|
|
In Yakutat: (907)784-3697 E-mail: ***CLICK HERE*** Toll-free Message Only: 1-866-737-1123 ***Latest News*** October 15th, 2009 - The End of a Great Season 2009 shaped up to be the best run Yakutat has seen for silvers since 2004. If you remember back to that fall, we had fish literally EVERYWHERE. Well, on a 5 year lifecycle, one would think we would have expected the children of such a spectacular run to be thick and heavy. They were. With the economy as it is, we also had the river entirely to ourselves for most of the season. No one in the Forest Service cabin for half of September, no fly-outs, no trained bears... just lots of fish and no people. Our "challenge" with IRA (Italio River Adventures) has been that we haven't been able to get new groups into our schedule. We've been seeing the same groups back year after year. In 2009, after 8 straight seasons for most of them, we had a pretty high percentage of them all decide to take one year off all at once. OOPS! That left us with half the season wide open to get a few new groups into prime weeks. If you click on the calendar button above, you'll see that the silver season is already nearly full. If you want a chance to slip into a slot, you'll have to make that decision in a hurry. As of today, we can take a group the first week of September, a group of 4 or less the first week of October and one more group the third slot in October. That's it. 2010 will officially be IRA's 10th anniversary of having the camp. We did guide day fishermen the two seasons before that, but couldn't have them spend the night. Pat and I are looking forward to celebrating our milestone first decade out there at the camp. Hopefully we'll have the chance to share it with you. See you on the river. -Bob April 5th, 2009 - Bookings and the Economy Hello all, It has been a year since I blogged here on the italio.com web site. Most of my babblings have changed over to the fly shop web site and poor ol' italio.com has been a little bit neglected. Well, over the next month, I'll get lots of fresh photos up and get the photo albums up to date from the last couple seasons. Yes, the economy is getting felt already here in Yakutat. There are always silver linings though, for those who are willing to watch for them. One opportunity for those fishermen out there is that Italio River Adventures does have a couple openings in the coming season that we would normally not have. As anyone knows who has wanted to book with us in most years, we very rarely have new slots open up. We do have some prime time in September, 2009 sitting available right now, so give me a call at the local Yakutat number at the top of the page, or e-mail if you are interested. As for "news"... Pat is really making a success of his fresh market sockeye business Alsek Fish. If you are looking for super exceptional quality salmon during the summer, Pat can ship it out to you overnight. Send him an e-mail if you are interested, or call him via the 866 number listed at the top of the page. Teen and I have been busy renovating the old WWII hangar at the Yakutat airport and we opened the fly shop a year ago April. We spend most of our time out there in that huge derelict building, but the time on the Italio is my saving grace in the fall to run IRA with Pat. Still busy HomeSchooling the kids. Tanis is turning 10 this month and Eden just hit 6 last month. More later as time permits... -Bob February 23rd, 2008 - The new year has begun With the new year upon us, there will unfortunately be some changes to this page. Pat asked me not to use this Latest News page for personal ramblings, as I have been for the last two seasons. He is my business partner in Italio River Adventures, so alas that is the explanation for the abrupt end to my blogging in early October. So, from now on, I will move my blog and river reports to my other web page at www.situk.net. I hope to feature useful river reports for all of Yakutat's rivers and streams, along with other info and my usual personal tirades about messy fishermen and bears. With the separate web site, I will be able to do as I wish unimpeded. Thank you to all who have tuned into this page and to those who I have met on the river because of the semi-useful information found here. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask me and add the www.situk.net address to your favorites. Remember, the blog will be at .NET, not .COM. The www.situk.com address is the e-storefront for the Situk River Fly Shop. Well, you are obviously welcome to visit there too... The shop will be open as of April 1st, 2008! Sincerely,
After a week of being free of the beasts, the bears are back. The medium sized one with the light collar is the biggest challenge. He ran off when I confronted him, but came back the next day and snarled at one of the guys and didn't run off for him. Later that evening, he sure ran off in a hurry with the cracker shells exploding behind him. In addition to the 4 problem bears, we also have a sow with two cubs hanging around. They haven't been trained in the "wrong" way, so they haven't been a problem in the least. Let's hope they don't get together with any of the others and pick up any bad habits. The season is almost over, so with a little luck, we'll get through this one and hope for a little more common sense next season from ALL our visitors. And after hearing about it for a decade, I saw the green flash tonight. What an amazing sunset it was from the top of the dunes. Then it turned green for about 5 seconds before disappearing below the horizon. My camera battery was dead, so I offer no proof. A lifetime of sunsets out here and this is the first time I have seen it. September 27th, 2007 - A Change in the Air After my extremely whiny entry last time, it has been a wonderful pleasure to meet and fish with the guys who have flown out the past two days. Not only have the bears had nothing to find along the banks, everyone has been showing proper river etiquette in spite of the fact that there are still a lot of people out here and we have been compressed into a small area by the 12+ foot tides. It is amazing how much room there is for people without crowding anyone out. When asked if someone can share a hole, one can always make room and enjoy the experience. Unlike the deliberate disregard for anyone's personal space that so many this season have shown. Food for thought, you can get a lot more from people out here if you are polite and respectful. Big surprise! As an added bonus for all of us, there has been no garbage left these past couple days either. After filling my pockets and Honda trailer, NOTHING new appeared on the heavily used gravel bars. Big thank you's to all the people who do have a clue this year. I know you were just as frustrated as I have been, so hopefully next season will be better for all of us. And the bears... well, the river has been clean, so they haven't bothered to come out there during the day. One did walk through the IRA camp right after dinner tonight, but the dogs and Pat sent him running in a hurry back down the beach. A storm is coming tonight, hitting the Tsiu straight on as usual. The Tsiu had the weakest and shortest silver run on record. Looks like our run will be second worst (after last year). We have easily exceeded Fish and Game's escapement goals for the Middle and New Italio Rivers, but it looks like the Old Italio may not even come close. It has been a VERY tough year for that stream, which was hit much harder than last year. Something to keep an eye on for the future... September 26th, 2007 - Sportylocks and the Three Bears Usually we can keep up with the bear situation and prevent any from getting the "wrong" training. With the massive number of day fishermen this season, we have tried to avoid spending any time on the Middle Italio in an effort to have a little more peace and quiet. The downside of that is that we haven't been able to correct any errant "bearhavior". So, as of yesterday we had three bears that were up to no good. Today, a HUGE silver tipped bear was added to the mix on the river. People have not only been leaving the carcasses and guts all along the bank instead of getting it back into the river, they have left several dozen perfect and whole silvers on the shoreline. Apparently, as soon as a bear appeared (minding his own business I might add...), whole groups of macho guys ran screaming while leaving their entire day's catch behind. If you were a bear and you saw a dozen bright salmon on the bank next to where these oddly coated critters are running away from, it wouldn't take you very long to figure out the equation: people+stupidity=food. Bears have a natural fear of man and well they should. A group of 6 guys is not something a bear is about to tangle with, unless a group of 6 guys teach the bear that 1) they are not to be feared and 2) they have lots of food. So... as of yesterday, a bear steps out of the bushes and walks along not really thinking about all these humans standing around. One guy shouts at it, waving his arms and walking toward it. The bear tears off in terror... You have a group of guys who do that and no bear will hang around. However, if you have a group of guys who abandon their fish and run away in terror, you teach the bear something VERY different from that nature has told him about human interaction. For those of you who know me, you probably know that we have not had a bear problem since I started guiding here. We have made a concerted effort to reeducate the sport fishermen that descend upon my home every fall. The mess over the past several years has been greatly improved, however the huge volume of fly-outs these past two weeks has really taken our area a giant leap backwards. We might as well be on the Situk. We basically have one more week of fly-outs for the season. The damage has already been done, so if you come out, expect to have some hairy visitors. Please attempt to not make the situation worse by continuing to perpetuate the problem. Don't leave your fish high up on the bank. If you clean them, get the waste into the deepest part of the river. Don't bring anything unnecessary out, so it is easier for you to keep your crap