14 minute read
From Field to Fire: Why to heed the (bigger) bead
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The mix of 32mm BnR Tackle Soft Beads that impressed author Scott Haugen while coho fishing last summer in Alaska. Big beads resemble a cluster of cured eggs, and salmon love ’em! (SCOTT HAUGEN)
HEED THE (BIGGER) BEAD
HOW AN ANGLER’S DECISION TO FISH LARGER, EGG CLUSTER IMITATIONS SLAMMED SILVERS
BY SCOTT HAUGEN
After not touching a salmon in six casts I changed gear. Then I landed five coho in seven casts – all from the same spot. That was on the Egegik River a year ago this month – where I’m likely fishing while you read this article.
I’d switched to BnR Tackle’s new 32mm beads, and over the next six weeks I stuck with those beads, fishing them many ways and in a range of water types in Southwest Alaska. Learning to fish big beads and the continued success they brought made it the highlight of my season. WHEN ANGLERS SEE A big bead for the first time, one of two reactions occur. Either they laugh and dismiss it as a novelty, or a lightbulb look sweeps over them. Those who had that lightbulb moment were seasoned anglers. They instantly made the connection that the
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Few sandwiches are as ubiquitous and beloved as the classic BLT, but consider the flavor burst from adding a fish fillet to complement the bacon, lettuce and
tomato base. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)
MAKE YOUR B.L.T. FISHY
BY TIFFANY HAUGEN
Last year when we lived in Hyder, Alaska, we caught some dandy coho in the river flowing near our home. We also got some nice kings in the bay. Because we wanted something different, one evening I cooked up a white salmon on a BLT. The whole family loved it, and it wasn’t the last time we had salmon prepared this way.
The classic BLT has held a spot in the sandwich world for decades. Simple, yet perfectly salty, sweet and crisp, the three main ingredients are easy to come by and can be prepared in minutes.
At restaurants, you’ll often see this popular sandwich offered with a twist. So, feel free to add avocado, caramelized onion or a smear of pesto to go with the bacon, lettuce and tomato base (plus the fish, of course).
Besides salmon, any lightly seasoned fish fillet will add flavor and texture to a traditional BLT. This is just one we fell in love with last year, and we’re sure many of you will like it too.
One 6-ounce fish fillet Two slices bread One to two slices bacon Two lettuce leaves Two to four tomato slices 1 tablespoon mayonnaise Salt, granulated garlic and onion Fresh lemon juice
Fry bacon until crisp. Remove skin and any bones from fish fillet. Lightly season with salt, granulated onion, garlic and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Cook as desired by poaching, baking or pan-frying in butter/olive oil.
Keep warm while preparing other sandwich ingredients. Slice tomato and lettuce (leaves can be whole or chopped). Toast bread and slather with mayonnaise. Assemble the sandwich and serve immediately.
Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany’s popular book, Cooking Seafood, and other best-selling titles, visit tiffanyhaugen.com.
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32mm bead equates to a cured cluster of eggs. The folks who struggled with the concept of a giant bead kept wanting to compare it with a single bead – like those used for trout.
“A lot of Alaska anglers like the big bead because they’re going to catch and release fish all day long,” notes Brandon Wedam, product engineer behind BnR Tackle’s Soft Beads. “I like the 32mm beads because fish don’t get hooked as deep, so mortality is low.”
Some of the coho takes I experienced were surprisingly aggressive, with the big bead being totally invisible inside the salmon’s mouth when they came in. But often the bite was subtle, as you’d expect.
Drift fishing the big bead with only a couple split-shots above it became the top-producing presentation style. This
“Learning to fish big beads and the continued success they brought made it the highlight of my season,” writes Haugen, here with a daily limit of Egegik River
silvers. (SCOTT HAUGEN) Pegged above the hook, a large BnR Tackle T-stop did a great job of keeping this 32mm Soft Bead in place. The large bell also prevented beads from slipping over the stop.
