Fishing Paradise

Successful day on the Bachatna River with my cousin's and brother.
From left to right: Cousin Greg Nelson, myself, brother Steve, cousin
Mark Anderson, and Greg's brother Tom.

There is so much to tell regarding last weeks trip, it was all very exciting.   We all agreed that the fly out trip to the Bachatna River, across the Cook Inlet from Kenai was the highlight of the week.  Booked through Alaska Fishing with Mark Glassmaker, the Bachatna River is a small clear water river that experiences a nice run of silver salmon this time of year.  Up until recently the only access to the river was landing in a suitable spot then boarding a helicopter to the Bachatna.  Recently the beavers had constructed a sizable dam next to the river creating a pond large enough to allow a skilled pilot the ability to land his plane right there.  And land we did!  Boarding a 10 passenger turbo prop Otter on floats, we took off from a sea base and a short 20 minute ride we landed on the beaver pond. The pilot skillfully backed the plane to the edge of the beaver dam where we exited the plane.  Wow, what a ride.  Just prior to landing the guides asked the pilot to make a pass over of few of the upstream bends to see if there were any salmon in.......it was loaded!  After unloading our gear we headed up the river to the first hole and the fun began.  We had all brought our fly rods and using the guide tested pink egg sucking leech pattern, began landing silvers.  It was the first time I had caught a respectable salmon on a fly and it was a blast.   As the fish became acclimated to our lures we continued to move up the river finding new pods of fish as they rested before continuing there journey upstream to spawn.  While my cousin Greg continued to fish with his fly rod I had brought along a few "Minnesota bass lures" in the odd chance they might work for silvers.  It was pretty unbelievable as the guides were quite impressed with thinking outside the box when the silvers stopped hitting their go to lures.  With the plane scheduled to return to the beaver dam by 2:30, it was time to head back down river, have lunch, clean fish, and get ready for our departure.  All said and done we each brought home our 3 fish limit of beautiful fresh silver salmon that ran from 6 - 10 pounds.   I positioned myself to get a good picture of the plane as it came in to pick us up, we loaded our gear and fish, turned around and took off.  It was amazing how little water the plane needed to take off and it seemed like within 300 feet we were airborne.  I do this trip again in a heartbeat, the guides were great, the plane ride was great, and the fishing was fantastic!



Double hooked Humpy!

One of the reasons we chose to go on the even years (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2012) is that  the pink salmon return to the Kenai River on the even years.  As stated in  Jeff King's Mile 14 once pink salmon hatch they immediately return to the ocean where they grow returning 2 years later.  It's a crazy deal for sure as millions of these salmon come into the Kenai.  There are so many of them that up to 75% of the ones you catch are foul hooked in the back or tail making for an incredible fight.  So much so that it can be quite annoying at times.  A popular lure for catching silver salmon are Blue Fox Pixie Spoons.  They have a very stout treble hook and are ideal for snagging pinks.  On Sunday night while casting my favorite color  Chartreuse Pixie I hooked a nice pink salmon.  You could tell it was probably hooked in the back by the way it was fighting so I just knuckled down and reeled it in.  As it came by the boat I noticed something different, there was a pink Pixie stuck in the back of the fish and that wasn't what I was casting.  Incredibly I had snagged a fish that already had been hooked by another angler which had broke his line, my hook was through the top split ring of the already embedded lure.  So what are the chances?!?!?!