close and under your protection. Don't leave your food lying around, wear your day pack. Stay as a group and act as a group. Pay attention, so you can run the bear off as a group long before he gets so close that you wet yourself and run off. As of today, the bears are no longer running off in terror when one guy acts like there are balls in his shorts. A group can still be an effective defense, but a couple more days of this and we'll have enough drama to base a movie on. Please use your brain for more than a doorstop. I love sharing my home with people who "get it". The rest of you are frustrating to say the least and you have worked hard to put the safety and wellbeing of other people at risk. I hate typing messages like this, but I hate shooting bears that have been sentenced to death by the negligence of others far more. Let's hope we can make it through 2007 without incident and lets pray that in 2008, we'll have visitors with more common sense. September 25th, 2007 - The Run Isn't Late After All Well, it has been a little while since my last update and so... to appease Jim, here is a fresh one. Fishing continues to be slow. Not quite as poor as last season, but this is far from "normal" for the Italio. But... comparatively, I guess we can't complain too much. From the sounds of it, we have a lot more fish than the Situk and judging by the volume of fly out day fishermen, we may be the only game in town. We broke a new record for crowds last week with over 70 people standing within sight of each other at the mouth. I have no idea how many more were upstream at the Spruce and Alder holes. We were hit by yet another storm yesterday. With the saturated ground, it didn't take much to make the river flooded - too flooded for me to drive across. That puts us over 25 inches of rain for the month of September by the official Yakutat Weather Service count. With our dry one inch month of August, it feels good to have the moisture again. The silvers are definitely making it up beyond the reach of the fishermen and into the spawning redds in this high water. All the better for their chances of having a good recovery for 5 years from now. The bad news of course is that Tanis and Eden were shipped off to Seattle to spend the next few weeks with my mom and family. We had hoped Teen's parents would make it up here to baby sit while Teen guided with me, but Ken's recovery from his shattered arms isn't going as well as we had hoped. So... Tanis won't be out to harass all the fishermen in the yard, lecturing them on why they need to throw away their spin rods and get fly rods... Nothing like a recently converted fly fishermen to put on the snob act... He gets away with it as an 8 year old though. Eden flew out this weekend having yet to catch a silver herself. She has a sockeye under her belt this year, but the silvers just haven't been pausing in front if the cabin like they used to. She'll have to wait till she is 5 for her first silver now. September 17th, 2007 - Tsiu Has Hit... Yesterday, fishing was downright awful. The report from the last commercial fishing opener on the Tsiu was dismal to say the least. It looked as though we were not having a late run, but instead we were having no run at all anywhere. Well, the Tsiu opened at 9am and by 5pm, they had caught five DC-3 loads. Not a bad few hours. I didn't go fishing today, since our clients left early this morning and our next group arrives tomorrow. But... the day fishermen report was that it started very slow, then they did really well on the incoming tide. Very good fish moving in at the mouth. Still not the greatest run in the world, but at least it is looking a little more hopeful. I hate waffling back and forth from day to the next, but the run at the moment seems to be waffling back and forth from one3 day to the next too. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the weather is expected to hold for a few more days. The river is flowing very nicely right now, so the fish should be able to stack up a bit. At least I have a little hope again... September 15th, 2007 - And now for some Bad News... We have been hoping the run was just late. Really really late. Well, word from the Tsiu is that it isn't coming. The Tsiu commercial fishing season was delayed waiting for the run to arrive. It didn't. It opened on Monday to a dismal week. That makes for three straight bad silver seasons and since silvers have a five year life span, three out of five makes for some awful statistics. The local fish and game biologist is blaming our recurring winter droughts for the poor returns. The streams are drying up before the juvenile salmon have a chance to flush out into the ocean. Obviously something is wrong with the program. On the Middle Italio, we have the three holes down at the mouth that have been producing OK this year and the usual three holes that remain upstream in the old river bed. It has been four years since fish have held in the hole out in front of my cabin. The hole filled in for a while, but this year there is really a nice deep channel. The few fish we are seeing just aren't pausing there before they head up river. We were hit by another good storm yesterday and this morning, but it blew itself out before noon. We did not get anywhere near the rain they did in town, so the river didn't blow out. It came up a little bit, but is still very fishable. Occasional showers tonight, so that will keep the river dropping back down by tomorrow. Boy, this sure is an inspiring entry... I'll check back in in a couple days and keep you posted. Teen and I did have a nice anniversary tonight. September 12th, 2007 - Dry Skies, Dry Rivers Again. Two straight days of dry weather have lowered the water level in a hurry. The Middle Italio today is back down to where it should be for really good fishing. Fishing is just "OK" though. Not a whole lot of fish yet, so either the run is REALLY, REALLY late, or we are looking at bad return #3. Hopefully it is just late. The Tsiu finally opened for commercial fishing this week, so if that is any indication, all the rivers are way out of whack. Quite a few day fishermen today, more than two dozen on the Middle. We spent the day down at the Old. More water still lingering there on the flats, but the fish are improving down there a bit. The run is gradually ratcheting up, but does not seem to be in any big hurry. Both the New italio and Akwe have been a raging torrent all week. They are still puking out brown water into the ocean, while the other streams have cleared back up. It will take a few more days for them to settle back down, although they have had better and earlier returns so far. The commercial fishermen on the Akwe didn't bother to set their nets this week because of the high water and all the moss and debris flushing out. The Akwe is open for gill-nets Sunday noon through Tuesday noon, so most of next week will be wide open for sport fishing. In other words, things are improving, but not with great strides. It just started raining again a few minutes ago. This system isn't supposed to dump much water on us, so hopefully the rivers will stay where they are and the fish will start to stack up a little. The massive flood we had two days ago pushed all those silvers that were laying at the mouth way upstream into the tributary creeks. Now with the water at a good level, they should start to fill the holes in, providing the river doesn't reflood. Keep your fingers crossed. September 10th, 2007 - The Storm Knocked Out my Internet - AGAIN! I made a lengthy and VERY detailed update last night on all the rivers. As I uploaded the changes to the server, the wind knocked out my internet connection and it was lost. AARRGH! So, here is a short update as of today, skipping most of what I typed, since it doesn't matter at this point... So, we had only about 1 inch of rain for the month of August and the rivers were deathly dry. We had a two day storm that really dumped a lot of water on us. The New Italio and Akwe Rivers flooded pretty good, but the Middle was still way below a normal summer level. Two days of mostly cloudy skies and light showers, followed by two days of heavy rain again. Yesterday, we finally hit ground saturation and today, the rivers have gone from record lows to what would look like a seasonal high flood. It is still raining, so I'd expect things to stay flooded till we get a couple totally dry days in a row. Just heard from town that the Situk also went from a record low level to a record flood in a matter of the same 4-5 days. We needed the rain, but... Cancel that prayer request please... As of two days ago, the low water combined with the small 7 foot tides was preventing many silvers from making it upstream to the Spruce and Alder Holes. We really had great fishing at the Middle mouth for several days, as the fish were nosing their way into the river, but unable to get beyond the first couple bends. All that has changed obviously. Way too much water to fish the lower river and darned close to that in the upper holes. Upstream is the better bet right now though. We last fished the Old Italio three days ago. It was low, but not as low as the Middle. That run was still not in, with only about 5 pockets of 10-20 fish scattered around. After the rains, there is basically water spread across the entire flats with no visible river at all. Nothing but water from the dunes to the treeline - a couple miles wide! The New Italio is very flood sensitive, just like a mini-Situk. We had really good fishing there a week ago when the water was low, but it is an opaque raging torrent right now. The Akwe will look very wide and deep, with water from bank to bank, instead of the usual meandering stream that curves from one side of the wide cutbank to the other. If you are looking for a good fishing option while the Situk is really flooded, it ain't out here at the moment. Too bad, since we don't have much fishing pressure at all right now. Just a group of three in the Forest Service cabin, the Boyscout campers and our group of 5 at IRA. Better upload this and go to bed. As I realigned the dish tonight, it was still raining, but the stars were out. Let's hope we get a little break.
