The Rodney Dangerfield of Alaska
June 21, 2008
Poor ol’ grayling…they just don’t get much respect in Alaska.
And it’s no wonder, with all the other glamour species up there to chase around like mouse-eating, leopard rainbows, giant kings, leaping coho and barndoor halibut. But, these distant cousins of the whitefish, the so-called “Sailfish of the North,” have some worthy qualities.
At first glance, grayling like this one our pal Kenton’s holding up don’t seem all that interesting — aside from the huge dorsal fin. In fact, I’ve even heard them referred to as the “brown turds of the North,” but these fish have some pretty cool coloration upon closer inspection.
Okay, so they look good but do they fight? Well…let’s just say you’re not going to mistake a grayling for a bonefish, but they’re not total pushovers like squawfish, either.
Scale down your gear and you’ll have a good time!
The most appealing attribute of these guys is their total willingness to eat damn near everything. In Alaska, I’ve caught them on small Mepps and Panther Martins, Elk Hair Caddis, mosquito patterns and, of course Glo Bugs and beads. They often prefer darker stuff…a fact not lost on Kenton on a recent trip to a lake near his Eagle River, AK home, where he and a pal got over 50 fish on black spinners and flies.
The thing about grayling is they require extremely clean water and are often the canary in a coal mine of rivers. When water quality drops, the grayling quickly start to disappear. Just take a look at the Lower 48 for example. Not too many grayling anywhere down here any more…
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