Spring Rainbow Trip 2024

As spring crept closer, the itch of open-water fishing was unbearable. My friend Hunter and I planned a float trip primarily targeting big Rainbow trout at the end of April. With logistics planned and gear organized we took off on the long drive south from Fairbanks. As night approached we arrived at the put-in and set up camp. We enjoyed mule deer steaks and veggies on the grill and sat around the fire drinking beers and telling stories until the early hours of the morning. 

As tired as we were, we exited our tents just before daybreak and started assembling the raft and gear. We had borrowed a 14ft raft with a rowing frame, perfect to fish from and haul the large amounts of gear we had brought. I had made the mistake of only bringing one manual pump so we took turns over the next hour inflating each tube section. Once ready we rowed out onto the wavy lake towards the mouth of the river. We had worried about the ice conditions but had no way of confirming if it was fully out yet. We soon discovered there was no open water channel leading to the river. We decided to push/pull the raft along the edge of the lake. The ice was just thick enough that we’d get on top of the ice and then break through again. It was rough going, and I was glad I had brought Hunter along. He had no complaints and was as gungho as I was. We planned to hunt sheep together in August and how he was handling this unforeseen hurdle gave me confidence we were going to work well together in the mountains.  

After pushing the raft through the ice we reached the mouth of the lake. The feeling of reaching the river gave us a sense of relief and accomplishment that trumped our exhaustion. We had entered a stretch of river we had both been dreaming of fishing. Having 2 and a half days to fish, we felt we could figure out the bite. The excitement of what was to come had us digging out our rods and checking our fly boxes. Hunter reached for his custom 7wt and showed off the blue and white wraps. “Kenia blue dude, this baby is sweeeet.” He said as he put the sections together. As the third section came out of the case it fumbled out of his hand and straight into the river, he wasn’t long plunging his arm in the ice cold glacial water. Out came a rod section gripped tight in his grasp. We each let out a sigh of relief, crises had been averted. With our rods rigged, we made our way through the slow, long stretches that didn’t seem to hold much potential, we made lunch as floated and soon we rounded a corner that showed promise. Here, about 300 yards downstream was a jet boat with two fly fishermen. At least they thought it was a good enough spot to try. We made our way past and soon were in faster riffle sections of the river. There were a few more anglers in sight, we felt this area held potential. 

      I backed the raft against the gravel bar and we hopped out eager to try our luck for a fat rainbow. Wading out to our knees we fished the first riffle without success. We moved downstream and fished the next, no luck. We soon were switching flies and adjusting our setups. We tried many different patterns, depths, and techniques without any luck. The fishermen around us were not having any luck either. It was midday and very sunny. The river had gravel bars 200 yards wide to the tree line. There were no rocks or logs to break the current or provide shade. We decided to head a few hundred yards downstream and continue our search. 

     Hunter strayed down river and a few minutes passed before I saw him hookup with a fish. He quickly worked it in and waved me to come down. When I got to him he explained what he was using and where the fish had been. I made the adjustments on my rods and set up alongside him. We pulled a handful of feisty bows from the run and felt a lot better about our chances for the trip. It had taken us 4 hours of hard fishing to land our first fish, but after finding the right pattern we were able to produce bites. 

    A strategy I follow when figuring out a new fishery or even one I haven’t fished in a while is working off of what knowledge or info I have going into the day. For this trip we had some detailed information about where the fish might be. This was gleaned from an old research paper that contained a map of recorded locations of radio tagged rainbows during spring spawning. We knew they would likely be in their pre spawn phase of their yearly cycle. So this had given us the clues of where they would be. Knowing where the fish are is arguably the most important factor in a successful fishing trip. We also had some accounts of what flies they had been hitting. General stuff such as “alevins”, “stonefly nymphs”, “sculpin”. While not a specific pattern to try, these little nuggets of information can be used to determine which flies to try. 

    In the end, we had hit it right on the head for where to be during this period. The flies we ended up having the most luck on were general nymphs that are well known for rainbows. I had tied quite a bit in advance for this trip, but we fished a fly Hunter had bought from the store with the most success. 

     Once we felt like we had found our pattern and setups, we started finding similar water. The next two hours we landed some more fish and our feeling of being on the right track solidified. We were fishing a pocket where Hunter had caught a nice dollie varden an hour earlier when he hooked up with the first big rainbow of the trip. We instantly knew he was in another class up from the previous fish we had tangled with. He held his position with headshakes and the deep, vibrant color from his sides flashed in the bright sunlight. After a 5 minute fight, he was in the net. We were left admiring a beautiful trout that had our hearts pumping. This fish confirmed we had it dialed in and were in for an epic trip. 

     Two hours later we were back at the same pocket searching again for a large trout. “They’re right in there man I think I just missed one, throw your fly in take a shot at em” Hunter offered. I stepped up to the spot and rolled my rig out towards the spot he had pointed out. The first few drifts didn’t produce so I adjusted my cast to land the fly 5 feet further upstream. This drift produced a half take that I missed. Realizing my line control had become sloppy from fishing hard for 7 hours straight, I concentrated fully on producing the perfect drift possible. The fly entered the water right where I had wanted it to, and with a quick upstream mend I set its pace to naturally follow the current. The indicator sunk straight down and set into the fish. I instantly knew it was a big one. The hookset didn’t move him an inch, and the responding headshakes had me holding on tight. He kept his spot for 5 minutes, headshaking over and over again. Finally, I was able to move him off his spot and worked him upstream. He gave a quick run down river towards the faster current. Having fought him for quite some time his strength was waning and I was able to steer him into the side eddy outside of the main current. Hunter was there to net him when he finally became too tired to continue the fight. He was a gorgeous trout with great color. He was by far my personal best rainbow. We admired him and took pictures before releasing him back to the river. 

    Content for the time being we made dinner and started a fire over by camp. At 9 pm Hunter couldn’t stand it any longer, he grabbed the fly rod and headed for the pocket where we had pulled the two large trout from. The third drift in e was hooked up with a big one. I walked over with the net, not hurrying because I knew it would take some time to reel him in. This one bestest my big one by half an inch and a much more spirited fight. He had Hunter right into his backing with 100 ft runs. 

    The following day was more of the same, we kept fishing our preferred setups with some continued success. At 2pm I landed a 24” trout out of the same pocket that produced the 3 big ones. We figured we’d run into some other large ones throughout the evening but that wasn’t the case. Content with how the trip had gone, we slept good that night. 

    The morning brought more cold weather such as what we had experienced the days before while waking early. Temps down to 25 before reaching 70 in the afternoon. I built a fire and thawed our wading boots like I had done the day prior. After a quick breakfast, we decided to hit the river and float the 10 or so miles downstream to our takeout. We picked up a few small ones on the float out but it was evident we had spent our time in the right stretch of river. I arrived a ride back to my truck and had a nice chat with the driver who had been a charter captain in the area for 35 years. Arriving back at the launch, Hunter had gotten the gear squared away and we quickly loaded the bed of the truck. Exhausted yet feeling accomplished, we set out on our long ride back to Fairbanks. 

    This trip was truly one to remember. We had great weather, ate great food, and caught some great fish on a new stretch of river. The hard fought access to this stretch in the raft coupled with the tricky fishing had made us admire our catches that much more. Hooking into rainbows of this size has me wanting more. Hopefully, I will see more fish of this caliber in the future!