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Latest Reports from the Rivers:
May 17th, 2012 - Really Good Fishing
As the water continues to drop, everyone is doing well on the spring steelhead run now. Flow is down to 557 CFS as of 1pm today and water temperature is rising dramatically. The snow has mostly washed away now, so we'll be seeing good water temperatures through this weekend. A group who spent the past week at the cabins did quite well even with the horribly high water. There are just a lot of fish in the river, therefore they did well throughout their stay, providing they could land them. With so much water, their biggest obstacle was landing a fish without breaking it off (or breaking their rods... OOPS!) They said the majority of their fish were chrome bright, unlike most of my 9 Mile reports of primarily winter fish. They didn't see any bears from the cabins to the confluence, but did see 4 moose.
It was sunny all day yesterday, but clouded up overnight. Still dry, but we have had overcast most of the morning and only seeing the sun peaking through right now at 2pm. Even without sun, the water temp is already up over 8C (
Flow today is exactly where we were before the storm last weekend. Dry in the forecast, so that will continue to drop, for literally IDEAL conditions this weekend.
The water temperature is not dropping as low and our daytime high is up above 6 degrees, where it really needs to be. Did I mention the conditions this weekend are really looking good??? And hardly a soul is here...
Also, the halibut fishing continues to be very good, but I had been getting reports that king trolling was a bust. That seems to have changed now, with kings turning on in the past week as well.
May 16th, 2012 - 737
Gorgeous sunny morning. Surface of all the little lakes around town froze over again, so water is very cold. Yesterday, the flow was still up around 900 CFS and the fishing (at least on the upper end) was very good. I didn't hear from anyone who had floated the river yesterday, but everyone was catching pretty well up above the bridge. A struggle to land them, with all the gravel bars still deep under the high water, but the hooking was great.
This morning, the flow is down to 737 (as of 7am) and continues to drop like a rock. Water is clear and running at 34.5F. Fish are still very lethargic and not exactly putting up a hard fight, but they are still hitting. Most of the fish caught yesterday above the bridge are still dark winter fish.
May 15th, 2012 - Delayed Sunday Report
I didn't have a single report come through the shop on Sunday. Lots of people, but no one that had actually been out on the water (yet). Kevin sent me an e-mail, to let me know how they did after passing through the shop. He is home in Juneau now, but here is his report... He brought a group of UAS students to Yakutat to help out at the local school with some outdoor survival classes...
"For what it's
worth, the UAS crew spent Sunday morning watching the stream gauge,
packing, and cleaning the school where we had stayed all week, but we all
got out to 9-mile to fish at around 10:30 or 11:00am. The water was
still high and the crossing was impossible--both the regular crossing at
the west fork and the upstream one we'd been using all week (the latter
blocked by a new blow down criss-crossing the shallow path)--but we
bushwhacked our way upstream on the river left side and spread out. The
water was dropping really rapidly the whole time we were there and we
found a half dozen places where it was safe to wade. Three of the
four students who still hadn't hooked fish during the week all had fish on
for at least 30 seconds; tho' they long-distance-released all of them,
this was a satisfying conclusion for them. We saw a moose
and a smallish brown bear up there, and the usual otters. The water was
bitter cold, as you know, but we did have brief patches of sunshine before
racing back to the airport. We fished from about 11:00 until 3:30. Not
spectacular, but not terrible. Guys fishing spinning gear river
right (who bushwhacked up from the bridge after finding the crossing
impassible) appeared to be getting a few hook ups, but losing fish, too.
It's nearly impossible to find a place to land a fish up there at
those flow rates, tho' in the river left spots we fished it would have
been doable, I think. Good swinging conditions at 1000cfs, the water
just needs to be a bit warmer so the fish will move a bit more to take
flies. Also, it looked like we were seeing mostly fall fish, but it's hard
to tell. The three hook-ups I saw certainly looked like kelts.
In any case, not a bad week of fishing, overall, but it was certainly much more frustrating than last year for newbie steelheaders. The more advanced students caught fish, the newbies didn't. I spent more time helping the students fish this year, but still managed to get my share of hook-ups. (I'm still not to that teaching zen moment where I can give up my own fishing to help others--I get there with my own kids and their skiing, biking, etc, but these are just students. Maybe one day I'll get there!)"
I have also had a couple reports of bear activity around 9 Mile. There is a sow with three cubs wandering around, so be careful. We also have a smallish bear here at the airport, getting into garbage and working his way between the airport, State Camp and the Glacier Bear on a nightly basis.
May 15th, 2012 - Water is Dropping Fast
The past two mornings, we have awaken to snow covering much of the ground, but the sun is out now and the remaining clouds are burning off. The water is dropping rather fast and we'll be below 1000 CFS in another hour! Water temp is still extremely cold, but should rise dramatically today in the sunshine.
Hardly a soul here fishing right now, with most people leaving, or cancelling their trips this week. There are a LOT of fish in the river, although the weir is NOT in yet and I don't expect it to be in for several more days. Fish and Game will need the water to drop a lot more before it is safe for them to be out in the river pounding in the pipes. In other words, no official counts yet of anything.
The dollies have been showing up for about a week, with a few caught here and there, but not in any great numbers. With the steelhead run just now starting to arrive, the dollies are also just starting to follow them in. We're supposed to have great weather through the week, so this is shaping up to be an incredible week out there on the river. If anyone is arriving on the ferry tomorrow morning, your timing would be absolutely perfect!