The skies parted and the river dropped. A few fish continue to trickle in, but not in great numbers yet. Building is the best way to describe the run at this point. We had a good day, but not great. But... after two days of torrential rains and hard winds, the sun breaks felt great. The no-see-um hatch didn't feel all that great, but no complaints from me. For those of you that don't know, Teen's 70 year old dad fell off a 40 foot roof early in the year and shattered his arms (and a few other things). It has been a long recovery process, but things were looking up. He and Teen's mum were planning to come up to watch the kids in October while Teen guided with me. Unfortunately, his situation turned for the worse over the past couple weeks. An ongoing bone infection flared up badly and it looks like he will need several more rounds of surgeries throughout the next couple months and he will have to stay close by the hospitals. Please keep Ken and Sue in your thoughts and prayers. You may have met Sue (Teen's Aussie "mum") last September when she came up help with Tanis and Eden while Teen was learning the fly fishing guide ropes. September 5th, 2007 - Stormy Start to September... I said I would update this yesterday, but the massive storm that hit knocked out my internet connection. It is still pretty hit and miss, so hopefully I can get this saved in time. The only news I have about the Leonard's Landing fire is that there were some minor injuries, but nothing serious. As for the fishing report... we have finally had some rain and finally the silvers have hit the river. But... all the rivers are now officially blown out too. So, good news and bad news. We had a really good morning on the New Italio, followed by a great evening on the Middle. Lots of fish in both. By 9pm when I tried to drive home from the camp, I had to turn around and go back for my waders, since I couldn't drive across the Middle to get home. WAY too deep. Such is life in a rain forest. One day you are horribly drought stricken, then the next day you can't get home through the floods. Of course if it stopped raining tomorrow, it would all soak into the sand and look normal in a few hours. Be advised that there is a trained bear on the New Italio. Unfortunately last week, some fishermen were feeding him and he now expects a meal when he hears bells and whistles. DON'T FEED THE BEARS! Clean your fish and get the waste into the deep part, not up on the bank for the critters to find. Feed the fish, but the bears. OK, that was my soap box moment for tonight. This storm should blow itself out soon enough and the influx of fresh fish is a wonderful thing. Standing on the top of the dunes tonight, it was amazing to see the huge waves on the ocean. Nature is a powerful force and a wonderful thing to behold. September 3rd, 2007 - Leonard's Landing Restaurant is GONE! This afternoon, the Leonard's Landing Lodge restaurant building caught fire today. The building is a total loss. I'll post more information as it becomes available. The first photo was taken shortly after noon, the second was around 5pm.
September 2nd, 2007 - Can it be silver season already?!?!
Yesterday, there were wakes moving up the Old Italio as we drove by. Couldn't tell what species, but have a hunch they were pinks, not silvers. From all indications, we are having an extremely late run of pinks and the silvers will be late as well. I have been on a kayak trip to Hubbard Glacier for the past week, so haven't had time to really see what is happening here. We arrived last night to find a bunch of silver carcasses left ON THE RUNWAY in front of the cabin, so the day fishermen were able to catch at least 5 yesterday. The Middle Italio is extremely low, but with 10.9 foot tides, there was a LOT of water pushing them far upstream. Nothing holding in the lower river at all. Before the kayak trip, there were waves of pinks going by the cabin and settling into the Spruce and Alder Holes upstream. The little bit of rain we had on Friday was not enough to drive big numbers of fish into the streams. While in town yesterday, the report from the Tsiu was that it looked to be possibly two weeks away. Yikes! If the Tsiu is that late, our late run on the Italio may be 3-4 weeks away. Ouch. I have clients arriving on the 4th, so will try to give you a better update then. I have too much to do tomorrow around the cabin, so I won't be able to get out with my rod. Gotta get the gill-net gear put away for the season, so the yard isn't a mess for when you sporties descend upon us. By the way, Tanis has marching orders to go out and "educate" the day fishermen, so expect a visit from my unsocialized homeschooled 8 year old and a lecture on keeping your fish carcasses in the deep part of the river and packing your garbage out. He just lost another tooth today in his oatmeal. More in a couple days... August 22nd, 2007 - An Update Just for Don... My last entry said I would be sure to update this at least weekly. Well, after a month already, here is an update. Thanks Don for reminding me of my dereliction of duty... We need rain! All the rivers - from the Tsiu, Situk, Akwe, East and Italios - they are bone dry. Good numbers of silvers are being caught in the bay and ocean, but unless we get a good shot of rain, they will be weeks away from coming into the rivers. The timing of this season's returns have been odd to say the least. I spent the early summer commercial fishing the Akwe, which had a strong, but late run of kings, very strong but normally timed run of sockeye and an extremely late run of pinks. The New Italio is usually tied closely to the Akwe, but this year they parted company. The New had a very small and very late run of sockeye and I didn't see any kings at all. Then, both rivers had no pinks to speak of at all, when they should have been overwhelmed. We traditionally have an odd year cycle for pinks and as of the 1st of August, there were only a few dozen coming into the rivers. Last week, they arrived. ALL of them and all at once. I have never seen so many humpies crammed into the New Italio like that. Of course it didn't help that there was no water for them to swim in. With all the pinks, we were still able to weed out a couple silvers here and there. They are in there as well, but until we get more water, the majority of them will hold off shore. We were still catching bright sockeye and a few chum as well. It was definitely a week of variety. Pinks started to come into the dribble of water we call the Middle. With so few, so late and so little water, I doubt we'll have any cutthroat this season at all. I'm back in town now, so the last actual fish day I had was the 17th. I'm sure the numbers of silvers are increasing day by day. I won't be back out there till September 1st though, so don't expect another update for a while. My next trip is another sea-kayak excursion to Hubbard Glacier. This will be my second this season, the last being in late May BEFORE the spring break-up. That time, we spent most of our time pinned to Haenke Island, since the ice was still so thick. This time, we'll have no problem paddling into Beluga Bay, so hopefully we'll have lots of whale watching encounters. The glaciers will be their usual spectacular selves. I'll try to update the photo pages shortly afterwards, but since I am a year behind... Fly Shop Update: The banner sockeye run put a halt to my renovations and now that the guide season is here, there is no chance that I'll have the shop open this season. So... keep an eye out for our April 1st, 2008 grand opening in time for the next steelhead season on the Situk. The web address for the online shop will be www.situk.com, while we have the www.situk.net domain reserved for river and fishing reports and for service provider information. Stay tuned... July 28th, 2007 - Sockeye Run It has been quite the unusual season out here on the Italio. The Situk River had a dismal showing of sockeye, but we experienced a true record return. I have spent the past 5 weeks commercial fishing on the Akwe. We caught more kings in the Akwe in the first week than I have ever caught in an entire season. The run continued well into last week, but finally collapsed mid week. Most people now have their eyes firmly fixed on the fall silvers. Not many showing in the rivers yet, but we have caught a few already, including two on June 24th! The pinks have yet to arrive and since last week should have been our peak pink week, they may not. We'll see how it all goes. I hope to keep this updated at least weekly throughout the fall season, so check back. -Bob April 29th, 2007 - Our first spring update! The snow is fast on the melt and steelhead are in the Situk. As I sit here on my living room couch, I can see the porpoise pods circling the bait fish schools in the bay like some National Geographic special. The bears are starting to wake up, while flocks of sandhill crane fly overhead by the hundreds, if not thousands. The best part of spring isn't the abundant wildlife, it is the back of a particular kind of wildlife... THE BUGS! Out on the Italio, fishing is a bit slow this time of year. We have a few steelhead, along with some char and cutthroat making their way into the system. It is still my favorite time of year by far. The planes haven't begun their flights to Dry Bay yet and there are no other people to be seen. We always have the run of the place to ourselves. Unfortunately, we haven't made it out to the cabin yet. The family just returned from a LONG trip to the deep south (Seattle and Montana) to see family