AK Dollys in creeks, a personal AK favorite

[Chinook SSSF]

One of my favorite things about AK is the most certainly the dollys. Most any creek with a salmon run up there "should" have dollys. Some of them come from the ocean behind the running salmon while others are residents of large lakes. If salmon travel through the lake to a spawning destination, dollys will pick up and follow the salmon as the pass through the lake. This was exactly the case were I fished this year for several days with Mike and Nick Braun. We made it a priority to spend at least 4 days working creek dollys with lighter fly tackle. We used inicator driven custom trout beads behind spawning sockeye on 4 to 6 weight fly flickers.







A very nice shot by Nick Braun, spawning sockeye salmon, the source of food the dollys key on.

Dollys average 12 to 19 inchs but can get much larger with qaulity river conditions such as gravel or long seasons showing several runs of salmon to feed from. You can score rainbows while working dollys with beads since they are feeding on the same thing. Fish can be caught right out from under the tail of the salmon in some places so presentation is very important. The bead and the indicator must be in a perfect line from upstream to downstream. A broadside presentaion will only foul hook the sockeye and kings your trying desperatly to avoid.







Double and tripple hookups are common when things are going right but someone has to take the photos! While most of the dollys seem to be a nice 18 inch average they start to seem very big when they reach the over 20 mark. My big fish for the creek stuff this year was a big male around 23, but at that size they have a huge head and are very deep in girth. They are just beautiful at that size..... Believe me when I tell you that I was within inchs of loosing this fish on my 6 weight to a very healthy Alaskan log jam!







Photos by Nick Braun [cept the one of him and the one of him and his dad with the double,lol]


Big thanks to my friends at Lamiglas Rods, those fly rods kicked butt!

[scudrunner]

don't you just love those small trickle of streams that are so loaded with fish but not with people!

Presently, the dolly fishing is off as they are switching from beads to flesh. The pinks have made their way through and are returning (however not nearly as spunky as before... i.e. the death dance or just simply floatsam).

I am expecting, however that it will pick up again very soon as the silvers begin to spawn. This is some of the best trout/dolly fishing on the Kenai... right now through the end of November (and really beyond). I really enjoy the dollies when they take on the fall spawning colors!

[Chinook SSSF]

Ed, your just as hooked on Dollys as I am!

[Twise95]

That is so awesome! I've fished for Dollys in Lake Billy Chinook in Oregon, using nothing more but a size 1 Gamagatsu with a egg loop, a split shot, and a gob of eggs. It was some of the funnest fishing experiences I've ever had - hooking upwards of a 100 fish a day! The minimum length for retention of one fish is 24 inches... I have to ask you guys, are they any good? I've never caught a big enough one to satisfy the requirements, but I've caught PLENTY of 20, 21, 22 inchers... and have lost some definite monsters.

[scudrunner]

are they any good?

I think that rainbows taste like mud, but dollies are very good. These are part of the char family, pink meat and very mild. While some are definitely resident, many are anadramous which makes for better table fare as well.

On the Kenai, they have to be LESS than 18" to keep (16" in the most upper section). Not hardly enough to mess with... I strongly encourage C&R for all resident species on the Kenai.

There is a creek that I work that doesn't have a size restriction and it is usually a 100 fish per day as well. I have one guest that keeps one to take home but lets the other 99 go.

[mikebraun]

The creek in the pics is an awsome place and prolly my favorite spot of anywhere I've been. We camp on an island in the middle of the creek for at least a week every summer. The pic with the spawners is the side channel by our camp. At any time of the day you just have to walk 20 steps and its fish-on. We eat a couple dollies whenever we camp there; lemon, onions, seasonings and butter wrapped in foil over the fire.
These fish are easy to catch when you know a few tricks. About 10 years ago some friends and I took a guide trip on the upper Kenai for trout. It was the best 200 bucks I ever spent for the info I gained. If you decide to try dollies be prepared to be hooked for life, I know I am.