At least a couple fish were caught yesterday up above the bridge, but on spin gear. I have an e-mailed report from two days ago (the day I didn't get a single report) that I'm waiting for permission to post. It was good and thorough. Through the storm, we hit a high flow rate of 1620, dropped to 1210, went back up to 1360 yesterday and now are dropping for real. We're still 4 times the historic average for this time of year, but that's better than the 7 times we had on Saturday...
Here's the current gage showing 1020:
May 14th, 2012 - Not ONE Fisherman
All day yesterday, we didn't have a single fishing report through the shop. We had plenty of people through, but not a single person who had been on the water. Lots of coffee and conversation. And a few people who were heading out to give it a try... They didn't make it back in before we closed.
Flow dropped through most of the day, but heavy rains returned late in the evening. As of 2am this morning (I'm jail guarding again tonight), flow is coming back up to 1250 CFS. An occasional snow and slush flurry through the day, but plenty of rain to set us back a bit again. Rain expected throughout today and a break tomorrow.
May 13th, 2012 - Gradually Dropping, a Few Fish Catching
Yesterday, the river topped out at 1620 CFS at around 6pm. The rains had subsided for the most part and now this morning, we're down to 1280 at 930am. There were four groups through the shop yesterday that did report catching fish even at the worst of it. Good fish in the river, if you could get down to them. Two of the groups had given up on the trying to make flies work and were throwing spoons. They actually did quite well. Another had some moderate success with the big balls of yarn and lots of weight. Even with the very high water flows, the run seems to be coming into its own, with enough fish to fill nearly every hole. Best results were in finding back eddies where you can some slack in the current.
Here's the gage right now:
BRRR!
May 12th, 2012 - CFS and Temp @ 9am
1450 and 1.2C. Winds gusting to 45. BEAUTIFUL!
May 11th, 2012 - Evening Round-up
A couple groups passed through that attempted to fish today. A few fish caught, but so much on flies. CFS right now as we close for the day is 1,170 and the rain is still coming down. It lightened up briefly, but back to a torrent. Winds are blowing 30-40 here at the airport. It is MISERABLE out there. Several groups cancelled their trips this weekend and that wasn't a bad call. Several guys leaving today (cutting their trips short) are planning to return in a week or two. Also not a bad call... The run seems to be about 2-3 weeks late, therefore we should be seeing good steelheading into June. Fish are definitely coming in, but there is so much water right now that few have been able to get into them. Some are... most aren't even trying though.
Did I mention it is really miserable out there? This is as bad a storm in May as anyone can remember. Typical September weather, but pretty bad for May.
May 11th, 2012 - We Topped 1000
CFS is at 1030 this morning. Winds are still blowing up to 40 knots, although the rain has subsided significantly. The gage has leveled off, but "rain - heavy at times" is supposed to continue for another day or two. The river is raging right now. Impossible to wade, although if you are heading down in a drift boat, you can find fishable spots, where the fish are just as desperate to get out of that current as you are...
Most of the reports from yesterday were pretty dismal. People were still able to hook and land a couple fish, but the half dozen boats that floated just wanted to get down and out of the weather. They started off OK on the upper end, but gave up early not because of a lack of fish, but because of the misery-factor. One exception though - three people who had the best day of their trip, hooking fish throughout the float and most importantly, they were warm and dry. I'm a fly shop owner, so take that bias into account, but when you have the right gear (and we happen to have the gear for sale...) heavy rain isn't a problem. This is classic September/October weather (and flow rate), so it is still fishable. It is just "less than ideal".
The spring run is really just now starting to come in in earnest and over the next two weeks, we'll have really good fishing. This is an atypical storm for this time of year and it'll undoubtedly blow itself out in a couple more days. The snow is melting fast and once the majority of that is gone from the forelands, any rain we do get through the rest of the run shouldn't do the river blow-out like it is on this round. Traffic on the river is already dropping to nil, so now that most of the fishermen have come and gone, we'll have the best part of the run.
Just had another report from yesterday come through... Fishing the upper river above the bridge yesterday morning was great. High water, but you could still see in. By evening, he couldn't do anything beyond cast from the bank, but he hooked several in the bridge hole before slipping into his tent. Seems like anyone who could put up with the weather yesterday did well.
OK, just had another report from the bridge... There was a big push of fish by the bridge yesterday afternoon. Seems to be a lot of people making an effort to "talk about fishing" this morning instead of doing any actual fishing...
May 10th, 2012 - This Weekend...
I'll post the forecast and current river gage and just let them speak for themselves:
...STRONG WIND FROM LATE TONIGHT
THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING...
.REST OF TODAY...RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES. HIGHS AROUND 42. SOUTHEAST
WIND 10 TO 20 MPH.
.TONIGHT...RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES. LOWS AROUND 41. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO
20 MPH INCREASING TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH LATE.
.FRIDAY...RAIN. HIGHS AROUND 44. SOUTHEAST WIND 20 TO 25 MPH EARLY IN
THE MORNING DECREASING TO 10 TO 20 MPH.
.FRIDAY NIGHT...RAIN. LOWS AROUND 40. SOUTHEAST WIND 15 TO 25 MPH.
GUSTS TO 35 MPH LATE.
.SATURDAY...RAIN. HIGHS AROUND 44. SOUTHEAST WIND 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO
35 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHWEST 15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
.SATURDAY NIGHT...RAIN LIKELY. LOWS AROUND 35.
Nuff said.
May 9th, 2012 - Water Continues to Rise
Oddly enough, today was "mostly" dry and sunny for much of the day. Yet... the river flow rate continued to rise throughout the day, as rain soaked snow continued to drain into the Situk. Flow started the morning at about 540 CFS and rose to over 570, without significant amounts of rain to contribute to the problem. Water continues to be VERY cold, however the steelhead are running out of time and coming in anyway, regardless of the 1.5 C temperatures.
