October 26, 2006 - Year-end Haines Fishing Report (Chilkat and Chilkoot)

Well I have finally completed the highly anticipated Coho trip this year. Usually, I go a few times, but this year I crammed all my hopes into three days. The odds were about 50/50 that I would catch fish. Weather, run numbers and water levels are variable this time of year and can change on a dime. I really needed to fill the freezer and to get my family off my back. My last few trips have been busts, so confidence in my fishing at the Zimmermann household was a bit low.

I took off with Derek on Saturday at 4am and we arrived in Haines at first light. We noticed the water on the Kat was slightly high, but not too troubling (at this point). The real problem was the crazy downpour and high winds. We knew we had to get some good fishing in before the Kat blew up and became unfishable.

We pulled along the famous Mile 21 and noticed a few anglers, and fewer fish. We decided to continue on and fish an obscure litte eddy a few miles down the road. We were alone on this stetch and I quickly hooked into a beauty 16 pound male sporting a bit of red. He took the hook well in his lip so I knew visibility would be ok (for the moment). We were fishing slower water so I opted to leave the pixee in the box and use a Mepps Longcast. This meant great action even with a slow retrieve in slow water. I find the heavy pixee in slow water can sometimes be a bit cumbersome and don’t result in strikes. I was happy for Derek as he caught his first Coho on the fly on his new rod. We pulled in a few more from this spot before it slowed right down.

We decided to head down to Mile 17 and 21 to take a look before heading back to our special spot. Within two hours the saturation point was reached and the river was completely “blown out”. Eddies were dissapearing, silt was pouring in and the creeks that were clear earlier in the day were now dark brown. It was totally pooched.

Now it was time to brave the winds and hit the Chilkoot. After about 4000 casts and no fish we packed it in for the evening. The next day started out the same with about 3000 casts on the Koot and no fish. The water was also very high and fish were being caught only every few hours.

It was now Sunday afternoon and we decided to have a peek back at the Kat. We pulled along a little slough surrounded by Yukoners on their way out of town. The slough was high enough and clear enough to surprisingly hold fish. As someone mentioned, it was like fishing in a bathtub with all of your friends. The was social “combat fishing” at its best. Spirits were high as nice big Coho were being caught consistently. After some more luck we called it another night and headed back to Haines.

It was a no brainer that we would be at this same little hole first thing in the morning. With all of the Yukoners home and back to work Monday, we had the hole to ourselves. It was an embarrasment of riches with a fresh group of aggressive Coho having entered the hole over the night. It was almost too easy pulling out these Coho visible to the eye with short casts. We stopped fishing before our limits but enough to fill the freezer. By the time we left the Coho were getting smarter and the water getting lower. I expect that the slough would become less productive as time went on.

This experience will be one of my favorites as it is highly unlikely that this slough will be as fertile in the future. It was truly an odd, rare occurance, but I’ll take it. After a few skunks, I remember why I love fishing Coho in Haines. You see me walking around town, the guy with the big grin still on his face.

Another first…ready for this…after almost a decade fishing Haines, I had my fishing lisence checked for the first time. It was a state trooper, new to town, filling in for the renewable guy who was out with an injury.

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