Floating Alaska, DIY

Local chapter member Charlie Morris likes adventure, so much so that he floats the Last Frontier...DIY-style. Today we share the wrapped-up edition including logistics behind gear and meals in a guide of how Charlie prepares for a self-guided Alaskan wilderness float. This guide is provided in PDF so you can easily print it as a checklist should you want to follow in his wake…er… footsteps!

The basic trip logistics are provided below

  • Fly to Anchorage - Spend the night at the Holiday Inn. Pick up alcohol to take to Bethel

  • Fly to Bethel - Renfro’s (Air taxi) will pick us up. We will go to the hangar and repack our stuff in dry bags for the float plane trip the next day.

  • You MUST have paid Renfro all due prior to arrival OR pay in cash. They will not take a credit card, Venmo, or any other electronic form of payment. Up to this point you have been paying for ONLY the air taxi. We will be renting other equipment from Renfro, raft, shotgun, chairs, cots, etc. Again, you will either have prepaid for everything or pay cash in Bethel

  • There is a grocery store in Bethel. You will pick up some supplies, tortillas, and other food items, and toilet paper

  • Have dinner in Bethel. There is a good pizza place that has beer. You will pay for your room when we get there. The B&B will take a credit card.

  • Fly to the river - We will most likely be taking a Beaver de Havilland. We will pack as if there are two flights taking 3 passengers + a raft and gear. You need to be on the plane with your gear. It is about 1 hr flight to the river.

  • The first group will be putting the raft together and packing while the plane goes back for the second group.

  • When the second group arrives we’ll put the second raft together and load it with gear.

  • Depending on when we arrive will depend on how far we go down the river.

  • FISH & FLOAT for the next week or so... that’s why you came :-)

  • Take out at a small Inuit village - You will need $50.00 cash each to have the natives take us and our stuff to the airstrip

  • Renfro’s will pick us up at the airstrip - This will not be a float plane and I’m not sure how

    many trips, maybe one maybe two.

  • Repack camping equipment back in the Rubbermaid containers. You can either check the

    Rubbermaid container or mail it back home

  • Spend the night in Bethel. There is a good pizza restaurant with beer

  • Fly from Bethel to Anchorage and you're on your own

Trout In the Classroom at Lyons Elementary

The term “fish hatchery” usually conjures images of warehouse-like buildings replete with stainless steel vats, incubators, pipes from here to there, and concrete raceways and ponds holding fish in various life stages. One of the closest fish hatcheries to the homes of most chapter members, however, resides in the library of the Lyons Elementary School. The Lyons Elementary School’s 5th grade class has participated in the Trout Unlimited-sponsored Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program for several years now!

Each fall a group of volunteers including parents, teachers, chapter members, and the school principal sets up two 55-gallon aquariums in the school library, as the elementary currently lacks a STEM or other science lab. Aquariums are outfitted with the necessary filters, pumps, and chillers. This year, water-quality monitoring took a high-tech turn with the installation of Seneye monitors, allowing data to be transmitted remotely. The tanks are filled with water then left to run through the nitrogen cycle—the biological process that converts ammonia and nitrites, which are toxic to fish, into relatively harmless nitrates before introducing trout eggs.

Students learned the Colorado record rainbow trout measured almost 30" and wondered if it would fit in our tanks

Rainbow trout eggs from the Crystal Hatchery near Carbondale were delivered to the school in late September (thanks, Dick Shinton!). The eggs spent their early days in an egg tumbler which mimicked the flowing water of a river or stream bottom allowing the eggs to gently tumble which protected them from fungal growth, and contained them for easier removal of unhealthy eggs. Once the eggs hatched, the alevins (or sac fry) were transferred to breeder baskets which allowed them to grow a bit more before hitting the relatively open water of the tank. As many swim-up fry never learn to eat, there is typically a small spike in mortality during this stage. Fortunately, all of the remaining fish are now approaching true fingerling status and roughly three-quarters of the original egg stock are happily swimming around each tank.  

As there are two tanks to monitor and maintain, rotating teams of eight 5th graders spend the first part of their morning for a week at a time working with the tanks. Students take turns performing water tests—testing for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels, as well as tank pH—cleaning the tanks and occasionally changing water and adding biologic elements depending on water test results, monitoring equipment, and recording results and tank status on their school-issued iPads. All data flows into a QR Code-accessible Google Drive for easy record keeping and analysis.  

