Outdoor Photography from Alaska;

[Hardyreels]

We took a six mile hike to reach the mouth of a creek that flows into Skilak Lake and also to check the mouth of the Kenai River for Sockeye. Neither had any salmon but we enjoyed the hike and as you can see below the scenery was worth the walk.

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Nancy and Boss looking for fish in the mouth of the Kenai;

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Last years Sockeye;

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Found along the trail;

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Almost the entire walk lead us through an area that was ravaged by fire in 1996. This is as far as the recovery has gotten in the 14 years since then.

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These are some shots I took along Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet at low tide.

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I will be adding more landscape photographs and some wildlife to this thread so whenever you see it back on the board take a look.

Ard

[Sep]

Breathtaking scenery, Ard. We appreciate these glimpses into your beautiful word.

Sep

[randyflycaster]

Wow! Beautiful. Thanks so much,

Randy

[Frank Whiton]

Thanks Ard, how do you get Nancy to carry the gun. That was always my job.

Frank

[Hardyreels]

Hi Frank, Randy, and Sep,

The two days that I fished the Kenai it rained really herd so I took no pictures. I left the camera packed in a dry bag. On Thursday I floated the river and Wednesday I waded and fished from shore. There were no salmon present and I caught no trout. However each day I got some Dolly Varden Char. Wednesday while fishing from shore I caught a really nice char. I don't bother measuring or weighing but it was growing toward being a two foot fish. It was like catching a small salmon.

Both days the char took the fly and that saved me from being skunked but it was disappointing not to have a rainbow get hooked to the line. I am fishing with a thirteen foot two hand rod almost exclusively now and wish I had discovered this years ago. Even when fishing from shore using a type 4 sink tip you can easily bang out a 30 - 40 foot cast and the tip will get the fly down about six feet or more even in the swift current of the Kenai.

For those who don't know, the current speed of this river (and it is running high) is about 5.5 miles per hour. In the swift water it is as high as 6.5, I carry a Garmin GPS and it tracks the speed of the drift boat as you travel. The current alone makes for very demanding fishing conditions and the long rod allows for better line control for mending to allow a fly to get down in such swift water.

I used the same fly every day, 'The Santiam Spectrum' this is the same fly that is shown on page one for the steelhead flies for AK. thread. I love the way the fly swims and looks. I know that what I think does not influence what a fish thinks but after so many years of watching streamers swim on the end of my leader I have developed a knack for knowing a good one when I see it. The Dolly Varden sure agreed and I believe that I simply didn't get the fly in front of a trout. This was hard to imagine considering the number of casts and swings I made. While floating the river I was able to stop at many of the best trout holding waters and on every swing of the fly I held high hopes because the water looked so promising. I talked to a few guide boats who's customers were fishing plastic egg beads with huge weights and they were not doing any better than I was. During the float trip I saw maybe 12 - 18 drift boats and I saw no one catch a fish. I did see a nice black bear, a cormorant, and about 12 eagles along with all the gulls and sand pipers you expect along the river.

[Brewmaster]

Ard,

I really enjoyed your pictures, they are truly beautiful! I looked in my picture archive and I have the exact same mountain shots apparently from the exact same location - the view is fantastic. I am absolutely amazed that you are not seeing any salmon in the upper Kenai by this time of year...where have they all gone?

[mcnerney]

Ard: Truely beautiful pictures! Sorry to hear the fish aren't cooperating. It is interesting that you have actually measured the current in the Kenai. In the past I always guessed it might be running at 10 knots, at any rate it is pretty swift.

Larry

[Hardyreels]

Hey Guys,

The pictures were taken at two locations. The lake shots were done just below the mouth of Hidden Creek where it flows to Skilak and the water where Nancy and Boss are looking for fish is actually a branch of the Kenai where it empties into Skilak.

The other shots were taken from the shore line of Turnagain Arm about a half mile above Bird Point at low tide. The Lake pictures required a 6 mile walk and the Inlet pictures only took about a quarter mile walk followed by a climb down over the boulders.

[jpbfly]

Wonderful pics and scenerieslucky you to hike and fish in such marvellous places

[Pocono]

Breathtaking scenery; cooperative fish or not!

Pocono