Surface Creatures:
Artic Volls, lemmings or mice are common on many of the Alaskan streams and rivers, particularly in the northern latitudes that flow directly into the Bering Sea and Kuskokwin Bay. Most of the famous Wood-Tikchik and Togiak region rivers have large populations of these full-course meals, and the trout feed on them throughout the summer and fall. This is an exciting form of trout fishing!

• Alaska Lemming: Fly fishermen should always have a couple of the Alaska Lemming patterns in a size 1/0 and fish it with a dry line and short, stout leader (6 foot, tapered to 1X).

Smolt Imitations:
In every major river and lake drainage in Alaska, salmon smolt hatch, often wintering in the lake systems and begin their migration to the sea in the spring and early summer, after ice-out. At places like Kulik or Royal Coachman Lodge, trout congregate by the thousands early in the season (late May or early June) and gorge themselves on the salmon fry or smolt as they make their way to the salt. Effective flies include:

Smolt Patterns to Consider:

• John’s Deceiver
• (Purple or Red), size 1/0
• Wiggle Tail, size 4
• Jensen Smelt, size 6 • Clouser Minnow (Silver), size 6
• Alaskan fly, size 12
• Hatchery Smolt, size 4
• Milt’s Pond Smelt, size 6
• Bullet Head (Silver), size 6

Egg Patterns or Roe Imitations:
After the first of the salmon begin to spawn, trout move in behind the sexually intoxicated fish and begin to feed voraciously on the eggs that don’t lodge in the nest (redd) of gravel. Unfertilized eggs begin to decompose after a few weeks and become more buoyant. They work their way to the surface of the gravel, roll along the bottom, and are the primary food source of the predatory rainbows, char and Dolley Varden for weeks. The egg patterns are often the most important flies, and begin being effective in mid-July, and continue to be first choice for the next 10 weeks. They’re best fished with a dry line, indicator and small split shot:

Egg Patterns to Consider:

• Meg-a-Egg (Pink or Orange), size 10
• Iliamna Pinky, size 8, weighted
• Battle Creek Special, sizes 6 and 8
• Glo-Bug, size 6 in 6 colors: Peachy King, Egg, Champagne Roe, Dark Roe, Apricot, Light Roe and Salmon Egg.
• Glass beads (assorted colors)

Leeches and Streamers:
Throughout the season in Alaska, few patterns are more productive for trout or exciting to fish than leech or streamer imitations. The strike is usually vicious, and trout often prefer these foragers to the routine diet of roe.

In the Iliamna Basin and Katmai watershed, where you’ll be doing most of your fishing, there are a handful of deadly patterns that should occupy the bulk of your fly boxes. There aren’t many patterns or sizes, but you should have a bunch of them.

Leech & Streamer Patterns to Consider:

• Poxyegg Leech, size 4 The pulsating action of black rabbit along its length distinguishes this leech and makes it a top producer. Fish with a dead drift, strip it, or twitch it and hold on!

• Wooly bugger (Black) in size 4 A hybrid wooly worm and marabou leech, this heavy, buggy fly is easy to tie and deadly all over Alaska.

• Egg Sucking Crystal Bugger (Purple), size 4 A devastating fly, one the salmon have begun to spawn. Particularly effective on overcast days.

• Egg Suck Bunny Leech (Purple, Black), size 4. Our favorite leech, tied with black or purple, with a sockeye egg imitation in its mouth. Durable and deadly, don’t leave home without it!

• Bunnies (Black/Flesh, Black/Orange) size 4

• Carcass Fly, Ginger, sizes 4 and 8 Alaskan Trout, Char and Grayling feed heavily on the decomposing flesh of spawned-out salmon in August and September. The flesh-colored bunny leech is deadly in every sense!

Sculpins for Trout:
Once salmon begin the active spawning cycle, predators converge from all directions. Bears, mink, fox, Bald Eagles and sea gulls all line up for their fair share. Tout, Char and Grayling move in behind the huge washboard shaped redds and smaller forage fish (sculpins) move up from the lakes and deeper holes to gorge themselves on the spawn.

Sculpin Patterns to Consider:

• Wool Head Sculpin (Olive, Black), size 4. A lifelike silhouette and tantalizing action make this fly the best forge fish imitations in Alaska!
• Pat’s Sculpin (Burnt Orange), size 2
• Zonker (Natural), size 2 An indisputably effective fly in both hemispheres for trout, the zonker - in a natural color - successfully imitates light colored sculpins, as well as another of the flesh or carcass patterns.

Char and Dolly Varden Fly Patterns:

• Polar Shrimp, size 6

• Brite Pink, sizes 4 and 8

• Battle Creek Special, size 8