Reports have been coming in for the past couple days of increasing numbers of fish throughout the system. The river is high and murky, but the increasing numbers are showing a markedly increased number of hook-ups. Enough fish are now in the river that you can see them even in the high/dark water. The river is difficult to wade, with about 2-3 feet of rushing water over the normally dry gravel bars. One new large tree fell completely across the river, making it a real challenge for boats to get over and through it on the float. Hopefully someone will make it in with a chainsaw tomorrow, because the high water and flow rate could make this a real safety hazard.
Nothing is really standing out as the go-to fly, however nothing is NOT working either... The problem is getting down to the fish in the swift water. You'll need to find somewhere to get out of the direct current, if you want to be consistently successful.
I believe we finally have the run arriving now. We're looking about two weeks late this year for the big uptick of incoming fish. Unfortunately, the water is about as challenging as the Situk gets in the spring. Adding insult to injury, we're expecting "rain - heavy at times" tomorrow through Saturday. This may finally put our snow to bed, but also blow the river out completely. It was supposed to rain today too, but we had a pretty nice one instead. Let's hope whatever is coming is shorter lived and we don't see three straight days of 4+ inches. Winds may top 45 knots as well on Friday, according to the forecast.
May 7th, 2012 - Calm Today
After yesterday's blustery storm, today was "nearly" gorgeous. An occasional light sprinkle here and there, but overcast and relatively calm. The gage peaked at around 550, which is swift, but not unfishable. In fact, I had several people from different groups say that this was their best day of the week. I also had a couple people say they thought the river warmed up a lot... NOT! I think they are just getting used to standing in icewater...
Basically, the water is up and the temp is holding pretty consistently with night time lows at 1.5C and highs of about 4C. The higher water seems to be bringing in more fish, not the temperature. The fish have spread out throughout the entire float now, so fishing is more consistent throughout.
A lot of snow has washed away and/or melted. There are areas with 3-4 feet, but far more places where we're down to bare spots, or just a little snow left. Yesterday's rain didn't make the temperature crash with the supercooled rain draining through the snow - there's less snow for that to be a factor.
In case you're planning a deep sea charter trip, the halibut fishing is great right now. I have some friends in town right now and today they went out in the bay with Ross Marine Tours. Had a GREAT time, limiting on halibut, but didn't hit any kings. Plenty of bait in the bay, but there weren't any salmon to speak of hanging around there. Their coolers will be going home full (of halibut, not steelhead...).
Gales are expected later in the week, so looks like we'll be getting another storm or two by next weekend. Of course it was supposed to rain all day today too...
May 6th, 2012 - Stormy Today
I'll just start this off with today's weather forecast:
...STRONG WIND THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON... MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH RAIN...RAIN MAYBE HEAVY AT TIMES. SOUTHEAST WIND 15 TO 20 MPH GUSTING TO 25 MPH LOCALLY WITH STRONG WINDS GUSTING TO 40 MPH ALONG THE OUTER COAST. TEMPERATURES IN THE LOW 40'S GRADUALLY RISING THROUGH 12 PM.
You know, a good flushing isn't entirely a bad thing... We needed this rain a month ago to get the snow a melting. We still have about 4 feet of snow along the upper and mid-river, but this should help to knock it down some more to a manageable depth. I'd expect the river to flood, but I expected it to do that with the last rain and it mostly just soaked into the snow, draining out slowly. Flow right now is still up at 370 CFS. Last night's water temp stayed a little warmer at 2C or 35.7F. We have been seeing some fish coming in again over the past couple days, with our big night/early morning tides. Reports from Friday's floats showed better fish numbers on the bottom half, but yesterday's float reports are showing fish throughout the entire trip, although the bite seemed slower yesterday.
Expect the next couple days to be miserably cold out there, with higher water and turbidity again.
May 5th, 2012 - Improving
Yesterday, two floaters managed a pretty darned good day and sent me a text message late in the evening. Looks like we're starting to see another push of fresh spring fish. Big tides just after dark, when the water temperature is as warm as it is gonna get. Even though the river temp trend continues to slope down... Last night's big 11.6 foot tide just after midnight did push a good batch of fresh fish into the Situk. Craig's text said there were fish "top to bottom. Most were in the lower middle section". Another report just in said their float had fish throughout the lower half, right up to the take-out. Looks like we're seeing an end to the dry spell.
Up around 9 Mile, fishing has been improving as well, with very good early mornings and late evenings. The fish up there are a little stale, not reacting very quickly and tending to have a little less fight. Heck, they're half frozen! Looks like there was possibly another release out of the lake, with more winter fish visible. It could also be that they are coming out of hiding, since we had a lot of fish in the river a month ago and then they seemed to disappear. Now, they are reappearing... Some of the winter fish are starting to spawn, with redd digging happening in several locations.
Had a couple guys through who hiked up to the upper boundary marker just to take a look. Other than being totally exhausted from the long snowshoe trek, they said there were few fish throughout the whole closure area. Most of the fish were within the two open miles above the bridge. Their goal was to make it to the lake, but I think we would have had a couple dead fishermen from collapse had they pressed on... There is still a LOT of snow up there, although the normal 9 Mile trails are pretty well packed down by now.
Expect to see about 4 feet of snow on the banks for most of the river, but less in the timber. The upper crossing is a Guardia-flavored Slurpie, with a thick slush of ice in the river where the trail drops in that is nearly nipple-deep. Expect to be VERY cold.
