Written by Sam Licavoli II
Since this is such a long and involved fishing trip, we will enter fishing reports on a day by day basis.
Arrival Day in Alaska – written by Sam Licavoli
This 4th of July built up so much anticipation only one other day in both our lives had more, the day I am referring to I will let you speculate but all you need to do is ask AJ or Elishia.
I had spent the last 20 days working from home on a project that had taken up just about every hour in the day. In the middle of work I would churn out a dozen or so flies for the trip to Alaska with the final total tied finishing out around 26 dozen. So on July 3rd I finished up the final flies and the instructions to the people at work on how to proceed without me and went to bed and set my alarm for 5am.
The alarm went off and of course I realized I hadn’t packed yet and I forgot a number of items for work. I had every intention of using the list Chuck had sent but in a flurry I managed to get everything done for work and get all the needed fishing gear packed.
I made it over to my parent’s house where my dad was waiting to take me over to the Cassidy homestead. He had a cup of coffee waiting for me as I piled my gear into his truck.
Nick, Karen and Terry were waiting for us when we pulled in. I drove us down to Detroit Metro Airport with only one small scare, apparently some exit ramps you can’t take at 70+ mph. Nick and I had already checked in the previous night and had our boarding passes so all we had to do is check a bag and make our way to the gate to kill about 2 hours.
Nick and I hustled down to the gate and found a Mexican airport dive with beer and bellied up. Our bar tender Karen poured us what the most interesting man in the world drinks (click here to watch), Dos Equis and had brunch. After the two of us got our bill we soon realized that we can’t afford what the most interesting man in the world drinks if he is drinking at an airport bar.
We boarded our plane to Seattle and settled in. Nick sat in front of me on the four hour plus flight. We eventually were able to trade a seat half way in. Both of us poured through a couple books on fishing in Alaska and marked destinations for the second leg of our fishing trip.
This flight seemed to take forever and neither one of us got much sleep on the plane. We did muster some courage up and bought a beer on the plane and to our surprise the cold can of Miller Lite was about $3.50 cheaper than what the most interesting man in the world drinks.
We touched down in Seattle and just out side our arrival gate was the information monitors, which in my travel experience is the first thing you find when making a connection. We were supposed to have an hour layover but when I found our flight on the monitor it had been cancelled. There was another flight to Anchorage leaving in 25 minutes so we ran to the departing gate.
The gate agent was able to get us seats on the plane crisis averted! …or was it. In my previous trip to Alaska I ran into a similar problem when the plane we sat on in Minneapolis had mechanical issues and we were forced to deplane but our luggage wasn’t. On that trip we lost 2 and one half days because of lost luggage. Surely this wouldn’t happen to us again? We couldn’t afford the lost luggage because our rods, waders, sleeping gear, flies, and clothes were in our checked bags and not to mention that the flight to Iliamna left at 8:00 am sharp the next morning.
Nick and I hit the ground in Alaska and quickly made our way to baggage claim. The turnstile started to move and bags and suitcases started piling on, none of which were ours.
We made our claim and they promised us that they would call when our baggage arrived. So both of us nervous started thinking contingency plan and began to look for sporting goods stores. I called my friend Cyndi who had recently moved to Anchorage and made plans to meet her and her husband Greg for dinner.
She picked us up at the Super 8 and took us to the “Moose’s Tooth” for pizza and hand crafted beer. Halfway through dinner I received the “phone call” and our bags were safe and at the airport! We finished dinner and Cyndi and Greg took us to the airport to get our bags and then over to Fred Meyer.
Fred Meyer, the same as the jewelers we have in Michigan, was giant and had everything in them from groceries to guns. Nick and I had to pick up some whiskey for the trip and I had to pick up every thing I forgot at home which apparently was everything. I had no towel, water bottle, water proof matches, travel pillow, toilet paper, baby wipes, bandanna, and deodorant. Of course I was able to buy all these things at Fred Meyer but I forgot items there too.
After the shopping trip we headed back to the hotel, gave Cyndi and Greg our unneeded items, a huge thank you, and headed to bed.
Day One on the Koktuli River written by Nick Cassidy
Written by Nick Cassidy
If I had one piece of advice to give a fellow fisherman and/or outdoor lover, it would be to get to Alaska while you can and while the wilderness is still as pure and spectacular as what Sammy and I experienced.