and buy supplies for the coming season. In addition, we have been busy all winter with renovations in the old WWII hanger, creating Yakutat's first and only full-service fly shop. We have a very long way to go before the space is ready for supplies and merchandise, expecting a grand opening date to be spring 2008 in time for next year's steelhead run. In the meantime, we will have a few consumable items available for our "open during construction" season this year. We'll open the doors around early June and try to keep them open (to some degree) throughout the silver season, although my first priority is always on the Italio. So, if you need things like flies, leader, fly line, or a replacement rod after you break yours on a 50lb king, or 20lb silver, or a 10lb sockeye (or that 4lb humpy you tried to release out in the river and he still had more fight in him than you expected...), stop in for a visit. I should have a few hats and shirts available with some funky designs too. Well, that is what the Millers have been up to of late. Pat and his gang are heading to Dry Bay shortly to fire up their fresh market king and sockeye commercial operation. You can get more info from him by sending him an e-mail to pat(at)italio.com, replacing the (at) with the @ symbol. Sorry I have to type it that way instead of giving you a hot link, but the spam crawlers pick e-mail addresses off our web site and overload us with junk. Feel free to stop in at the fly shop, or once our Italio guide season starts, flag me down as I drive by on the Honda. -Bob 2006 December 26th, 2006 - A "Doubter" No More... As mentioned in the last entry, Tanis was a "doubter" this year. On Christmas Eve, he settled in to sleep behind the couch, just a few feet from the tree in our tiny little house. He intended to "see Santa" for himself. Of course he sleeps like a rock once he does finally pass out, so I had hopes of filling the stockings and loading up the tree with all the presents without him waking up. He fell asleep pretty quickly, after a long day of running the kids ragged, loading them up with sugar and waiting for the sugar crash... Worked like a charm. We said good night, then retired to our bedroom for a game of cribbage and a movie. At about 1am, we got up and started unpacking all the boxes that had arrived in the mail over the past couple weeks. Tanis was totally unconscious, while Teen and I tiptoed around him through the night. "We" finished up and crawled back into bed. Teen passed out as quickly as the kids at that point, so I was able to sneak back out to the 'burb where her presents were stored. I finished everything and crawled into bed myself at 3:10am, then heard Tanis excitedly stomping up the stairs at 3:25am. How was that for cutting it close? After an argument as to why he couldn't open his presents NOW, he decided to crawl in with us for the rest of the night, or at least till 6am, when his little sister woke us up. Thank you everyone for your kind e-mail messages and cards. Thanks for the books for the kids as well. It has been a wonderful year, getting to know so many more of you when you drop in at the Italio during the season and throughout the off-season via e-mail. Expect a lot of "advice" from Tanis this coming season, especially if you spend any time fishing there in front of the cabin. He is still telling stories to everyone he can, about the guy who let him land his fish for him and the many other stories about all you guys. We'll see you next year. And... as soon as the spring steelhead start into the Situk, I'll try to keep this updated. Right now, I'm mostly concerned with shoveling snow off the porch, so don't expect too many updates to this page... Happy New Year! The Millers December 24th, 2006 - Merry Christmas to all...
Our good friend Fred Bryan who works at the Forest Service office is Yakutat's resident "volunteer Santa". Every year, he dresses up and visits all the community events as the plump jolly red elf. He is shaped like the big man when not sticking to his Atkins diet, so the costume fits him pretty well this year (sorry Fred). Last week at the school program, Fred... I mean Santa delighted Eden, as she cut to the front of the line and gave him a huge hug. Tanis asked me afterwards if he could ask Fred if he was Santa... Tanis had no clue last year that his cubscout leader was really behind those fake whiskers, but this year he knew the truth. Here is Fred arriving last year courtesy of the Fire Department. Tonight, we watched It's a Wonderful Life, a family Christmas Eve tradition. Afterwards, we fired up the computer and watched the Norad Santa clips, as our government spooks keep close tabs on the sleigh as it departed the North Pole, enroute for our house later this evening. Eden was enraptured by the whole deal and I expected Tanis to be "in on the joke". Well, it now appears Tanis is back to being the innocent 7 year old we knew him to be. He will be sleeping in the living room tonight on the floor behind the couch, hoping to catch Santa in the act of breaking and entering. Tanis sleeps so soundly that Teen and I will easily be able to load the tree and stockings with goodies and he won't hear or see a thing till he wakes in the morning. Teen managed to accidentally leave our digital camera at the cabin, so I asked Fred if I could borrow his for tomorrow. I can't exactly be called a good father if I don't take any embarrassing pictures of my children on Christmas morning, now can I? The kids are in bed, so I scooped up the cookies and carrot (for Cupid this year, since Rudolph always gets the treats) and gave them to Fred when I picked up the camera. He is our REAL Santa after all. Thank you Fred, for all you do for our community. You are truly a special oversized elf. Merry Christmas to everyone, from us Millers. December 21st, 2006 - Winter Welcome
I am gradually catching up on all the backlog of duties that comes with returning to town. I should know exactly which dates will be open for new groups as of January 1st. With this "interesting" season, we will have a few slots open up, which is unusual for us. Last year (as many of you know), we were only able to accommodate one new group, but I expect to see at least four slots available in 2007. If you haven't done so yet, make sure you get on the wait list and I will let you know as soon as I know what is available and what isn't. Click HERE to get on the waiting list for 2007. Well, that is about all for tonight. Have a merry Christmas and I'll definitely keep this up to date in the new year regarding the steelhead run on the Situk and how the year shapes up on the Italio. Regards, Bob Miller October 24th, 2006 - One More October Update...
Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, with a cold wind blowing from the north. The fresh coating of snow on the hills and flock after flock of trumpeter swans made for a wonderful sight. We had a huge bon fire on the beach, just the family. There was one last group over at the Forest Service cabin, but they departed today. They certainly missed a breathtaking sunset last night. The bears have moved on at last. No sightings in over a week, plus no tracks anywhere on the beach. This is my favorite time of the year out here. Even though the fishing is less than our usual ideal, it is so peaceful and quiet without the planes and people. Just the roar of the surf, honks of the swans and the bickering of Tanis and Eden. Ahh, the joys of parenting in the wilderness. Not too much different than anywhere else, I guess. October 12th, 2006 - Our Season Limps to a Close
Two nights ago, we were hit by a massive fall storm. Sustained winds of 40 knots, with gusts in excess of 60k. The tidal surge sent ocean water up into the trail for my cabin, totally submerging all sand on the entire runway. Nothing was left but the taller grass and my anchored fish tote. Fishing had been slow up till then with a couple big storms and floods the previous weeks. This one however sent so much water up into the rivers that all fish were pushed way up into the tributary creeks. When the water receded, there was virtually no fish to be seen, or tempted with a fly. A handful of new blood have trickled into the various streams, but there isn't a pod larger than 10 fish anywhere. The day fly-out fishermen who came yesterday didn't catch a single fish, so I was told. The group today fared a little better, but not much. Our group struggled as well, covering two different rivers with just a little success. The skies are clear though, with spectacular views of the mountains. Flocks of trumpeter swans were taking advantage of the clear skies to head south. Fishing may be slow, but these sunny fall days are still my favorite. Thank you for helping make this a great season, in spite of the weak run. It has been a pleasure to babble to you through this web page and a greater joy to meet so many of you on the river this fall. We'll see you back on the Italio next year. Sincerely, October 2nd, 2006 - Sea-run Cutthroat Heaven
The salmon fishing is slow. So, to entertain Eric from Idaho as well as myself, we went in search of sea-run cutthroats. Did we ever find them! Take a look at this 17 inch fish. I would much rather hook into one like this than a hundred silvers. I managed about two dozen takes, but only landed three of them. They were so fat from the salmon eggs, with bellies bulging. It didn't seem to make a dent in their appetite in the least. This was a fun couple hours out in the wilds, with no trace of other humans anywhere. My kind of fishing...
