We have made it through. Beneath the ceiling of clouds a world that few people will ever see with their own eyes is revealed in dramatic fashion, the Pacific coast of the Alaska Peninsula.

It is hard to express how much physical effort is expended fighting king salmon until you’ve experienced it for yourself. They are stubborn customers, making you fight a give and take game of inches when doing battle with them.

King salmon are incredibly powerful fish. Once you’ve hooked one, you’re in for it. Be ready to invest some time, blood and sweat when you cast a line to a pod of holding kings. They will take it all from you and more.

Before we dive into a conversation discussing the variables in different Dolly Varden populations, let’s resolve to answer an earlier posed question: are Dolly Varden and Arctic Char the same thing? The answer is no, they’re not.

Immediate Action Items 1. Please click here to send a note to the White House and Congress – yes, again – asking them to do all they can to stop Pebble in the permitting process. 2. If you’re a twitter …

Suddenly it burst into a fit of short erratic runs before abruptly stopping again to resume its arrhythmic convulsions. Finally I saw it writhing below us, a brilliant streak of silver flashing in the black tea stained water. It was a Dolly Varden! And it was big.

This is the epitome of fly fishing distilled down to its finest form. To use light tackle, to fish a dry on the water’s surface, sighting fish, making a precise cast to the one you want and watching as it comes willingly to your fly.

Is it worth going the distance? Absolutely. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I have a hundred memories of rainbow trout that were fooled by the mouse, so many now that it is hard to select one that stands out in my mind. I’ve seen days when the trout fishing was so good we all lost count before breaking for lunch.

Chum salmon are truly bare-knuckle brawlers when hooked, testing the limits of any rod in the 6 – 8wt range. I’ve seen more rods snap when the unwitting angler underestimated just how powerful these fish are, the second largest of all Pacific Salmon.