|
Fish Alaska: I know you’ve lived in
Alaska for a while, but where were you born, how long have you lived here,
and what brought you up here?
Nanci Morris: This is my 21st year in Alaska. I was actually born and
raised in a little town in the eastern portion of the state of Washington. I
came up here after I got out of college. I went to WSU and was a Cougar
gal—and still am a Cougar fan. I came up here to see the world a little bit.
I started working out of Homer on a couple of halibut boats, the Sea Witch
and the Sourdough, which are still alive and healthy and running out of
Homer. Then I was offered a job to go out to King Salmon. One of my biggest
mentors in the fishing industry, Larry Suiter, was the person responsible
for offering me that job. I started working for Freebird Charters out there,
and really, I’ve been there ever since. That’s close to 17 years ago now,
and I can’t say that I mind.
I started out at the Quinnat Landing Hotel, directing the fishing there
after Larry left, and now I’ve been on my own with Katmai Fishing Adventures
for the last six or seven years.
Fish Alaska: So, what’s with the trademark pink?
Nanci Morris: The pink thing was actually not my choice. When I first
went out to King Salmon, Larry Suiter had a cool-looking hat that was pink.
It was a Willie Boats hat. He didn’t care to wear a pink hat, so he offered
it to me. No sooner did I get it on than a couple of the guides on the
river, who were rather astounded that there was a female out there in the
first place, told me nobody that wore a pink hat could ever catch a fish.
With me being such a mellow person, I immediately took that as a challenge
and it quickly became a trademark for me, including now with the Willie
Boats that I run, which are a shade of pink. It’s become a symbol that I
guess people recognize me by, and it doesn’t bother me much. It’s kind of
funny.
Fish Alaska: Where are your specialty areas? I know you’re based out
of King Salmon and you fish the Naknek River, but you do a lot of other
fishing in that immediate region. Tell us a little bit about where your
fly-outs go and the seasonality of each river and what you have for a
rotation plan.
Nanci Morris: Basically, I enjoy fishing almost every single piece of
water that’s accessible out there, and I have fished them all. There is
total seasonal movement, though—big time. I really like the high mountain
creeks that get very little usage by other fishermen. They require some
physical effort to get into and out of, and they’re usually not fishable
until later on, say the July timeframe, because the high snowmelt will muddy
them up and make them much too high to safely wade across. They’re a lot of
fun to spend a day on, though.
In the spring, we’ll
start off with the major rainbow areas where we know the rainbow are moving
into and starting to feed on the smolt. These include everything from the
Naknek, Kvichak, Nonvianuk, and Kukaklek to Battle Creek, Kulik, and
Hammersly. We’ll even fish Moraine Creek in the springtime.
Then in the fall, we tend to migrate a lot more to our
rainbow fisheries that concentrate on areas of high spawning. Find salmon
and you’ll find that’s where most of your big rainbow trout are. The Naknek
again is high on my list. Along with the Kvichak and Lower Talarik Creek,
they hold the bigger rainbows out there. Then you go down to your other
drainage off Nonvianuk Lake and you’ve got Kukaklek, Nonvianuk, Kulik, and
Moraine. We enjoy that a lot.
We do chase the salmon, too. It just depends on where they
are. It goes without saying: as the runs come in, we take the necessary
measures. We fish kings mostly just on the Naknek, though we do some fishing
over on the Nushagak. Sockeye and silvers we’ll fish pretty much everywhere,
from down on the Ugashik River to the south and the Kvichak to the north. I
enjoy the Alagnak drainage for that as well.
Fish Alaska: What’s your favorite area to fish? You
don’t have to disclose the name, but describe your perfect stream and the
place you enjoy fishing more than anywhere else. If it’s something you want
to share with our reader, that’s great. If not, describe it and maybe they
can figure it out.
Nanci Morris: Well, it probably comes as no surprise after as many
years as I’ve been up here. It’s the Naknek. The Naknek is my idea of an
incredible piece of water. Probably one of the things I enjoy about it most
is the mystery it holds—because its not a small stream. It’s not something
that just everybody can walk out on, figure out, and have total success on.
They’ll have occasional success or no success or mediocre success.
The clear, clear water that it offers—10 to 12-foot
visibility year-round—is certainly special. It’s a demanding river and
learning it isn’t simple, with its long seams, a hundred different areas to
hold big fish, nearly as many ways to get to them, and then all the methods
you need to effectively fish them. I’d say because of its challenge, it’s
probably my very favorite piece of water, followed very closely by the
Kvichak, which would be another large-water river. And I enjoy it for the
same reasons. It’s not something where everybody can step up to the plate
and have immediate success.
Fish Alaska: The Naknek rainbows are kind of a
unique strain. They’re migratory, almost anadromous in nature; they’re in
and out of this system. What are some things that you’ve found that might be
unusual about these fish or that our readers might be interested in?