September 30th, 2006 - Tanis Lands Two on Top!
Not only did he catch his own fish, he then proceeded to hook and land two more on top with poppers. This one is with a Fruit Cocktail, his second fish on a fly and first on the surface. All the guys were great about having Tanis along, especially Eric and Warren. Who said Home Schooling was a drag? Fly fishing is part of his PE "class"... Daddy is very proud. With the rivers dropping, the fishing is improving again. Still way below normal, but were getting by. A heck of a lot better than working in an office. September 29th, 2006 - Fly-out Day Fishermen
Also in the news, Teen caught her first fish EVER two nights ago and it was on a fly! Tanis was out "guiding" with us, so we had quite the family experience at the Alder Hole, forgetting entirely about the clients we were supposed to be helping. Thanks Phil for letting us have such a great time out there in the flooded river. Fishing has been very slow this week following the big storm. The river flooded and all the fish pushed way up into the tributary creeks beyond our reach. The water is dropping and the fish are trickling back into the river, so October will be slow, but not a disaster. My next group will be arriving in less than a half hour, so I had better sign out. Till next time... -Bob September 26th, 2006 - SL-O-W Fishing Season Continues... Well, it seems to be looking like we won't be having much of a late run after all. It is just really weak. Second season in a row, for those who are counting. The numbers of fish in the Old Italio are really low, with maybe 300 fish total in the flats. There are just two holes where the fish are holding, so it doesn't take much fishing pressure to make that an elbow to elbow experience. Most of the day fly outs have been to the Middle Italio, where there have been more fish to catch, but still way below our normal levels. Yesterday the fishing in the Alder and Spruce Holes were OK, but tonight it was pretty dismal. A few fish scattered about, but no concentrations to speak of. Maybe 1000 fish in the entire system. Last week, I fished the New Italio and had a wonderful day. 1000 fish in just the bottom mile, so that was sure promising. The next day, it flooded really badly after not that much rain, making it unfishable. The ground is still so super saturated that even a little rain will wipe it out. Same problem with the Akwe, so both rivers are pretty hit and miss. To the guys who left their pop and beer cans upstream yesterday, I'm so looking forward to you flying back out next year for the day. With any luck, a bear will eat you and we won't have to see your crap all over the bank again. To the guys I met today out on the Old Italio, it was a pleasure and I hope the rest of your trip goes just as well. The forecast for tomorrow is calling for 45 knot winds and heavy rain though. It was supposed to hit today, which turned out to me sunny and gorgeous with little wind. A day fisherman hooked a silver in front of my cabin this evening while waiting for the plane. He let Tanis reel it in and made him a happy little guy. So many great people come out here and share our river. It "almost" makes up for the twits, but not quite. The season is coming to a close, so with any luck, next year will see the ratio of great guys to twits improve. Tanis took a bunch of our 2006 Italio hats and sold them out to some campers. I think next year, I'll have some made up just for him and Eden to sell, so they can earn some of their own spending money. What do you think? He was so thrilled that they wanted "his" hats, so I'll see what he and I can come up with for a 2007 Italio River design. Keep an eye out for a couple little kids and their "lemonade stand" next September.
Yesterday was the first real day of good fish. On the evening tide, they were coming in by the hundreds in the Middle Italio. The sun was bright and the river has dropped to a nice level. They wouldn't bite anything we threw at them... The morning started with a thick layer of fog. No planes could fly out, which was just great for us. We had the place to ourselves all morning. The fog lifted around 10am and the flights descended. Fishing was still tough all day with not many coming in on the small morning tide. The evening tide changed everything. They were streaming in the mouth. A layer of fog passed through and the bite was on! Everyone hooked up at once. Then the fog passed and as soon as the bright sun returned, no one could get a hit. There was a combination of our flies and the Forest Service cabin renter's spin hardware and nothing worked. Frustrating to have such closed mouths, but refreshing to see so many fish finally in the system. Tanis landed a Humpy on his fly rod, although I hooked it for him. His casting is really great, looking better than most of the day fishermen. Not bad for a 7 year old on the 3rd day after I put his rod together. He had a silver swirl after a bass popper on his own cast, but it didn't take it. Fun just to watch him! All the guys stopped fishing to watch and listen to his self-commentary. In the end, it was a great day, capped by steak night at the camp. 45 day wet aged tenderloins, topped with our cranberry port sauce. Yum! Tanis stayed for dinner too and he was the perfect little mini-guide. So cute! Today brought another gorgeous fall day. The mountains were spectacular and there were lots of fish again. Yesterday wasn't a fluke. Unfortunately there were a ton of day fishermen out here. It was shoulder to shoulder combat fishing at the mouth. Still no fish to speak of in the upper holes and a bear ran the guys off the river up there mid day. We went down to the Akwe and had a great time in seclusion. I have my last kayak trip scheduled for Monday and if this weather holds, it should be an incredible end to that part of the season.
Back in 2001, one of our clients arrived short a bag. His clothes were in Seattle, but the important stuff - his fly rod and waders - were here where they should have been. Alaska Airlines promised to deliver the missing bag around noon on the 11th. It didn't happen. The river was completely deserted and the fishing was great. It didn't dawn on us that there were absolutely no planes flying until about 2pm. Teen (my wife) heard a couple boats talking on the marine VHF about "something", but they didn't say any details. There was a mention that all airspace was closed and they said a couple times that "all the footage was the same old stuff, nothing new". Well, out here without TV or even radio, we had no idea what the "old footage" was. By 4pm, we learned a few more details from a commercial fisherman about 15 miles away via the VHF.
On this terrible day, we all appreciated the blessings we had. The friendships we created, the support we all gave to each other and the thought that if we had to be somewhere during such a difficult time, the Italio is just about as good a place to be as any. We spent a lot of time fishing through our shock and grief, but we never lost sight of the important things. I hope your personal memorial of this tragic day isn't filled with the pain we all felt then. We spent today catching lots of big silver salmon, followed by way too much food and talking and laughing with friends around the dinning table. Anything less is a disservice to the people who lost their lives and a victory for those who would rejoice in our loss. My greatest memory from today will be Tanis learning to cast his first fly rod in front of the cabin, with his mommy learning to flyfish right along by his side. They both had their first "take" on a fly today, but neither set the hook. This - their second day ever of holding a fly rod - was a good one, not a tragic one. I hope you had as good a day as we did. The fish are finally here. -Bob
The weather was pretty bad. The river was pretty flooded. The fishing was pretty good. Not exactly breathtaking, but it was a good day. Lots of day fishermen on the Middle Italio, but we had the Old Italio to ourselves. Two batches of fish in the lower river for me and (client) John to work. With the elevated water level and high turbidity, plus 30 knot winds and frequent heavy rain showers, the conditions were somewhat less than ideal. Who cares! The fish were hungry and it was just the two of us out on the flooded sandflats. All I can say is that it is about time! One good day does not necessarily mean the run is here, or that we'll have another good day tomorrow. It was a nice way for John to end the last day of his trip though. A nice bookend, with the great sunny kayak trip at the start.