(SCOTT HAUGEN)
rigging optimizes the neutral buoyant features of the Soft Beads, and the coho can’t resist it. The bead, itself, is heavy enough to cast a long way, making extended water easy to reach. It can also be fished beneath a float.
A buddy took to the 32mm bead right away, landing 53 coho on a mottled pink bead before having to replace it late in the afternoon. Another friend caught his five keepers every day on eggs, then fished beads the rest of the time, which ensured a clean release.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” shared my enthusiastic friend who caught and released 32 coho on the big bead the first morning he fished it, “it greatly increased my fishing time. I didn’t have to keep rebaiting with messy eggs, washing my hands, rod and reel. And I could unhook and release fish much faster. I’m ordering some of these when I get home.”
He did, as did many others who tried them.
AS FOR BIG BEAD colors, sweet pink cherry was the top producer, followed by mottled pink and mottled cerise. Mottled natural and pearl pink also did very well.
If fishing coho anywhere in Alaska this summer and fall, the 32mm Soft Bead is worth giving a serious try. The effectiveness of these beads to produce in a range of conditions impressed me, and I’ve seen a lot in over 50 years of salmon fishing. The only place I heard of the big beads not working in Alaska was in very clear, dead, holding water, where coho stack up for long periods.
While you’re at it, grab a few of the new 40mm beads, what I’m likely fishing right now somewhere in Alaska. I can already hear the reactions when folks see the monster beads on my rod. “What in the world are you thinking?” will be one retort. Another will be something like, “That’s ingenious; give me one of those!”
Stay tuned next year for the details. ASJ
Editor’s note: To book your Alaskan fishing adventure, visit scotthaugen.com, where you can also get signed copies of his many books. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.
Author Daniel Ritz went on a one-month voyage of discovery around Alaska in pursuit of the state‘s six native species of trout and char, including wild rainbows, which don‘t let you forget for a second just how wild they are. Ritz had to extract this one from beneath its log-jam home near Talkeetna. (DANIEL A. RITZ)
ON A TREK FOR TROUT
SALMON, SCHMALMON – ANGLER TRIES TO LAND ALASKA’S 6 NATIVE TROUT, CHAR IN A MONTH
BY DANIEL A. RITZ
Earlier this year, I came to Alaska with the sincere goal of returning home to Idaho with something remotely close to a comprehensive – or at least a range of – understanding of a true Alaskan experience.
Considering the expanse of the state’s geography and the historically complex nature of the fishing culture, I knew that was a tall order. Bottoms up.
I WAS PLANNING TO spend nearly one month in Alaska – Memorial Day until near the end of June – as one of the first legs of a nearly five-month trip across the American West’s 12 states.
Overall, I was in pursuit of the 20 native trout and char species recognized by the Western Native Trout Initiative’s Western Native Trout Challenge (westernnativetrout.org).
While one month doesn’t seem like all that long, it was admittedly more time than I needed simply for fishing. I wanted to travel by foot. I wanted to camp out of doors or with new friends. I wanted to be engaged with Alaska and not just check the bucket list box as easily and efficiently as possible.
As I traveled from the southeast to Fairbanks and then through Southcentral Alaska to the Kenai Peninsula in an attempt to form very literal connections with each of the six native trout and char species of Alaska – coastal cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, Arctic grayling, Alaskan lake trout, Alaskan rainbow trout and Arctic char – I began to notice something. More specifically, I began to notice the lack of something when talking to folks about my current project.
DURING MY TIME IN Alaska, when someone referred to “trout fishing,” they focused
almost exclusively on the large Alaskan rainbow trout near Bristol Bay, or the fish that seasonally follow salmon through popular fisheries such as the Kenai or Susitna River systems in order to feast on their eggs. There were a variety of seasoned anglers that I obviously caught off-guard when I told them that I was actually seeking out, for example, Arctic grayling or coastal cutthroat trout.
“There are six native species of trout in Alaska?” was a common response.