Like everything in life, things always have to end.  It had been great to return to Alaska after a 4 year absence and was everything I remembered it to be.  We continue to meet new friends, renew old friendships, explore new adventures, and revisit the old fishing holes.  This year things were different.  Although you can always count on the pinks to be there, the traditional salmon runs on the Kenai have been anything but normal.  I had received a call while on the Kenai and my friend asked "How's the fishing?".  Terrible I proclaimed, thought for a second and restated my answer........it's simply wonderful.  The weather was perfect, we caught plenty of fish, we were in Alaska, regardless it cannot get any better than that.  So I leave you with a picture that tells the whole story.  After hatching from an egg, the salmon spends a year in it's nursery, growing large enough to head to the ocean.  There it feeds with it's own kind, staying together as they grow older, preparing for their final journey to spawn again.  Once they have accomplished their goal the salmon deteriorate and eventually die leaving their legacy hung up against a rock in the current.  Although their life is through, they continue to provide the next generation of fish valuable resources to help continue the cycle over again.  Like salmon we are also on a journey, destined for the same fate.  Hopefully we will provide for the next generation so they can enjoy this wondrous place.  As Alaska put it so bluntly.........Alaska, Before You Die.  If you can, take that with heart, you will never regret that decision.



Back to Reality

Well, what goes up must come down.  After 6 weeks of significant above normal temperatures, we experienced a very hard frost this week.  Normally this would not be a problem however the warm weather has cause most of the trees to bud out significantly and more importantly has advanced my apple and pear trees to start blooming way too early.  2 years ago a mid May hard frost eliminated my entire apple crop as it froze all of the fully opened blossoms and killing them.  As of today most of the blossoms are still fairly tight and have not opened up, this may be a good sign.  The new reports of the hard frost extending south to Missouri have the commercial orchard's concerned.  I guess we will just have to wait.  If left alone apple trees tend to be cyclic, producing heavy one year and light the next.  Orchard chemically thin the apples once the blossoms have been set and have started to develop small fruit.  When the apples are about the diameter of a dime the trees are sprayed with Sevin (carbaryl), an insecticide that will cause about half of the fruit to drop off the trees.  Once thinned, the apples will grow larger and the stress on the tree is less causing them to fruit more consistently from year to year, assuring a viable crop each season.  I wanted to try this last year as the trees were filled with apples, just ran out of time.  My Haralson tree always produces a good crop yet my Honeycrisp, Honeygolds, and Wolf River apples are very cyclic and will not have a large crop regardless.  Lord knows how my pears will survive.  In the end the cold weather might simply be a minor issue or I might just be able to take the summer off!  Last Sunday I was determined to fertilize my orchard, something I did for the first time last year and it really paid off.  Having bought a heavy duty 1.75 inch earth auger for my drill, I drill 4 holes around each tree at the drip line then fill each with a 10-10-10 fertilizer.  It is recommended that you do this before the tree fully leaf's out.   As I was preparing to start drilling Rick Shermer, a guy with the same interests shows up to say hi.  Noting that I was ready to fertilize my trees and showed him how it was done he just had to try this.  Being the nice guy that I am, reached for the auger and told him to go ahead and use it today.  Promising to bring it back later that day, not a problem....right?  3 days later and no Rick we stopped by to check it his chickens, garden, trees and maybe hint about the auger.  Well, he had no intention on giving it back!  This was fine with me as Rick would give you the shirt off his back as noted by his past actions when he rototilled my garden as I laid up from surgery a few years ago, mowed my back acreage when it was too tall for my mower.  He actually came by on Saturday morning and with his Kubota made short work out of tilling my garden again.  What a guy.  I did receive my new auger this week and the trees are all ready for their summer meal.

