Delta-Clearwater River

The Delta-Clearwater River is a beautiful spring-fed stream that flows into the Tanana River near Delta Junction. Trophy Arctic Grayling can be caught on the Delta-Clearwater.   Ryan King shows off a fat 18 inch Grayling on the Delta-Clearwater.

The Delta-Clearwater has a strong run of Silver Salmon as well.  These Silvers have migrated hundreds of miles up the Yukon and Tanana Rivers to reach their spawning beds. These Salmon can be seen milling around a spawning area.

This is a nice hook-nosed Delta Silver that I caught in 2001 with fellow Guardsman Ryan King.  Ryan has made fun of my glasses ever since, but he lost his $75 pair in the drink that day.  I never lose my fashionable $20 glasses. The spawning male Silver Salmon develops an extremely exaggerated kype.   This specimen is a classic example.

One of the highlights of the season for me was to take my old buddy Jack England down to Delta for a few Silvers.  Jack does not get out anymore, but the Delta-Clearwater was one location that allowed him to get some successful fishing in his declining health. I believe this trip in 2002 was the last time Jack went fishing.

An Egg-Sucking Leech is irresistable to these Silvers. On rare occasion I have even been able to get them to rise to the Pink Techno-Wog. Fellow Pilot Todd Mackinaw raises a Delta Silver before release.

By the time Silvers reach the spawning beds on the Delta-Clearwater, they don't have much fight left in them, but they are still very aggressive. If you are so inclined, a 50 fish day is conceivable.

The Delta-Clearwater is a great stream to bring newcomers for a chance at a Salmon on the Fly Rod. Erin Harms is a young Officer in the USAF.  She caught her first Salmon ever on the Delta-Clearwater with an Egg-Sucking Leech and a 9 Weight Fly Rod in a snowstorm in 2004.

On a typical trip to Delta, we each catch a big Silver Salmon or two then switch to the lighter rods to target the Arctic Grayling feeding on the Salmon Eggs. We have caught several Grayling that taped 19 inches, but not more.  Chris holds a fat 19 inch Grayling here.

Kent Owens holds another 19 inch Grayling taken with an Egg Pattern behind the Spawning Silver Salmon.  These Grayling are as fat as any I have encountered. I am convinced that there are 20 inch Arctic Grayling in the Delta-Clearwater River, but so far they have alluded me.

This is late season fishing in the Interior. By late September or early October, Winter can have a firm grip. Here I battle a Silver in sub-freezing temperatures in 1992 when Winter arrived in mid-September. Freezing guides and reels are problematic in this kind of fishing.