Bill and Dave (two guys from California whose wives booked this trip for them) and Sammy and I landed on a small tundra lake at which time we were met by our guides Chuck Ash and Justin Bailey. Chuck is a 64-year-old, tough and rugged guy who retired from teaching in 1998. He also served in Vietnam. Justin was one of his former students and has been working with Chuck for 10 years.
We carried our gear about ½ mile to the Koktuli River. The landscape was flat, covered in mosses and small shrubbery with mountains, some of which still had spots of snow in the distance. As we were very close to the headwaters, the river was small but had just enough volume to carry our rafts. The ½ mile trek to the river, the small size, and the obstructions in the river make the Koktuli the most under-fished river I have ever seen. In fact, we were the first people to fish this stretch of river this year. We didn’t see a person or even a human footprint until day 6 of the float. Unfortunately, the first person we saw was a naked Swede who was bathing in the cold Alaskan water. Instead of covering himself, he continued to use his towel for some butt floss, waved and shouted a long drug out “Helllllloooooooooooo” in a deep Swedish accent. Besides the naked Swede, this was the most beautiful and picturesque scenery I have ever experienced.
The headwaters contained no salmon at the time of our entry and Chuck informed us that the first day and possibly two would be almost entirely devoted to grayling fishing. Chuck informed us that we would be covering a lot of river in that time to find the salmon which would be making their way up the river. However, the timing and distance covered on these trips is something that has to be difficult to gauge. If you cover too much water you pass over the salmon and if you don’t cover enough water, you have to make up for the time on the last few days to make the pick up point and time.
Before we pushed off Sam and I loaded into Justin’s raft. Justin is a 28-year-old former student of Chuck’s working on his degree at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. It is evident that his youth and energy add a lot to the Brightwater Alaska guide service.
It didn’t take long to realize that we had a lot in common with Justin. As Sam and I joked Justin would interject witty one-liners and even his own brand of sick and twisted humor. We exchanged stories and jokes and the 4-5 mile float flew by.
In that time we were casting dries and dries with droppers to Grayling which probably averaged 16 inches. While we started off viewing the Grayling fishing as “filler” until we would find the salmon, we soon came to appreciate what could be some of the best Grayling fishing on the planet. On the first day we didn’t start floating until almost noon and started setting up camp at around 4:30 pm. In that time Sam and I probably landed around 80 grayling between the two of us. The other raft, led by Chuck had an equally successful float and also had constant action. During the day’s float we did see a few salmon (mostly Chums) moving upstream.
We set up camp in a small opening in the shrubs on a great bend in the river. As we would do for the next week, we unloaded the rafts and set up our tents. As Chuck and Justin started setting up the tables, stove, and cooking dinner, we made a trip back down to the river to catch a couple more grayling. Sam and I each landed several more grayling and did see a few salmon holding in deep runs. We headed back to camp at 7 pm for Chicken Fajitas, Bean Burritos, and even some of our Irish Whiskey.
I am sure Bill, Dave, and Sam will all agree that the food prepared on this trip surpassed all of our expectations. Honestly, a few of the meals were some of the best tasting I have ever had. After dinner we had a few more swigs of Whiskey, shared some stories, and turned in at about 11:00 pm. At this time it was still around 80 degrees and seemed like 5pm as at this time of year there is about 20 hours of daylight. Even the dark is only dusk. Between the heat and the excitement of the day I had a difficult time sleeping. We knew that the next day would be even better than today.
Notes from Day 1-
Temperature- 80 + and Sunny. Very little breeze
Fish- Grayling
Top Flies- Dries- #16 tan caddis, Giffiths Knat** Droppers- prince, zug bug, copper john, pheasant tail, hares ear.
Bugs- Mosquitos were relentless, biting flies and no-see-ums were thick. It was soon discovered that when you get up to go to the bathroom getting in and out of the tent is like a race against a time bomb. Suggestion—bring a pee jug!
Things Sam Forgot- Bandanna, water bottle, toilet paper, towel, pillow, sunscreen, matches, net, hook sharpener . It all worked out. He was able to hit the convenience store for some of the items and I had extras of the rest.
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This past weekend Sammy cut short his Saturday afternoon fishing session with Steve. His reason? He had to attend a wine tasting event with his wife and friends. The Man Card rules clearly state that a card revocation or suspension may occur if: “….turning down fishing trips in favor of shopping…” 
