Northern Katmai National Park

June 27, 2017 tarannosaurus

Epic Travel → North America → Alaska → Northern Katmai National Park

Location: Katmai National Park and Preserve, Northern Alaskan Peninsula, Alaska

Red Tape/Notes: Review and observe all regulations for game and wildlife in Katmai National Park and Preserve – check the NPS website for current alerts and closures.

What’s Nearby? King Salmon

This is serious bear country. Fly fishing is kind of like doing yoga – it’s very centering, and you feel at peace and at one with your surroundings. Realizing that you’re so “at one” with your surroundings that you’re coexisting with grizzly bears takes it to another level entirely. The amazing thing is that you’re both doing the same thing: you’re both just there to fish. So you go on fishing, and they go on fishing, and there’s no fuss. If you’re lucky, you’re close enough to see their adorable fuzzy bear ears.

We visited two spots in the northern part of Katmai National Park: American Creek and Nanuktek Creek (otherwise known as the Little Ku). Both of these were selected because they allowed (required?) us to do some hiking to get to the best fishing spots and provided us with great opportunities to see the area while also doing some fishing. Our day at the Little Ku was our longest hiking day, and we spent portions of it hiking downstream through occasional rapids. It was our warmest day out, which was extremely lucky considering I managed to slip in the rapids at one point and was nearly swept away (my situation was compounded by the fact that my rod was in one hand and my camera in the other, and there was no way I was ditching either of those to save myself). But, as I mentioned, it was a warm day, and it was also nearly lunch time, so we built a fire and partially dried my clothes on the banks of the creek while we ate. We lost track of the number of char and rainbow trout we caught (and released, of course), so to say that these spots had good fishing is an understatement, but the highlight for me was the frequency of bear sightings. I guess they know these are good fishing spots, too.

American Creek