Prince of Wales Trip 2019

​Alaska is my home, and returning for a visit is always an experience that I will cherish forever. My 2019 trip to Prince of Wales Island, a remote island in Southeast Alaska was particularly special because it was my first trip back to the island in 8 years, and this is the place that first set my wife on our journey of moving to Southeast Alaska where we finished college and got married. After our short flight to Ketchikan we were greeted with beautiful clear skies for our float plane ride to Thorne Bay. My father in-law picked us up at the dock in his Kingfisher and minutes later we were at his newly built house overlooking the bay. Before we even settled in we were gearing up for some afternoon fishing on the Thorne River. It had rained heavy in Thorne Bay and we were told that the river was blown out, but we were too excited to be there to let that stop us so we hopped in the truck and headed to our first spot. The lower section of the Thorne River is easily accessible by road and with a bit of exploring, solitude is pretty easy to come by. As we had heard, the river was high and dirty, but it was still easy enough to see that is was packed with salmon. The river was full of Pinks. A bit of a disappointment because our target was Silvers, but good because it helped us to manage expectations (Sometimes during Silver season in Alaska I start to think I should be able to catch two fish at a time every cast) and set us up for some great adventures later on. We ended our first afternoon on a great piece of swinging water and I did manage to swing up a couple Pinks. Our second day was a family day on the boat doing some trolling. Not typically my style, but it’s a great way to be with family and we did find our first Silvers of the trip. The highlight of my day came when we were sitting still for a few minutes. I took the opportunity to climb up to the bow with my 8 weight and sneak in a couple casts. The bow of my father in-law’s boat is about four feet off the surface so I had a great view all around me. I got excited when I saw a couple of schools swim under the boat, and a few minutes later I was stripping in and a streak come up out of the dark and hammers my fly.​ After a good run, I got the fish to the reel and climbed to the back of the boat balancing on the gunwale while fighting the fish so I could get a net. The fish was a large Pink, but the experience was a lot of fun. Our next couple days we focused on adventure rather than time on the water for Silvers. One day we took an inflatable dingy into the bay and up the mouth of the Thorne River until it got too shallow for a motor, then we got out the oars and drifted and fished back out to the bay. There were some Dollies and Pinks at the mouth but the real fun was seeing how far up the river we could make it. The next day we hopped in the old Ford diesel that my wife learned how to drive in, and headed towards Coffman Cove. Our first stop was Staney Creek. We wanted to fish Staney because it flows to the west side of the island and we thought perhaps water clarity would be different because of less rainfall on that side. We walked well below the tide line in hopes of finding fresh Silvers coming in with the tide. After a halfhearted effort and watching Pinks jump around we decided to hit the road as we had a lot we wanted to visit. After a quick stop in the picturesque town of Coffman Cove we gave up the paved highway for logging roads and began our return journey south to Thorne Bay. This was an exciting moment for us as it was where some of our fondest memories from our previous trip took place. We spent the majority of our afternoon exploring the Luck Lake area. Here we found the creeks of Luck Lake as well as the lake itself literally packed full of Pinks. At times it almost appeared to be raining Pinks Salmon on the lake. We talked to some fellow anglers who had managed to find the occasional Silver in this sea of pink, we decided to give it the old college try. After immediately getting a few Pinks at the head of Eagle Creek we headed downstream where we encountered even greater hoards of Humpys, so we headed back up to the lake. Since the day was clear and sunny we decided to enjoy the lake for awhile. After taking in some sun on the lake and amusing ourselves watching dozens of Pinks fly through the air in front of us we decided to head to the north side of the lake and visit Luck Creek. Here we found more Pinks of course, but also numerous Sockeye and fresh bear sign. The chance of a bear encounter made the hike down to the lake very exciting, and for us a bit of a trip down memory lane. After a few casts we hiked back up the creek and reminisced about making the same hike 8 years earlier. As we headed back to Thorne Bay for the evening we made a quick stop at a creek that had been quite good to us on our previous trip, but we found the water to be extremely low and the banks full of rotting salmon. As we walked along the creek we found very fresh bear sign, which made us feel as if we were following a bear downstream, and since we left our bear protection in the pickup, we decided to high tail it out of there. We used the remainder of our trip to explore new spots on the Thorne River. We did end up finding a few Silvers here and there but never did manage to land one. Southeast Alaska is a beautiful rainforest with amazing fishing which is why we made it our home for four years and hope to make it our home again in the near future.