Summer on the Kenai Peninsula is ALL about the fishing. We did the half-day (afternoon) King Salmon guided fishing trip with Sports Den of Soldotna. Owner Jim Golden was very helpful in taking care of all the details for our fishing experience. Our fishing guide Mark was the best! Even the state of Alaska says so. He has won the "guide of the year" award for his work.

We understand that every year there are specific regulations regarding the catch and limits. This year, the limit was one King per day with a maximum of two in a season. In addition to your non-resident's fishing license, you will need to buy a "King" stamp. For non-state residents, the license and stamp was $30 total. Kids under 16 can fish for free but you must have the appropriate paperwork before you go out on the boat. The charter operator or your fishing guide can provide you will all the details you need to take care of these items before arriving at the fishing dock.

The fishing is different than anything I'd ever done, given that you basically cast right off the boat's edge, with a "diver" that takes your hook and bait to the bottom of the lake. You then either drift with the flow of the river or the guide will troll slowly against the flow to drag your bait along the bottom.

The King Salmon, also known as a chinook salmon, which strike the hook not out of hunger but more because it is there clunking them in the face. They bite at the bait and hopefully the hook more out of reflex than anything else.

There is a lot of moving up and down the river, with the hope of being in the right place at the right time to catch a fish.

The boats are very comfortable with plush cushion chairs that swivel and rotate 360 degrees. It was all and all, a great experience on the river.

It was a lot of fun to watch others on the other boats catching and fighting them to the boat.

This year, the fishing restrictions on the Kenai River were such that you could only keep fish that measured under 44 inches in length or over 56 inches. My husband was lucky enough to land one that was 42" with a total weight of 32 lbs. After cleaning and fileting, we had just over 16 lbs. of salmon filets to ship home to Iowa.

They take care of all of that down on the fishing dock. Cleaning his fish, packaging it into single one pound packages, flash freezing and shipping overnight via Fed Ex cost us $115.

Like Master Card says . . .

licenses for two . . . $60
charter fishing trip . . . $315
cleaning and shipping . . . $115
tips to those who made it possible . . . $30

Catching a King Salmon in ALASKA . . . priceless!

Today was our first "river" day of the four that we’ve fished. We fished for king salmon along the Kasilof River, which is about a half-hour from Anglers Lodge. Our boat guide was Nick, and I was in the boat with dad and Mike, one of the other guys up here from Florida.

We had a great day of fishing and got along great. Nevertheless, except for one fish landed by Mike, the boat got skunked. I had four hits but couldn’t land any of them. Dad didn’t even get a bite on his. It rained most of the day, but really we can’t complain. We’ve taken our limit in halibut and reds, so we’re pretty happy overall with the trip.

This afternoon we had a trip into town and picked up some things for our girl. Dinner was pork roast, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, and peas. I don’t know what was in the barbecue sauce, but it was delicious! Marlene surprised me with a birthday cake tonight, which I thought was a special touch. She said she asked what my favorite was but couldn’t get an answer, so she made spice cake. It was perfect.

After dinner, we sat around the campfire and told stories. I got over to Eric and Evert's room and exchanged information with them. I’ll send them some pictures, and they’ve got digital ones that they can send me. I’ll plan to convert the fly-out trip video to DVD and mail them a copy as well.

When I got back to the room, Dad was fast asleep, so I didn’t bother him. I’m in the lodge typing right now. I look forward to whatever we’re going to do tomorrow. I think we’re headed towards Seward. We’ll see what adventures the next two days bring! First it’s off to bed, and then it's off to the fish packer to send our catch home!

Today was our second day of halibut fishing on the Cook Inlet. We ended up at a place that was good, but didn’t catch halibut as big as Sunday. We did all get our limit, though, and I actually caught five, throwing three back. On one of the fish I actually hooked the mouth and then the tail. This is not good as you try to reel in, since it’s like trying to pull in a drag chute while your car is traveling at 55 mph. It was the hardest fish I’ve reeled in, but wasn’t even big enough to be worth keeping even if I hadn’t already reached my limit. All in all it was a good day on the sea. There were six of us fishing and Roger and Charlie took care of baiting, etc. We fished with Ron, Bruce, Wayne, and Jim. The last fish of the day was also the largest, and Charlie and Wayne ended up reeling him in together, as they both hooked the same fish. That was a little bizarre.

While out on the sea, we saw puffin and seerwaters, which are both sea birds. I tried to film them as they raced us on our way back. Who knows what the tape is going to look like other than a bunch of really bouncy footage. It was really choppy when you’re up to speed on the way in. The water was so smooth when we were out, though. One thing I’ll remember from the halibut days is the change in tides. When we got in this morning it was really moving. By the time we ended, the tide was almost non-existent, which made it a little easier to bring in your catch.

After getting back in it was off to the weigh-in station for pictures. The heaviest of the day was 67 pounds. Mine were 45 and 30 pounds respectively. Not too bad, but I still had the 75-pounder from the other day. We’ll have plenty of food to send back, take back or ship…whatever we decide to do.

Dinner was steak, baked potatoes, salad and cheesecake. This is living!!! I talked to Carrie and Riley last night on the phone. I’m missing them, but they seemed glad that Dad and I are having such a great time here. We really are. I really think we scored when we chose Anglers Lodge over whatever else there is out there. I don’t think that I’d come back to another place at this point unless I wanted to fish a different location.

Tomorrow it’s off to the Kasilof, and the trip leaves at 4:15am. One thing about the early starts is that we only have to be concerned with the waking up. The sun is already up at that point.

I’m sitting in the "living room" of the lodge after another fantastic day of fishing. Today was our "fly-out" trip. We ate breakfast about 5:45am and left for High Adventure Tours at about 6:15am. From there, we boarded a six-seat float plane and were off to our fishing trip for the day. When I say six-seat, I use the term loosely. It was two on a hammock in the back, along with a bench seat that made coach class for three seem spacious. The pilot and guide sat up front. The plane is a DeHavilland outfitted with floats.

Having never flown in a floatplane before, it was quite an experience. The takeoff was great, and without incident. We flew at about 1,500 feet on the way out. Dad and I sat in the back. We had earmuffs, since it was a little loud. After about a thirty-minute flight, we touched down in the Bear River Lake and boarded a flat-bottom boat for our Red Salmon excursion at Wolverine Creek--a small stream that empties into the lake.

We dropped anchor and ended up behind a boatload of Germans who were there for bear watching. As we were approaching, we noticed that there were actually bears to watch.

I hooked the first salmon of the day--a keeper of about eight pounds. My second (limit is three per fisher) had a gash in it but fought the hardest of the three. I asked, and our guide Ben said that it was a seal wound. He was sure of it. My third salmon would come after everyone but Eric had caught their limit. Dad was first to three, and Jim Jurgens, a fifth guy in our group from New Mexico, ended up with seven. He was doing catch-and-release all day. I would later catch a fourth and fifth and send them back.

The plane picked us up where we started fishing, as we were simply switching spots with another group. On the way back, the guide wasn’t with us, so I got to ride in the copilot’s seat.

We took off from Bear River Lake and touched down at High Adventure without incident. The trip really was worth it! We saw some bald eagles on the boat trip back to the plane, which only rounded out a great experience!

Dinner was again absolutely wonderful. We had ham with scalloped potatoes, fruit salad and corn on the cob. One thing about this place is that you really feel like family when you’re here.

When the "Fish Guy" came tonight (the guy who packs your fish and will ship for you if need be), he said to us in confidence that we chose the best lodge. He’s been dealing with the Byerlys for fourteen years and said that he’s never heard a customer complain about their stay here. I’m not going to be the first!