(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - I had visions all week of a weekend filled with chrome cohos on my fly and spinning rods. So when I flew over to Klawock after school a Friday in late September, I went almost immediately to the river, but I couldn’t find a spot. The Klawock is a short river with obvious fishing spots marked by conspicuous pullouts. Unless the water is up, stretches in-between are lackluster. This is no secret. I am not revealing anything anyone who has been to Prince of Wales doesn’t know. The key comes in how to fish the good spots.

Anyway, the beginning of the weekend wasn’t what I thought it would be. There were at least two vehicles at every pullout on the river. I’d never seen it like that.

That’s why I panicked. Not because my favorite spot was taken, or that every other spot was taken for that matter, but because combat fishing has come to Klawock.

I’m sure it’s been like this for years, but this is the first September I’ve been here since I was in high school.

By the time I moved back at the beginning of October last year, the fish had turned dark and the seasonal anglers were back home regaling friends with tales of their time in the wild 49th state over craft beer or expensive wine.

When I was a kid I naively thought there were secret spots on the river. We’d ditch our bikes when no cars were coming and slogged through a muddy trail. Now there’s a trail that runs the entire length of the river. People take chainsaws to the riverside to clear out better casting platforms and remove snags.

There are huge tangles of line from people who rather than break off a snagged hook at the knot, they cut the line at the reel leaving long stretches of line in the water. Nests of line are discarded near the shore providing great spots for hooked fish to get tangled.

Empty bottles of Bud Lite lime and cans of Bud flank the side of the river. It almost feels like everywhere else - places which are accessible to hundreds of thousands of people and get intense traffic.

It’s far from a dump, but it’s not exactly what you’d expect to see next to a river on an island in rural Alaska. There are a ton of fish so this time of year there is a lot of traffic from locals and non, so I guess it isn’t a big surprise to see a little trash.
Itching to get fishing, I hovered on the road, driving up and down the highway waiting for a spot to clear because I’m not the type of guy who will descend on someone else who has the spot. Yeah it’s not theirs, but they were there first and who am I to make them move or force them to share?

My favorite spot was vacated just before sunset and within three casts (which probably was six), I had my first fish,

I forgot that I was panicked and stopped seeing the human detritus left on the shore.

That’s what fishing is supposed to do. It was the start of the weekend I expected.

Jeff Lund ©2014

Jeff Lund is a Teacher, Freelance Writer, & River fishing guide (Tranquil Charters) living in Ketchikan, Alaska
Contact Jeff at Email – aklund21@gmail.com

http://www.jlundoutdoors.com

SitNews ©2014
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

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