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Not much had changed in the 19 years since I last fished the western side of Alaska's Hotham Inlet. Heat waves still danced across the treeless tundra, partially obscuring the pressure ridges on the Chukchi Sea pack ice that stretched beyond the horizon. In the open water near shore, a few icebergs melted slowly in the 39 degree water. A breeze picked up a frigid kiss from the ice pack and blew it our way in the form of a light chop. The refreshment was welcome, but it wasn't enough to deter the 92 degree air temperature and 24 hours of daylight. It felt as if my skin was freezer burned, but my attention was elsewhere.
The cold and heat did little to deter the thick ribbons of smelt migrating in with the tide. The smelt frequently launched into the arctic air, invariably followed by a swirl 10 times larger than any smelt.
"Something is chasing those fish," our guide Untch Schuerch said, pointing to several boils.
He motored us to within fly casting range of the fish. Angler Mark Wade prepared to cast off the bow, while I tied a salmon smolt pattern to my 7 1/2-foot leader.
Mark stripped out 30 feet of line, and cast a saltwater herring pattern to the distant boils. He managed to retrieve the fly several feet before his eight-weight rod buckled over.
With gills flaring, a silvery inconnu exploded out of the water in a cataclysm of spray. The fish jumped twice more in quick succession before surging deep into the outgoing tide. Mark stripped in some line, and muscled the large-scaled fish to the surface.
The fish roostertailed a fan of spray skyward, and jumped a few more times before turning toward the boat. As Untch readied to net the fish, it began to thrash more aggressively.
Untch unhooked the 18-pounder, and held it up for us to see before carefully releasing it. The fish drenched him with salt spray, and disappeared.
Untch smiled and said, "That's why we call 'em Tarpon of the North."
If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting this species, allow me to introduce you.The Sheefish Experience
The sheefish is perhaps the least-caught North American saltwater gamefish. The early French explorers called the species poisson inconnu meaning "unknown fish." This appellation still holds true today. This largest predatory member of the whitefish family is also known as connie, shovelnose whitefish and Eskimo tarpon. Sheefish exhibit nickel to quarter-sized silvery scales, an underslung jaw and a dark lateral line of a snook, and an adipose fin typical of salmonids. Fish 15 to 20 pounds are extremely common, but a few shee do exceed 60 pounds. A 40-pound fish may be 35 or more years old, and you may catch one or more this size in a week of hard fishing. Shees exhibit a "chomp down on it, tear it up" personality toward flies. They are as aggressive, if not more so, than northern pike, only without the teeth.
Planning Your Sheefish Adventure
You'll need to plan several months in advance to catch sheefish. The world's best saltwater sheefish action takes place during early June in the Hotham Inlet-Kobuk Delta area, located in northwestern Alaska. You'll need to take Alaska Airlines to Kotzebue, followed by an hour bush plane flight to Kiana and a two-hour boat ride to the Kobuk Delta-Hotham Inlet sheefish flats. The Kobuk Delta is approximately 35 miles long and 25 miles wide, and is the largest river delta emptying into the Chukchi Sea. While most anglers pursue sheefish after they enter freshwater rivers to spawn, only a handful pursue in the saltwater bays of Hotham Inlet. Fishing pressure at this time is virtually nonexistent. During our entire week there in 1997, we saw only one other boat of four anglers.
Find the Smelt and Smolt Outmigrations"Just before they begin their spawning migration, sheefish will form huge schools where they'll gorge on baitfish, ciscoes, whitefish, smelt, and salmon smolt," says guide Lorry Schuerch, a resident of the small village of Kiana who has been guiding for sheefish since the 1950s. I learned the intricacies of fishing the baitfish schools over 19 years ago on my first saltwater fishing trip with Schurch. It was no surprise to me that the techniques were still the same, and equally effective.
"Hotham Inlet is a relatively structure-free area" he said. "The best success comes from fishing the few points, spits, tidal rips, and other structure in the area. And always watch for bird activity. The sheefish will always be nearby."
Schuerch said that big sheefish action is only good for a two-week period in June, after which sexually mature fish start their spawning run into nearby freshwater rivers and streams.
Fishing techniques are pretty straightforward: anchor near feeding activity and cast from the boat; or walk the shoreline and cast to feeding fish. Drifting mid-inlet structures on an incoming tide also produces fish. Motoring back and forth into position, however, can spook fish.
The outmigrating smolt stay high, dropping down when pressured by birds or during sunny days," he said. "In-migrating smelt will behave similarly, but stay closer to the bottom when the current is moving out. That's where the big sheefish are at."
By fishing high, you'll catch a three to five-pound sheefish a cast by simply stripping the fish under the surface. Catch larger fish by casting an unweighted fly into the current flow and allow it to sink for a count of five to 12, depending on depth and area. Then begin your retrieve, slowly, allowing the fly or lure to hang in the current. Because of off-color spring run-off mixing with the incoming tide, work the lure slowly. Find the breaklines where tidal flows meet with side eddies. Here, baitfish pull out of the current to rest. Tie on a wire leader when fishing such waters, as brackish-water northern pike to 20-pounds will otherwise deplete your fly inventory.
We chose a popular spot, simply called, "The Point", the same place I caught a 34 pounder over 19 years ago. The water there is rarely more than 15 feet deep, which shouted fly fishing as the preferred method.
For five hours, we caught fish ranging from 8 to 20 pounds. When the tide changed, we couldn't dredge a strike with the same strip-under-the surface-retrieve. Untch suggested a change of strategy.
"An outgoing tide is when those 30-pound-plus sheefish like to cruise the drop-offs," he said, adding that the action isn't as fast, but the wait for a hammering strike of a slab-sided shee is worth the effort. It was a matter of choosing the right gear and patterns for the big ones.Big Flies, Flashy Lures
Schuerch favors a red and white marabou streamer, while I prefer smolt and saltwater herring patterns in size 2 to 3/0. We caught fish on a variety of patterns, however, with unweighted flies superior to weighted patterns. The unweighted patterns drift more naturally on incoming tidal currents when fish are feeding. I used an 8-weight Loomis GLX and a 6-weight Fenwick World Class fly rods. The rods allowed the extra punch necessary to cast large flies in the ever-present wind. Sheefish have bone-hard mouths and require hard hooksets
Big sheefish can sizzle a cheapo fly-reel drag. Your sea trout reel won't work on these fish. I use a Scientific Anglers System 2 reel because of its quality drags that keep working, even when the internal gears are covered in destructive glacial silt. Take extra spools of 10-foot sink tip and floating line for shallower water, and a Uniform Sink IV line for probing those deeper channels during mid-day lulls.
I prefer tough, hard-to-see fluorocarbon leaders because sheefish will jump, wrap around and pop softer leaders. Keep your leaders to 7 &127 feet for the deeper portions of the inlet, and 7 &127 to 10 feet when fish are feeding on top, which is most of the time. With the wide-open waters of Hotham Inlet, fish can take out 100 yards of line easily, so 200 yards of backing is required.
Spin or level-wind angler favor gold or silver spoons that exhibit an erratic wobble at slow speeds. Those that best imitate available baitfish are gold, silver Z-rays, Hotrods, and Gibbs-Nortac's Ko-ho and Kit-i-Mat spoons from 7/8 to one-ounce. These lures have the action to get down, and the weight needed to reach out in the ever-constant wind.
Take several rods that are light enough to cast all day, yet have enough backbone to handle fish in the 20 to 40-pound range. Spin or level-wind rods you already use for redfish, jack crevalle and salmon are ideal. Match them with a medium-size spinning or Ambassadeur 6500-class, level-wind reel capable of holding 200 yards of 12 to 20-pound clear or green mono (avoid hi-visibility). Match it to a medium-heavy- action graphite rod with a short, six-inch butt to minimize wrist fatigue from all-day casting. The nine-to 12-inch butts often found on big king salmon rods are overkill here. A stiff tip and spine are necessary to bury the barb into the sheefish's bone-hard mouth.
Schuerch recommends removing all trebles and replacing them with razor-sharp single hooks. Crimp the barbs. Sheefish are notorious for inhaling a fly or lure, and the angler who is slow on the hookset or uses trebles will invariably hook fish in the gill rakers. Bleeding sheefish seldom recover. If fishing is good, expect at least one mortality per day. Sheefish is excellent eating, with firm, white, flaky meat.
Lorry's advice and techniques produced fish for us the entire week. But the action that awaited us on Day Three was especially awesome.
For several hours straight, sheefish in the eight to 12-pound category were porpoising and chasing salmon smolt all around us. Untch couldn't resist and used a spinning rod while we walked the shoreline, fly casting to feeding fish. At times there would be three or more sheefish in the air, chasing smelt, with three more fighting simultaneously at the end of our lines. At lunch, we regrouped, talked about the area, and where the elusive 30 to 40-pounders might be holding.
"If the small ones are here, so are the large ones," Untch said. He was right. The trouble we had was getting the flies through the smaller 10 to 18-pound fish so the larger 30-plus-pounders could get a whack at them.
