It has big fish feeding on the surface at times, perfect runs for swinging flies at others, and ease of access that make it more accessible than most people imagine. Its a world apart from the timber-strewn and intimate streams of my home waters of Southeast Alaska, and it should be on everyones list of places to go. No one goes to Bristol Bay to catch birds, but that incident stands out in my memory, a reminder of the scale and vitality of the early season Naknek River fishery. Minutes feel like hours as I stare up in a strange mixture of amazement and vulnerability, ready to swing my flyrod in self-defense or drop it and cover my eyes and ears if necessary. Acting in unison, the entire avian fleet on the gravel behind me circles-up to join my freshly released hand-warmer and forms an angry, squawking vortex circling directly over my head. Once in hand though, the warmth of its body feels great (I hadnt noticed how raw and wet my hands had become) and the release relatively uneventful - until the surreal happens. I lean my rod back, grab the line in my free hand, and timidly pull the bird in kite-like before floundering in attempted grabbing motions. The gravel bar behind me is covered with gulls and terns, their feeding frenzy coinciding with each unpredictable burst of sockeye smolt downstream. Ive never landed a bird before and should have seen this coming. ![]() In an instant, the slack in my line pulls straight and Im hooked up - up, as in airborne, and in the beak of a non-target winged species. ![]() My fly, a size 2 blue and white Deceiver, is an easy target, and I throw a panicked, sloppy cast into the fray. Chasing the frenzy downstream, birds swarm and scavenge for panicked, herring-sized sockeye smolt. A Big River with Big RainbowsIn the waning evening sun, football-shaped fish burst suddenly on the surface hunting in packs.
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