The Bristol Bay area of Alaska is a fly fisherman’s dream destination. Anglers from the lower 48 travel north to this fishing paradise, where the trout and salmon are big and plentiful and the country is ruggedly beautiful. Fishing lodges abound. Some are high-end experiences in the $8,000 a week range, while others put fishermen up in tents. All of them rely on guides, however, to make sure the visiting anglers catch fish, have good experiences, and want to return. Until now, few of these guides have been locals. Guides travel up from the south to work the fishing season, and then retreat to fish other waters in warmer climates. Tim Troll and Luki Akelkok are trying to change that.
Troll is the director of the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing Academy. Akelkok is the owner of the Ekwok Lodge and president of the Ekwok Tribal Council. He has lived in the Bristol Bay area all his life. Troll and Akelkok see an enormous opportunity to train young local people to become fly fishing guides.
The second Bristol Bay Fly Fishing Academy was held August 9 – 18, 2010, in Ekwok, Alaska. Nine young local people attended the academy. Dan Plummer, Chairman of the Board of Friends of the Upper Delaware River, was the academy’s fly fishing instructor. According to Plummer, the students were top-notch. “They were always on time, always interested,” he said. The students learned a variety of skills that Alaskan fishing guides must master, including casting, fly tying, knot tying, water and boat safety, safe wading, and local Bristol Bay history. Plummer explained their role to the students, telling them, “You are part of the experience for these visitors. You are the local connection. You are the cherry on the ice-cream sundae.” Plummer’s vivid example prompted one of the students to name a new fly he created The Cherry Special.
Troll is Executive Director of the Nushagak-Mulchatna/Wood-Tikchik Land Trust, a sponsor of the academy. He said that after the first academy in 2008, there was no academy in 2009 due to insufficient funding. In 2010, the funding was there, thanks to the support of several organizations including Trout Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy. At present, there is sufficient funding to continue offering the academy for the next two years.
According to Troll, the academy is a means of “getting local people involved in an activity that has been established in the area for 60 years.” Traditionally, the Bristol Bay locals have relied on a brief, but highly lucrative, salmon fishing season for the majority of their income. The sport fishing economy offers great opportunity for locals like Akelkok. Troll and Akelkok want to see more locals become increasingly involved with their valuable sport fishing resources.
It can be a hard sell, though. Local people are largely unfamiliar with fly fishermen and their sport, especially when it comes to catch-and-release. To those raised in the native tradition, it is unthinkable to have the opportunity to legally harvest game and not do so. Troll explains, “According to their tradition, the hunter is successful not because he is skillful, but because he is respectful. The animal gives itself to the respectful hunter. The hunter who rejects this gift is showing a lack of respect.” Through the academy, aspiring guides come to understand that visiting anglers returning fish is not a display of contempt, but a desire to preserve the resource. As guides, they will have the opportunity to help anglers from outside the community understand native attitudes.
Troll explains that the academy’s goals go beyond getting local people involved in Alaska’s sport fishing economy. There is a bigger picture, in which awareness of and financial support for the conservation of Alaskan rivers is developed and nurtured. He says,
“When people who have deep financial resources come to Alaska and fish, and they establish personal relationships with the people and the spirit of their favorite fishing destination, they will want to invest in its future.”
The future of Alaska’s prime fishing destination is in relationships, and the seeds of those relationships are being sown in the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing Academy. Young locals are learning the skills they need to be guides, and also learning to relate to the visitors who come seeking big fish and the spirit of Alaska.
Brenda Layman - I grew up in eastern Kentucky in a family that hunted, fished, hiked, and camped regularly. Although I moved to Ohio to become a teacher ...
Join the Conversation