WOW! I'm actually keeping this thing updated. Too bad I don't have anything good to report. I guess if we had fish, I'd be out fishing instead of updating our latest news... Gee, did I just give away the ending? Another storm passed and flooded us pretty good. Fishing has been hard this week, after some pretty promising days last week. The first couple days of the month had quite a few silvers coming in (along with quite a few humpies). The kayak trip on Harlequin Lake the 3rd was gorgeous. No wind and beautiful clear skies. The storm hit on the 4th, although it wasn't as bad as the weather service was predicting. It was enough to flood the river and scatter our few fish across a wide area. Today has been dry, so hopefully the water will drop quickly and the run will start to arrive as it should have a couple weeks ago. Our group took a day trip to the west side of Yakutat Bay in search of silvers, but came back empty handed there too. It is slow all over. And now a personal thank you to everyone who has sent messages about Rhett. It is amazing how many lives that darned dog touched out here in the middle of nowhere. If he stole your sack lunch, I'm truly sorry. If he made you feel safer around all our bears, well then you are welcome. Emma and Rhett loved to chase the bears out of the yard, but she is a real wimp without him. She actually expects ME to chase bears with her... Tanis and I buried him on the grass hump at the southeast end of the runway last February, right in front of where the satellite dish is now. Feel free to say hello to him, as he watches over the salmon run for us. Hey, maybe it is his fault the fish aren't here... September 1st, 2006 - A Break in the Storm We have a break in our endless series of storms. The rivers were the most flooded they have been all year as of this morning, but the rain had stopped. The sun came out by noon and the Middle Italio dropped a foot by this evening. This week, we have been running with a ratio in the river of about 10:1 pinks to silvers. We have been catching about 50:50 though, due to the more voracious appetite of the silvers. Overall, fishing is still very slow for our standards, but not a dismal disaster. Haven't seen any bears for weeks, but the tracks have returned. Seems to be back to a normal level of bear activity, but if you come out, be very careful. We don't want our record numbers of bears to return! I'll be taking another kayak trip through the icebergs this weekend, before we come back down for the fishing part of the trip. This break in the weather should hold long enough for that. John and Jim arrived today in Yakutat and will be out on a deep-sea halibut charter with Sea Raven Charters tomorrow. Sunday, we'll spend the day paddling through the ice on Harlequin Lake, before taking my jet-boat down the Dangerous River to the beach, where the ATV will be waiting. We'll be fly fishing Monday morning again. Next update will follow that. -Bob August 27th, 2006 - Silvers are Trickling In! We FINALLY had a batch of silvers come into the Middle Italio today. Caught two in front of my cabin this evening and seeing quite a bit of wake in the river on the outgoing tide. The river is still pretty flooded, with another storm expected soon. With the ground as saturated as it is, every drop of rain is going to blow the rivers out. But... at least it looks like some fish are here. August 26th, 2006 - Bear and Fish Update... After a rough bear season, we have some good news. They "seem to" have moved on for the time being. As you may have already read previously, we has a heck of a time with the bears in June and July. More than I have ever seen in my entire life on the Italio. When the wild strawberries came into their peak, the bears moved upstream on the Akwe to the better berry grounds, leaving the Italio behind. Two weeks later when the strawberry run had subsided, the bears were right back in the yard. They didn't find any pink salmon at all, so in order to eat, they had to once again move on. That was two weeks ago and they haven't been back. I see a set of tracks on the ATV trail once in a while, but nothing like we were seeing. We did run into another wolf today and had to keep it away from Emma... Although the bears seem to be gone, they will undoubtedly be back when the fish arrive. Please take care not to feed or habituate them!!!! Now for the fish... it isn't looking good! We caught two pinks in the German Hole yesterday, our first fish period in the Middle Italio for the year. I did see a "V" wake passing my cabin yesterday evening as well, but no idea if it was a pod of pinks, or our first trace of silvers. I'm thinking the run on the Italio is about three weeks late at this point. No trout to speak of either, since there were no pinks for them to follow in and if the pinks still haven't made it into the river, the silvers that follow them are still a long way off. Heck, the gill-netters in Yakutat Bay are still catching good numbers of SOCKEYE!!! Day fishing on the Italio may be a bust this season, especially since we run at least a couple weeks later than the Situk. Weather has been awful. Hit by yet another storm last night, so the flooding is pretty extensive. The New Italio and Akwe Rivers are unfishable at present, while the Old Italio has water a half mile wide across the flats. The Middle Italio is flooded and dark brown, but fishable - if there were fish in it. It looks to be "one of those years"... August 10th, 2006 - Satellite Internet is Up and Running! It look me a lot longer than I expected to get the Starband dish aligned and functional. Sorry for the delay and lack of updates. The fishing news from throughout the region is that the runs are LATE. Kings were very late, at their peak in mid-June, with good numbers throughout most of July. Sockeye were very late everywhere EXCEPT the Akwe River. We had a nice strong and consistent run that lasted a full 6 weeks. With that said, we were still hooking into sockeye yesterday! I had what I would say was the best day of sockeye fishing in my entire life the third week of July. Crystal clear water running a bit low on the New Italio. Not a lot of fish, but there were 4 good schools in the lower stretch of the river near Ryman's cabin. Working with the Kettners from Washington, we were able to get takes on nearly every cast. If your drift was spot on, you hooked a sockeye. If it was even slightly off, you hooked a Dolly Varden. As for the pinks, I expected to have a small run this year. The Italio and Akwe systems have an odd year pink cycle, but we have virtually none at all. Throughout August, we would expect on the off year to have many tens of thousands, however we are literally seeing tiny pockets of our smallest salmon species. The chum fishing, probably due to the lack of pinks in the way, has been very good for us. Our chum runs are not large, but they seem to be building. I would expect the low pink run is also responsible for our continued success with sockeye. Sockeye are a more challenging fish to catch and a large number of hungry and aggressive pinks usually get to your fly first. Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting a weak silver return this fall. The official weir count on the Situk River for yesterday was 35 fish. Yikes! The peak on the Situk is supposed to be in three weeks. We caught our first silver on the Akwe June 25th and hokked several yesterday on the New Italio. There are absolutely no salmon on the Middle and Old Italios yet, so Fish and Game may actually be right for a change. Or... the run could be late. Or... with no pinks to speak of, they haven't any reason to come in during the early part of the season. I was very pleased with the numbers we saw yesterday (especially since we were catching 4 out of the 5 salmon species at the same time). Today marks the official start of our silver season. We broke our first rod on a silver this morning. John from Colorado lost his 9 wt. to a surprisingly small silver buck on the New Italio. I'm going to try and keep a running total on the HomePage of our broken rod count this year. The bear situation has been "awful" this summer. I have never seen this many bears in my life and as you probably know, I have lived in this cabin since I was 4 years old! We have had 5 different sows with 2-3 cubs each, two 3 year olds hanging together and at least a dozen individuals living between the Akwe Mouth and Middle Italio Mouth. While commercial fishing, I had a bear who after being unable to get the lid off my tote, he flipped the entire tote, trailer and 400 pounds of sockeye into the flooded New Italio. The strawberries are ripe on the beach, so we have been seeing them everywhere. Hopefully, once the berries fade and with no pinks available, they will have to move on to find food before the silver season hits in earnest. If not, the day fishermen (and I'm talking to you!!!) will quickly train them to look at people as a food source, creating a nightmare for all of us on the river. Please: *Feed the fish, not the
bears! Throw your fish
waste into the deepest part of the river, NOT ON THE BANK!
If they look to the water as the provider of their food, we will
all stay alive. Let me be perfectly clear: if I left waste
and food around all summer the way many of you day fishermen do,
the bears would probably eat you the moment you stepped off the
plane. Don't put my 3 year old daughter and 7 year old son at risk
by being stupid. Otherwise, we'll see you on the river. More updates to come at least weekly now... Unless the fishing is just too god for me to bother sitting here at my laptop... -Bob May 7th, 2006 - We're on the River Now! Hi all, don't expect many updates from here on out. The fish are here, so I'm on the river. I will have satellite internet this summer at my cabin, but it will take me a while to get the dish all set up. I'm still waiting for my generator to arrive. Don't bother calling on the phone, but I can answer e-mail questions once we are back online. Thanks! -Bob News Flash! - April 6th, 2006 Last minute cancellation - third week of SEPTEMBER!!! Never mind on this. It is now officially filled (as of Sept 7th)
This has been a difficult winter around here and I can't say I'm disappointed to see winter in the taillights. Losing Rhett and the house fire were plenty to mar the end of 2005 and the start of 2006. But... the sun is out, the snow is melting and soon the salmon will be back in the yard. Two days ago, there were two humpback whales that strayed into the bay. They spent the day playing around for us to watch. Yesterday, we had a pod of porpoise just off the end of the dock, circling the bait fish straight out of a National Geographic special. The eagles disappeared a week or so ago and are now feeding on the eulachon schools (candlefish) at the Italio and Akwe mouths. Yes, spring is nearly here. Reports from the Situk have been that the winter steelhead run was a disappointment, but they are expecting a great spring run. With our mild winter, I would expect another early run, with easy access to the river. If you are considering a steelhead trip this spring, come early to catch the early run and avoid the crowds.
