FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Alaska – A bucket list trip.

Kenai Riverside Lodge.  Home sweet home.  Waders, boots, and cooler with munchies ready to go on arrival.  A real full-service resort.

First off props to the staff at Kenai Riverside Lodge.  (Other than one screw up, to be detailed later it was top notch.)  The food was fantastic, thanks Lloyd, great breakfasts, you could cook anywhere.  I called Dylan the camp counselor, he kept the place organized and people moving, and was helpful with anything.  And Leah (sp?) was bartender extraordinary and like most folks who worked there, educated and a pleasure to deal with.  Dave and Rob were great guides who put us on plenty of fish along with being good guys to spend the day with.  As I fished 4 days that week it was my pleasure to watch them handle folks who might not have been the most experienced with a friendly patience.  The fishing was a pleasure.

The menu.  Every day was primo!

One of the things we love in our travels, and admittedly are jealous of, are these dang “kids”.  Educated, degreed, and just plain smart they are living life on their terms.  Willing to drive to Alaska, work in Antartica or Timbuktu, they are living the dream.  From driver to bartender  many were degreed in the outdoors and it sure showed.  We run into these “kinds” of kids in the best places, and love how they are not only smart, but willing to take chances.  Trust me their life experiences will keep them warm 40 years from now.  As I always say it is in the doing and they are doing it big time.

Kenai River Lodge is part of a 3 lodge adventure, which some folks do over a week.  It is not all about the fishing and they offer hikes and other trips at all 3 lodges.  We stayed a week due to the fishing but if you want a full Alaska experience they can provide it but book early and direct.  And do not use a travel agency because it caused our snafu which neither the agency or resort made right.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Flossing

So we meet our first day guide Rob the evening before at supper and he said we would be flossing.  What the sam hell is flossing?  Maybe a special fly?  Well sort of.  The sockeye run was just beginning, we were there 3 days after the opener where the folks struggled, but not us, it got better every day.  So what is flossing?  And the other bit of information, waders and boots on for breakfast at 4:00 and out the door by 4:15.  What?  But then the brain kicks in, that is 7:00 our time so no big deal.  Of course it was to beat the traffic and it did exactly that.

The sockeye are filter feeders who feed by opening and closing their mouth.  So, you have a fly rod, 10 foot of line out with a white fly attracter and a sinker to get the fly down.  The fly really might attract the occasional sockeye but the punch line, the fly literally slides along the bottom as your line slides in their mouth.  When you hook them, it is in the mouth or near it, otherwise they must be released.  It is nothing more than a roll cast, pull it easy, then set the hook when it gets below you.  The fish are literally right in front of you and when you hook up, they tear it up.  It really is a great fight and hand to hand combat.

It seemed so weird, but that is basically the only way they harvest them and there were tons of folks all doing the same thing.  It took me a little to get the hang of it but I must say it was an interesting way to fish, and the only way to get them.  Would I do that again?  No to many other ways to fish.  Would I go back and fish for trout and Dolly later in year after the salmon are done spawning?  You bet.  The boys said that is the time for big trout.  So I am on the list for next September when the hard core trout fisherman come.  We shall see.

Day 1 limits.

The first morning the Boss was not feeling all that well so she stayed in.  And another word on the resort, they were so concerned they checked on her, brought her food and snacks and just basically cared for her until we got back from fishing.  Whatever it was passed and she was good to go the rest of the trip.  But of course, the following happened:  As we headed out to a lower ramp there was the first cow moose of the trip along the road.  When we got to the ramp an insane beaver was running all over the parking lot for some crazy reason.  We put the boat in and as soon as we head down river there is a wolf on the opposite shore just watching us.  So cool start, but there is more.

We set up on the Greman Hole and are smacking the salmon when Dan says bear, like it is no big deal.  Here comes a momma black bear and then I see her 3 cubs climb a tree.  We just talk her off and away she goes.  Then of all things she tries a sneak attack from the side and got to within 10 feeet from our boat and the stringer.  I mean she is close.  We shoo her away, but what a start to the trip.  Of course no camera out and the Boss is not with us but the first hour has Alaska written all over it.  What you pay the money for.

Dan and his dad and our limit.

First stop!  What momma black bear was coming for.

