Spent Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday out in the rainforest putting the alpacka through it's maiden voyage/trip.
Stoke was high heading out (we left at 3AM on Friday) because the river was supposed to get a bump from Thursday night rain. But alas, it didn't pan out. Got there to find that the water was really low and clear. Really low. Had us a bit bummed that there wasn't much water, which would be fine for the packrafting, but not for the fishing. Got camp setup, shuttle car into position and headed to the river for a float.
We weren't launching at a normal launch (one of the awesome benefits of having a packraft), so we were cutting enough time off to be able to concentrate on all the right places. THe first run we put in at was looking pretty nice, so we setup and fished there. After about 30 minutes on that first spot, a (pretty beat up hen) came to hand and the fear of low clear water turning off the fish kind of waned and the stoke got pretty high - and stayed high. The weather cooperated that day, staying mostly overcast, and even though the snowline was only a couple hundred feet above us, the wind was pretty tame and it felt like spring.
Like I said, this was my first trip w/ the alpacka. Didn't really know what to expect. I was with a couple buddies who had more experience with their pack rafts, so I got to learn a lot. After getting to spend a few days on the water in them, I gotta say - holy shit these packrafts are fun!
A few things I didn't know prior that I learned on the trip:
Started off with my buddy running cleanup on water I'd just swung through (first run of the day). No more than 30 minutes on the water and we've got a fish to hand. So that was a fun way to start.
From there, it was a lot of classic spring time weather. Sun would peak out and the green moss and color of the river would pop. You'd notice mayflies coming off the river and buds on the alders. Then the sun would go away and it would rain for 20 minutes. Wind picked up a few times. Hell, it even snowed for a bit. In the mornings, the snow level was down only a few hundred feet up from where we were. By the afternoon it was considerably higher.
There were a lot of boats, and with the traffic and clear water we mostly fished secondary type holding water - the kind most people were floating by. One spot in particular put out fish both days - pretty sure 90% of the boats just floated right by that spot and didn't think much of it.
Ended up with my buddy netting 3 on the first day, which was epic. A few bull trout and several steelhead to hand along with a successful maiden packraft voyage made for a great weekend.
Some of the scenery:
Oh yeah, some of the fish:
Stoke was high heading out (we left at 3AM on Friday) because the river was supposed to get a bump from Thursday night rain. But alas, it didn't pan out. Got there to find that the water was really low and clear. Really low. Had us a bit bummed that there wasn't much water, which would be fine for the packrafting, but not for the fishing. Got camp setup, shuttle car into position and headed to the river for a float.
We weren't launching at a normal launch (one of the awesome benefits of having a packraft), so we were cutting enough time off to be able to concentrate on all the right places. THe first run we put in at was looking pretty nice, so we setup and fished there. After about 30 minutes on that first spot, a (pretty beat up hen) came to hand and the fear of low clear water turning off the fish kind of waned and the stoke got pretty high - and stayed high. The weather cooperated that day, staying mostly overcast, and even though the snowline was only a couple hundred feet above us, the wind was pretty tame and it felt like spring.
Like I said, this was my first trip w/ the alpacka. Didn't really know what to expect. I was with a couple buddies who had more experience with their pack rafts, so I got to learn a lot. After getting to spend a few days on the water in them, I gotta say - holy shit these packrafts are fun!
A few things I didn't know prior that I learned on the trip:
- Super quick turns, way faster than I thought.
- You're way down low/close to the river level (which is fun, but makes picking a line a bit harder - I'm used to standing up in my raft to pick a line)
- Stable (a lot more than I thought)
- Easy/quick to setup and tear down
- More than enough anchor points to secure all your goodies
- Makes a great way to get across river at an access point. Even if you don't want to float that day. Just put in at a spot you can ferry across at, and you've got access to the other side of the river. Done fishing that side? Ferry on back over to the side where access is and go hit up another spot. We did this Sunday, hit up an access spot and ferried across the tailout so we could fish the run from the good side up above the access point.
Started off with my buddy running cleanup on water I'd just swung through (first run of the day). No more than 30 minutes on the water and we've got a fish to hand. So that was a fun way to start.
From there, it was a lot of classic spring time weather. Sun would peak out and the green moss and color of the river would pop. You'd notice mayflies coming off the river and buds on the alders. Then the sun would go away and it would rain for 20 minutes. Wind picked up a few times. Hell, it even snowed for a bit. In the mornings, the snow level was down only a few hundred feet up from where we were. By the afternoon it was considerably higher.
There were a lot of boats, and with the traffic and clear water we mostly fished secondary type holding water - the kind most people were floating by. One spot in particular put out fish both days - pretty sure 90% of the boats just floated right by that spot and didn't think much of it.
Ended up with my buddy netting 3 on the first day, which was epic. A few bull trout and several steelhead to hand along with a successful maiden packraft voyage made for a great weekend.
Some of the scenery:
Oh yeah, some of the fish:
