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Last
year about this time I got a call from one of my good friends. He told me about
an opportunity to guide on a famous river in Alaska, the Sandy River. What a
coincidence, that's the name of my home river here in Oregon. This sounded like
the ingredients for and outstanding adventure. I started inquiring about
Alaska's Sandy River, and found out it used to be called river X. In a
small circle of well traveled anglers, it is well known for it's steelhead
fishing. About 2 weeks later I was there. I had never been anywhere like this
Sandy River, although I know similar places exist. This must be what Iceland,
Russia or even Southern Argentina look like; flat and desolate with low
vegetation. The landscape around the Sandy is covered in tundra
with volcanoes jutting up in the distance. It might not be in a foreign country
but it is an exotic location. It is an international destination. People travel
all over the world to get there. This medium/large size river is best fished
with a two handed rod, sink tip line and large flies. The river cuts a
large swath through the tundra on it's way to the Bering sea. Everywhere you look
you see that perfect water for swinging flies. At first I wondered why
these fish were called "kings". I had only fished them at home, where
they are a long way from the salt, not that aggressive to the fly.
At home kings (we call them Chinooks) can lack energy. Sure they are big, but
doesn't that make them a king? During the first week of my stay we had a few
British anglers at the lodge. They were fishing their very intricate and beautiful
Temple Dog flies, dressed with Polar Bear hair and Jungle Cock eyes. I thought
it was somewhat of a waste to fish such expensive flies for these fish.
Who wants to loose a $10 fly on the bottom or some tundra snag. One day I
was talking to one of these Brits about flies, and I asked him why he fished
such nice flies for these Salmon? He told me he had fished all over the Kola
Peninsula for Atlantic salmon and these fish really were "The
Kings". I come to find out later, that these 2 guys were some of the
first anglers to fish the Kola Peninsula and that many of the runs in those
rivers are named after them. The next week a new set of clients arrived. They
too were fishing very intricate patterns filled with jungle cock and polar bear
but a more American type of stinger fly. I've seen a lot of steelhead flies but
these flies are out of control. By the end of the season I saw a few hundred
salmon hooked, many scorching runs into the backing. Aerial acrobatics that put
many other sport fish to shame. These beautiful wild and aggressive fish really
are kings. Chrome bright and full of sea lice. Maybe they really do deserve
flies tied with Polar Bear Hair and Jungle Cock. Maybe you deserve to
find out.
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