As soon as you catch them they clip the gills and bleed them in the river which is ice cold.  So no real surprise a momma bear with 3 hungry cubs might come around.

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The boys could flat clean and pack fish.

When you get back to camp everyone pitches in with fish cleaning and packing.  They have a system and are pros at it, but with that kind of practice who wouldn’t be.  I would not venture to guess how many salmon they filet in a season.  As a side note, we were just shopping this morning and fresh Alaska sockeye is $19.95 a pound.  So the 40+ pounds on the way are worth over $800 so the cost of shipping was not that bad.  And I had them save me some bellies which are headed to the smoker Sunday!

The Kenai River.

An average Sockeye Salmon.  Dave, fishing guide extraordinary and the guide boss.

You can see the guy in the background, that is all the deeper you had to get.  Simms waders and boots were hanging on the wall when you got there.  The flossing fly rods were made for the job, and the rest of the rods were quality with all tackle provided.

The Boss with her nice rainbow.

Having caught tons of rainbows in my life it was readily apparent, these are studs.  They feed on salmon eggs and dead salmon, which accounts for the flesh fly they use later in the season.  By time September comes the rainbows have been gorging and are solid from head to tail.  They practice catch and release and after have a cool run on the lower river in a small side channel the river could be hurt in a season.  We kept our share of sockeyes, but they are harvest fish and are counted at the weir, which allows them to set the limit.  Dave was telling us it might go down, or even to as many as 9 salmon, totally dependent on the count.  It is a highly regulated and managed fishery and with good reason.  While we did not go to Alaska to keep fish, there is nothing wrong with taking salmon and protecting the trout and dolly keeps it real.  What a place.

A bucket list Dolly Varden.  Which is actually a member of the Char family.

The Boss on the floss.

Nancy hiked a day with one of the staff who has been there almost 40 years and enjoyed her day as he took her to cool places.  He was a wealth of info and made allowances for her knee.  It gave her a little trouble during the week, probably due to standing in the river which had a pretty good current.  But she soldiered on without complaint.

A bigger Sockeye.

We had not seen another bear all week when on the last day we floated around a corner and there was momma, her big cub, and they were fishing.  We pulled across the river and watched what may be one of the most majestic animals in the world, and we have seen our share of cool animals.  So big and powerful it is hard to describe how cool they are.  Both were fishing and we watched as Junior splashed around and finally nose dove in and low and behold he snatched a cleaned carcass.  He has a way to go but how cool was that?  We watched as he ran back in the woods with his prize.

Momma Grizzly.  Out of focus due to the moving boat but who cares, a real animal!

Her cub, probably a second year about to receive the boot.

The salmon run got better all week and the grizzly were fishing.

Mergansers everywhere.  Weird ducks.

We saw lots of these ducks in both Alaska and B.C.  What makes them unusual is they will adopt other babies, or just baby sit.  Occasionally on the river the babies get washed down and when they come to the next momma, she adopts them.  One of the boys was telling us he had seen one with over 40 babies.  Fun to see them riding on momma’s back.

They were not easy to net, lots of power and cool runs with jumps.

The Boss with Dave and the first of her morning limit.

Plenty of Eagles.

A juvenile eagle.  Funny but they are bigger than the adults due to all the feathers.

There were eagles near the cleaning station.  Of course first comes the gulls, which happens anywhere you fish the salt.  The eagles would come and try to steal the gulls carcasses or whatever they were able to get.  The boys would save the eggs and then feed the trout, which caused a frenzy.  Just cool stuff after cool stuff.

The river on our float and Skilak Lake.  Words can not convey how stunning it is.

In the middle of the week we floated the river down to Skilak Lake in a raft.  There are 2 canyons with at most class 2 rapids but it was a great float and I am glad I did it.  As usual great lunch and informed info on the river and area.  The 3rd day we fished the same route and when we got to the lake another boat had motor trouble so we towed them to the ramp.  The river is highly controlled as to when motors may be used and even who can fish certain areas.  The lodge has permits for areas not all guides can fish.  And speaking of guides they are Coast Guard 6 packs and up and have taken mandatory guide school and a course on fishing the permit areas.  I am sure there is more but you get the picture, real guides with real experience.  The boats are first class customs and safe for 4 with auto inflate jackets on at all times.  A real professional operation.

