Alaska Fishing and Frolic

The highway to Sterling goes along the coast and rings the Cook Inlet on both sides. Although we were in the middle of June, we noticed a lot of snow, with much of it along the roadside in some areas.

We stopped for dinner in Cooper Landing, since when we called ahead to Anglers Lodge we were told that we'd miss dinner. As it would turn out, we rolled into the lodge at about 9:00 p.m., in broad daylight. The Seward Highway is a beautiful drive, with green mountainous peaks on both sides, pine forests, and very little traffic.

Arriving at 9pm, we checked into Anglers Lodge, bought our licenses and signed the book with Marlene Byerly, one of the husband-and-wife owners. Roger would take us out today on our halibut excursion. After a quick unpack, we hit the sack. We were told that we would leave about 5:15 the next morning, so we needed to get some rest.

We got to Anchor Point on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula and were in the water around 6:00am, again in pretty good light. The weather was cooperating, with partly cloudy skies and fairly calm seas.

We went out about 18 miles from shore in the Cook Inlet. The water was nice, but got a little choppy the further out we went. I didn’t honk over the side of the boat, but wanted to. Roger got us outfitted with poles and the like, and we dropped into about 230 feet of water. We used four-pound sinkers to start with and herring and halibut as bait. Roger would cut them in half and put them on enormous hooks.

I caught the first fish of the day, a flounder. We had no intention of keeping any fish but halibut, though, so he got lucky and lived to swim another day. Over the course of the trip I also caught a sand shark, a few cod and two smaller halibut that were thrown back. The one thing I remember about the shark is the incredibly iridescent green eyes. They looked like something from a sci-fi movie.

Apparently, the limit is two halibut, and both Dad and I got our pair. I caught a 75-pound one, and another that was close to it. I don’t know how much Dad’s weighed. We sent them off to be packed, sealed and sent. Working on those fish is HARD work. At the end of the trip my left forearm was feeling the worst of it.

The lodge is nice. We have a cabin that is split into two rooms. We’re in one, and the next door houses two others. The owners keep a fridge stocked with sodas--Diet Dr. Pepper is the owner’s choice, so you know he can be trusted.

We went fishing with three others, two guys from Nebraska, Dustin and Tony, and a friend of Roger, Becky. Dustin got a lunker with a 65-pounder. They’re being packed now by a local guy.

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!

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.

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!

Happy birthday to me! We checked out of the Anglers Lodge today and headed west to Soldotna. In Soldotna we picked up some film and then went over to the fish packer’s place of business. As it turned out, we had over 150 pounds of fish to pack and bring with us. That’s four boxes… three at 50 pounds each [which will cost us on the plane as extra luggage] and a fourth at about 14 pounds. We’ll end up checking two total extra pieces. The difference in price between sending it Fed-Ex and checking extra luggage is about a $150 per piece. It’s a no-brainer!

We drove from Soldotna to Seward today. Seward is on the southern part of the Kenai Peninsula and a town of about 3,000. We rolled in as it started raining and started looking for a place. Marlene at Anglers told us it shouldn’t be too much trouble finding a place. We stopped first at the Edgewater near the aquarium in town, but there was no room at the inn. A very helpful Lisa called around and found something for us. Oddly enough, I realized as she was calling just how small the largest state is. Marlene at Anglers was Lisa’s principal at Soldotna High School, and she ran track with their son there. Go figure.

We checked into Murphy’s Hotel here in town. It’s a bit pricey but has a great view of the small boat harbor. There’s a Little League field across the street as well, and we got to see a game tonight. There were lots of runs scored… of the unearned variety. Before the ball game, we went over to a place called Ray’s for dinner. The view out the window was of the harbor, and seafood was the specialty on the menu. We had Pacific calamari as an appetizer and a salad that tasted a lot like Carrie’s with spinach, feta cheese, and craisins, and I ordered the seafood linguini. Dad had halibut, and we both left quite satisfied.

After dinner we took a quick tour of the harbor to work off a few calories. It must be quite the life to have one of these larger vessels. There was even a Coast Guard cutter moored in the harbor. I suppose if I had a little money and half a mind to, I could easily get into the business. We saw at least 10 ships for sale, ranging from house yachts to commercial boats. It must be an interesting life all right.

Tomorrow we’ll head over to the aquarium and then up towards Anchorage. We ought to have a bit better luck finding a place there, but we’re not counting on it. I’m just assuming that there are more hotel rooms, and therefore, more options.

We got up in Seward and visited the Marine Life Aquarium along the coast. The entry price is a bit high, but we saw and learned a lot about the Bering Sea and the ecosystem around here. They had puffin, a sea lion, and many other animals in exhibits. The monsters we landed at Deep Creek dwarfed the puny halibut on display!

After the aquarium, and the weather this morning in Seward was fantastic, we set out for breakfast at the Marina Café, a grease and grill establishment that had just enough of both to be delicious! We went from there up to the J-Dock fish-freezing establishment where we stored our haul. Little did we know that the "other location to serve you" of the Marina Café was across the street from J-Dock. Where we had gone had more ambience anyway.

The drive from Seward to Anchorage is more than 100 miles, yet it doesn’t seem to take long since it’s so beautiful. We made good time, and it’s a good thing, too. We dropped our fish at the airport cold storage and set about finding a hotel. What we would find out is that the Mayor’s Marathon is this weekend - and it draws 5,000 runners. Most hotels in town were booked solid. We called from the Marriott to see if there were any others, and the six she called were all booked. I wasn’t looking forward to a long drive in from out of town, but we ended up at the Voyager Hotel in downtown, just about 4 blocks from the ocean. Not too bad.

Dinner was at Humpy’s, a 10-year-old establishment near the town center. I had halibut, and dad went for the burger routine. Dad tried to showcase his bachelor skills with a move towards a single woman at the bar to no avail. I told the waiter not to encourage him. We walked around town after dinner and moseyed through the booths at the Summer Solstice festival, and then I decided I wanted to see the ’64 Earthquake Museum. Of course, I chose to take the coastal road to get there. Dad pooped out after complaining the whole way to 15th Avenue, so I told him I’d meet him back at the hotel. As it turns out, neither of us would see the museum, as I took a right turn instead of a left at the coast and U-turned back to where we were staying. Oh well, it was a nice walk that probably took care of most of dinner.