Our Alaska trip planning is really starting to take shape.  We finally have all of our lodging booked as well as 2 days of ocean fishing out of Seward.  We have come to enjoy the combo trips out of Seward which feature both Halibut and ocean run Silver Salmon with the chance of getting a few rockfish and Ling Cod as a bonus.  Our planning works well with the tides for the days we are going and look like the morning high tide to afternoon low tide differential is only 2.5 feet.  That sure beats Homer where you can see a 20 feet change in 6 hours.  August quarter moon tides tend to be quite tame and our trip is planned to take full advantage of them.  Halibut fishing is always the best at the lowest differentials in high to low tides and for sure it's a lot easier to fish.  We have had to use 6 pound weights on time to hold our baits on the bottom of a rushing tide in 300 feet of water.  This is truly work!  My cousin Mark will be hosting our Kenai salmon fishing adventure with a rented 18 foot/35hp jet that will handle all of us.  We are trying to do something exciting and another fly out trip across the Cook Inlet for Silvers might be interesting.  The last time we flew over to Polly Creek it wasn't what we expected but still caught fish and had our first encounter with some Brown Bears.  My uncle Jerry is not coming this year however in the spirit of our adventure he did make me a few items for the trip.  Being a master wood worker, he hand made these fish dispatchers, a must for any Alaskan fishing trip.  Hooking a big Silver is one thing, landing it is another, but once you get the fish in the boat watch out!  These things flop around with the tenacity of a tornado.   About the only way they can be safely subdued before completely trashing your boat is a good konk on the head.  This can only be accomplished with the right tool and Jerry is the master of what he calls the Konkinator.  They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, wood types, each with their own special label.  Starting from the top you see the plain Konkinator, design by Cordless Conker Co., Inc., LTD.  This is made from a heavy wood and can be very effective.  The next one down is made from the famous Lodgepole Pine of central Idaho.  Called the Oinker Silver Doinker, it is courtesy of Rip'N'Jerry Mfg. LTD, Kenai Branch.  The middle grey colored a uniquely stained device directed right at my political preferences.  Labeled the Lite Wt. Smolt Smasher it further described as Republicanator for Killing Small Fish, Boehner & Co, Brains LTD.  I told Jerry that the gray color reminds me of elephants.........what can I say!  The next light colored pine device is none other than Dave's Sockeye Slayer and was specially built by Andersonock-A-Head Mfg, Chimney Rock, Wis. The bottom is the one he made for our trip in 2008 and I can assure you it works pretty well.  I am anxious to try all of these out in a few months and hopefully can reward Jerry with the assurance that we had a great time.  Now I know where I got my sense of humor!  Thanks Jerry, I will cherish these gifts forever.

With snow in forecast and a heavy travel schedule, time continues to fly.  I finally got an appointment with Frankie's to get my boat cover redone because of the trolling motor difference.  She is nice and clean as I had more time on Saturday to keep going once Rick took care of a few hours of planned work.  As predicted I started the Suzuki and honestly it could not have turned over for more than 2 seconds.  I love the way that motor sounds, it's a 4 stroke and purrs like a kitten.  With opener 4 weeks away, this cold weather should prove interesting.  Slowly but surely things are coming together.

Fly Fishing Adventures

Last weeks post brought a comment from a fellow fisherman by the name of Bryan McMurry.  He dropped a note introducing a book he wrote called "It's Not About The Fish".  Intrigue by the title and after looking at his website, I decided to order a copy.  Arriving on Monday, I just finished reading it today and it is purely delightful.  It is amazing how our experiences and philosophies are the very similar.  Although the book is about his experiences fly fishing, they apply to many experiences we have all had.  If you are interested in checking out Bryan's book you can see it at http://www.bryanmcmurry.com/.   

Bryan's fly fishing stories bring back a few memories of flyfishing in Alaska.  In 2002 we hiked over 6.5 miles up a well marked trail to Crescent Lake, south of Quartz Creek along the Sterling Highway.  Crescent Lake is well known for it's grayling, some being trophy size, and having never caught one, we were intrigued to have a chance at this unusual fish.  It took us about 2.5 hours to hike up to the lake outlet through a simply beautiful valley along Crescent Creek, which was rushing to meet Quartz Creek.  The hike brought us to the 2500 foot elevation through well documented bear country.  Making plenty of noise going up and down, I suspect the bears were focused on the salmon run going on at the Russian River as well Quartz Creek.  It still was pretty nerve racking.  We were disappointed to discover the grayling were not even close to the 16 inch range touted in all of the books and reference literature.  The biggest we caught could not have been more than 8 inches.  Still, the grayling is a beautiful fish with the sail like dorsal fin and the metallic platinum/rainbow colors. 

