Fly fishing at Tangle Lakes, AK

For the summer solstice weekend, much of Alaska has some sort of celebration event.  My two fishing buddies, Jan Schnoor  and Cindy Crawford celebrate by going to the Tangle Lakes area to fish.  I was lucky enough to be included in their group.  Don was going with a group of coworkers salmon fishing for kings on the Gulkana which was supposed to be about an hour away, so I dropped him to meet his buddies and continued on.

So the adventure begins at Glenallen with me continuing north on the Glenn highway about 200 miles north of Anchorage.  I had directions from my friend, but got somewhat confused.  She said go briefly on a gravel road over a bridge and turn left into the campground.  The gravel road went on for about 20 plus miles, I was starting to get concerned that I had missed my turnoff.  This area is very remote with no or limited cell service and no businesses to stop and ask for directions.  I was not concerned about darkness or running out of light (summer solstice ), but I didn't want to have to back track over the gravel road.  I  turned on my lights, flagged down and on coming car and asked for directions!  Traffic was so infrequent both of us could stop in the middle of the highway with no other cars in sight.  Anyway, they verified I was on the right path and then I watched the mileage to make sure I was ok.  The lodge that I was to turn on to on the Denali highway didn't even have a sign.  I made it to my friends about 9 pm.

We went out to fish after we loaded up the car with our gear.  We unloaded a canoe which could remain off for the week.  We were dressed in chest waders with long underwear and fleece under.  We fished until midnight for Artic greyling.  I caught about six the first night.  As a beginner fisher I was pretty awkward with my rod and gear when trying to unhook a fish.  I improved much throughout the weekend.  It is so pretty there and very remote.

Jan has an RV that we slept in which was another first for me. She slept over the driver's seat,  I slept on a bed that was the kitchen table area during the day.  The campground was very nice.  It had outhouses and pump water and bear proof trash cans.  There were about 50 spaces.  We knew two other fisher ladies.  On Saturday the weather was perfect and about 70 degrees.  We only wore long underwear and waders not fleece also.  We mainly fished near a creek.  We would cast into where the water was coming in and let out line.  The current would carry our fly and line out and then we would gradually strip in the line.  I caught about 12 fish that day.  I learned how to make knots to tie on the fly and add additional leader.  That evening we had a potluck with other Alaska Fly Fishers.

On Sunday, the weather had turned to colder and windy.  We paddled the canoe to the creek spot again.  The wind was about 30 knots, so it was nearly impossible to cast.  We gave up after about 15 minutes and moved to a less windy spot.  I did not catch any fish on Sunday, Jan and Cindy each caught about a dozen.

We got a call from Don that his group had finished early.  Cindy was riding home with us.  We left and had about a two hour drive until we picked up Don.  Cindy was familiar with the area and gave us insights into some of her previous adventures .