This past week, our beloved male Weimaraner Rhett passed away. Yesterday, Tanis and I buried him out along the bank of the Middle Italio River, where we spent so many wonderful seasons with him. For those of you who knew Rhett, or had him chase a bear away for you, you'll understand what a tremendous loss this is to all of us. He was a poorly bred puppy mill dog, who spent his early life abused, beaten and locked in a box. He came to us through the Sacramento Weimaraner Club and their rescue efforts. We certainly had our share of "issues" to work though, but providing a loving home to this troubled and abused dog was a reward for us beyond measure, let alone the reward he received by living the ideal dog's life on the beaches of the Italio, Akwe and Dangerous Rivers... Chasing bears, moose, salmon, eagles, or just basking in our occasional sun on the beach.
For Rhett's sake, please consider adopting a dog instead of buying a puppy. All breeds are overproduced, leaving literally millions of beautiful dogs to be euthanized every year simply because there are too many of them to find homes for. Please take a look at www.weimrescue911.org for more information about rescue and to locate the nearest rescue organization to you. Thank you. Rhett would thank you too. Sincerely, January 23rd, 2006 - Satellite Internet! At long last, I have semi-reliable high speed internet. That means I will be able to upload this massive backlog of photos from the past two years and update the very old web site. We'll have new navigation buttons, lots of new photos and hopefully the whole thing will be much more interesting. We will also have internet access at my cabin this summer, so I'll be able to make changes throughout the season and even answer e-mail with a reasonable response time, instead of having to wait a month till I get back to town. I'll be able to keep this updated for run strength throughout the season, maybe even have a live underwater web cam eventually. OK, maybe not, but technology is invading the wilderness and hopefully in a good way. We have had a very warm and wet winter so far. Not a flake of snow on the ground since the first week of November. Last night, the snow started to fall and we have about a foot in the yard. With so little snow, we'll have to see how this effects the river this summer, when flow rates depend on snow melt. I sure would hate to see the river dry up during that one week we see of sunny weather... Let the snow continue to fall. One good thing has been the easy access to the Situk throughout winter. Steelhead have been in the river, with no tourists to get in the way. Not a single drift boat. If you are interested in coming to Yakutat for a winter shot of steelhead, check in and I'll try to give you a report and some recommendations. I can not guide on the Situk, but I'd be happy to take a day off from homeschooling Tanis for a day playing on the river... Bob Miller December 3rd, 2005 - Finally an Update The season came to an end without too much fanfare. The silver season was a disappointment, but we still had a good time trying. The peak came around the third week of October and it still was pretty weak. Oh well. We were bound to have an off season eventually. We stayed out on the river till November 5th, then flew to town to try and catch up on 4 months of messages in my inbox. Before I had a chance to make a dent, our furnace caught fire and burned up the furnace room in our house. Fortunately, the fire didn't spread beyond there, although two weeks without heat as the Alaskan winter set in was not pleasant. So... that is my excuse for not being very good at updates. As I gradually catch up, I'll be updating the web site with new photos and stories from the '05 season. Stay tuned... August 27th, 2005 - What a Storm!
If you are planning a trip to Yakutat this fall, expect a wet and stormy trip. If you see a glimpse of our famously tall mountains, consider yourself lucky indeed. We had such a glimpse today and the stars are out tonight. Another storm is in the forecast though... I'll be heading back to the river in another day and I don't expect to return to town till at least the end of October, perhaps November if the run is as late as it is looking. We do still have a slot available for a group of 4 or less arriving October 18th in case you are interested. Call the 1-866-737-1123 number and leave a message if you are interested in coming up. Otherwise, there is always next year. Tight lines! - Bob August 2nd, 2005 - Adventure Trips are Over... Here Come the Silvers
Now, we have silvers on our doorstep and they will be hitting the river any day now. Don't expect me to be anywhere near a computer till at least the end of October. If I'm not losing flies on big powerful Coho, then I'll be frantically tying more up for another day's adventure. See you on the river... June 10th, 2005 - Quite the Special Weekend
With Tanis' help, we herded the pup back into the water without scaring it too much, or having to resort to handling it. Yes, seals eat the salmon we catch, but this poor helpless pup didn't deserve to suffer the kind of death so many of them suffer at the hands of mother nature and the eagles.
Just another day in the life out in the Alaskan wilderness. One baby saved, another lost. A little "character building" lesson for me i guess. Next time, Fish and Game probably won't be on my consultation list... June 8th, 2005 - The Season is Upon Us! Yes, the season is already upon us on the Italio. Although the Italio River is more famous for its silver salmon run, we have been seeing really strong sockeye runs as well for the past several years. This season appears to be no exception and the fish are early. VERY early. Similar to last year, the warmer than usual winter seems to be bringing the runs for most of the area's rivers two weeks to a month earlier than "scheduled". We'll be expecting great silvers in August again in 2005, so if you don't find yourself booked into an Alaskan trip this year, we do have one slot open the second week of August for up to 8 people (Aug 5th through Aug 12th for 5 or 7 nights) and we can take small groups of up to 4 for the weeks of Aug 16th to Aug 22nd, or Aug 23rd to Aug 28th. Last year's early run gave us some of the best silver fishing of the season during these slots. January 27th, 2005 - Waiting for the Sun Winter in Yakutat allows me to catch up on all those things that just don't seem so important when the fish are running (like updating this page). We didn't have a white Christmas, rather brown actually. Snows have come and gone, but mostly gone for the 4th winter in a row. Yakutat may lack that "post card" quality we like, but a warm winter does have its advantages. #1 on that list would be the easy and early access a low snow pack offers. Once spring arrives and with it, the spring steelhead run, tromping through waist-deep snow won't be a problem to get to the river. Of course Yakutat is home to the famous Situk River, with its "largest wild steelhead run in Alaska". The Situk isn't the only game in town however. Last spring, I was finally able to float the Italio from mountain lake to the ocean in early May. With Harlequin Lake frozen over, it is a 3 mile hike to the Italio trailhead, then a 3 mile hike into the falls. Not something that snow would make easier. Unfortunately my client and I did not find the run strength we had hoped for, so Pat and I have decided the Italio steelhead run needs some peace and quite to build into a world-class fishery. I do plan on keeping a close eye on it over the years, so if you have an interest in going on a R & D float trip, this is as remote an Alaskan experience as you can get. Yes, the Situk has a lot of fish, but there is nothing like spending a week without seeing another human being. Other area rivers offer great spring runs. The Akwe River (see "The Rivers") has steelhead and trout through April and May. Italio River Adventures can access the Akwe River mouth and estuary, although we do not fish the upper region of the river. There are two outfitters that can take you fishing on this glacially fed stream, or it can be accessed as a day-trip fly-out destination via Alsek Air and Yakutat Coastal Airways. April and May are usually the best steelhead months, however be aware that a warm winter can bring great fishing throughout January, February and March as well. As I said before, access isn't a problem when there isn't any snow. August 26th, 2003 - The Silvers are Here! A couple days ago, I hiked into Italio Falls to prepare for an upcoming float trip. Stumbling through the forest with a raft on my back isn't exactly the most fun I have ever had, however the destination is so worth every step. The sun was out, the falls were filled with salmon climbing the steps and a huge brown bear was perched at the top waiting for the right moment to grab his meal. Although he was spectacular to watch, as soon as Emma spotted the bear, she took off after him and sent him well on his way. Usually when I hike into the upper reaches of the Italio, I have clients with me and therefore, I don't have the ability to explore. On this day, I was on my time. With tens of thousands of fish all around me, I worked areas of the river that quite possibly have never seen an angler before. Beginning tomorrow, I have the rare privilege of guiding just one client on an Italio Float. With just the two of us, we