May 4th, 2012 - Hmmm...
So... we had "rumor" on the river that a fresh batch of fish came in the day before, so EVERYONE abandoned the upper river and headed to tidewater. Well, not quite everyone, but there were very few people fishing 9 Mile and above today. Early morning and late evening up there continues to do OK, with fish few and far between mid-day. Heard told that they were running away from white and/or red. The Garcia Glo Bugs turned back on again yesterday and today.
Yesterday, we had an official count of boats on the river - 23 unguided driftboats, three guided driftboats and the two jet-boats. Not a record breaking amount of pressure, but that is about the most boats since the economic collapse. Partially due to the lack of April access, with many people coming later. Oddly, with the heightened pressure, the Eagle cabin remains unbooked from tomorrow through May 9th.
May 3rd, 2012 - Some Good News
We had a little good news down at the lower end yesterday... a good shot of fish came in, bringing enough to spread better fishing about half-way up the river. Still pretty slow and barren on the first half of the float, but definitely better numbers on the second half. Fishing has been OK for about half the people, and a real struggle for the other half. Again, those who know where the fish lay are still hooking up pretty regularly. Early morning has been pretty consistent, while slowing down mid-day and improving again in the late evening.
Huge 12 foot tides this coming week, which may help to push a few extra spring fish into the river. Water continues to run a little high, but still fishable at 380 CFS. Running clear again, but still very cold. We had some sunbreaks earlier this morning, but it is back to overcast and some drizzly rain now. Ideal steelheading weather, but it isn't bringing the water temperature up at all.
I have had people saying the Garcia's and Dolly Llamas have not been working very well this week, although yesterday's and this morning's reports are that they are... I think EVERYTHING was doing poorly through much of the past week and as of yesterday EVERYTHING picked back up again. Yesterday was definitely the best day of fishing we've had in about a week and a half. Bodes well for the weekend, which is going to be a bit crowded. The upper river above 9 Mile was a mess, with all the campers and walk-ins. More fish have moved up into the closure boundary waters. With fishing as slow as it has been, quite a few people have been walking all the way up there, if just to have something fish-related to do...
Feels like a change is coming and the run may be on the verge. The winter run was early flushing out of the lake, but the spring run is late coming in at this point. The cold snow run-off may extend the run through the end of May and even into June.
May 2nd, 2012 - Continues to be Slow
All that rain we had during the one day storm raised the river to about 400 CFS and then soaked into the snow like a gigantic sponge. Now - days later - the river continues to run right at 400 CFS as the sponge slowly drains into the river. The initial storm didn't murk up the water much, but yesterday, especially at the lower end, had a lot of mud running. Water continues to be icy-cold. It's all filtering through a lot of snow and ice before entering the river.
Upper End: Early morning bite has been good - from 5am-7am - then slows down throughout the day. People are reporting seeing a lot more fish in the upper river than they had been, with a lot on the move. The higher water and slight increase in turbidity brought the steelhead out from their hiding places. Lots of campers this week, so this is where most of the fishing pressure is
Float: SLOW! Most of the float has one's and two's scattered everywhere, but no schools.
Lower Landing: Well, if you want to avoid people, this is the place to fish. Of course there's a reason there aren't any people... There aren't any fish coming in either. The temperature gage is reading 1.6C or 35F, which is just too cold for the spring run to want to come in for. The ocean temp right now is 6.5C or 44F. I can't say that I'd blame anyone for not leaving 44 degree water for 35 degree water!
Flies: Nothing is a stand-out right now. Everything you throw is doing about the same - mediocre at best.
Enforcement: The trooper was out yesterday and wrote 6 tickets. Surprisingly, none were for felt... All for fishing without licenses. Make sure you grab the right coat when you come. You know, the one with your fishing license in the pocket...
April 29th, 2012 - Miserable Day
We have the first real storm of the spring fishing season. Wind blowing, raining like crazy... miserable. A lot of people passing through the shop today because they are trying to be "about fishing", while not doing any actual fishing... Reports are basically that there are few and far between fish in the lower river. Upper river, fish are in the usual spots, but if you are new or inexperienced, you will struggle. If you know where they lay, they are in the usual spots, but you'll be blind.
Water is up over 300 CFS and it will probably top 400 by tomorrow. Still VERY cold, with sleet coming down at times. This rain is needed, but it isn't warming the river water up. This is our first "flood" of the season, so the silt will stir up the turbidity for a day or so (providing the rain doesn't continue). Some turbidity isn't necessarily a bad thing, since it can give the fish a feeling of security if it is tougher for them to see. Tougher for you to see though too...
We had a brief shot of fresh fish on the 27th and on the 21st. Otherwise, the icy cold water temperature has kept the spring steelhead out in the ocean. We only need a degree or two for that to change, but today's very cold rain isn't bringing the water temp up much. Water temp is still at 2.2C on the gage as of 2pm, up from 1.2C this morning.
Bring extra socks. Or... I know a local shop that has some for sale... :-)
April 28th, 2012 - Back Home Again
I'm back in Yakutat again, so now my fishing reports can be back to the level of accuracy you'd expect from second and third-hand reports, rather than the fourth and fifth-hand reports you've been getting over the past week. With that said...
Another gorgeous sunny day this morning, but clouds are dark on the southern horizon and weather service is calling for rain tonight and all day tomorrow. Air temperature dipped below freezing last night and this morning, with frost on my porch. Water temp dropped down to 1.2C, making it unlikely that any fish came in on last night's and this morning's tides. Yesterday's low was a little better and we did get several reports of fresh spring steelhead coming in in groups of a dozen or so. BUT... they were not in the mood to bite anything when they did. Fish on the move tend to be thinking about other things... A couple days ago in the slightly warmer water, fish were hitting some small marabou patterns down at inter-tidal, but they didn't hit anything yesterday there.
