Alaska Fly Fishing Trips: What should I take with me?
Hi there,
Can any one help me… i m planing for fly fishing trip in Alaska. Although i dnt know what things i should take with me. Please help guys!
some of this will have been covered by airflows post.
I spent 3 months living out of a backpack traveling alaska. #1 bug dope, highest deet % you can find. alaska is a mosquito infested swamp, it will be worse than you have heard depending on where/when you go. if it isn’t the skeets it’ll be the noseeums. it gets bad enough to be comical….
spare clothes and make sure you have warm stuff and raingear. I went from wearing everything I had up by denali NP one day to sweltering in 99 degree temps in fairbanks in a couple of hours, expect about anything. I brought along a heavy canvas button up shirt for no good reason and found it was an excellent skeet proof shirt, I wore it the whole summer….
bring an extra bottle of bug dope.
fishing gear, you can catch pretty much everything on flys and will likely use them even if you don’t fly fish. at times you can tie a piece of orange yarn on a hook and catch one after another till your arms are sore. chest waders will be way handy, I’d be in felt soles with cleats. do as much reading now as you can, know how to fish deep for salmon and trout before you get up there. have all the gear you need before you show up.
put an extra bottle of bug dope in you fishing vest…..
now, I wanna talk about bears. when you get off the plane in anchorage there is a giant stuffed bear, you’ll walk right by it on the way through the airport. go and stand next to the stuffed bear, it’s important. note the front paws at head height, see that it stands 12 or more feet tall, make jokes about it, then go out and go fish. everywhere I went in AK, and I went all over people I met would tell me "this is one of the worst bear areas in the state". I heard it everywhere, where ever you go, there will be bears. I camped for 3 months and if I had it to do all over I’d have bought the biggest can of bear spray I can find right off. I kept running across and bending down and putting my hands down in these giant tracks that would dwarf my hand with fingers spread as far as I could….. while walking through dense chin high cranberry bushes along beautiful salmons streams. it’s scary up there, they darted grizzlies in downtown anchorage the year I was up there. take my word for it buy the bear spray.
bring a nice camera, alaska may be a mosquito infested swamp but it is beautiful, take lots and lots of pic’s.
got the bug dope?
February 7th, 2010 at 12:44 am
yeahh ahh fishin rods,bait , nets , hats , sunscreen, and yeahh youll have a great time..
ohh yeah and hire a booat if yous want….
gud luk
References :
February 7th, 2010 at 1:32 am
Well obviously fishing gear would help, although i cant sit here and write a huge list out of flies, leaders, rods, reels, lines, floatants,sinkants,strike indicators etc etc etc.
However you do need to take;
Deet(or another insect repellent)
Sun cream-UV rays reflect from the water and burn you even on slightly overcast days.
Lots of SPARE clothing, as its likely that you could get soaked, even with waterproofs.
Waders and a wading jacket with either a fly vest or chest pack are vital things as you will spend long days on the water.
A flashlight is also something i take with me, i use a Gerber 1 Watt LED aluminium in tactical black, its important for night as its dark and all to easy to fall on something.
A mulit-tool, like the Leatherman Skeletool-it can be used to repair things etc
I also take a small spool of duct tape with me- know it sounds a little strange BUT its go lots of uses, i have repaired my waders in an emergency, repaired rod eyes etc.
Also don’t forget sunglasses-polarized help you see into the water which is essential when wading and landing fish, i have a pair of both amber and grey lenses as the amber works well in low light the grey works well in bright light.
A wading staff helps as it helps you keep a steady footing, spair soles for wading boots in felt with small tungsten studs also helps, along with a tube of either epoxy or superglue.
References :
February 7th, 2010 at 1:59 am
some of this will have been covered by airflows post.
I spent 3 months living out of a backpack traveling alaska. #1 bug dope, highest deet % you can find. alaska is a mosquito infested swamp, it will be worse than you have heard depending on where/when you go. if it isn’t the skeets it’ll be the noseeums. it gets bad enough to be comical….
spare clothes and make sure you have warm stuff and raingear. I went from wearing everything I had up by denali NP one day to sweltering in 99 degree temps in fairbanks in a couple of hours, expect about anything. I brought along a heavy canvas button up shirt for no good reason and found it was an excellent skeet proof shirt, I wore it the whole summer….
bring an extra bottle of bug dope.
fishing gear, you can catch pretty much everything on flys and will likely use them even if you don’t fly fish. at times you can tie a piece of orange yarn on a hook and catch one after another till your arms are sore. chest waders will be way handy, I’d be in felt soles with cleats. do as much reading now as you can, know how to fish deep for salmon and trout before you get up there. have all the gear you need before you show up.
put an extra bottle of bug dope in you fishing vest…..
now, I wanna talk about bears. when you get off the plane in anchorage there is a giant stuffed bear, you’ll walk right by it on the way through the airport. go and stand next to the stuffed bear, it’s important. note the front paws at head height, see that it stands 12 or more feet tall, make jokes about it, then go out and go fish. everywhere I went in AK, and I went all over people I met would tell me "this is one of the worst bear areas in the state". I heard it everywhere, where ever you go, there will be bears. I camped for 3 months and if I had it to do all over I’d have bought the biggest can of bear spray I can find right off. I kept running across and bending down and putting my hands down in these giant tracks that would dwarf my hand with fingers spread as far as I could….. while walking through dense chin high cranberry bushes along beautiful salmons streams. it’s scary up there, they darted grizzlies in downtown anchorage the year I was up there. take my word for it buy the bear spray.
bring a nice camera, alaska may be a mosquito infested swamp but it is beautiful, take lots and lots of pic’s.
got the bug dope?
References :
you only live once, I think everybody should spend a summer traveling and scaring the crap out of themselves in alaska…..