Our next fly fishing adventure in Alaska was in 2008 when we flew across the Cook Inlet to fish a remote small river called Polly Creek.   Hiring a charter airplane to drop us off on the beach we fished the first half mile of the river as it dumped into the Cool Inlet.  This promised to be a great place to ambush silvers as the came in on the high tide.  Because high tide was a good 8 hours away, we were relegated to fishing a few holes and the riffles between what was regarded as the honey hole, down to where the freshwater met the salt water.  It took about an hour to feel our way around the river and soon found the fish.  Here my brother Steve has a very nice Chum (or Dog) Salmon on his fly rod.  This was a very nice fish, maybe over 12 lbs however after about 15 minutes it snapped his line.  It was the prize hookup of the day. 

Having caught a few Humpy's that were sitting behind the rocks, we soon discovered the mother lode of Dolly Vardon trout.  These sea run trout follow the salmon runs into the streams and gorge themselves on the eggs of the spawning salmon that may end up free drifting in the current.  They are handsome fish with almost fluorescent orange spots and white lined fines, like a brook trout.  Locating them in a stretch of the river over 100 feet long, we used a pattern called the Egg Sucking Leech to fool quite a few Dolly's 14 to 20 inches long.  It was really fun to concentrate on our fly rod skills to catch another species found in Alaska.  If you notice, I have white tape on my glasses.  Prior to our plane ride, I had a pair of good Costa Del Mar interchangeable lens sunglasses.  Upon being dropped off I could not find my glasses, although I did have the replacement lenses.  Anyone who fishes these conditions know how important polarized glasses are for seeing fish.  Well, my brother Steve had a cheap pair of regular glasses as a spare so we removed the worthless lenses and using white tape from our first aid kit, taped in the polarized lenses.  Although not the prettiest, they did the job just fine and kept me in the game the rest of the day.  On the way back our pilot mentioned a pair of nice sunglasses that were left on the counter.  Not hearing it, it wasn't till the next day my cousins put 2 and 2 together and we went back to the Soldotna Airport to claim my long lost glasses. 

I am still healing and not as well as I would have expected or liked.  The Sportshow is this week and I look forward to seeing Ken and Judy Marlow from our Alaskan adventures as they are simply wonderful people.  Hopefully I can talk my brother into buying a nice boat this weekend!

2nd Week of Deer Camp

Jack and I finally got to our deer hunting destination last weekend up by his cabin near Hilman MN. Usually we have our stands up the week before opener but this year was kind of messed up for us. This weekend was special as the group was tasked with spreading a portion of Rich's ashes around his stand, which was his request. I decided that the Friday night steak supper tradition had to continue. Cosco is the place to buy steaks and I picked up 4 New York Strips at least an inch and a half thick. Using the same recipe, marinate the steaks in Tabasco sauce, hot buffalo wing sauce, and hot salsa, they turned out marvelous as always. Along with a nice large baked potato and sauteed mushrooms with onions, we were all stuffed by the end of the meal.

Because my stand was not officially up, I hunted out of Jack's stand for most the weekend. The trails through the swamp have gotten pretty wet and mucky. Borrowing an old trick from my cousin Greg I donned hip waiters, carrying my bibs in my backpack, pack boots in a garbage bag, and gun in tow, I would finish dressing at the stand. I could leave my boots and bibs in a garbage bag over night so the load back would be easier. Half way across the swamp my right boot stuck in the mud and the momentum of my load kept going forward. So much for staying dry! Lucky the day was in the low 50's and I stayed pretty warm. I am a guy that likes to stay out in the field all day, breaking for lunch around noon. My meal of choice are military MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) and they are not bad. Saturday's menu was meat loaf and gravy, mashed potato's, crackers with grape jelly, chocolate chip cookies, cocoa drink, and a couple of Tootsie Rolls. They come with a meal heater that when water is added gets hot enough to heat both the meatloaf and potatoes to a comfortable temperature. Although I ate well, the deer did not cooperate very well. There is a lot of standing corn in the area and I am sure the deer are well aware of this. Reports of an eleven pointer shot just across the road confirmed the big buck sightings earlier in the week. The weekend ended as Rich's brother Bobby, Jack, Brett and his son Trent, and myself trudged to the center stand to say a final tribute to our friend. Spreading Rich's ashes to the four corners of his life, we said our final goodbyes.

