Alaskan Adventure: salmon, halibut, eagles, and more
BY BOB SEMERAU
Western Outdoor News Staff Writer
SOLDOTNA— Putting together an Alaskan fishing adventure can be as exciting as the trip itself, and finding the right place to stay, with just the right variety of fishing options, means doing some serious research. Yet, no matter how much planning is done, always the questions remain: will the salmon be in, will the halibut want to play?
Heading north to Alaska is a dream for most fishing folks down in the lower 48. For us, getting to do it with a couple of cousins and a best buddy for 10-days makes it the trip of a lifetime.
Over the years, fishing pal, Ted Reed, and I had been planning a run up to the 49th state but could never quite pull the trigger. Last year we visited the Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Expo where we met up with Ralph Crystal of Gone Fishin’ Lodge, Soldotna, Alaska, and signed the deal.
The plan to stay at Ralph and partner Dick Bowden’s lodge on the lower Kenai River, making a unique fishing excursion each day, sounded like the perfect set up. Cousins Joe Bekeris and Bill Fontana decided to toss their hats into the ring and join us for this exciting adventure when they heard of our plans to head to Alaska.
Since we would be paying the expense of flying all the way up there, everyone extended the trip to seven fishing days, making the most of our initial travel investment.
“Renting a van at the Anchorage airport is way too expensive,” explained Ralph while on one of our many calls over the months preceding our late June start date. “Better you find a company off, away from the airport to rent from,” he concluded. We elected to get a minivan for the four of us and all our gear, finding the best terms and cost with Alaskan Adventure Car and Camper Van Rental, a short Uber away, for half what the others quoted.
Collecting our guys and gear at the airport we headed south to Soldotna after 8:30 p.m., the sun still high in the sky. The almost three hour drive through amazing Alaskan scenery was a treat, passing some of the fishing spots we’d be working in days to come.
At the lodge Ralph filled us in on our plans for the next several days and it would be a workout. Approaching midnight on the day of arrival, we found we needed to be geared up and ready to go about 5:00 a.m. for the drive to the upper Kenai and a drift boat run for sockeye salmon, rainbow trout, and dolly varden.
Mike Harp, owner/operator of Kanai River Fly Fishing for over 30-years, had the boat ready to roll when we appeared streamside. Mike had set up fly rods for each of us for salmon and trout fishing and quickly got away from the put-in at Sportsman’s Landing.
“We’ll run down a bit to a bend in the river where we can work the reds or sockeye for a while,” explained Mike as he rowed out into the current. He explained the flip and drag method to line the fish as they run upstream, catching the most aggressive fish as they pass by.
The only problem was sockeye were not there. Along the shore dozens of anglers, some of whom had been there all night, stood flipping and dragging with nothing to show for it. We did the same for an hour or more with the same result. Zip.
“How have the counts been?” asked Lafayette, Louisianna cousin, Joe Bekeris, Marine Corps (retired), concerned with the no-show on sockeye.
“The last count showed a thousand reds in the river which is pretty low,” replied Mike in grand understatement.
We pulled up stakes, switched gear, and started catching rainbow and dolly varden on the fly. Floating a nymph, pegged-egg, or flesh colored fly, under a strike indicator filled out the day with dozens of fish to 22-inches, photographed and released. Periodic stops to test the waters for salmon yielded little more than sore shoulders and worn out arms.
The drift did give up awesome scenery and a chance to see bald eagles at every turn. A moose and a black bear stopped by to be sure they received their moments of fame as well.
Back at the lodge, Cousin Joe fixed a quick meal, then off to the bunks for a short rest. Our trip for day two was to be another run down the Kenai, but this run started at 3:00 a.m. to get the best spots on the river. A few short hours later we arrived at a put-in further downriver and jumped in the boat with the river guide, getting away before the morning crush.
Despite the best intentions, the salmon once again were MIA, leading to another great day of trout fishing. Hard to beat a second place option of 16-inch-to-20-inch trout and dolly varden all day long!
Day three came early once again, with our crew driving two hours to Seward for a 6:00 a.m. departure aboard the 40-foot catamaran hulled Predator out of J-Dock Fishing Company and Processor. After a 2-1/2-hour run at 30-knots, the boat set up on anchor for the duration. Three groups of four anglers spread around the rails, each manning a heavy duty rig with a 16/0-circle hook pinned with a salmon head or other fresh bait, and four-pound weight, the rod firmly placed in a rod-holder.
“Watch the tip and reel down hard when you get bit,” was the simple instruction for most anglers. Some anglers took to the stern with jigs running out the back and down into the 225-foot depths, working the bottom as well.
With flat calm seas and a moderate current flowing through I chose to grab a jig stick, hooking up the first halibut of the trip, bringing to gaff an 80-pound-plus flatty after just 20-minutes on anchor. The fish ate a leadhead white scampi while jigging deep and fought hard all the way up to the gaff.
Cousin Bill Fontana, an Aspen, Colorado ski instructor, fished the bait rigs to put a 65-pound halibut on the deck a bit later in the day. Each of our group boated an “over,” a fish of greater than 28” length, along with a three fish limit of rockfish, giving us 134-pounds of fillets at day’s end. All of us released some huge yellow eye and massive ling cod by-catch that could not be taken till their season started a few days after we’d head home. The trip would be repeated later in the week with almost the same results while fishing aboard TailWatcher.
