Carmacks, Yukon Territory, Canada
8/23/01

For breakfast today I fixed pan-fried trout. It would have been delicious anyway, but it was especially good because I caught the fish myself in the Yukon River. The river was a major route of transportation during the 1898 gold rush, when gold seekers took homemade boats and rafts and paddled up to the gold fields of Dawson City. A lot of people died on that river on their way to getting rich. Long before any of them arrived, Tlingit Natives used the river to traverse from one hunting camp to another.

Before taking a site in the local campground, I went down to the river's edge and watched the muddied green water flow swiftly past me. I think the water is green from glacial streams that flow into it. There's a bridge right there, the only one that crosses the Yukon River between Dawson City and Whitehorse.

I chose my Eagle Claw medium weight spinning rod. The Eagle Claw reel that I use for it has a nice smooth action, with a 5:01 gear ratio. For the lure, I used a red, Mepps Aglia Long 2. Casting near the bridge pylons, I retrieved it across the current and immediately got a hit. I reeled in a nice 12" arctic grayling. I kept it and after cleaning the fish, put it on ice until breakfast this morning.

Earlier in the day, I'd had other success too. Having left
Drury campground, the Campbell Highway follows the Little Salmon River and I found a good access point just off the road. The current was swift but not a lot of whitewater was on my side of the river.

I'm new to fly fishing, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get in some practice. I've got a Granger Graphite 9' pole that Eagle Claw makes, and I put a black mosquito fly on the end of it. The fish were aggressive and I got hits on every cast. I let the fly drift downstream a bit, and in one of the eddies, hooked a rainbow. I pulled the slack in until the line was taunt, then reeled in the fish. At 11" long, though it was a perfect size for eating, I released it, thinking I might get another one later in the day. I caught several after that, but they were what I call bite-sized and I was impressed that they were taking bait almost half their size.