In early May, while researching and preparing for my upcoming trip, I spoke by phone with Eric Booton, sportsmen engagement organizer for Trout Unlimited Alaska. When I asked him about the prominence of the various native trout and char species within the focus of the Alaska sportfishing community, I was taken back by his simple yet profound answer.
“A lot of people in Alaska are fishing for trout, sure, but salmon are far and away the prominent and most engaged sportfishing species,” Booton told me.
That part wasn’t necessarily surprising. Many would confirm and I would personally agree with that assessment – deservedly so. The way of the salmon is the way of the trout. It was the beautifully simple reason why I wasn’t able to get it off my mind.
“In Alaska, unlike the Lower 48 where there is all this attention on native species – namely trout – I don’t think native trout species get as much attention because they aren’t necessarily in trouble. I have a feeling that we aren’t focused on them as much as we could be because we don’t really have to be,” Booton stated.
With a laugh, he said he regularly gets asked why his group isn’t called “Salmon Unlimited Alaska.”
A 2015 Trout Unlimited report notes that three of the United States’ – including the Lower 48 and Alaska – 28 native trout species and subspecies have already gone extinct. Furthermore, 13 of the 25 remaining species inhabit a quarter of their original range.
Thankfully, none of those extinct species or native trout now surviving within radically reduced habitat are Alaskan native fish.
ROUGHLY HALFWAY THROUGH MY time in Alaska, I actually met up with Booton in order to pursue, of all things, Alaskan rainbow trout. To my surprise, throughout our marathon 14-hour fishing day, it was fulfilling to learn the tactics of effective mousing from the Energizer bunny-like Booton. There were tales of fly fishing for Alaskan lake trout in a snowstorm during ice-off on a lake deep in the Alaska Range. I filled him in on my plans to pursue elusive and genetically pure Arctic char in
At ice-off, Alaska lake trout lurk below the retreating ice line and prey on small baitfish, offering a novel fly fishing experience for the freshwater char. (OLIVER ANCANS)
“Each of these trout species took me to new landscapes, literally forced me to engage with new communities and often learn a totally new cache of fishing tactics,” the author writes of his pursuit of Dolly Varden (left), lake trout (bottom middle) and other natives everywhere from the Panhandle to the Kenai Peninsula (this image), where Arctic char played hard to get in the Swanson River and Swan Lake Canoe Routes. (GABY MORDINI AND DANIEL A. RITZ)
Trophy Arctic grayling await those willing to wade the frigid but pristine waters of Susitna River tributaries. “Most of all, my experiences pursuing these six species provided a bit of historical and biologically cohesive narrative to the complex systems of Alaskan fisheries,” Ritz writes. (GABY
MORDINI)
the Swanson River and Swan Lake canoe routes of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
“I really want to get down/up/over here and do that,” Booton would say. When he did, each time I would find myself feeling grateful for this crash course in Alaskan context. Seeing him so excited for what was, even to him, a novel experience was incredibly invigorating.
EACH OF THESE TROUT species took me to new landscapes, literally forced me to engage with new communities and often learn a totally new cache of fishing tactics. Most of all, my experiences pursuing these six species provided a bit of historical and biologically cohesive narrative to the complex systems of Alaskan fisheries.
In order to know a thing, as they say, you have to walk a mile in its shoes. Well, fish don’t wear shoes, but I covered many miles in Alaska’s rivers.
Whether Alaska is the true Last Frontier or not can be debated, but it certainly was the closest damn thing this hatch-matching, dry-fly ballerina and Rocky Mountain mainlander has seen to a healthy fisheries ecosystem.
I suppose it boils down to, maybe the next time someone tells you they’re “goin’ trout fishin,’” ask them what kind? It might just lead to a good story about an often forgotten species that, like a wellbehaved child, doesn’t get the attention it deserves because it isn’t a problem. ASJ
Editor’s note: You can read all of Daniel Ritz’s #WesternTroutChallenge stories on Trout Unlimited’s magazine website. Go to tu.org/magazine/author/daniel-ritz/ for more. As of press time, Ritz has successfully caught 14 of the available 18 native trout species of the American West.