"Most" people are struggling right now. Bright skies during the days and very cold water in the mornings this week have put the bite off for "nearly everyone", but not "everyone". There are a handful of happy campers... One of the success stories was getting great results on badly trimmed, milti-colored yarn balls. He caught the biggest steelhead of his life at 41 inches, plus several more above the 36 inch range. Did I mention the fish this year are huge?
Tanis even made it out for a couple hours at the bridge while I was down in Seattle. He hooked one on a black Krystal Bugger, but still hasn't landed his first steelhead. Being gone for 11 days, I'm a little behind on what I need to get done, but hoping to get out there this week at some point.
We've had several complaints about how crowded the river is... even though people can spend the day upstream above 9 Mile and not see another human till they hike out... I expected a LOT of people to come in on yesterday's morning jet with me, but there was only ONE group aboard! Pressure is lighter than I have expected this weekend.
April 26th, 2012 - Update
Had some complaints today about the "crowding" on the river... It was looking like we had a lot more people leaving than arriving, but there is still a lot of pressure for April. My guess is a lot of the people who would have been spread out over the past couple weeks have been compressed into the same timeslots due to the late river access. I'm expecting it to be VERY crowded this weekend, since the first few days of May/last few days of April does tend to be the worst for traffic on the river.
Also, complaints about the lack of fish from some anglers... The bright sun can make the river appear empty, pushing the fish deep into the bottoms of the deeper dark holes, or tight under overhanging brush. That doesn't mean there aren't fish there, but it does make it a lot more challenging to catch them... We have a dramatic weather change today, with overcast and wind. The water is not warming up today and we're supposed to get some heavy rain overnight and tomorrow. I'm sure this will bring the fish out from under cover and bring them into the river from the ocean as well. Watch for possible flooded conditions though, as any heavy rain will wash a lot of snow into the river in addition to the water from the rain itself.
We'll have more fish this weekend, but potentially a heady and turbid flow.
April 26th, 2012 - Big Fish this Year
Getting a LOT of comments that the fish this year are very large. The average steelhead seems to be well above the norm. In years past when the fish have been unusually large, the total run tended to be on the small side. Big fish means not as many fish... We sure look like we're having the best of both worlds right now with a lot of fish and a lot of big fish. Time will tell...
The sunny weather has continued, pushing the fish into hiding under the branches. Quite a bit of fishing pressure around 9 Mile with the campers and foot traffic. Less pressure down at the lower landing, but the fishing has been less consistent down at inter-tidal. Some days, 500-1000 fish have come in on a tide, while other days have seemed barren.
Yesterday was our warmest air temperature of the year so far. Water temperature at the 9 Mile gage hit 44 degrees, but plummeted to 35 F this morning. Beautiful sun is the weather Teen wants, but not necessarily if you are out on the river fishing for skittish steelhead... We're supposed to see some rain tonight and tomorrow, which will only improve the fishing at this point. Heavy rain could blow the river out in a hurry, but right now we're right about 200 CFS - a perfect flow rate.
April 24th, 2012 - Sunny
What's the deal??? This is Yakutat! The sun keeps coming out!
Water temp keeps swinging from a nighttime low of 35F to an evening high of 43F. Fish are still coming in even though the water drops low at night to under 2C, but they aren't coming in as fast and furious as they were. It would seem you have to be on the water early before the bright sun pushes the fish into hiding. We're getting eratic reports that swing from poor to great, depending on the time of day and whether the particular group of fish are extremely skittish in the sun, or if you hit it right and they don't take off.
Flow is still up at about 220 CFS.
April 22nd, 2012 - Evening Update
Fishing was a little crowded up at 9 Mile through the weekend, but it appears nearly all the foot traffic boarded the plane out today. Expect some heavy traffic again next weekend, but if you are here through the mid-week, you'll be lonely out there on the river... Most people now are driftboating.
No report off the lower river today. The drift boat traffic didn't finish their day before the shop closed, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow for that info.
April 22nd, 2012 - Warmer Water, More Fresh Fish
The water temperature stablized at a slightly warmer level yesterday, which did trigger another big push of fresh spring fish. A report of "thousands" coming in sounds a little fishy to me, but there were definitely good numbers of fish back into the lower river, after a few days of barren holes.
April 21st, 2012 - Fresh Reports off the River
Really great conditions today. It rained pretty good last night and has been drizzling all day. Nice NOT TO have the sun glaring on the water. Fish have been hitting pretty regularly, although most people have been saying the takes are very soft. Missing more than they realize they have... The lower end is pretty devoid of fish, although with the overcast and warmer night air temp, the water temp should stay higher and help bring some more fish in at the mouth.
Very good fishing this past week from around the confluence and Forest Service cabins. The upper river is pretty much as good as it gets, although mobility is awful. The snow is deep and as yet, not enough tracks to make a trail. At least in the near future, snow shoes are a must. Maybe by next week, we'll have some trails stomped down.
Glo Bugs and yarn, Egg-sucking Leeches, jigs, beads... the usual suspects are all doing well. Haven't seen anyone using the Dolly Llamas and bigger stuff yet. No reason to yet though. With the water up, we'll start to see some changes, but as yet things are pretty typical out there.
April 21st, 2012 - Nick of Time?
Yesterday at about noon, DOT completed their work up at 9 Mile and have now removed all their equipment. Access to the river at both ends has been "officially" fully restored for the 2012 steelhead season.
