Under the light of the August moon, a 14-foot tide rolls inland, bringing fresh hordes of salmon with it. The ocean receded before dawn, leaving tidal pools thick with salmon.
Most are pinks, but careful scrutiny finds silver apparitions lurking underneath, in the shadows of the deeper pools. After hunting visually for a target, a 3-inch, pink-and-white bunny strip with barbell eyes was placed carefully upstream of the largest silver ghost in the school. One big mend swept the 8-weight line upstream of the fly, slowing its drift and allowing it to sink to the level of its target. Somehow, it avoided the willing pinks as I followed its progress with the rod tip. When the sinuous fly approached within 3 feet of the waiting silver, I sharply stripped 6 inches of line, snapping the fly to attention.
If I could bottle and sell what happened next, I'd be filthy rich in short order. But it would be easier to sell tickets for the rocky ride to this place, aptly named the Rocky River. It's better than most roller coasters, none of which offer a view nearly so stunning. High vantage points offer a view of volcanoes (many still active) rising above the sea and lining the horizon along Cook Inlet. Snow-capped mountains roll away inland. And the wet fingers of the rain forest slapped both sides of the battered shuttle craft (at the same time) as it breezed along a seldom-used road. No shoulder, no rails, with, sometimes, a long drop right outside the window.
The land around the Rocky on the Kenai Peninsula is owned by a Native American corporation. Access is limited, and angler counts are low. The rights to the Rocky River Camp, owned by Bernie Golling, a former police officer from Pittsburg, are ceded by the corporation. Golling works with these folks to keep the river, and its abundance of several species of salmon, in pristine health.
All of which means the salmon-fishing hordes that descend on the Kenai, the Copper, and many other Alaskan rivers do not exist on the Rocky, a smaller, non-navigable river that flows out of the mountains and through rich, diverse rain forests on its way to the sea. Here, the only other anglers likely to be encountered are members of your own party.
The Rocky receives runs of chum, pink and silver salmon, and maintains a healthy population of Dolly Varden, some of which exceed 4 pounds. Most anglers want to focus on the silvers, which generally begin running in early- to mid-August. Last year, the run started late. When we arrived at the end of August, the silvers were just beginning to run, and the river was brimming over with pinks. So many pinks, in fact, that they formed a solid roof over many of the pools, making the prospect of getting a fly in front of an active silver salmon quite challenging. Pinks, which average about 5 or 6 pounds on the Rocky, often take the fly before an interested silver can reach it.