Nanci Morris: One of the things I really find
fascinating about the big rainbows in the Naknek, as well as the Kvichak, is
the fact that they are so well proportioned. I think one of the benefits
they get out of living in a big lake system like that is that their head and
shoulders and tail all match. Some of the 34 and 36-inch rainbows—well, 37
inches is the biggest we’ve ever landed out there—they’re tails are so big
you can’t even wrap your hands around them. It’s a privilege just to touch
them because they’re such an incredible work of art. To know that they’re
even in the watershed gives one a feeling of worth and confidence and
assurance—you name it—it makes you feel like you’re doing something right
out there as far as the biology of it goes.
Of the other aspects I find amazing about the bigger fish,
one’s good and one’s bad. It’s amazing how many times you’ll find a big, big
fish in very shallow water; that’s the good aspect. The bad aspect is that
every big fish that I’ve ever caught or landed on the Naknek has been a
terrible fighter. They’re lazy by nature and the bigger they get the lazier
they are. The fight is a wallowing type of fight where they just shake their
head and turn their head and it takes you a long time to land them, but they
tend not to make any screaming, burning runs or do any big jumping leaps. I
have yet to find a fisherman that landed one and didn’t want his picture
taken with it just because the fight was disappointing, though.
Fish Alaska: What are your three favorite flies?
Nanci Morris: My three favorite flies for rainbow trout would have to
be a big wool-headed sculpin that is invaluable on the Naknek and Kvichak
rivers all season long. I prefer it mostly in olive green and black, maybe a
little brown. I mix a bunch of different wool colors for my heads, and then
I tend towards either a black tail or an olive green tail on them. I usually
weight them pretty heavily, too.
Also, articulated leeches are very, very high on my list.
The black one is probably the articulated leech pattern that works best
year-round, tied to be anywhere from four to seven inches long. I put a
little bit of Krystal Flash or something up top, and then lead eyes so it
swims real well and has real good movement in the water. It tends to be a
deadly fly.
And then probably just to cover those big rainbows in the
fall, I’d choose one of my almost fleshy-looking sculpin patterns. These are
tied like a basic sculpin, only using some of the thread wool for the head
instead of regular wool that you’d spin on. Again, these are very long, a
minimum of four inches, with the large brown eyes. They tend to make the big
rainbows real hungry in the fall.
Fish Alaska: Tell us your scariest bear story.
Nanci Morris: Well, as you can probably guess, there are a lot of
scary bear stories from out in my area. The one that leaps to the forefront
of my mind included a plane flight that we took over to what we call the
Pacific side to fish for some silvers one day. We had two planes, two 185s,
and to my recollection there were four or maybe five guests, myself, and one
other guide involved.
We found ourselves a nice school of fish, and we sat down
on them, not realizing we didn’t have a tide book with us. This was in my
earlier years of guiding. Well, the tide went out and the planes went dry.
It was really low tide, so we kind of ended up getting stuck over there
until past dark. In fact it was past midnight before the water came back in
and we could take off again.
The bears at that point had decided that we were in their
territory and they didn’t care how big those planes were. I have never heard
so much woofing and seen so much charging in my life. And of course the
water started coming up. We had a couple of elderly clients with us, so I
ended up having to put one piggyback on my back to get him out to the plane.
There was a brown bear woofing and threatening us even to get there. We had
a lot of adrenaline going by the time we took off, and we were very glad to
be airborne, even though it was after midnight. What’s really funny is it
was on the eve of one of my birthdays, so it made for a memorable birthday
as well.
Fish Alaska: How about your worst client?
Nanci Morris: Oh, all my clients are wonderful! No, my worst client
was a guy that came out from back east who couldn’t fish but thought he
could, wouldn’t listen but thought he did, and called back for a trip again
the next year after making my life miserable. I’ve always been booked every
time he’s called. He only tried for the following two or three years, but I
just can’t take that kind of misery in life anymore.
The guy was pretty sure he knew everything, even though
he’d never fished in Alaska before. I couldn’t even figure out why he’d
hired me as a guide. He refused to listen to any of the advice I gave him.
In fact, I was told most of my advice was stupid and didn’t make sense.
Anything I tried to do for him was wrong and he was happy to tell me that.
It was a nightmare. I have no idea why he’d even want to hire a guide when
he was sure he knew so much. But then what really surprised me was his
calling back to try and book again.
Fish Alaska: Describe your dream client: the angler that can punch
one out at 90 feet in the wind, and maybe even help you drive the boat if
necessary. Does that person exist for you?
Nanci Morris: Well, I guess my description of a perfect client
includes several of those qualities. My perfect client would also be
somebody who understands conditions, is willing to go with the flow—we have
a lot of weather situations that occur out there. And my idea of a perfect
client is somebody who just says, “Yeah, whatever,” and is interested in
getting to fish whether we can do what the plan said or not.
