During the summer of 2001 I traveled to the foothills of the Brooks Range with my family and my friend Eric Simons. I will leave the details of the storytelling up to the more skilled writer, and stick to what I know best, the fishing.

Our three-week trip began with a bush flight into Iniakuk Lake.  We camped near the outlet, where we could see large areas of shallow water similar to those that had been so productive during our past trip to Helpmejack lake.  On our first fishing outings, we found that these shallows were covered with rocks and dirt instead of the blankets of moss and aquatic plants found at Helpmejack.  We were able to catch a few large northern pike and a small (~20 inch) lake trout to make dinner.  We probably would have caught more fish at Iniakuk if we had stayed longer and explored the lake more, but such large lakes can be so overwhelming, particularly when traveling light with fishing gear.

Only in Alaska can you go out and catch fish like these more than once in a day. The fishing was a bit slower than it had been in past trips, but the fish size was significantly larger than before. The local strain of lake trout (left) had unusually bright markings, very similar to those found on brook trout. The water temperature was higher than optimal (low 50’s) which made the trout finicky. We had only one large magnum rapala that the trout struck well, and it survived the entire two weeks of fishing with many deep gashes from numerous hook-ups. Northern Pike (left) were mostly found near the shore and among weedy areas, but would show up anywhere in the lake.  They struck so ferociously that they would swallow even the largest lures.  We had to remove the rear hook on the rapala just so we could release them, preferring the sweeter meat of the lake trout. Northern pike make a fantastic display when hooked, often jumping out of the water and thrashing at the surface.