Mark Knapp

Alaska, there are no walleye here. I've caught burbot in water as shallow as 10 feet but they tend to be in water deeper than that. I remember the eelpout festival from my years in Minn. though I never attended.

The world record for grayling is 5 pounds 15 oz. you would have a tough time braking that record but, the 4 lb. line class record is only 2lb. 8oz., you could probably brake that record in the Clearwater. The 12, 16, and 20lb line classes for grayling are currently vacant so you could set the record for those easily. For halibut the current world record for the 2 lb line class is only 11 pounds, that shouldn't be too hard to break. In the junior class for halibut the record is only 124 lb's. You've got till you turn seventeen to break that. So there you go, you could have your name in the record books.

No, he's talking about Northern pike and burbot. We don't have snake heads or walleye up here. We fish for northern pike and burbot in the same waters. Although we sometimes catch pike while fishing for burbot with live bait (dead herring), they are most often fished for using very different methods. Pike are fished near weed beds or other structure with generally large, flashy flies or lures in fairly shallow water while burbot are generally still fished on the bottoms of deep slow pools, generally with dead bait. One of the most challenging species to catch on a fly is burbot. I'm sure it can be done, it's one of the things I really want to do.

The world record grayling was broken just a few years ago, guided by a friend of mine. There are tippet class records for all kinds of fish that are obtainable. Someone will catch a thirty inch rainbow in quartz lake this year. That in itself would be a record. Why can't it be you. The current world record halibut was caught by a guy who lives not far from you. Last I saw, there were 28 new world records applied for this year to the IGFA. Records are there to be broken. You're a young guy. What could be more fun than to challenge yourself to break a couple of records in your lifetime.

Well, that's a pretty happy looking kid.

In most of my fishing the need to switch to a different line is a spur of the moment thing. Like when a school of shallow pelagic rock fish show up in the fish finder while we are fishing bottom fish. Or I float past the mouth of a slough where I need a streamer for pike instead of a dry fly for grayling. There is such a variety of species to fish in both fresh and salt water here. For these reasons I always have more than on rod strung up and ready to go. Sometimes as many as four rods with different lines and terminal gear are ready.

Yeah, I don't get to fish much either.

That bench is WAY too neat not always but i'm definately not a slob I like it better this way than the other way.

This many, plus 20 or so that are on bobbin holders.

That's pretty amazing. The trout look like salmon. Those casts are amazing too. I really enjoyed that. Thanks for posting it.

I got the book today, Norm. Thank you very much, it's very nice. There must be a half a bazillion flies in there.

I'm not an expert on rod materials like many of these guys that's why I haven't chimed in before this. Having only been fly casting for six years, I would defer to the more experienced guys that have answered. I can tell you that all my rods are more modern, probably carbon fiber or graphite (maybe those are the same material, I don't know) but I don't have any experience with the other rod materials to compare them. As I mentioned before, for my deep sea fly fishing (I know, that sounds counter intuitive) I use 10,12,13,14,and 16 wt. rods. My buddy uses a 9 wt. TFO. We like to use the lighter wt. rods more than the heavy rods because the action is better for casting and the fight is more fun but, as I also mentioned, we have broken a lot of ten wt. rods doing this. That's why I use garage sale rods for deep, salt water. It took me six years to learn how to do this, you are a young guy and have lots of time. Try not to be in a rush to do everything. A suitable rod and reel for salmon and shallow water rock fish will not be the same one I use for lings and halibut. I would decide what kind of fishing you will be doing most and buy a rod for that. If a broken rod is going to set you back, don't fish for lings and halibut with it. I suggest you do what I do and get them at a garage sale, or used ones on eBay. I have gotten super deals there. Although we sometimes use 9 and 10 wt. rods for lings and halibut, those two species require a different reel and line set-up than salmon and shallow water salt water fishing. As I mentioned in another thread, for the deep water fishing I make up our fly lines using 120 feet of T20 and T17 sinking fly lines. That kind of line will cost you more than the fly rod you are considering. Then you will need a large capacity, large arbor reel for all that line and backing. Those reels, at least ours cost a minimum of $200.00 each. One other thing I should mention, is that the deep water fishing that we do can not be done in the majority of the water on Alaska's cost. There is simply too much current to get the fly to the bottom in most places. It will be pretty near impossible in Cook Inlet and in most of the waters around Valdez. We have found a place west of Sitka that fills up more like a bathtub instead of having the serious rip currents that most of Alaska's waters have. I wish you the best my friend. Always happy to answer questions.

