The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Pegati Lake and the home of our first camp site.

First bear seen below the Sockeye run.

Buffalo Bill aka Dollie Lama with a large male Dolly.

Awesome sunset captured by an unskilled photographer

Flys4b8 with a nice Kanektok rainbow that gave him a run for his money

That’s me with the first Silver of the trip landed on my 5wt

GM doing his thing on top of Kanektok Dome.

Mr. Sockeye living out his last days. The ones at the lake were bright red with green heads. I landed one fair hooked but he eluded the camera.

Tools of the trade…some had 3 rigs since we tried the Wog when we could

Bill with a nice chrome Silver that was almost lunch.

Quinhagak Airport……Town on the banks of the Kanektok River and Bering Sea.

We had some time before our pick-up flight back to Bethel and Greg was talking with a local guy at the airport who was a kick in the pants. He asked if we would like to purchase some trinkets from the natives in town. He gets on the radio and next thing you know the deserted airport road is lined with quads heading our way to sell us some goods. They had little trinkets to fur hats and gloves. We did not have much cash but I did buy a few small items I could afford. The fur hats were cool but in the $200 range and if you were interested in this basket below it could be yours for a mere $1300.00. It was a pretty cool site to see 7 year old kids and 80 year old grannies on the Quads.

This is one of my favorite photos of a nice Silver that took an egg pattern on my 5wt that I was able to photo myself.

I had a great time and very much enjoyed the company of a great group of guys. This fishing was pretty good and the weather was outstanding. I have seen the 2 extremes and have a better understanding of what to expect but you still never really know what your gonna get.

Now for the nuts & bolts about the Kanektok for those who may plan a trip or would like the facts. All information provided below is the sole opinions of Jet and all rights are reserved. The fishing on the Kanektok was good but it could have been better. The upper river was nice and had great Dollie and Grayling fishing with a few nice bows. There is a fishing lodge located below the fish weir and they are allowed one jet boat above the weir per day. They pretty much jet up and float down using the oars. We also passed a group of 2 rafts on our way down. So the bottom line is you are going to see people and boats during your float. On the Arolik we did not see anyone till we were a few days from the take out. The rainbows seem like the riffles where the river is making some turns while the Silvers like slack water in the side channels. I felt that when we got below the weir that the jet boats were hitting all the hot spot first and that may have been the cause for the Silvers to have tight lips. We could catch at least 2 - 6 fish per hole but it could take an hour to get 3 Silvers. You can pass good Rainbow chasing Silvers or vice versa so try to strike a good balance. I have landed a fair number of Silvers now but I still think I prefer the fight of a 15-25” Rainbow. Spending 8-10 days out in the wild with a great group of friends is an awesome and unforgettable experience and recommend you at least try it once and don’t wait for a rainy day.

Tight Lines,

Jet