Lake Creek Advice

[AKUNITED]

I will be floating Lake Creek mid July (after it has been closed to Kings) in pursuit of some bows. We are scheduled for 6 days. I am curious as to: (1) How much time should be dedicated to floating as opposed to fishing so as to have a nice balance and not end up having to float all day in the remaining days?
(2) Is the rainbow fishing better near Chelatna Lake, midway down Lake Creek, or towards the mouth of Lake Creek (I assume they will be following the Kings up to the lake)?
(3) Are there any "must portage" rapids, that are not in the literature?

Any general advice or experiences will be appreciated.

[chriso]

Float length

I havn't fished Lake Cr very much as when we floated it 2 summers ago my uncle and his family were on a time constraint and we only had 5 days. We had a couple decent days floating with a few hour long pullovers to fish, then it turned into a marathon and we were plumb worn out from 14 and 16 hour days on the water to get out in time. I guess I'm trying to say you ought to allow more than that if you want to have any time for real fishing!

[IdahoKings]

Lake Creek DVD

The book store on this web site has a great DVD of Lake Creek showing footage from Chelatna Lake to the Yentna, including the more serious whitewater sections and all of the major tributaries.

There is excellent rainbow fishing and an okay camp spot not far from Chelatna Lake where the cable crosses the river. Each of the tributary mouths have good rainbow fishing starting at Sunflower Creek all the way down to Yenlo Creek. Make sure to fish the actual creeks as well as the mouths. A short hike up Yenlo Creek will amaze you with both the numbers of and size of the rainbows.

Also, don't overlook the many small unnamed tributaries that are holding huge pods of salmon.

You are in for a great trip! Good Luck.

[AKUNITED]

Thanks for the info guys! I will check that video out, sounds awsome.

[AKUNITED]

Length

I plan on doing the trip in 6 days, should I extend it a day just to get more time to fish, or will I have plenty of time?

[chriso]

According to my experience, and as far as I could tell the river conditions were nearly perfect for us, that would leave you with about 1 day and 3 hours to fish. Of course, I forgot to mention I also had along my 4 year old daughter, and a pair of 12 year old nephews, my wife, and an uncle who'd never rafted before, so come time to load, unload, make camp, etc... I was a bit busy and probably took longer than you will! Happy waters to you!