What do students learn by running an officially State-licensed and permitted hatchery out of the library? Students monitor the life cycle of rainbow trout from egg to releasable fingerlings, learn the nitrogen cycle and other tank chemistry, and a host of watershed intricacies involving macroinvertebrates, the food chain, and our impacts on the environment. Additionally, this year STEM Coordinator and Teacher Sarah Wegert has introduced several STEM-related activities and thought exercises including: “How might we design structures for fish shelter with the help of 3D printing?” “How might we keep track of variable fish feedings?” “How might we determine how accurate our automatic feeders are?” and “How might we best count our fish?” 

Students test nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and pH levels every day

While rearing trout for release into our local watershed is a neat exercise, the most rewarding part of the program has been watching students become knowledgeable advocates for and conservationists of their home watershed. Trout Unlimited offers a one-year complimentary membership to all participating students to further this effort. The St. Vrain Anglers chapter has generously provided monetary support for chillers, filter pumps, and water-quality testing kits as well as innumerable volunteer hours.

One Week Until 2023 Fly Tying Expo

The 2023 Fly Tying Expo Fundraiser is just around the corner! Buy Your Tickets now or at the door...and if you still need to be convinced, watch this short video.

We will have more than 30 tyers demonstrating their fly tying techniques and patterns. Nowhere else will you have the opportunity for quality one-on-one conversation with tyers and authors like Rick Takahashi, Phil Iwane, Al Ritt, Steve Maldonado, Chris Krueger, and many more. Link to our WEBPAGE to see the full lineup.

Support the work of this chapter in conservation and education by attending and participating in bucket draws for the flies tied at the Expo and the silent auction. We will have a selection of new and gently used gear, fly tying books, and other items. Keep visiting our WEBPAGE as we update and add to the auction inventory.

Dick Shinton and Jamie Yakel are your Expo organizers. Please thank them for all their hard work when you see them.

A note to Expo attendees. The fundraising component of this event is a combination of ticketed entry, auction, and raffles or bucket draws. Raffles and bucket draws are regulated by the CO Secretary of State, and are designated as cash only. Please bring cash or check. We will accept credit cards for entry tickets and auction payment.

Floating Alaska, DIY (part 1 of 3)

Local chapter member Charlie Morris likes adventure, so much so that he floats the Last Frontier...DIY-style. Today we share the first in a 3-part installment of how Charlie prepares for a self-guided Alaskan wilderness float. This guide is provided in PDF so you can easily print it as a checklist should you want to follow in his wake…er… footsteps!

3. Resources

Before getting into the details of planning a backcountry float trip into the Alaskan Wilderness here are some resources to call or email:


(Note: HIGHLY recommended - Indicates I’ve used the company and was pleased with their level of service)

4. Planning your trip

4.1 Pick the species: Pick the river:  Pick the time of year

4.2 Map the river

4.3 Decide how many nights on the river and mark potential campsites

      4.3.1 A few notes about camping

4.4 How much gear and food to take?

4.5 Gear lists

      4.5.1 Camping list

      4.5.2 Fishing list

      4.5.3 Fly fishing list (targeting Silvers)

4.6 What about meals?

4.8 Plan the trip logistics

  4.6.1 Decide what to mail and what to carry on

  4.6.2 Fly to Anchorage (spend the night)

  4.6.3 Fly to Bethel or Dillingham (pack for the float plane)

  4.6.4 Fly to the river

  4.6.5 *** FISH *** THAT IS WHY YOU CAME!

  4.6.6 Pickup and fly to Bethel or Dillingham

  4.6.7 Fly to Anchorage

  4.6.8 Fly home

4.7 Equipment (Rental and your own)

4.8 Bear Safety

4.9 Cost Estimates


4.1 Pick the species: Pick the river: Pick the time of year: 

Deciding on the species of fish will help decide on the timing and narrow down the possibilities for rivers.  Below is a list of rivers in the Bristol Bay area:

  • Aniak River (Bethel) Arolik River (Bethel) 

  • Goodnews [North & mid-fork] (Bethel / Dillingham)

  • Holitna (Bethel)

  • Izavieknik (Bethel)

  • Kanektok (Bethel / Dillingham)

  • Togiak (Dillingham)

  • King Salmon River (Bethel / Dillingham)

  • Upper Nushagak River (Dillingham)

  • Little King Salmon River (Dillingham)

My first call is always to Alaska Fly Fishing Goods, Brad and Mike are fantastic resources and will share their knowledge on fishing the Alaskan Wilderness.  The air taxi services also have abundant knowledge; give them a call or send them a note. 
Now that you’ve picked the river and picked the fish, you will need to decide where you are going to fly out of and pick the air taxi service.  Bethel (pop:6270) is slightly larger than Dillingham (pop:2203), but proximity to your chosen river can be a driving factor in the decision-making process.  I was extremely pleased with Tikchick Airventures (Dillingham) and  Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures (Bethel)  and will continue to use them on future float trips. In this example, let’s target Silver Salmon on the Kanektok River.  The middle of August appears to be an excellent time for Coho and the upper Kanektok will contain Dolly Varden, Rainbow trout, and Arctic Grayling.  This late in the season, King salmon, Sockey and Chums will have spawned and be “red”.  During even years Pink salmon (aka: Humpy) will be prevalent in the river.

