Flies For Alaskan Kings

Sandy River Spey Clave 2006 Report
Best ever, hands down.  Exuberant crowd.  Masses of of rods...a forest of graphite.  Masses of information freely shared.  We enjoyed the most diversified collection of elegant, informative, entertaining, on-the-water programs.  Unfortunately they were presented with a brand new, expensive, totally failed sound system.  The presenters stepped up...and so did the audience.  We heard only good things from everyone.  Somehow everyone cooperated to make the programs work in spite of the failed equipment.  (We need advice from anyone who can guarantee to fix our sound problem.) 
    
My main comment about this Clave, " I've personally never participated in any event that had a better atmosphere".  The part that I liked best, was the aura of mutual respect that pervaded every scene.  Spey Casters have learned how to like each other.  Many old tensions were put to rest during this Clave. Many new alliances were formed. Nowhere did I see new battle lines drawn.     

What can you say about all three kitchen crews?  They made things flow like clock work.  Hundreds of people got well-fed, fast. One of the most reliable men I know said that at this Clave, many folks commented that the meals were as much fun as the programs. 

Speaking of programs, Way Yin gave us a sneak peak (Saturday evening) of a video casting-tutorial that will cause a real stir when it hits the market later on this summer. You will want to see this DVD for the cinematography alone.  It takes seeing casting to a new level because of the clarity of the pictures.    

Next year we promise not to have The Clave on Mothers Day! 
We have some interesting scheduling problems for next year.

Here are some pictures from the Clave:

The Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club with Mel Krieger presented the Jimmy Green International Spey-O-Rama and Fly Casting Festival May 5-6-7 2006 at the world renown casting ponds located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. GGACC is devoted to introducing everyone to fly casting and angling at their historical club and facility. The event was open to the public and admittance was free.
Patty and I attended this event for the first time this year.  Unlike the Sandy River Spey Clave which is held on moving water on a river, the Spey-O-Rama is held on still water.  While the Sandy event is away from the bustle of city life, the Spey-O-Rama is in the heart of San Francisco. Beyond those differences, the two events offer things in common: an extremely friendly atmosphere and place for learning and refining casting techniques.  We had fun.  It turns out that our hotel was in the historic Haight Ashbury district at the opposite end of the park from the casting ponds.  Golden Gate Park is two and a half miles long.  It contains a cornucopia of delights for anyone interested in botany. The first day Patty and I walked the distance from our hotel to the ponds and back. It's a long walk but worth it. The park is very well kept.  The next day we took a cab.  The Spey-O-Rama is primarily a distance casting event.  We weren't able to stay for the finals, but in practice some casters were throwing spey casts of over 140'.  Finals were Sunday.  Rod length was limited to 15' 1".
The winners (for a total of 4 casts) were:
Tie for #1: Mariusz Wroblewski 551 feet (average 137.75'),
Tie for #1: Gordon Armstrong 551 feet average 137.75'),
3rd place Scott O’Donnell 528 average 132').
The two top guns were throwing long belly lines as you might expect.  The surprise of the tournament was Scott O'Donnell because he used a shorter 59' long head weighing, (if I remember right) about 1,400 grains.  This was Scott's first tournament. Congratulations to every one of the contestants.  Once again the boundaries of fly casting have been explored.  Thanks to the folks at the Golden Gate Club and the people of San Francisco for making our visit such a pleasurable one.

So, you've caught both summer and winter steelhead in good numbers and still enjoy it. You love fishing larger rivers with two-hand fly rods.   And you are wondering what the next step (or level) might be?   Well how about fish that instead of averaging 6-20 pounds average 20-50 pounds.  Instead of 7-8-9 weight rods and 10-pound tippet, you need 20-pound test and 9-10-11 weight rods.  How about Alaskan Kings?  In some Alaskan Rivers Such as the Kanektok and Sandy Rivers, Kings bite

as aggressively as any other anadromous fish, maybe even better than most.  The trick is to get at them when they are ocean-fresh.  In Alaska June is the month for bright Kings.  Plan on doing your fishing very close to the mouth of the river.  Your reel needs to carry 200-yards of backing.  Don't forget to bring an extra outfit.  These fish are powerful and can break rods and reels.  This ain't the game for the good old fashion clicker reel.  Use the same class of reels that you would use for heavy duty saltwater fly fishing.

Bring an extra fly line in case you loose one. Bring lots of flies, you will need them.  Kings tend to travel along the bottom of the river and that is where you will need to fish your flies.  Fishing for Alaskan Kings is a lot like fishing for winter steelhead.  You will loose flies and you will need to sharpen your hook often.  Be sure to have a good hook sharpening tool.  Be prepared to expend some energy to land these fish.  After all they are called Kings for good reason.  They are the biggest and best of Pacific salmon. 

Kingtookas

Marabou Shrimp