On my last report, I mentioned an "outlying" report that there were no fish at the lower end... Well, looks like that isn't an outlier after all... The incoming spring steelhead slowed to barely a trickle over the past several days. Water temperatures in the river dropped to just 1 degree Celcius and according to Fish and Game, that means we should expect to see few fish nosing their way into the river. Optimum temperature for pushing fish into the river is around 4 degrees, so the cooling of the water shut off the flow of fish. The river gages are now working and today shows a low water temperature of around 2.5 C - much better. Also, flow rates have gradually been increasing over the past several days and at the moment, we're up to 200 CFS for a really nice spring flow. This weekend - with higher flows and slightly higher water temperatures - should make for really good fishing conditions.
You can see where the flow rates have been through the first three weeks of April... Just the past few days, have we seen an increase to make the river even fishable...
You can see in the second graph where we had the higher temperatures last week, which sent a big batch of spring fish into the river system. That slight drop in temperature late in the week turned off the switch and kept the steelhead outside in the ocean. Just a couple degrees can make the difference... and it is getting a little warmer, just in time for the weekend. But now that the upper road is open, we finally have some options!
April 19th, 2012 - THEY HAVE REACHED THE BRIDGE!
As of 11am today, DOT reached 9 Mile Bridge!!! It will take another day to clear out the parking lot and boat launch, but they are there! People driving out and walking in have been behaving themselves and parking well back from the work area. Thank you for having a clue and not blocking anything. After tomorrow, it won't be an issue, since they will be all done! The past few days have been VERY productive!
Teen did get an outlying report from the bottom end, where a group that arrived yesterday did not see very many fish. They said they walked a few miles upstream and did not see much. Most reports have been good from there, but I just relay them...
April 18th, 2012 - Road Getting Close!
Yesterday and the day before, they were able to put to bed a full mile each day. I kind of expected it to go a little faster through the open clear-cuts. They hope to do another mile today, but then they hit the hardest section - the last mile... Back into the big sheltering timber as the approach the bridge. Then they have to clear the boat launch, bridge, parking lot and turn-around area. DOT fully expects to be DONE by the weekend.
Just be aware that anyone going out there before things are fully open will need to walk the last mile or so AND - if you park in the way, you will slow down the progress for everyone else to access the river. Use your brains and stay the heck out of DOT's way!
My guess is that they will make it to the tree stand that separated the clear-cut from 9 Mile Meadow tonight. Thursday, they may make it to the approach to the bridge, Friday they should clear the bridge and possibly the boat launch. Saturday and Sunday, they should be able to finish the job with the parking lot and road turn-around.
In the meantime, several groups arrive today and tomorrow so the fishing pressure down at the lower landing area will start getting heavy. Good numbers of spring fish continue to come in, so there are plenty of fish as far upstream as you want to hike.
April 16th, 2012 - Upper Road Progress
Still slow going, covering about 1/2 a day. DOT received another piece of equipment this morning, so hopefully that will help. They are at "5 Mile" as of this morning, meaning they have 4 miles to go before they reach 9 Mile Bridge. 1/2 mile a day would mean 8 days... All we can do is "hope" that the coming clear-cuts are lighter and they can make faster progress than what we're seeing.
Otherwise, we have sunny weather again. Not enough rain over the past couple days to bring the river up significantly. The log jams have already been cut, but the low water is making it tough for even the jet-boats to get very far. Plus, there are really good fish coming in at the bottom end. There are a couple groups scheduled to arrive mid-week, but there isn't much pressure yet even with just the one access point. By the weekend, there are several groups coming, so if 9 Mile remains inaccessible by then, the bottom end will be crowded. DOT has not been barricading the road off behind them, so in theory, if they get within walking distance of the bridge, you may be able to get close enough by later in the week.
And Yakutat Lodge is still dragging drift boats and people out via snow machines.
April 15th, 2012 - Tanis' Report
Well, I'm stuck here in the shop, but my son went fishing this morning. He and a friend went out to the lower river to hit the incoming tide. They had a couple batches of about a dozen pass by. Tanis didn't hook any, but his friend did fight one before it headed for the wood. I'm impressed by Tanis' growing attention span, although he never seems to display that when I'm with him...
They fished the first hole below Rodeo and a couple more spots between there and the train trestle ruin. Walking through the trees along the trail did NOT require snow shoes. The trail is in fairly good shape. They said there were 5 jet boats, one canoe and probably two small groups of walk-ins. Not much pressure considering we only have one access point open.
Light drizzly rain continues, which will help with overall melting somewhat, but probably is "helping" to slow the clearing progress with the greater snow weight and density.
I have confirmed that the log jam passages have been all cut out. If you have the chance, thank Bob, Frank and the Yakutat Lodge crew for jumping right in and getting that taken care of so quickly.
April 14th, 2012 - Upper Road Progress
After a great day on the 12th, things slogged down again. Just about 1/2 mile of progress a day for the past two. Moving along, but at a crawl.
April 12th, 2012 - Some Good Road News
DOT just stopped by... They are out of the tall timber section today, so they put a good mile behind them since yesterday. Usually I'm posting the progress report every other day because every day makes it seem like the progress is even slower... A two-day jump looks more inspiring. But, today we don't need an every-other-day delay!
The dozer broke down today as well, but they still made good progress. They have just under 5 miles to go to the bridge, so if they can kill nearly a mile a day, I'm ecstatic! Not every day will go as well obviously, but they are into a stretch with only about 5 feet of snow depth now.
