Woke up about 5am, still having trouble adjusting to the the time difference but not feeling tired at all. After packing up the truck we were on the road to Willow Creek about 9am heading north out of Wasilla under a beautiful clear sky with the temperature in the seventies. Accompanying Aaron and myself was his two young sons who were full of excitement and couldn't wait to get their lines wet. Our destination was the Willow Creek Resort, A beautiful riverfront family RV park and camping destination. It is located in South Central Alaska 1+1/2 hours north of Anchorage and 3 hours from Denali National Park. Aaron provides a fishing charter/ guide service for them so it was an opportunity for him to mix a little business with pleasure.
Thinking I would be fishing in ice cold, bone chilling waters I had put on my long johns and an extra layer of clothing earlier but I was surprised to see others who were fishing in cut off and tennis shoes. The air temperature being in the seventies for a long period of time before my arrival warmed the water enough that wading in that fashion was not uncomfortable. The water was crystal clear and the bottom was pock marked with numerous holes and cuts and all were filled with fish. The Kings have already made their run and were out of season, the Reds and Coho's were not running possibly due to the unseasonably warm and dry weather. I wasn't really interested in fishing for Chums since you have to use a different method to catch them so I was content fishing for rainbows but couldn't avoid snagging the Chum or Dog salmon while drifting a wet fly through the holes. I did manage to hook and land a decent size rainbow but almost lost all my flies inadvertently snagging into the salmon.
A decision had to be made to either continue fishing or pick up the camera and start photographing. since I can't do both at the same time ( I can't even walk and chew gum at the same time) I made the trek back to the truck, shedding my layers of extra clothes, grabbed my camera and set out to record the events of that day. Here are a few candid moments that I would like to share and I don't think captions are necessary.
On the way back, Aaron received a call wanting him to take a couple of clients out on a chartered fishing trip the following day so I returned to Eagle River and into the clutches of the two wild women who I had mentioned earlier. These two are like "Thelma & Louis" and I don't know what they have in mind, so keep posted for more adventures "North to Alaska".
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