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The transition into fall in Southeast Alaska is a beautiful and peaceful time. The long days of summer have all quietly come and gone, and daylight is now precious and rare. Pewter-colored skies laden with clouds pushed in from the Gulf of Alaska etch the horizon, while riparian valleys roar in harmony to the cadence of steady rainfall and swollen streams. This is a time when anglers in Southeast Alaska, stimulated with fresh PFD checks, begin sitting behind computers conducting Internet searches hoping to find bargain airfares to escape to warm weather fly-fishing destinations. It's also a time when most of our local rivers which once flowed like gin now spill over logjams and swirl like mocha. But even during these periods of heavy rain and transition, late season fishing opportunities are still available locally. To be successful, however, you must not only understand the dynamics of high flow conditions, but also modify your techniques, approach and tackle to successfully combat these fall conditions in order to effectively reach bottom-hugging fish, primarily late-run cohos and fall Dolly Varden.

High water conditions present a number of obstacles to every sport angler, but these obstacles are even more formidable to fly rodders. The most obvious hurdles are water clarity, volume, flow rate and increased depth. Combined, these parameters can create a difficult and challenging barrier for locating and catching fish. Fortunately, one innate characteristic of silvers that will greatly assist you in locating potential holding lies - and hopefully those which also contain silvers - is that silver salmon prefer slow and quiet currents regardless of water clarity or volume. These quiet current seams may or may not be the same during low and high water conditions, so anglers who make special note of these subtle regions will undoubtedly increase their angling success during high flow conditions. In fact, many times these soft water areas, channels and carved-out bottom depressions are found only several feet from shore, along the river's edge, where many anglers haphazardly step in and without thought begin wading and take their first cast. Remember this feature (or mistake) when fishing high water, as many times the slowest currents can be found directly in front of you.

Another vital concept to understand when fishing high, fluctuating water conditions is current stratification. In all flowing rivers and creeks, currents are stratified; the faster currents tend to be located on top and along the surface, and they gradually become slower towards the river's bottom. It's not surprising that silvers, like all salmon, tend to hug (and be found) in the deepest part of their resting lies. Resting here allows them to avoid swifter currents in order to conserve valuable energy. This site preference, however, means that your flies must now be presented quickly and deeply and be able to fall through vertical layers of fast and unpredictable currents in order to reach holding fish. To do this requires a change in tackle from a standard sink tip to a technique that can easily turn over bigger and more robust flies and also curtail the effects of vertical stratified currents. One way to achieve this is to employ progressive nymph techniques. I choose to use the "right-angle" indicator method.

Right angle indicator fishing is more than just fishing with the visual aid of a strike indicator such as a small piece of foam or an added floating corkie. The right angle indicator technique employs the use of poly yarn, and more specifically, two or more highly contrasting colors. The use of vivid, highly contrasting colored poly yarn is critical to the technique as it highlights the "turn over" point in the drift. The turn over point in the drift is that instant when the presented fly is directly below (and hence at a right angle with respect to) the suspended tuff of poly yarn, and fishing now becomes vertical. It is the significance of this generated right angle "hinge" and vertical fishing that separates this type of indicator fishing, and its effectiveness from all other forms of strike indicator fishing.

Recognizing the turning point is vital to successful right angle indicator fishing. Unfortunately, a vast majority of fly anglers who uses poly yarn indicators overlook this critical component. To assist you in understanding the significance of the turning point envision the following two drift examples. Case one: This case begins with the indicator downstream of the fly, and is the most commonly encountered presentation. Because currents are faster on the surface, the indicator drags the fly and the fly very rarely finds the bottom where fish rest and forage. Case two: Here the fly lands downstream of the indicator and indicator must catch up with the fly, so a majority of grabs will go undetected. Hickson and Shubert, who pioneered and coined this technique of nymph fishing, recognized this, and were quick to note that their brightly colored poly yarn indicators would "pivot" and shift colors at the point in the drift when their fly was directly under their indicators. They referred to this pivot as the "turn over" point. Successful indicator fishing stems from achieving the turning point as fast as possible and maintaining this position during the drift through creative and multiple line mends. The result is unsurpassed strike detection even in high, fast water.

Late fall water conditions usually dictate when and where one can fish, and many times in Southeast Alaska this means calling it a season or even leaving the state to seek out fishable water. However, with a little understanding of current stratification and incorporating vertical fishing techniques such as the right-angle indicator method, one can still be successful and many times find a coho or two lurking in the depths of chocolate flows that would otherwise be left untouched. Good luck and tight lines!

Rich Culver is a fly-fishing freelance writer and photographer. He can be reached at flywater@alaska.net.