April 11th, 2012 - Upper Road Progress
As expected, the upper road is going much slower. As of today, DOT is about 400 yards past the turn for the Log Dump. That means, they have 5.8 miles to go before reaching 9 Mile Bridge (thank you GoogleEarth!).
As you can see above and close-up below, the section they are in right now is the worst due to the big timber keeping the area in shade and protected from the wind. This will be the deepest section and lasts about a mile and a half. They are looking to add to the crew with more out-of-towners and possibly working 3 shifts, for 24/7 work (till the equipment blows up).
This is the heavy section, so the snow depth "should" lighten up once they reach the clearcut areas. Hmm... I have never wished for more clearcuts before...
In other news... I heard someone saw a steelhead in Ophir Creek... Odd! and not confirmed...
April 9th, 2012 - First Real Fishing Report of Season!
OK, multiple fishing reports already trickling in from the Situk today! First from 9 Mile and the upper half of the river:
The winter fish have been released from the lake early, or at least on-time. I was expecting that with the warm weather and lack of river ice all winter. The colored up steelhead have filled in most of the upper half of the river, from well below the Forest Service cabins, through the upper reaches above 9 Mile. A couple chromers scattered here and there, but the vast majority of the fish in the system right now are winter fish from under the lake ice.
Down at the lower end, there are a handful of winter fish that seem to have flushed all the way down, or they are spring steelhead that have been in the river a while and arrived early, due to our relatively warm and wet late winter/early spring. Yesterday, I had a report that there were "a couple" fish that came in on the afternoon tide, but there are quite a few today in several holes up to the Rodeo Hole. Looks like a nice shot of spring chrome-bright steelhead in the system already.
Kip from Yakutat Lodge is hopping into his Piper Cub as I'm typing this, so he may have some info I don't once he gets back from his little "research" flight. He'll probably keep that info to himself, so you'll have to call and pester it out of him...
Nice to have some people fishing, even if just a very few so far. The river is very low. Clear sunny days, with the snow freezing up at night. Mobility is great early AM, until the sun softens everything up and you'll be post-holing your way back out if not walking through the river channel. The kids and I drove down to the landing yesterday and saw a lot of moose tracks AND early bear tracks all over the trails. There wasn't that much snow down there in the big timber, but quite a lot on the river bank and in any open areas. Once you get into the big trees, the going is pretty easy. Getting back out again is a slog, but only right on the bank.
GREAT early fishing right now on both ends. Getting to 9 Mile is limited to landing a plane on the snowy road, or getting Yakutat Lodge to haul you out there on snow machines. The run is NOT late this year!!! Just the access is behind schedule. Everything seems to be working right now that people are trying. Yarn balls, jigs, beads and leeches...
April 7th, 2012 - Lower Road Opens!
The lower road will be open for traffic as of the close of business tonight, Saturday April 7th. DOT will be switching their attention to the upper road and working through the next week or two to get Forest Highway 10 open to 9 Mile beginning tomorrow. Our fishing season begins...
April 5th, 2012 - Road Update
Barring something disasterous, like a broken piece of equipment, WWIII, or something truly horrible - a snow storm... The lower road "will" be open on Monday! Possibly on Sunday, but more likely Monday, April 8th. The day-shift dozer has reached the turn-off to Strawberry Point and the night shift should reach the landing tonight. Should take about three days for the loader and grader to widen it for vehicle traffic. They are at the Lost River Bridge as of 5pm tonight with the widening work.
We expect them to hit Forest Highway 10 on Monday with the full force of the equipment and continue the double shifts till they reach the bridge at 9 Mile.
I'm gonna have to make a new map this weekend! Or... go fishing...
April 3rd, 2012 - Road Update
A HUGE leap forward today on road snow removal! They are just shy of the Lost River Bridge with the single loader width. Then they have two dozers widening the lane that are running right about two days behind, so full road width tonight is right about where the 4/1 arrow shows. Yesterday was very slow going, but today more than made up for it:
Also in road news... Another state DOT crew arrived on today's jet, so they will be able to work double shifts. They have finally reached the thinner snow, so I would expect the first single lane will reach the landing within the next three days, followed by an actual open road by the end of the week (that's MY guess, not DOT's). PROVIDING IT DOESN'T SNOW of course... We had another wonderfully sunny day today, but clouds have moved in and the temperature is dropping. Hopefully there isn't any moisture in this, but we are definitely feeling a change in the air.
I know a lot of trips have already been cancelled and there has been a lot of grumbling about DOT. Believe me, my cash flow without an open road is ZERO, so I understand the impatience! But... these guys are working their butts off to get this road open, after working long hours all winter trying to keep this %$#@ airport open, while also keeping the roads around town plowed through this winter. Remember, Cordova had the National Guard called in to help them dig out of OUR snow. We didn't. These guys deserve a hand, not a knife in the back.
April 1st, 2012 - Road Update
Too many people are hanging on this road, so I'm NOT going to post an April Fool's progress report... This is where they really are as of tonight:
Beautiful sunny weather continues, so that can only help. Although it did drop well below freezing last night and it takes a long time for the snow to start melting again in the afternoon! Rain would be a blessing, but that is not in the forecast. At least they aren't calling for any snow...
MONDAY...PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 45. EAST WIND 10 MPH.
MONDAY NIGHT...INCREASING CLOUDS. LOWS 26 TO 32. EAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH. .TUESDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 42. EAST WIND 10 MPH.
TUESDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 33. LIGHT WINDS.
WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 41. LOWS AROUND 32.
THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 36. LOWS AROUND 33.
FRIDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 44.
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 35. HIGHS AROUND 38.
SATURDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 29.
SUNDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS 36 TO 42.
March 30th, 2012 - Road Update
Two more days and this is where they have advanced to... They are in the big protected timber, so there has been no melt from the sun, or wind through this stretch. They "hope" to see some lighter snow about a day out of their reach right now. They are battling through 8 feet of snow in this section and hope to see only 5-6 feet of snow in front of them by Sunday. They have only been able to get a single lane through with the loader, so will still need to go back through with the grader to widen it for actual vehicle traffic:
Red arrow is as of the evening 3/30. White arrow is 2/28. You can see where they should be out of the tree protection for a while at least, before hitting the worst and most protected stretch.
As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I had hoped to have a first-hand fishing report from the river to tell you. I loaned my Honda ATV out to someone who was going to try to make it to the river via Cannon Beach and the hike along the mouth of the estuary (where the word "Lower" is on the map...). Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it through the fallen timber at the estuary, so he never made it to the Situk. Sorry... no first-hand report... Yet.
March 29th, 2012 - Road Update
After several days of working... here is where DOT is on clearing the lower road - not even to the end of the runway yet:
This is going to be a long-slow process! They only made it to the gravel pit on the upper road before changing over, so that clearing work ends at the grey spot you see on the left side of the road above... Another sunny day today with overnight low temperatures around 40 degrees. We'll definitely spend the day above 50, which can only help! We need some heavy warm rain to really push the melting, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen this week.
I'll post an updated road progress map in a couple days...
March 27th, 2012 - Road Update
We had a 1 1/2 foot snow event this weekend that set DOT back three days in their efforts to open the road to 9 Mile. Because of this delay, they decided to temporarily abandon the 9 Mile effort and relocate to the lower road. There is significantly less snow on the lower road, so working there will restore access quicker than working on the upper road first.
As soon as they complete the lower road, they will resume the work toward 9 Mile. They still believe they can get to the river by April 10th (with April 15th at the latest) by changing to the "easier" road. They have made it to the straight-a-way as of today.
More as we know more...
March 24th - Update
The snow continues to fall and build up. We have about 5 inches as of 2pm and the WeatherService just updated their forecast to include the following:
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM AKDT THIS EVENING... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JUNEAU HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM AKDT THIS EVENING.
* LOCATION...YAKUTAT
*SNOW...AN ADDITIONAL 3 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON WITH ANOTHER 2 TO 4 INCHES THIS EVENING. STORM TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 8 TO 11 INCH.
* TIMING...HEAVIEST SNOW WILL BE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING BEFORE THE SNOW TAPERS OFF LATE THIS EVENING.
* IMPACTS...TRAVEL WILL BE HAZARDOUS AND SNOW WILL INCREASE SNOW LOADS ON ROOFS. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WARNING MEANS THAT A WINTER STORM IS ALREADY OCCURRING OR IMMINENT. THIS STORM COULD POSE A THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY.
THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED BY 9 PM AKDT TONIGHT OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.
March 24th, 2012 - Roadwork Begins
The State of Alaska DOT has begun working on the road to 9 Mile. They barricaded themselves in with a snow berm, so we can't drive down and see how far they made it, but clearly you can see they have started. That's the good news.
The bad news... after 4 gorgeous sunny days, we have more snow today. It clouded up overnight and began lightly snowing this morning at about 8am. It continues to snow with about 1/2 inch on the ground by 10am. It is warming up and may turn to rain, but at the moment, the DOT crew is back to keeping the airport runway de-iced instead of plowing the 9 Mile road.
The weekend forecast:
TODAY...SNOW. SNOW
ACCUMULATION 1 TO 3 INCHES. HIGHS AROUND 36. EAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.
TONIGHT...SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 1 INCH.
LOWS AROUND 26. EAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.
SUNDAY...CLOUDY. CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE MORNING.
CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS AROUND 38. EAST WIND 10
MPH.
SUNDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS
AROUND 24. EAST WIND 10 MPH.
MONDAY...CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW.
HIGHS AROUND 41. EAST WIND 10 MPH.
MONDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND
29.
TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...CLOUDY. CHANCE OF RAIN
AND SNOW. HIGHS AROUND 44. LOWS AROUND 31. .WEDNESDAY
NIGHT...RAIN LIKELY. LOWS AROUND 34.
March 20th, 2012 - Road "Should" Open April 10th!
The latest estimate for opening the road to 9 Mile is April 10th-15th. DOT will begin working on the road Wednesday or Thursday, but there is a minimum of 7 feet of snow the entire length of the road. They can only remove it one loader scoop at a time, which will take between two and three weeks to make it to the bridge. Once they reach 9 Mile, they will begin working on the lower road.
So... the best they can hope for right now is mid-April for restoring full access to the river. In a week, they will have a better estimate for how long it will take - once they actually get in there and get working.
More... when I know more...
February 29th, 2012 - Mid-winter Report
Roads are still closed to vehicle access, so not much to report on fish-wise. We have been breaking records for snow this winter, but we have also had some warm spells that have washed away much of the snow depth. Last night, we had another foot of slop fall, so all in all, everything is a mess.
I was fully expecting us to have a late winter and therefore late spring steelhead run. In late January, we had the deepest snow depth measurement at that point of the year, but we have been hovering just ABOVE freezing throughout February. This warming trend is now making me second guess the run timing... All winter, we have had great flow levels in the rivers, giving the baby salmon and steelhead really good survival conditions. Now much of our snow is gone, but the winter is still early. If this warmth holds, we'll have the roads reopened easily by April 1st. I'll have to keep you posted. But expect to see a lot of snow and mobility issues to contend with.