FALLING IN LOVE WITH LAST FRONTIER FISH

BY DAVE AGNESS

Dave Agness and his wife Lindsay are constantly leaving their home in Rochester, New York, to fish around the world (think the Seychelles Islands off the east coast of Africa, Central America’s Belize, and Canada). But in the couple’s 2019 debut book, Fishing Adventures on the Fly with Dave and Lindsay Agness, they devoted three chapters to their angler experiences in the Last Frontier. And Dave Agness captured why in one simple declaration.

“I said this in my first book: ‘I know there’s never going to be a McDonald’s or a Burger King or an apartment building in any direction in which I am looking,’” he says. “That’s how wild it is.”

In this second edition of the book, the Agnesses decided to put some of their knowledge of fly fishing techniques into how-to sections. But mostly, Dave and Lindsay are sharing adventures everywhere from their home in the Northeastern U.S. to exotic locations around the globe and, of course, one of their favorite destinations, Alaska (just one chapter covers their most recent adventure in the 49th state, where even with the salmon runs completed, the rainbows, grayling and especially pumpkin-colored Arctic char were biting like mad demons).

“We immediately fell in love with the place, and that’s why we’ve been going back there for the last 20 years,” Dave notes.

The following is excerpted with permission from Fishing Adventures on The Fly Techniques and Tactics, by Dave Agness, and is published by Palmetto Publishing.

Justin guided the sled to a tiny island in the middle of the run. Downstream was a bigger island where the Naknek River raced around both sides. This was the same spot our guide Gray had pleaded with me the day before to make a last stand at the end of a long day. I did get out of the boat and swung this spot, and after countless casts to which I had a couple half-hearted pulls from a fish, we called it a day. Yesterday had been sunny but very cold in the morning, and the water temps were frigid, slowing down the grabbiness of the migratory rainbows. My wife Lindsay had scored a nice fish, but I wasn’t as fortunate. It was impossible to pass on Gray’s excitement for this last stand, though, so I had obliged and cast-stepped down the run, with a big zero finding a player. Gray, who is as passionate as any guide

I’ve ever fished with, was still in shock at dinner Wednesday night about our slow day. I bought him a few cocktails to ease his pain.

So here we were again. Same run, steady rain soon turning to snow. Justin gave us a lay of the land, explaining the series of slots that ran to the big island. Where we stood in ankle-deep pea gravel, further out there were dips and slots in the gravel where these Naknek ’bows would ambush their prey.

Still, after yesterday’s “no-hitter,” I was a bit skeptical. I got to be the lead down the run (likely because I was fishless the day before), with Linds 20 yards behind me. She was fishing a patented flesh fly and I had the staple black and white Dolly Lama knotted to my tippet.

There was one element that was different this time. With the rain system rolling into King Salmon, Alaska, and instead of a clear night and temps down into the teens like the day before, it was mid-40s with a warm rain.

Probably about six casts in, a fish came to the fly with commitment rather than the plucky teases of the day before, and I was locked up on a screaming fish. Just as I turned to look back at Lindsay because I knew she’d be excited to see me hooked up, her rod was also bent double with her own player (of course) and we had our famous “Agness Double.” We both coaxed our fish over to the boat, where Justin deftly netted the pair and our day, while only just beginning, was also already a huge success.

IN 2019, LINDSAY WENT to King Salmon with some girlfriends on a fishing trip. I was on our annual trip to (New York’s)