It’s tough for me to say. I’ve got a couple of brothers
that come out of Southern California who come real close to that
description. They love big rainbows; they are always willing to learn and
listen. If you’re not there to help them immediately, they don’t have a
problem with that, they can step up and tie on their own flies. They’re
willing to tie their own flies at night and come up with new ideas. They can
punch out a cast. If you tell them to fish short, they’ll fish short. If you
tell them to fish long, they’ll fish long.
Listening, I think, is an essential part of having a good
client. I haven’t run across the perfect client yet, but I have a lot of
them with many of the qualities I envision that encompassing.
Fish Alaska: You’ve been probably the biggest supporter of wild trout
in Alaska and now you’re working on a project that might be the biggest and
most significant issue around Alaska’s future trout management. Could you
tell our readers some about what’s going on with this issue?
Nanci Morris: Governor Knowles has formulated a special trout task
force in order to put together a plan and policy for future management of
rainbow trout and wild steelhead in the state of Alaska. Along with
everything that encompasses, some very important things are included. The
opportunity for us to begin to protect our wild, native fish, along with our
salmon, instead of just our salmon, is a vital function to the future of
Alaska fisheries.
In doing this we’ve come across many, many different
concepts from many, many different groups in many areas of the state, and we
realize that there’s some real important things that have to be looked out
for and addressed as we go forward with our plan. For me, one of the closest
and most personal is being able to provide a subsistence arena for those
residents who live in Bush Alaska. It’s an important part of the lifestyle
for those of us who don’t live so close to town and can be easily overlooked
by people who live in an area where you can run down to a Carrs or a Safeway
or a Costco and pick up the next fish from a farm that’s sometimes not quite
so readily available for ourselves.
That’s one of many issues we’re trying to address in order
to protect the populations and species. Hopefully, we’ll do a good job in
putting all of it together and forming a plan that will work for the whole
state—and protect the fishery.
Fish Alaska: Do you think the state needs an official guide program?
The Kenai River guides are working on one right now, but do you think we
need a statewide program?
Nanci Morris: Yes. It probably would be much safer for me to leave my
answer at just “yes,” but I do feel that a guide program would be beneficial
to the state of Alaska in order for us to re-establish a decent reputation
for our fisheries, especially out in the Bush. We have operators who will
take advantage of being able to hire college or high school kids that are
not knowledgeable about Alaska or its wilderness, send them out with clients
that are paying a lot of money to be there, and expect the guide to produce,
as well as the client to gain the knowledge that he is paying to gain. I
don’t think it happens.
Unfortunately, my idea of having a guide program includes
a lot of things that are going to be tough to encompass in licensing a
guide. I don’t know how we’re going to get down to defining that or making
that become a reality or even what all the requirements would have to be. I
think it’s important we re-establish that we can run quality operations up
here and make sure the people willing to come and enjoy our fisheries feel
like they’re getting their money’s worth and are not being taken to the
cleaners. I’ve heard too many horror stories out there, though it’s actually
been good for my business, because I’ve been established long enough.
Fish Alaska: What do you see as the future of Alaska fishing? Do you
think that Alaska has a viable commercial fishery still there? Do you think
sport fishing and subsistence will now be the priorities? I know that you’ve
been in on some management issues. Do you care to elaborate?
Nanci Morris: No. Just kidding. I think the future of Alaska’s
fisheries is all going to depend on the management, and I’m very encouraged
at this point to see more of the sport fishing issues come into the light of
management. I think there is room for all of us out there; I think there are
fish enough for all of us out there. I think we need the commercial
fisheries, and they’re vital to a healthy sport fishery, as long as
everybody realizes the need to maintain biological goals for all species.
I’m encouraged to see that people are willing to admit that the sport
fisheries—and I’m talking specifically about wild fisheries—have a value to
these systems. By acknowledging that, we have to acknowledge that we may
have to make some adjustments to commercial fisheries. But I certainly
believe there’s room for subsistence, commercial, and sport fishermen to
live and work together and all profit in an equitable way.
Fish Alaska: And finally, what’s the future for your little girl
Riley?
Nanci Morris: Well, I’m learning quickly that the future’s going to
be her choice. There’s no way I’m going to make that decision for her. I’m
already realizing that even though she’s only three.
I would like to at least be able to leave her a legacy of
a viable fishery that looks and has somewhat the same quality as what I have
today. I would like her to be able to go out and enjoy the opportunity to
land a 37-inch rainbow and see hordes of sockeye entering the river and have
a healthy fishery where all species can be caught. For her future, whether
she chooses to go into fishing or flying or ballet for that matter, I’d just
hope the opportunities are there. I want the future fisheries to be able to
give our children the same we have today. That’s a huge goal for me.
|
