
At Andros South, our lodge is located on the eastern shore of South Andros Island. That means that most mornings we get to wake up to sunrises just like this.
Just another reason we think you should join us at Andros South.
Alaska | The Bahamas | British Columbia | Chile
At Andros South, our lodge is located on the eastern shore of South Andros Island. That means that most mornings we get to wake up to sunrises just like this.
Just another reason we think you should join us at Andros South.
A couple weeks ago, Alaska West operation’s manager, Jordan Sly, gave us a great post on the life history of one of the most underrated fish in our river, the dolly varden. In case you missed it, make sure to check it out, here!
Today, Jordan is back with another edition of our ‘expert rig‘ series of posts, highlighting how he prefers to rig up when fishing for dollies. His method of choice? A little thing we like to call ‘wake and eggs.’
Take it away Jordan!
Dolly Varden are super aggressive to take almost anything put in front of them, but they love flesh flies and beads above all else. One really fun way to fish for them is what we like to call “wake and eggs.” While it might not be the most productive method possible (you will not see the huge numbers you can get with a flesh fly or a bead), it is visual, on top-water, and very exciting to do. You can use virtually any trout sized rod you prefer, but my favorite method is done with a small switch or spey rod, floating lines, and a small skater/egg pattern. Dolly Varden will follow the skating fly, and often grab the egg mid swing, creating a really fun fishing experience. Here’s my rig of choice.
During the back half of our season at Alaska West, we’re lucky to witness a pretty amazing run of dolly varden, a species of char native to Western Alaska. Arguably one of the prettiest fish in our river, they’re also available in laugh-inducing numbers, making them an awesome fish to target on a fly rod.
Because of that, we get a lot of requests for more posts on our beloved dollies. So, we reached out to Jordan Sly, our operations manager here at Alaska West, for all the details on the life history of dolly varden. Aside from spending a lot of time on the Kanektok, he also has a Master’s degree in fisheries ecology, so if you want to know more about dolly varden, you’re going to want to keep reading.
Enjoy!
It’s late July, and that means Dolly Varden Salvelinus malma are starting to stack up on what we like to call “Dolly Flats.” Dolly Varden are a species of salmonid native on the west coast of the United States and Canada, as well as in parts of Asia and Russia. They are a true char, and are closely related to Bull, Brook, and Lake Trout, in addtion to Artic Char. The easiest way to tell a true char from a true salmon or trout is that a char will have lighter spots on a darker body.
Dolly Varden are super aggressive to take almost anything put in front of them, but they love flesh flies and beads above all else. One really fun way to fish for them is what we like to call “wake and eggs,” it is not the most productive method of fishing for them, you will not see the huge numbers you can get with a flesh fly or a bead, but it is visual, on top-water, and very exciting to do. The preferred method is done with a small switch or spey rod, floating lines, and a small skater/egg pattern. Dolly Varden will follow the skating fly, and often grab the egg mid swing, creating a really fun fishing experience. We will go more in depth into the fishing side of things in the coming weeks, but let us first talk about our beautiful Dolly Varden we have here on the Kanektok River.
Dolly Varden can have a very complex and interesting life-cycle, they can be anadromous (sea-run), adfluvial (lake-run), fluvial (migration within a river system), or lacustrine (lake only). The majority of our Dolly Varden here on the Kanektok River are partically anadromous, meaning they will go out to sea for a couple months and return a little bigger and very silver in color. As they hold in the river system they will start to put their “makeup” on and they will soon “clown up.” Meaning they are in their spawning colors, which is very colorful and amazing to look at. Dolly Varden are iteroparous spawners, meaning they will spawn multiple times, so after the process is done they will slowly migrate back down stream to repeat the cycle again. Dolly Varden are considered partically anadromous because they never spend much time in the salt like true salmon do, they will go off shore, but never very far, and pop in and out of different river systems along the coast, mainly staying in estuaries.
When smaller, Dolly Varden are known as a opportunistic feeder, meaning they will eat whatever they can whenever they can, but when they get larger in size they become dominatly piscivorous, meaning they eat mainly fish and fish parts. A lot of the reasons for this change in diet have to do with the increased nutritional intake a fish receives when digesting other fish relative to insects.
Spent energy of a salmonid can be simplified into three catagories. The first one is energy burned to find resources and evade predators, second is actual growth, and the last is the growth of reproduction organs. So basically salmonids will burn the first calories to find food, and not get eaten. Once they have accomplished this the next calories burned will go into growing bigger, after this reproduction organs will grow. So the less energy spent looking for food, the larger a fish can grow and the more eggs/sperm it can produce for future generations. This is important to understand when considering Dolly Varden feeding habits.
Every organism, not just salmonids, need nutrient intake to thrive. The ratio of the different nutrients (Carbon to Nitrogen mainly) will determine how much a organism can absorb, and how much will be dispelled as waste. Salmonids are no different, and the best source of nutrients for one is another salmonid because everything is already the same ratio.
