Wow.  OK, Alaska lives up to the hype.  We're barely inside the state and already we've hit an area with non-stop fish.  It was so much fun even Claire got into it.  She actually beat me on total fish count, reeking of beginner luck.  Or maybe it's my skill in instruction.  Sure, let's go with that.

So, first of all, this report is about Mitkof Island, along the Inside Passage of south east Alaska.  As you can read in other articles, we spent a week here in this way-off-the-tourist-path commercial fishing town and had some incredible experiences.  We had put in a couple of hours fishing in some various places on the island (all first class), but the weather usually conspired against comfortable fly fishing.  During our hike to a remote back country cabin, we traveled alongside Petersburg Creek up to Petersburg Lake.  This watershed hosts strong runs of all five pacific salmon and a good May-June steelhead run.  Pictures left by fishermen in the remote cabin on the lake showed huge kelts caught along this ten mile river.  As we hiked along side, I could not get over what a beautiful fly fishing this would be.  Definite roll-cast country, but the almost the entire length was fishy run after fishy run.  I would highly recommend this area as a fly-in trip to the lake with hikes down river to fish.  Pick your species and the timing.  The lake has loads of huge cutts (averaging 25 inches) too and lots of dollies that are especially plentiful when the sockeye and pink salmon hit the lake.  Combined the absolutely incredible cabin, this place is definitely a sweet find.  Oh, and what's the recipe for success of this area?  Simple: no logging and no poeple.

On our last day, we decided to hang out at Blind River Rapids 20 miles south of the town of Petersburg on the only major road on the island: the Mitkof "Highway".  This amazing little tail out to the Blind River Slough forces bright King salmon to charge over shallow rapids and into shallow pools where you can wade and cast for them.  Now, while that was fun, the best time was had going for the chunky aggresive rainbows just 100 feet downstream at the end of the rapids that were feasting on King salmon smolts.  These King babies were everywhere and I actually caught one 19 inch rainbow that had a 3 inch smolt still stuffed in his mouth along side my fly.  What a pig!  Anyway, one rainbow unfortunately went into shock very quickly after a quick fight... not sure what that was about as I'd never seen anything like it.  So, we kept that guy and had the tastiest fresh fish I think I'll ever have.  I should also note again that Claire was on fire that day, landing her first rainbow on the fly (an 18-incher that made a spectacular 2-3 foot jump that made us both freeze up with a case of the giggles.)  I think she another five or six fish after that, in only an hour of work!

Speaking of flies, is there anything the Cop Car can't do?  What's a Cop Car?  It's a secret fly that I picked up on from those brilliant Washington-based guides at Dickson Flyfishing.  Dennis and Mike: props, dudes!  So far I have caught the following species with the Cop Car: silver (coho) salmon, king (chinook) salmon, rainbows, cutthroat, dolly varden and bull trout (yes, they're different) and even annoying little sculpins.

Next in our fishing reports: Yukon rivers and lakes: arctic grayling and northern pike.  Will pike go for the Cop Car?  Must try.

It was a 10.2 mile hike - no big deal, right?  I was close to tears by the end of it.  The trail alternated through muskeg, bog, full out mud and forest.  Most of the trail was on boardwalk - small planks of wood just wide enough to walk on.  These were very slippery planks and we both took some falls off into the mud with our packs falling on top of us.  Wet skunk cabbage surrounded the planks which made everything that much more slippery.  It was like walking on banana peels.  I had to keep my feet constantly clenched to keep a grip.  Then I discovered ski-king, where you just skate across the boards and all was better.  There was no elevation, but it was a gruelling 7 hours.

The destination was a forest service cabin - you can rent them for $30/night.  It was built out of cedar, with no electric tools (illegal in the wilderness areas).  There were bunks, dining table with benches, kitchen area (and non-perishables left behind by previous occupants.)  It was so beautiful.  Out front was our own private lake with rowboat as well as a running creek to get water from.

We stayed in the cabin for two nights, fished (but didn't catch anything), read and played crib.  I realized it was the first time I had been entirely away from any civilization noise whatsoever.  There were no planes and no car sounds, nothing. 

The hike back was a totally different experience.  Same trail, same conditions, but something just changed - maybe we knew what to expect, maybe we had mastered ski-king, but mostly I think it was because we just appreciated what the hike was all about.  I loved every minute back.