Anyone ever fished Goodnews River Alaska

mrcowboy

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Looking for anyone who has fished the Goodnews River. Questions concerning the occurrence or frequency of bear sightings/encounters. I have met one person that says don't worry and one person that says carry a 12 gauge. I just want to be smart about this trip. Heading there in late July. Thanks
Mike
 
I never fished the Goodnews, but I do have some experience fishing around brownies. Bears along the rivers are mostly looking for fish to eat. As long as you don't look, act or smell like a fish, you're fairly safe. If you're doing a guided trip, your guide will probably have the 12 ga in the boat. If you're doing a DIY trip, ask your air taxi about the availability of bear spray (I'm guessing you'll be staging out of Dillingham?), there should be some available there; don't make the mistake of packing it in you checked in baggage or throwing it in your carry-on. If you are carrying spray with you while you fish, it has to be handy, on your belt or chest. If you throw it in a pack, save yourself some money and don't buy it as its useless, unless its in your hand when a bear shows up. Some basic rules for fishing around bears are: if bears are present, don't crowd them - even if they're in a good hole; if you're fighting a fish and a bear shows interest in the goings on, break the fish off and calmly back off; if you are keeping fish (as on a stringer), keep the stringer with you and stay away from bears. Leaving fish on a stringer for bears to find tends to habituate bears to looking for easy to catch fish near fisherman, which leads to problems down the road. Keep your eyes open and constantly scan the banks as you fish. Tall grass hides a bear quite easily. If you do find yourself close to a bear, talk to it calmly and slowly back away. Raise your arms (to appear larger). No sudden moves and no screeching or squealing. Bears are bears and no one can tell what they'll do next, but a calm demeaner (on your part) can go a long way to diffusing an encounter, that could go either way.
 
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Gary
Thanks for the information. We are on a DiY trip. Staging out of Bethel. The fellow that we are renting some gear from has some bear spray for rent. It kind of seems as if the bear spray gets passed to many groups over the summer as it is not permitted on the airline flights. He also didn't seem too overly concerned with bears. One person in the party is fairly concerned. I am not sure what I am yet, but want to be smart about it. I feel comfortable around the bears we have in NM but never been around Brown bears. Definitely will encourage all to carry spray. Next planning meeting that we have over pints, we can have the discussion if one wants to pack one 12 gauge for the group. Thanks for your advice.
Mike
 
If you are carrying spray with you while you fish, it has to be handy, on your belt or chest. ... Some basic rules for fishing around bears are: if bears are present, don't crowd them - even if they're in a good hole; if you're fighting a fish and a bear shows interest in the goings on, break the fish off and calmly back off ... No sudden moves and no screeching or squealing. Bears are bears and no one can tell what they'll do next, but a calm demeaner (on your part) can go a long way to diffusing an encounter, that could go either way.

Gary has some great advice.

I've done DIY floats up in AK since 1998. 12 trips in all. Haven't done the Goodnews, but recently have been on the Kisaralik a couple of times, also out of Bethel. Our earlier trips were on the Alagnak over on the edge of Katmai, which has the highest density of brown bears on the face of the earth, so we lived almost everything Gary mentioned.

As a very general observation - the bear densities are lower in Western Alaska, plus they are hunted over there (not sure about Goodnews since Togiak may have different regs - I would check on that, if there is a season they tend to be more reclusive around people). We only saw 5-6 brown bears total over the course of 20 total days on the Kisaralik (and a handful of black bears). Over in Katmai we would average 2-3 sightings a day (our record for sightings in an 8 day float was 47 - and there are effectively no black bears on that river).

Our approach:

  • Everyone carries Spray. All the time, no exceptions, no negotiation. It is a pre-requisite for going/being on the trip. You are correct about the spray being passed down from group to group. Not an optional piece of equipment.
  • Don't forget to grab it out of the float storage when you land (they will either fly it in one of the pontoons or duct taped to a wing strut if you're landing on wheels).
  • Chest holder is preferable to waist belt for access to the spray, but one or the other

  • We had 2-3 guys (out of 6-10 in the group) with pistols or short- shotguns with slugs (I was not one of those guys)
  • In Katmai, the bears were protected, so guns were allowed for defense of life only, but I still believe spray is the more effective tool.

Over the course of all those river miles, we only had to discharge spray once (which was yours truly and it was not a full on charge) and only had it drawn one other time (in the boat and got false-charged by a sow from the bank). Both of those were in Katmai. The (hunted) bears on the Kisaralik were much more skittish - you would see one a bend ahead and they would dissapear by the time you floated down to them.



In the end, no fish is worth angering a bear. Give them a wide berth and they will do the same 99.9% of the time. We never used them, but the portable hotwire fences might also help people sleep better at night if your air taxi/outfitter has them available.

Are you using Papabear (Steve) by any chance?
 
Yes, we are using Papa Bear. Did you ship any items to the Post Office in Bethel prior to arriving? Thinking about that route for some items. Also, I hear Bethel is a dry town. I guess we will have to fly/arrive in town with our bottle of whiskey. What types of fishing gear did you bring? I am thinking some fly gear and some spin gear.
 
Yes, we are using Papa Bear. Did you ship any items to the Post Office in Bethel prior to arriving? Thinking about that route for some items. Also, I hear Bethel is a dry town. I guess we will have to fly/arrive in town with our bottle of whiskey. What types of fishing gear did you bring? I am thinking some fly gear and some spin gear.
Steve runs a tight ship. You will be well sorted out. There is no leeway on weight limits, so be mindful. Highly recommend renting a lot of his camp gear as it will save you a lot of hassle/space and it is good quality. We always brought all our own on the Alagnak, but with Steve we rented tents, big stove, tables, chairs, full size coolers.

A few guys shipped some stuff ahead and it went fine. I haven’t ever shipped anything over the years, but it does help some with peace of mind.

Correct on dryness in Bethel. We always plan (most of) a day in ANC (a good idea in general to have a day on both ends) so we do our perishable grocery shopping and alcohol buying there and then fly over with that stuff the next morning.

We fly fish but there’s always a spinning rod and Pixie spoons (which is basically like cheating when the silvers are in heavy :) ).

Depending on when you’re going - a shotgun is nice to have for ptarmigan, we saw a lot and managed a couple with rocks. Ptarmigan and fresh silvers/dollies over a fire are hard to beat for camp food.

Shoot me a PM with your email address and any other questions and I’m happy to send lots of details.
 

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