Another large factor that influences Dolly Varden feeding habits is the growth period here on the Kanektok River. The Kanektok River is a cold place during the late fall, winter and early spring, not much is happening in regards to new life other than little fish hatching out of the gravel. The food source in the river goes down drastically when compared to the summer months that are packed full of flesh from spawned out salmon and the millions of eggs being dropped all over the river system. Dolly Varden have only a couple months in the summer to eat a large quantity of food, that will help sustain them until next year, and allow them to migrate out to the estuary again.
By combining these factors, one can understand why Dolly Varden eat the way they do. They are known to be extreamly aggressive, and will devour almost anything put in front of them, especially if it is a piece of flesh or an egg imitation. Dolly Varden do this because they want to use as little energy as possible to get the most nutrients they can, in a small amount of time. Being dominantly piscivorous, Dolly Varden are getting the most nutrients they can for each piece of food they eat, and they are not using much energy to do it because they do not have to chase it down.
Contrary to popular belief, at Alaska West we don’t see too many bears over the course of the day. Unlike other parts of Alaska, bears in our neck of the woods are not very comfortable around people, so when we’re lucky to spot one, it’s usually a ways off.
That’s not to say they’re not around however, and often times a quick look around the gravel bar is all the proof you need.
Last week we had a pretty good electrical storm roll through South Andros. Lucky for us, our operation’s manager, Jordan Sly, is one heck of a photographer.
So, today we present you with the greatest photo ever taken from our tiki hut at Andros South. Wow.
Jordan Sly is back with another segment of our ‘expert rig’ series of posts, where we give the skinny on how the experts rig up, all the way down to the bitter details. Jordan is our operation’s manager at Andros South and spends a substantial amount of time stalking the flats for hungry bonefish. Here’s his rig of choice!
A setup that can load quick, cast into the wind, and shoot line accurately is a great bonefish rig. Bonefish don’t stop moving, so in order to get the fly in front of it, you need something that can load fast with as few false casts as possible. Wind is almost always a factor here on the flats, so something that can punch through the wind will help tremendously. The final presentation is more important than one might think when hunting these torpedos of the flats. Therefore, a setup that can put your fly gently, but more importantly, accurately in front of the fish is key.
Casting to fish is only half the battle however, and once a fish is hooked, that’s when a good reel comes into play.. and hopefully your knots hold because you are going to see your backing..
Here at Alaska West things change fast, whether that change is the river, flora, fuana, people, or even our camp, it is constantly happening. Our camp is located on the Kanektok River, and the crew spend over three months enjoying every change it has to offer on and off the water.
Fireweed Chamerion angustifolium is a great example of this change happening. Fireweed is a “pioneer species” which basically means it is one of the first species to colonize after an ecosystem has been disturbed or damaged in some way such as flooding, freezing, or after a fire. There is even an old Alaskan wives’ tale that says when Fireweed is in full bloom, summer is almost over, and when the flowers have turned to seed, the first freeze is right around the corner. When we first arrive in camp the ground is frozen and no Fireweed can be found. Soon enough however, green shoots start popping up. Around the last couple weeks of July, flowers start to bloom, and by the first week or two of August it is everywhere. By the end of August through the first part of September, those flowers have started to turn to cotton and fall.
Year after year we are always amazed by how fast things change here on the “River of Changes.” It is an amazingly beautiful place!
Jordan Sly, our operation’s manager at Alaska West and Andros South, is one fishy dude. Check out how he rigs up when fishing for Cohos!
It is that time of the year again, the Silver (Coho) Salmon have started to dump into the Kanektok River in great numbers. This time of the year at Alaska West the river is packed full of healthy, bright, aggressive Silvers that are hungry for a fly. We not only catch them in great numbers subsurface, but it is common to find a couple aggressive ones that are ready to take a well skated or popped fly on the surface. They are one of my favorite fish to target this time of the year because they are a beautiful fish that pull and jump like crazy.
“Yes, I know a 9 weight might be a little bigger than most prefer, and I have a 8 weight (the standard recommended stick), but I often find the 8 weight a little lacking after I have caught a couple nice sized Silvers and my arms are starting to get a little tired. A 9 weight gives me that little bit of extra fighting power when I am tired, and it also gives me that little extra power when throwing those extra large dumbbell eyes.”
“I just picked up the RIO OutBound Short this season, and I really like it. Paired with the Xi3, it is a cannon that needs very few false casts, which saves my arm from getting tired when throwing those heavy flies. I have only used it the last couple of months, but so far, it has been great. The short head is great when fishing from a boat because I can strip all the way to the boat, getting the most out of every cast, and it turns over flies really well.”
“I will often adjust my leader length around. I do not think it is terribly important because Silvers are not that leader shy, but I think it is more important to focus on a leader that will turn a fly over well and get deep enough to reach the fish.”
“I have not named my go to fly, I just call it my Silver Fly. It is pretty easy to tie, but a pain to cast. I use a size 2 jig hook, normally Owner, pink thread, a pink rabbit strip tail, pink diamond braid body with pink UV polar chenille palmered over the top. I then finish it off with 2 to 3 wraps of pink marabou, a fuchsia schlappen collar and extra large dumbbell eyes.”