will have the luxury of going anywhere and doing anything that sounds good. Something that just isn't possible with a large group of eight. Day one will be spent entirely on the north spur. Below the massive impassible fall, there are deep blue holes cut into the bedrock where hundreds of salmon are schooled. I was able to pull a beautiful cutthroat out from there before moving on to a completely different experience. Downstream a bit further, the rapid features a patchwork of deep spots surrounding each of the larger boulders. The Chum salmon had gathered there and put up a mighty good fight. As the river straightens out and shallows, Pinks scattered themselves about in the loose gravel. Sockeye dotted the lower stretches in glowing red, with Dolly Varden waiting for eggs to tumble down from the redds. Day two will be at Italio Falls, where surprisingly I pulled several silvers out in rapid succession, before hooking a variety of other species. I was surprised to see them as far upstream as the falls already. We may spend as many as five days fishing the area above the fork, before floating our way down to tide-water. This sure is a tough life, but somebody has to do it. It might as well be me. What is stopping you? Bob August 17th, 2003 - A year since I last updated this page!?!? Holy cow! My sincere apologies for being so behind. As I typed the last message last year, the silvers were beginning to arrive in droves, so my priorities changed from playing online to catching fish. I'm sure you can understand. Then at the end of the year, Teen had to be shipped out to Juneau for months. The pregnancy was going just fine, but with virtually no medical services to speak of in Yakutat, we had to wait and wait and wait in a motel down there. On 03-03-03, she gave birth to a beautiful little girl we named Eden Branwen Mesa Miller. She is now 5 months old and still the happiest baby on earth. This is now two perfect kids, so if we have a third, we are doomed. I certainly deserve a horror child, but poor Teen would bare the brunt of it. Having to put up with me is more than she should have to. Anyway... The silvers are once again starting to arrive and I'm heading back out to the river for a couple months of utter bliss. Tight lines... Bob Hubbard Glacier's Advance August 23rd, 2002 - Its Over for This Year I fly to Seattle for a week and what happens? About 12 inches of rain falls in two days, causing the lake to overflow the moraine and wash it almost completely away. A day later, Hubbard was again calving and performing its seasonal retreat - Yakutat's "end of the world" seems to be over for the time being. However, all the geologists and glaciologists are actively predicting WHEN (not if) Hubbard will do it right. We've been a little busy with trips, fishing and business this last month, so I haven't been updating this as regularly as I intended. I do have all sorts of photos to post and will do so this week as I catch up on everything. The most telling image I can give you is the lake water-level graph from the USGS web site. It tells it all...
July 19th, 2002 - Getting Tighter Each Day Here are a batch of photos taken July 7th by Harold Robbins and Mary McMullen. The Forest Service is still saying that the glacier is no longer advancing this season, but when you compare these photos to the photos below from just two weeks before, it is pretty clear that the glacier is still closing the gap. You can also see how the entire glacier is fitting around the curve of Gilbert Point, unlike the narrow little spit of ice that blocked the fiord in 1986.
There have been reports from the Park Service that water is bubbling from underneath the glacier escaping from Russell Fiord/Lake. Not a significant enough amount to drain the lake however. Russell Lake is rising as much as 8 inches a day, up from the 6 inches last month. It is still trickling over the terminal moraine, however the moraine is rising with the lake to compensate. The lake is about 40 feet higher than sea level now, with another 70 feet before it overflows into the Situk River. In 1986, the lake rose between 78 and 83 feet (depending on which government agency you talk to) before the pressure broke through the narrow ice dam. From these photos, you can see that there is a world of difference between how much ice is sealing off the fiord now and in 1986. With just the narrow 1986 dam, it was still able to rise to 80 feet. Some people are speculating that the glacier may float before it reaches a height enough to wipe out the Situk. With a glacier 600 feet thick and with 300 feet if ice above sea level, the 110 feet needed to overflow still leaves 33% of the glacier above the surface of the lake. Icebergs float at 10% above, so I don't think the float-theory is very likely. The chance of a sudden break-out is also unlikely in my opinion, since there is so much more ice this time around. No one knows how the tremendous weight of the added water will effect the tectonic plates. Yakutat was home to the 4th largest earthquake ever in 1899 and is frequently rocked with smaller quakes. Russell and Nunatak Fiords have a total surface area of about 70 square miles. The weight of 110 feet of water over 70 square miles will be dramatic. The Situk River will become a raging torrent of trees and debris. The current sport, subsistence and commercial fisheries will be devastated... in the short term. A lake the size of Russell and Nunatak Fiords will eventually make for a spectacular sockeye habitat. The rising water table will also fill many of the dry tributary streams across the forelands, creating new habitat for steelhead and the other species of salmon. It isn't the end of the world as many in Yakutat are predicting. It could also be the greatest opportunity we've seen in a long time. Certainly this event creates some amazing opportunity for eco-tourism, to see this amazing geological event and the excitement of how it all unfolds. Unfortunately, Italio River Adventures is still the only eco-tourism guide service in Yakutat. Hopefully we can inspire others to get a clue.
June 20th, 2002 - OK, not quite yet! Hubbard is very close to sealing off the fiord, but not quite there yet. The "push moraine" (the rock and debris being pushed by the leading edge of the advancing glacier) did seal off the fiord from Disenchantment Bay, but as the melt-water brought the level of the fiord higher, it began spilling over the moraine. In these photos (courtesy of the Forest Service and Bill Lucy), you can see there is still a gap before the ice hits Gilbert Point. It won't be long though...
If I can get up in the air, I will get some better photos to keep you updated. In the 1986 closure (photos in our PHOTOS-GLACIERS page, you can see it was a narrow protrusion that did the blocking. This time, it looks to be the WHOLE glacier, making it more likely that the Situk will actually be over run. Fortunately, the Italio is well out of the path... Our Galloping
Glacier - Hubbard Seals off Fiord... Again! For those of you who have seen Yakutat on a sunny day, or spent any time reading this web site, you know we have the largest glaciers on the continent. If you have been fortunate enough to take a charter all the way to see the Hubbard Glacier at the head of Yakutat Bay, you undoubtedly witnessed one of the earth's greatest natural wonders. There is no way to communicate what this unbelievable sight is like, so I won't bother now. In 1986, the Hubbard surged forward blocking off Russell Fiord. Over the course of that summer, the rising melt-water in Russell "Lake" threatened to overflow through The Situk River and possibly overrun the town of Yakutat itself. Millions of dollars were spent trying to save the threatened whales and other marine mammals that were trapped behind the ice in this alien fresh-water environment. Well, the ice dam broke through the second week of September, causing the greatest burst of water since Missoula, Montana had dinosaurs wandering the streets. With Yakutat saved, the whales washed out into the ocean and all was well... except the scientists were predicting that in a few decades, the Hubbard would REALLY seal off the fiord and then we'd REALLY be in a pickle. TODAY, IT HAPPENED! Hubbard once again sealed off Russell Fiord from Disenchantment Bay. The fiord is already rising and everything is in a buzz. No one was expecting it to do this quite so soon, but there is one amazing stroke of luck... there was a scientific symposium scheduled for this summer in Yakutat with every great geologic mind present. It began Monday, so all the glaciologists from around the world are ringside to see it happen. Keep checking back and I will attempt to update events as they happen. If I can get up in the air, I will get photos as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I hope all is well with you and the glaciers aren't running amok in your neighborhoods.
Rains Cause
Overflow, Drainage Eroding Moraine After heavy rains in the Yakutat area, Russell Lake overflowed the moraine that had been blocking the fjord and is now draining to sea. The drainage is eroding the moraine, allowing even more water to drain. At its peak, the water level in Russell Lake reached a height of 61 feet above normal. Bob Miller
http://www.italio.com (907)784-3697
www.italio.com Site Map:
flyfishing,
fly fishing, fly fish, flyfish, |
October
3rd, 2007 - A New Guide in Training
