Gulkana River, Alaska

Looks like at the end of June 2013 I am going to be doing a 4 day raft float for everything that will bite on the Gulkana with a friend and his buddy that is local to the area.  Needless to say, I am beyond jacked about this one.  Anybody ever been there?

Looks like at the end of June 2013 I am going to be doing a 4 day raft float for everything that will bite on the Gulkana with a friend and his buddy that is local to the area.  Needless to say, I am beyond jacked about this one.  Anybody ever been there?

Awesome, I'm already looking forward to your report,

never been to Alaska but: RAFT, RIVER, LOCAL should make for an awesome combo.

never been to Alaska but: RAFT, RIVER, LOCAL should make for an awesome combo.

Chatting with him on facebook this morning, and he says that in the upper reaches of the river (first two and a half days) we will be targeting rainbows to 8lbs and arctic greyling (a new species for me to check off the list)... the final day and a half will be kings and reds... this is gonna be epic.  Need to get some bigger memory cards for all the fish porn!!

I always wanted to catch arctic grayling. They are supposed to be wonderful table fish, plus they are gorgeous fish as well.
Best of luck!

I learned how to fly fish on the Gulkana many years ago, dry fly fishing for grayling!  When the fly lost its float, it would swing through schools of reds, which proved to be quite the challenge on a 5 weight in moving water.  Some say you're just flossing the reds, but I distinctly remember a number of reds charging the fly from 10+ feet away.

-Allen

I always wanted to catch arctic grayling. They are supposed to be wonderful table fish, plus they are gorgeous fish as well.
Best of luck!

Yes sir!  they have that killer dorsal fin... really want to get into some just for the pictures, and maybe a campfire meal or two.

I learned how to fly fish on the Gulkana many years ago, dry fly fishing for grayling!  When the fly lost its float, it would swing through schools of reds, which proved to be quite the challenge on a 5 weight in moving water.  Some say you're just flossing the reds, but I distinctly remember a number of reds charging the fly from 10+ feet away.

-Allen

I'm not one to judge people for flossing... there are times when is really the only effective way of hooking fish, and as long as you aren't in full on meat killing mode or pulling fish off their beds, I see no real harm in it.  Furthermore, having "flossed" many fish in my day... I can assure you that fly fishermen (knowing or not) floss tons of fish.  That being said... I am sure the occasional red goes after something.  I have heard however that they usually do not.  Off my soapbox... any tips or pointers or cool memories of the place Allen?

I learned how to fly fish on the Gulkana many years ago, dry fly fishing for grayling!  When the fly lost its float, it would swing through schools of reds, which proved to be quite the challenge on a 5 weight in moving water.  Some say you're just flossing the reds, but I distinctly remember a number of reds charging the fly from 10+ feet away.

-Allen

I'm not one to judge people for flossing... there are times when is really the only effective way of hooking fish, and as long as you aren't in full on meat killing mode or pulling fish off their beds, I see no real harm in it.  Furthermore, having "flossed" many fish in my day... I can assure you that fly fishermen (knowing or not) floss tons of fish.  That being said... I am sure the occasional red goes after something.  I have heard however that they usually do not.  Off my soapbox... any tips or pointers or cool memories of the place Allen?

Agree with you on this one, especially for reds up in Alaska.  Yes, the reds normally don't go after it, but in a school of 100's or 1000's, there must be one that gets a bit curious.

We only stopped off for a evening as we were travelling through.  Basically just looked up in the Alaska Milepost for a convenient pullover off the road a bit.  Where we were, all the reds were red already (it was August) and the grayling were stacked up in the slots not occupied by reds.  Curious as they weren't feeding on eggs at the time.  We had to work the patterns a bit before we got them going on the top water dry flies.  It got better an better as the sun was setting and hatches were going off.  We had about a one hour window where it was a fish every cast.

-Allen

Awesome stuff... Honestly, I am far more excited about the upper river, and fishing for the trout and grayling...  More of a challenge, and I would expect less people on the river.  The time of year we will be there will be LOOOOONG days and short nights... so there will be plenty of time to fish, thats for sure.