While staying in Byron Bay in the middle of the east coast of Australia, I caught an advert for "surf fishing".  Why not?  Click below to "Read More"...

It's been a long time since I've posted anything about fly fishing, but it's certainly not for lack of actual fishing.  Part of our travels included a return to Vancouver in early September after our Alaska/Yukon trip.  For two weeks, we based ourselves out of hometown Vancouver, making trips to visit family and friends in Winnipeg, Powell River and Seattle.  I managed to squeeze in three great days of fly fishing during this time with each day taking on a different fish in different waters.  Click below to "Read More"...

Reading over some of my first posts, I realized that I'm missing a few more tales about northern fishing.  There is one fishery that we checked that is definitely worth mentioning: Yukon Arctic Grayling.  ...

Long before we left on this trip, I read through several books about Alaska fly fishing.  There are few areas, if any, that can rival Alaska for the concentration of species and raw numbers of fish that return to Alaska's many rivers.  All species of pacific salmon, along with sea-run dolly varden, arctic char and steelhead, return to these rivers at various times throughout the year.  Along with these seasonal arrivals, there are also lots of resident rainbows and dolly varden in most coastal rivers.  Of course, Washignton and BC all have rivers that support the same species, but the concentration of wild fish (not hatchery) makes Alaska truly unique.  All of this really appealed to me, especially after months of stalking elusive winter steelhead on pacific northwest rivers.  8 hours and no fish was a typical day for me all winter, with snow pelting down in one of the wettest and coldest winters in the pacific northwest.  My regular guide in Washington started to think I was a weather jinx.  Well, reading about the fishing marvels available in Alaska became one of the many reasons (Claire would argue THE reason) I wanted to come up to Alaska. However, after more reading, I realized that the best of the river systems are not accessible unless you pack up your gear and head off to extremely remote backcountry lodges accessible only by air.  These are very expensive adventures that only last a few days at a time.  I realized before we left that I would have to remain happy with the good (but not spectacular) fishing available along the highway systems.  OK, no big deal, I thought.  I can always come back some other year to fish the remote areas at some nice lodge catering just to fly-anglers.

Then, about 10 days ago, we arrived in Homer. ...