I don't see a picture, was there supposed to be one?

Pretty cool, what size are they?

Yes there is a difference. There are several kinds of cod in Alaska and as I understand, ling cod are not really in the cod family like true cod, grey cod, pacific, saffron and tom cod are. Ling cod actually do have some quite pretty textures and colors on them, I think.

You bet, sharing this stuff is almost as much fun as doing it.

I make my own lines. I weld or lap and whip thirty feet of t20 to 90 feet of t17 the t20 is attached to the tippet and the t17 is attached to the backer. When fishing, we set up the drift so that we are drifting toward the structure. We cast toward the structure and as we drift toward it we mend out line until we are just tickling the top of the structure. We typically fish in 60 to 120 feet of water. The IGFA only allows you to mend 120 feet of line from the reel (More than that disqualifies that fish from the records) They call it stripping line from the reel but in fly fishing nomenclature, I believe they mean "Mend". Sometimes we fish deeper than 120 feet but It just so happens that we have 120 feet of fly line so we always know if we have exceeded to limit set by IGFA. With the fly lines made the way I do it, the fly sinks straight down as you drift toward it. The first thirty feet is recognizable by the transition between the fly lines. I mend out 2 feet of line with each strip, so I can tell to a certain degree how deep I need to be according to what the graph is showing us. These are mostly bottom fish so it's important to be as close to the bottom as we can be. Ah, the first pic made me think you were shore fishing. Yeah, that was at the cabin, just before cleaning the fish.

Thanks Mike, your explanation makes a lot of sense on the stripping/mending thing. Yes, it was a great trip but not our best in terms of hours fished or fish caught. It was our best in terms of the halibut my buddy caught. We've been doing this since June of 2013 and learning more about it with every trip.

I'd love to have that book, Norm

There's no rules, make it what you want it to be.

I'm sure they must, they have a lot of good rods there. I get most of mine on eBay or garage sales.

Here's the link to the tutorial for the Non-Pelagic Squid. http://akflytyer.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-flies-of-sitka.html and here's the link to the whole blog if you want to check it out. http://akflytyer.blogspot.com/

You can spend anywhere from $80.00 to $800.00 or more, depends what you buy. I buy my ten wts. for this kind of fly fishing at garage sales because it is very hard on rods. I have broken a few doing thing this. I save my expensive rods for other things.

I believe there is a tutorial for that fly on my fly tying blog (akflytyer.blogspot.com). I will search it out and post it. The halibut was caught on a ten weight. I mostly used a 9 wt. on this trip but I also have a 12, a 13, and a 16 that I use when I am strictly targeting large lings and halibut. The lighter wt. rods are so much more fun to fish with.

I make my own lines. I weld or lap and whip thirty feet of t20 to 90 feet of t17 the t20 is attached to the tippet and the t17 is attached to the backer. When fishing, we set up the drift so that we are drifting toward the structure. We cast toward the structure and as we drift toward it we mend out line until we are just tickling the top of the structure. We typically fish in 60 to 120 feet of water. The IGFA only allows you to mend 120 feet of line from the reel (More than that disqualifies that fish from the records) They call it stripping line from the reel but in fly fishing nomenclature, I believe they mean "Mend". Sometimes we fish deeper than 120 feet but It just so happens that we have 120 feet of fly line so we always know if we have exceeded to limit set by IGFA. With the fly lines made the way I do it, the fly sinks straight down as you drift toward it. The first thirty feet is recognizable by the transition between the fly lines. I mend out 2 feet of line with each strip, so I can tell to a certain degree how deep I need to be according to what the graph is showing us. These are mostly bottom fish so it's important to be as close to the bottom as we can be.