4.2 Map the river:

Knowing where you are on the river is critical for a successful trip. The online mapping software Caltopo @ www.caltopo.com is an excellent tool for mapping the river.  The basic subscription of $20.00 per year allows for access to the mapping website, printing maps, and creating waypoints routes and tracks.  The yearly subscription includes access to the mobile app which allows the user to download maps and waypoints to a mobile phone and use the phone as a GPS in the wilderness. Training videos for using Caltopo can be found on YouTube.   

When creating the river path, in Caltopo, first trace the river using the global imagery layer.    Note, rivers change, and using global imagery over the topo_layers is probably a little more current than the forest service topo maps. 

After having traced the river, waypoints are created every mile along the river path starting with 0.  This is an automatic function in Caltopo.  Having a waypoint every mile allows for the backcountry angler to see their current location, within a mile while on the river.  The waypoints can be downloaded to a .gpx file which in turn can be loaded into a  mobile app or GPS using the appropriate software.  When printing maps for a backcountry adventure make sure and purchase waterproof paper.  

After having traced the river the user can also create waypoints at significant points of interest, the “put in”, the “exit” and possible campsites along the way. 

4.3 Decide how many nights on the river and mark potential campsites

With the waypoints created you will be able to pace your trip.  Rowing aggressively downstream plan on about 3 mi/hr.  Rowing while fishing, plan between 1.0 mi/hr and 1.5 mi/hr.  The Kanektok is about 100 miles and we have decided to stay 10 nights on the river.  We would like to have two nights that we don’t have to break camp, so we are planning four 15-mile days, four 10-mile days, and two 0 miles days.  Zooming in you can see the confluence of Payun creek at mile 12 has the potential for good fishing, so we are planning to push our first day of floating for 12 miles.  At Payun creek we will evaluate the campsite potential and fishing prospects and decide either to make camp or move on.  Flexibility is key!  Be prepared to either push a few extra miles if required or cut a day short if a phenomenal campsite/fishing hole presents itself early.

4.3.1 A few notes about camping

There are a few things to discuss regarding campsites.
First and foremost you will be making camp on gravel bars.  The more open space the better.  Bears frequently walk along paths on the tundra and making camp along a bear's path is a bad idea.
Second, since you're sleeping on gravel and rocks, have a good therm-a-rest.  The new therm-a-rest pads are amazing and light.  The old self-inflating foam pads that I used to backpack with just don’t cut it for a night on an Alaskan gravel bar. 
Third, a gravity water filter is worth its weight in gold.  Setting up the oars in a triad (shown below) will make a solid stand for the gravity water filter.  The water filtration crew will thank you mightily for this little bit of luxury.


Setting the raft up as a wind break with a tarp serves as a shelter from the elements and creates as a solid base camp.  This space provides a dry area to assemble the tents when the rain is coming down and serves as the central camp area where you can congregate for meals and socialize. A hot cup of coffee under the tarp with friends warms the chilled bones.


4.4 How much gear and food to take?

The answer is how many flights you want to pay for.  Weight is king.  The Beaver floatplane: useful load is 1200 pounds (Your bodies & your gear- not the pilot). Three guys & gear with one raft is a normal load (Plan on limiting gear to 125 lb per person).

For planning, purposes figure the useful load of a Cessna 185 floatplane is 650 pounds (Your bodies & your gear). Perfect for 2 Guys traveling light who can go places those larger groups can’t get. You can expect to pay $600-650 / hour for the Cessna and $750 / hour for the beaver. (prices have gone up since the pandemic) So if it’ll take the Cessna 1 hour to get you out then you pay for 2 hours so the pilot can return home. An hour of flight time (at 100 knots) will get you to some damn fine rivers in Bristol Bay…Doing the math for 2 guys dropped off and picked up and it’ll average $1,500-3,000. for the round trip. This floatplane charter is where you want to allocate your precious $$.  Your pilot is going to put you into the river/fishing that is worth traveling all this way for.



To be continued….

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