Grayling

Bad weather made our king salmon trip iffy, so we opted to do some exploring. I was itching to chase some grayling and several people recommended the same spot - Crescent Lake. The lake is a couple hundred acres and is full of this small member of the salmon family, known for its large dorsal fin and willingness to gobble dry flies like they're going out of style.

After a 6.4 mile hike in to the lake (a pretty easy trail with lots of scenery), we arrived to a cold, strong wind and no sign of grayling in the lake. I had all but given up when my buddy, Bear, came running around the corner yelling, "Cannon, you're killing me!" "What?" I said. "I FOUND 'EM!"

The outlet of the lake was completely loaded with these little guys, all of which were hunkered under limbs overhanging the creek and, of course, undercut banks. The branches overhead were full of mosquitos, so I tied on a small Adams dry fly, then rigged Bear's rod with one and we went to work.

I can tell you that in the hour we fished (we had to hoof it out of there as the rest of our party had already left), I landed seven and Bear landed five, all but one of which were on dry flies (one of mine took my dropper nymph before I cut it off). How many I missed, I can't tell. Let's just say it was a lot - probably 30-40 fish.

Anyhow, we ran most of the 6.4 miles out and my knees and hips are feeling it today! (Is age starting to show its ugly head?)

On our drive out, we stopped by the bridge overlooking Quartz Creek and watched some of the reds (sockeyes) in a deep pool. Man were they red. Very cool.

All-in-all, it was an awesome day, though! Here are some photos - I'll put up some underwater video of the fish feeding in the next day or two...