My best rainbow.  Rob was a great guide.

And my best Dolly.

Slow trolling with downstream plugs caught these fish along with a few random sockeye.  It was a cool way to fish and when they hit they smoked it.  We also caught a few fly fishing with nymphs.  If at all possible I will be back next September for a week of classic fly fishing for big rainbows.  (But looking at maybe a steelhead trip during the same time, so many places so little money!)

A great last day.  These folks were from Austin and she was a fish catching fool.

As you all know I give everything from my day on the lake to these trips a grade.  Honestly this trip deserved an A but I cannot give it that, it will be a B+.  So why the downgrade?  This was booked through a travel agency, Audley, which we have used in the past.  This was our Africa trip money so we used the agency for the lodge.

According to the lodges website you can do all of these great things, including a halibut trip.  Nowhere on the website does it say to book that particular trip in advance so we did not think a thing about it.  We were going to be there a week, in fact we were the only folks there paying for a full week.  Then we find out the halibut fishing is booked for the week and we do not get to go.  Huh?  At this price we do not get the full everything that is on the site?

Then it got a little worse, we find out that the lodge sent out an email a week or more to us from Dylan and we did not get it.  Apparently it went to the travel agency.  Ok.  Then folks there on the 3 day fishing all got to halibut fish but we the only week guest did not, which does not seem fair or right.  And while later they said one of us could go, we are a team and that was not going to happen, it was never made right.  The problem, whoever booked us at Audley did not really have a clue about one of “their” resorts.  Obviously that person has no business booking fishing trips or they would have known and let us know if we did not book that part it was not going to happen.  The agent clearly did not have a clue what a bucket list trip to Alaska entails.  Plus, the resort should not send any informative email intended for us to the agency, they are not the ones going.

The resort should have fixed it somehow (2 of their staff took the trip during the week.) but the dude we talked to in the office was not to “concerned” about it.  The only time staff was not beyond helpful.  Oh well.  So the punch line – book it yourself.  It really was bad news a week before we left.  I can honestly say if it had been a month and I could have gotten my money back I would have rebooked somewhere else.  If they really care about “real” fishermen they need to rethink the whole process.  No excuses for either party.

But all that aside it was a first class operation, good food, cool cabins and great folks.  It was a good first stop on any Alaska trip.  And I can not emphasis how much fun I had fishing with Dave and Rob even though it started at 4:00 am!  So my thanks to all involved, when I pull the salmon off the grill this weekend I will fondly remember this trip.

Off we go to Victoria Island BC.

Heather, another of the “nut cases” who was a freakin hoot, took us from the lodge to Seward to catch the train.  As part of the service she stayed with us until we were good to go.  And while in Seward she took us to where they loaded folks for the halibut trip (Again the halibut.) and there at the dock in town is a moose.  Alaska is one wild place.  There we boarded the train for a 4 hour supper tide to Anchorage to catch a plane the next day.  It was a good way to see some great scenery along with a moose or two.

The train from Seward to Anchorage.  Great ride.  Be sure to book the fancy ticket so you get this view and supper.

Icebergs.  The glaciers are shrinking fast and we heard that everywhere.  But hey climate change is not real right?  Must be your extensive scientific knowledge you have that leads to that crazy conclusion.  Kind of like the Jewish Space Lazer starting fires in California.

Anchorage was cool with plenty of good eats.  We spent a full day there and made the market days, the museum, and stuffed ourselves at Humpy’s resteraunt.  Of course I got the shirt.  We picked up a few things for the grandkids and generally enjoyed our time there until it was off to Vancouver and part 2 of the trip. More on 7 or 8 planes on the next post.

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Of course I have forgotten plenty but you can get a feel for how it was.  One thing that is so important on trips like this, put the camera down and appreciate where you are.  Stick your cell phone….you get the point.  Alaska is all that and more and could take a lifetime to explore.  It is one of the last great places in this country and when the last administration proposed selling a bunch of it off and drilling more of it, they were dead wrong.  It should be preserved and protected for all time, and if folks are lucky enough they can see what we did.  It is truly the last frontier.

I will try to get part 2 up in the next day or so.  And then pick up the boat from the shop and do some serious bay fishing before heading to ICAST and the Everglades.  It is going to be a busy month.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines