Bears & Trout – Opening week at Angler’s Alibi

The opening of Angler’s Alibi went pretty smooth this month. We arrived at camp to find that the only damages over the winter were done by a bear in the fall.
The bear tore off our plywood door cover in the back of our kitchen and went through the storm door, pushing in the glass and tearing through the screen.
The bear went through the freezers and fridges, then decided it would be nice to take the BBQ grill out the other entrance that was shut tight with plywood. It looked as if the BBQ was jammed through the plywood like the old Cool Aid commercials where the Cool Aid man busts through the wall.
Needless to say, a destroyed grill was not all that bad. We were able to repair the back storm door which was pretty amazing since a brown bear went through it!

​The generator fired right up and we were able to get the place up and running pretty quickly and had hot showers that evening after dinner. The biggest hurdle we had was making sure we got our barge in on time before we ran out of diesel fuel for our generator. Thankfully, even though it was a week later than expected, the barge came in and we were able to get all our fuel for the season and all our major dry goods too. We added another 1,000 gallon double wall tank and that will make a mid season fuel delivery a non issue as well, one of those upgrades to the camp that will go under the radar with the guests.

OK, enough of the boring stuff, now let’s talk about how the June 8th trout opener was. With lower water, fish seemed to be stacked in areas and the fishing was the best I have ever seen it! Trout were more than willing to crush mouse patterns on top with reckless abandon! If the first strike did not work, they were more than willing to come back again and again until they got the hook! It was a most memorable trout opener, and one for the books. We landed well over a dozen fish in the 20″ range and several more in the high teens. This was really a great trip for such an early date. Next season I will try and book in a small group of trout fisherman looking for that special daytime mouse bite…we sure have it!

Beautiful Arctic Char caught fly-fishing with Angler's Alibi

​We are now poised and ready to get our first big push of sockeye salmon into the system. We have been picking up some small jack king salmon and that has kept the lower river guide training program strong with some action. We are still looking for that first big king push of jumbos that will tear out drag and test the knots of our 20# test line!

More to come!

​About the Author

​John Perry grew up in Michigan on an island called Grosse Ile, in the mouth of the Detroit River and Lake Erie. It was here, surrounded by great fishing and waterfowl hunting that John developed a passion for the outdoors. John moved to Colorado to chase trout in the summers and ski patrol in the winters. John had the privilege to start guiding for Angler’s Alibi with his fly fishing mentor TR Rafferty the second year it was in business. He left a head guide job in Colorado to pursue bigger and better fish.