August 14, 1997

Alaska river draws anglers, sightseers and Hollywood stars

ILIAMNA, Alaska (AP) -- Left hand on the throttles, right hand on the stick, Cliff Pulis nurses his jetboat across the choppy water separating Iliamna Lake from the Newhalen River.

Like a rafter, he reads the river ahead for rocks and riffles. But unlike a rafter, he charges upstream into the guts of the churning current, which requires boats with a shallow draft and pilots with a deft touch on the airplane-like controls.

For six years, Pulis had the franchise on the salmon-and trout-rich Newhalen. He and a former partner -- who operates now on his own -- power their 26-foot, aluminum Bentz-built boats up and down the lower river carrying anglers, film crews, entertainers and sightseers.

"I brought (singer) John Denver up the river a couple of weeks ago. He was filming a documentary about caribou." Pulis said. "I've also taken people 75-and 80 years old. They love it. If you don't push it hard, it's a real Cadillac ride."

Pulis arrived in Alaska in 1950 after spending his childhood in Lemmon, South Dakota. The 67-year-old Anchorage resident has worked as a polar bear hunter, bricklayer, floatplane pilot, lodge owner and now jetboat driver.

His $90,000 boat was manufactured at Lewiston, Idaho. Its twin V-8 Ford engines power Hamilton jet pumps.

"They're designed for Hells Canyon on the Snake River," Pulis said. "They're made for whitewater."

And whitewater is what the lower Newhalen is all about. The 26-mile stream, which drains Lake Clark into Iliamna Lake, is mostly turbulent and thunderous for its first dozen or so miles.

But its cold and remarkably clear waters are a superhighway for migrating salmon and egg-foraging rainbow trout, making it a target-rich environment for anglers who converge from around the world to fish for them.

"The Newhalen is a tributary into Iliamna (Lake), and Iliamna is the world's largest producer of sockeye salmon," said Mac Minard, area fisheries biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game in Dillingham.

It's also a big-time trout stream, he said, with plentiful supplies of Arctic grayling and Dolly Varden as bonuses.

"A 10-pound rainbow is very realistic," Minard said. "Fish up to 17 pounds have been documented (caught) and are not an unrealistic expectation."

Iliamna area rainbows are characterized by a light green back and silver and pink sides.

"They look like silver bullets," Minard said. "The other characteristic is that they're extremely aerial. Big fish really come out of the water. ... It takes some skill to get them in."

Most of the trout fishing in the area is catch-and-release, part of the state's continuing effort to keep its cold-water rainbows big and wild.

No trout stocking here.

"It's basically a conservative management strategy that doesn't emphasize harvest," Minard said. "It's based on catch rate, size and quality of experience."

The first two weeks of July are the peak period for red salmon on the Newhalen. The cooler weather of spring and fall is prime time for trophy trout.

From April to late September, Cliff and Susan Pulis operate from a small lodge in Iliamna. That's a village of about 100 people on the northwest side of Iliamna Lake, 225 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Iliamna is by far Alaska's largest freshwater lake, roughly 75 miles long and 25 miles across. At some points, it's 1,400 feet deep.

The lake is so pure that some of the villagers draw their drinking water from it.

But it's the Newhalen River that draws Pulis to Iliamna summer after summer.

A number of fishing and hunting lodges operate from the area -- boating or flying their clients to streams feeding into Iliamna Lake. But it takes a special kind of boat to work its way up whitewater stretches of the Newhalen River.

"If we have bad weather and can't fly, I've got the ace in the hole," Pulis said. "I can always take them up the Newhalen."

Travel information on Iliamna, Alaska:

• Where: Iliamna (ill-ee-AHM'-nuh), a village on the northwest side of Iliamna Lake, 225 miles southwest of Anchorage and near Lake Clark and Katmai national parks and preserves.
• Cost: Daily flights via Era Aviation, Birchwood Air Service and Lake Clark Air. Round-trip flights cost roughly $250.
• Where to stay: Several bed and breakfast operations, lodges for longer-term stays, a free campground near the state-owned airport for transient air crews and passengers. Prices range from $125 to $350 per day, which includes meals. Prices at lodges run about $4,000 per week, which includes room and board, fishing flyouts and boat trips.
• Jetboat trips up the Newhalen: Canyon Tours, Cliff Pulis, $100 per person, $400 minimum per trip, 907-571-1262. Rafting tours: 907-571-1248.
• Cultural tours: Gram's Cafe Lodging and Dining, 907-571-1463.
• Sundries: Two stores, one at the airport and one in the village. Three restaurants, one at the airport, two in the village. Two gift shops. Two taxi services.
• For more information, contact: Iliamna Village Council and/or lliamna Natives Ltd., (both) 907-571-1246. The latter owns much of the land in the area and collects fees for day use, berry picking, fishing and camping.