It wasn't long before Wade switched to a 6-weight fly rod. If he was going to catch "small" fish, he was going to have fun. It was enough to set Murphy's Angling Law Number 206 into motion. "When Thou Switches to a Lighter Rod, Thou can Expect to Catch a Bigger Fish."
Within 12 casts Wade set the hook into something that didn't budge. A bucket-mouthed sheefish had inhaled his fly. The fish cartwheeled, bounced off shallow bars without slowing down, and spent a good proportion of its time airborne.
After 20 minutes of battle, Mark landed what we estimated to be a 38-pound-plus fish. Before the two took photos, I had Untch put me ashore for a bit of exploring.
The sheefish action continued into late afternoon and well into the early morning hours of the midnight sun. I made mental notes of the experience for my journal entry later that day:
"Time has no meaning here. We ate when we were hungry, slept when we were tired. If you must adhere to biorhythms, wear a watch with an a.m. and p.m. feature. Otherwise you won't be able to distinguish whether it's 11 a.m. or 11 p.m. Massive snowbanks dotted the arctic tundra, and their melting fringes were colored by a bouquet of yellow marsh marigolds. The skeletal remains of an old Eskimo salmon camp stood unadorned, the cross poles still sagging from the weight of salmon and sheefish harvested long ago. Caribou and their calves migrated along the shoreline, their noses into the breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay. I have found paradise."
Hotham Inlet may not offer the close-to-home benefits or commercial infrastructure of fishing warmer waters, but it does offer something seldom found elsewhere: the chance to catch a one-of-a-kind sportfish in one of the most spectacular wilderness environments of all, Alaska's arctic saltwater. Plan a visit soon. (Excerpted from the Alaska Angler, Number 54. Copyright 1997, Alaska Angler Publications. Unauthorized photocopying or commercial publication prohibited).
IF YOU GO.......
Lorry Schuerch offers guided fishing trips for spring and summer sheefish. He is a full-time resident of the area, and has guided anglers for sheefish since the late 1950s. His operation is geared toward small groups, with lots of personal attention. He offers cabins in remote areas away from Kiana for guests who desire complete privacy, and plans trips around your angling goals. He normally books a maximum of six anglers, often just a party of two. The typical day when fishing from Kiana is to leave by 8:30, fish, have a beach lunch, and return before 9 p.m. Overnight trips allow anglers to fish as long as they like, but 12 hours a day of this type of fishing is about all most anglers can handle, even though you will have 24 hours of daylight. Last year, Schuerch guided anglers to 48 and 49-inch fish in the 40-pound range.
WHERE: Take Alaska Airlines to Kotzebue, and connect with several daily flights to Kiana, a village located on the Kobuk River in northwestern Alaska, about 30 miles above the Arctic Circle. The lodge is located at the confluence of the Squirrel and Kobuk rivers. After being assigned a lodge room, you'll be jet-boated down to the saltwater flats.
WHEN TO GO: The best fishing depends on when breakup occurs. Historically, the best sheefishing takes place between June 1 to 12, when the fish are feeding aggressively in Hotham Inlet.
WHAT HE FURNISHES: All accommodations, meals and guiding service. Schuerch uses two jet boats: a 20-footer with a 351 Ford engine, which can handle up to three anglers, and a 32-footer, with dual 460 engines. All are equipped with radio communication in case of unexpected breakdown or emergencies.
YOU NEED TO BRING fishing tackle and personal items. Clothing should consist of raingear, hip boots and waders, long underwear, parka, gloves, heavy socks and camp shoes. Temperatures can be cool, so pack appropriately. Gear should be kept to 40 pounds or less, or you will pay excess weight charges of $1.08 a pound on the small transport flight from Kotzebue to Kiana. A non-resident fishing license is $30.
For more information on booking your trip, write Lorry Schuerch, POB 89, Dept. AAW, Kiana, Alaska 99749 (907) 475-2149. For travel information, contact Alaska Airlines, POB 68900, Dept AAW, Seattle, WA 98168 (800)-426-0333.
Learn the specific how-to and where-to-go secrets of catching trophy sheefish, trout and salmon on your own with Alaska's best selling, 368-page book, "How to Catch Alaska's Trophy Sportfish", available for $25.95 + $6 shipping from Alaska Angler Publications, POB 83550, Dept. AAW, Fairbanks, AK 99708 907-455-8000 or order at our web site www.alaskaangler.com ©1998 Alaska Angler
This page last updated: July 31, 2001