eggs with streaks of pink finger nail polish on them. It was an interesting game to find a bead coloring that would get the fish to hit your imitation instead of the millions of real eggs floating past them. When the fish really got stuffed in mid-August and I mean stuffed as when you would grab them around the mid-section to dislodge the hook they would regurgitate dozens of freshly consumed eggs, we would go to one say red 8 mm bead about 2 inches above the hook and a 6 mm painted orange bead a 1 ½ about the hook. The idea here was the red egg would attract the Char’s attention and he would hit the painted egg below the red egg. The idea may sound “fishy” but it often worked when nothing else would! Then by late August when the rivers were full of dead spawned out Sockeyes we would begin using pinkish tan or beige “flesh flies” that would simulate small chunks of decomposing Sockeye flesh. When nothing else would get the Char to hit we would bring out the 3 – 4” black or deep purple articulated leeches that simulated lamprey ells ascending the river to spawn.
The Char I enjoyed fishing for the most lived in tributaries to Lake Iliamna and in particular, the Iliamna river at the north end of the lake. Due to a huge die off of Char in the Iliamna river in the 1980’s, the river was designated a “Trophy Char River” in the early 1990’s meaning you could fish for the char, but you had to release all Char caught. Over the 30 years I fished as a client and guide for what is now Angry Eagle Lodge, formally Rainbow Bay Resort located at Pedro Bay on the north end of Lake Iliamna, I had the opportunity to watch the Char population blossom from the 12 – 14-inch Char we caught on the Iliamna River in the late 80’s to the huge 30-inch Char we are catching today. We learned a lot about how to catch these Char over the years. In the late 80’s we mainly used black 1/8th to 3/16th oz “Crappie jigs” very effectively for the smaller Char available at the time. After guiding for years and spending 3 – 4 days a week guiding on the Iliamna River we continued to use small black and light brown jigs and Clouser type flies to simulate the Sockeye smolt the Char were feeding on as the freshly hatched smolt would migrate in huge swarms from the Sockeye spawning grounds upriver down to Lake Iliamna where they would spend their first year. The Char would congregate in the deep holes of the river and feast on the smolt as the descended the river. Fishing with 6 – 8 lb line on ultra-light spinning tackle or 5 & 6 wt fly rods, it was not unusual to catch 30 – 40 Char in a day’s fishing in June. The Sockeye Salmon historically showed up at the north end of Lake Iliamna the end of the first week of June and began ascending the tributaries to the Illie as we referred to it, the end of the 2nd week of June. By that time most of the smolt had made their run down the Illie to the lake and the Char changed their eating habits from feasting on Sockeye smolt to feasting on the fresh Sockeye eggs and we accordingly changed our terminal tackle from small dark jigs and flies to bead patterns that simulated salmon eggs as using real salmon eggs was illegal. Fishing beads was a game of constant modification, as in mid to late June we used bright orange eggs, usually 6 or 8 millimeters in diameter to simulate freshly laid eggs from the spawning Sockeyes. By the 2nd week of July there were literally millions of Sockeye eggs in the river and it became a game of painting beads with light pink finger nail polish, modifying their appearance to look like eggs with the embryos beginning to mature or using light purple colored beads to simulate “dead” eggs. It was amazing as one day the Char and Rainbows would be taking bright orange eggs and the next day, or maybe just a run upstream the Char and Bows would be taking orange eggs with streaks of pink finger nail polish on them. It was an interesting game to find a bead coloring that would get the fish to hit your imitation instead of the millions of real eggs floating past them. When the fish really got stuffed in mid-August and I mean stuffed as when you would grab them around the mid-section to dislodge the hook they would regurgitate dozens of freshly consumed eggs, we would go to one say red 8 mm bead about 2 inches above the hook and a 6 mm painted orange bead a 1 ½ about the hook. The idea here was the red egg would attract the Char’s attention and he would hit the painted egg below the red egg. The idea may sound “fishy” but it often worked when nothing else would! Then by late August when the rivers were full of dead spawned out Sockeyes we would begin using pinkish tan or beige “flesh flies” that would simulate small chunks of decomposing Sockeye flesh. When nothing else would get the Char to hit we would bring out the 3 – 4” black or deep purple articulated leeches that simulated lamprey ells ascending the river to spawn.
