Alaska - "Psycho" Bitch

12/01/2007

The Bear Truth in The Last Frontier
By Scott Ruprecht

Oh my God what is that sound?" It's not possible! It can't be my alarm. "There is NO way it could be 10:30 (AM) already!" It’s Sunday, August 20th, 2006 and I need to be on a plane to Alaska in two hours and I have the single biggest hangover in the city of Cincinnati.

I slowly crawl out of bed, walk downstairs and jump in the shower. I am complaining endlessly underneath my breath. "I can’t believe I have to fly eight hours to Alaska for two days of fishing." "This is ridiculous! "I am the Best Man in a wedding in a few days, I still need to write my speech, I feel horrible and I can’t possibly be gone another week this summer." I just babble and babble and babble some more.

Here I am complaining because I have to go fly fishing in Alaska with ten clients from Fresno. After realizing how incredibly pathetic I sound, I get my head on straight and I head for the airport…I am on my way to Alaska’s Fishing Unlimited Lodge, a deluxe fly out program in Bristol Bay whose backyard is the famous Iliamna Trophy Rainbow area.

After spending the night in Anchorage on Sunday and catching up on some much needed sleep our group boards a charter flight Monday afternoon and we fly from Anchorage to the tiny village of Port Alsworth.

At dinner that night it was decided eight anglers will fly out to the coast to a place called "Big River" to chase silver salmon. The other three anglers will head to the famous Kvichak River to target big rainbows. I am part of the group on its way Silver salmon fishing.

At 7 AM, Tuesday morning our group boards two Dehavilland Beavers for the one-hour flight to The Big River. The Big River is located in Katmai National Park on the Shelikof Strait. Katmai National Park boasts the largest concentration of brown bears in the world. As we closed in on the river from the air it was truly wild to see the number of bears feeding heavily on the salmon making their way up the river.

Our expert fly fishing guides and pilots, Bob and Martin rigged up the group and we were set to go within 10 minutes of landing. I grabbed a 7 weight, walked out into the river and peeled off some line. I stripped off 40 feet, made two false casts and heaved it out into the river. Fishing a wet fly I began to strip...strip...strip. After the third strip the line tightened, my reel began to scream, and chrome bright silver leaped acrobatically into the air.

First cast, silver released. Second cast. Same story. Third cast. It happened again! Honestly, this was way too easy. There was virtually no chance my arms could take this all day long. I looked over at Bob standing near the plane and he was smiling and shrugging his shoulders. I yelled, "You got a dry fly in that box." He said, "Yep, I will bring it over."

We tied on a big bomber. First cast. Nothing. Second cast. Nothing. Third cast. Nothing. "Maybe I should have stayed with that wet fly," I thought to myself. I look over at Bob and he senses my frustration. I hold up my arms looking for answers and he yells over, "you are stripping it too slow. Speed it up." OK, that sounds like a good plan.

I pick the fly line up off the water, make my cast, speed up my strip, look over and get a head nod of approval from Bob and "WHAM!" 15 lb. silver slams my dry fly. A few minutes later I get the salmon over to the beach and yell back to Bob, "bring the camera." I want a picture of this big boy on a dry.

After a few pics and feeling like The Angler of The Year, I head back into the water. As I make my way back into the river I see a big brown bear make its way into the water up ahead. I look at Bob and he says, "Oh, that is just 'Psycho Bitch'". "Excuse me," I say.
"What do you mean that is just "Psycho Bitch". He starts laughing. "Don’t worry, we see that bear just about every day on this river and we know how to handle her."

That does not make me feel any better. I look down stream at my clients and my worry begins to fade. I can outrun all of them so I will be just fine. Of course I am joking. The guides do an excellent job of making sure your safety is their top priority at all times.

After watching "Psycho Bitch" for a few moments, I looked down river and all seven of my clients’ rods were bent. All seven of them had on silvers at the same time. It was an amazing sight to see.

The next day was just as fruitful. The eight of us flew down to the Kulik River about 45 minutes from the lodge. We slammed big rainbow after big rainbow. Fishing Black Leech patterns behind Sockeye salmon moving up the river our flies looked to tempting to the trout. This was the finest two days of fishing I have ever experienced.

Finally, my time at Fishing Unlimited came to an end. It was Wednesday, August 25th at 6 PM and I was once again at the airport in Port Alsworth. I started babbling to myself again, "Would it really ruin the wedding if the Best Man did not show up? Is it really that big a deal? What if I stayed a few more days The clients want me to stay. I could tell them I was trapped in by weather and there was nothing I could do." Of course I knew better. With wishful thinking on my mind and a grin on my face I boarded the flight back home for Cincinnati.

For more information on Fishing Unlimited Lodge please click here Alaska Fly Fishing