Mark Knapp

Wait, you took pictures of the bugs but not your personal best fish? I would risk dropping my phone in the water to get pictures of my personal bests (all of them). "Hell, I seen me do it." Those are neat bugs, we don't have them up here, but we do have some kind of may flies.

That bottom one's a real bug, aint it?

Certainly if you have a boat available, rent a boat. My comment was made before we knew one was available. Exploring new waters can be very exciting. Sometimes you can discover things that the locals don't even know about because you are likely to try things that haven't been used there before. The locals may be keyed on a specific species using a specific method in a particular spot and you come along with totally different stuff. I have stumbled into some of my most memorable outings by accident. The tricky thing about fishing strange waters is being aware of the local regulations. You sometimes need a lawyer and a cartographer to understand the regulations. There may be a reason the locals aren't using a particular "Killer" method or location. It could be hook size or number restrictions, seasonal closures, like during the spawning season of a particular species, or things like slot limits. In Alaska there are lots of closed areas in "open" waters that aren't immediately obvious like closed areas within so many feet of the inlet or outlet of a lake or confluence of a river. It crazy. Best of luck, have fun, show us pictures when you get back.

The idea is a good one yes. Of course it's not new, fly fishers commonly use a "hopper", or a "popper and a dropper". I had a great lot of fun with them on a trip to the Spokane area last spring fishing for smallmouth and blue gills. The best combination we found on the trip was either a hopper or a popper with a San Juan worm dropped about 36 inches below it. One of the challenges is finding the floating fly with enough buoyancy to support the dropper. It looks like your fly will hold up lots of good stuff. Nice work.

Yeah, Poopdeck that's James' biggest hero. He was showing me Marling's videos last time he (TIER) was over here. He (Marling) is quite entertaining. And those lures look pretty good.

Thanks Les

You should have a look at the Mini-lathe thread recently posted on this forum. You might like to have one and it would be very useful in lure making.

No but pike will eat anything.

Thank you Mr. Poopdeck

You guys are very kind.

Try WD40

How about a float tube. They don't have to be expensive, they carry well in a car and can give the same access as a boat.

Hey, your pictures are getting better (more light), and your lures. Try those puppies on pike up here before you go. Most of all, have fun with it.

Thanks James. I don't usually quote prices over the internet.

Yes, they are actually real mammoth teeth, we sometimes get them with bluish hues. Want to see more, Go to markknappcustomknives.com and look under knife making materials and then mammoth teeth.

My rods are here and they shor are purty. I like them very much Steve, thank you.

Also, guess what, guess what, guess what.... My rods came today. And they are even nicer than they looked in the pictures. So if you are not jealous of me, you should be.

Yes, we got lots. We get them from mammoth tooth fairies. Where did you think they went after the MTF flies away with them?

Everything goes slower when it's so cold out.

The handle materials are musk ox horn near the guard and mammoth tooth for the main handle. I was editing the OP with that info cuzz I knew people would ask. You guys are fast.

I have made my living making custom knives for twenty years but I am not usually a customs buyer. I like to buy good stuff when I can afford it but mostly, because I am the proverbial "starving artist", I do much of my shopping on eBay or at garage sales, I drive a 2001 truck and the sheet rock in my shop still isn't done. Well, for the first time in my life, I think, I ordered something custom, rods from Steve (steeldrifter). You probably already know this if you follow his custom rod posts. We were talking about how a custom maker can appreciate the craft of another custom maker (even if we can seldom afford to buy custom stuff). As it turns out, buying a custom rod is pretty easy and in this case quite reasonable. As a side note, I think that Steve is not valuing his work as highly as he should be, but far be it for me to tell another man how to run his business. Besides that, he's a pleasure to do business with. Anyway the name of this thread is "Customs in, customs out". I am soon to receive my rods from Steve (which I'm very excited about) and I am ready to ship a custom knife to a customer. This is the forth knife this particular customer has ordered. He has one for himself and two others for two of his boys, this one is for the third boy. It goes out tomorrow. The damascus is raindrop pattern, bolster, subhilt and butt plate are brass, the spacer is musk ox horn and the main part of the handle is mammoth tooth. I hope it's new owner (who is five years old) enjoys it as much as I enjoy my new rods.

If they are in Anchorage this morning they should be here tomorrow, if they get on the truck, (er, a, the dog sled). Anchorage is 365 miles away so it takes a little time to get here, ya know, they gotta feed the dogs and stuff.

The best way to share a great experience is to show some pictures (or a video). I personally think any good story is better with pictures. I've never been there, don't know what the water looks like, what the landscape looks like, how rainbowy the rainbows are. It would be fun to know. No pressure though.

It's all about full boxes. Here's one of my new boxes all filled up on one side.

Here are the last of the salmon flies from the Orvis index. These last four are apparently salmon size trout flies. Salmon Royal Wulff Salmon White Wulff Salmon Irresistible Salmon Buck Bug Next the Steelhead Flies.