The next morning was a typical June start with heavy fog covering the sun and after a three hour delay at Talon Air, the day of “fly-out fishing” had to be postponed to our gap day later in the week.
With a free day at hand, we rigged up our 8-wt fly rods and spinning gear to head for the Kasilof River, just a few miles down the road from our lodge. The Kasilof was running a little lower than the 7,000 CFS of the Kenai and word was some fish were showing sporadically.
Here the “flip and drag” for sockeye was put to work once again. Once we had spread out among the dozen or so anglers already in position a short distance before the bridge, we waded in to begin the dredging. The sun had burned off the fog and a clear bright day helped ease the hours of flip casting and dragging back our lines. Again, after several hours with nothing to show for our efforts along the river, we called it a day, heading back to the lodge for a great meal of mandarin orange halibut from Cousin Joe.
Down at Anchor Point the fishing boats are launched by huge front loader tractors pushing trailers across the broad beach and through the surf line, releasing the boats to back away as the start to their fishing day. The process is reversed at days end as boats roar up to the waiting trailer and settle in for a ride to the staging area, far across the sand.
Alaska Gulf Coast Expeditions owner/operator Captain Aaron Mahoney has a two boat operation working out of Anchor point that is consistently a part of Gone Fishin’ Lodge’s fishing plan. Aaron is skipper of Liberty and Captain Even Swen runs Independence with Aaron’s two sons, Colin and Roan performing duties as deck crew. Both boats are 30-footers powered by twin outboard engines.
With the shore launch completed the run across Cook Inlet took a short 45-minutes to reach the halibut rich fishing zone.
Similar fishing techniques to those at Seward gave our crew plenty of action including a 100-pound-plus flatty for retired electrician Ted Reed of Chino Hills. Not only did we all come away with our “overs” but we all caught the allowed “short” under 28-inch halibut as well.
Constant attention to working the jigs gave up some decent fish, including a few huge cod, adding to days catch.
Another massive number of fillets went into the processing shack at the lodge following the day’s action, where the fillets were trimmed, and vacuum packed before going into the deep freeze. Our schedule called for another opportunity to fish with Capt. Swen aboard Independence achieving much the same result, Cousin Billy getting another 60-pounder, and limits all around.
Under clear skies the day arrived for our reset fly out trip to Big River Lake with Talon Air Service, Soldotna, Alaska, and we could not be more excited.
As the clock ticked past 7:00 a.m. the float plane, loaded with our group along with Ralph Crystal, acting as our guide, began to slide across the smooth lake waters, quickly picking up speed. The short 40-minute flight across the Cook Inlet led to a smooth landing and rollout to where Ralph’s johnboat awaited our arrival.
We stepped from the plane into the boat and were whisked off to a faraway corner of the water where sockeye lay stacked, staged to run upstream.
Once there it became clear we were not alone. A half dozen brown bear (grizzlies that live on the coast) had already staked out these waters as their prime fishing grounds.
“We’ll ease into the cove and toss our rigs up close to the rocks,” explained Ralph as we edged closer to the rocks below the running stream. “The water is too low for the fish to run right now so they stack up here,” Ralph continued.
Catching sockeye or “reds” as they are known, just 20-feet away from feeding brown bear is about as exciting as fishing can get. Nearly every cast yielded a shiny chrome salmon, and once our limit was reached, we backed off, allowing another boatload of anglers into the cove.
Watching as mama bear taught her cubs the art of salmon fishing was a beautiful addition to the day’s activities. After a short ride across the lake, Ralph set up on a point where the catch was filleted, the carcasses offered up for cruising bald eagles to swoop in and devour. Soaring mature eagles in white cap and full plumage, as well as immature younger birds all came in from trees a mile off to partake of the feast.
Ralph pulled out a small propane grill and prepared a fresh salmon fillet for us to enjoy right there in the johnboat, while watching the raptors eat their fill.
Once aboard the plane for our return flight, the pilot headed out overland first for a view of the nearby glacier. This surprise addition to the flight made for spectacular views of the blue ice jutting upward towards the sky and massive glacier fields beyond.
Back at Soldotna the last evening at the lodge was passed swapping stories with a new group just coming in to begin their adventure in Alaska. The next day was to be a traveling day, heading back to Anchorage and our flights home.
Our 8-boxes, each filled with 50-pounds of halibut, salmon, rockfish, and cod fillets, frozen solid, safe for up to 48-hours of travel were loaded up into the minivan with our bags and gear. On the way a side trip to the tiny hamlet of Whittier, Alaska, made for an interesting stop. The ice-free-year-round deep water port was made accessible when the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel was originally built as a railroad tunnel in 1943. Incredible birding, fishing, and scenic cruises to nearby fiords are just a few of the exciting experiences to be enjoyed at Whittier. The town boasts a population of just 220 residents with most living in one former government building.
Following a casual lunch along the marina, we made the hour’s drive to the airport, returning our minivan to the rental agency. The day complete, we checked-in our fish and gear at the airport to await our departure time, resting comfortably after a whirlwind week of adventure.
As days passed back home, the phone began to ring, the guys asking, “What will it be next year,” and neighbors coming by to say, “Hey, Bob, did you get any fish?”