The albino buck that Brett shot last Monday still is pretty amazing. He brought it to a taxidermist, who is going to make a nice shoulder mount out of the deer. Brett gave me some more pictures and I decided to post another one of this beautiful animal. Notice how light the hoofs are. Although they are very pretty, albino deer seldom live more than 2 years as the lack of pigment makes them easy targets for predators and the sun's ultraviolet rays take a toll on their eyesight and many eventually go blind.

The most unusual story sent to me this week was the nice buck my friend Scott Semingson bagged. This massive 12 pointer was taken by Scott in Buffalo County, Wisconsin. I am sure Scott would have preferred to have this next week during the real hunting season as he nailed this trophy with his car. According to his brother Rick, this is compensation for about $6000 worth of damage to his vehicle. I guess its a dandy any way you look at it.

This week I may try my luck hunting in Wisconsin. It is suppose to be quite warm this weekend again and might prove more successful than my Minnesota hunt. I was in Denver this week and caught a dandy cold so we will have to see. On a side note my good friend Jeff King, of Alaska fame has finally joined the blog world. I have been suggesting he try it as his life is very interesting living and working on the Kenai River. His blog, http://www.mile14.blogspot.com/ references his location on the Kenai at Mile 14, measured from where the river meets the Cook Inlet. Jeff is quite the philosopher and writer. He is a legendary guide on the river with his business King's Budget Salmon Charters, and I look forward to keeping up with his adventures. Written today, Jeff's second post gives the real sense of being there with him. His e-mail invite stated it was already -15 below zero yesterday! It's interesting as when it's cold in Alaska, Minnesota is warm and visa versa. We could use alittle of the cold here to get that hard water fishing going. I invite you to check in with Jeff often, you will not be disappointed.

Missing Alaska

It was a slow year for the kings, the reds returned in good numbers, 100 pound halibut are still being caught, and the silvers started showing up a week ago. Those weekly fishing reports from the Alaskan Fish and Game site are painful reminders of what being stuck in Minnesota is like this time of year. This is our leap year, otherwise we would be relaxing somewhere on the Kenai, enjoying the cool weather and an Alaskan Amber. 2 years ago their tourist motto was simple: Alaska, Before You Die! and could not agree more. To celebrate our non-trip this year I decided to enjoy a piece of grilled salmon and look through some of our pictures of the previous trips. These are all from our first real fishing trip in 2002. Our group consisted of my brother Steve, Cousin Greg, his friend Bob Bakken, and myself. Our itinerary started in Homer with 2 days of halibut fishing with a day allowance for bad weather (which is more common in August) Sure enough we did get blown off the ocean after an hours ride out only to turn around. Although disappointed, I am glad the Captain was looking out after our best interests. The rest of the week consisted of 4 days on the Kenai with a half a day hiking 6.5 miles up to a remote grayling lake. Not one of us had caught a grayling before and agreed it could be a great way to spend the afternoon. The hike was on a well used trail to Crescent Lake, about 2500 feet above the Kenai. We were warned that the area has Grizzlies and it was quite comical to see 4 grown men walking 6 miles singing Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go. That probably scared the bears more than anything! After 2 1/2 hours of hiking we finally arrived at the lake outlet. To our surprise there was a young couple who biked the trail and had their 6 month old baby with them. So much for our great accomplishment! We found the grayling in Crescent Creek at the outlet of the lake. The water was gin clear and after about a hour we finally found the fish. Stories of 16 inch fish were soon dashed by a constant hooking of 6 - 8 inch fish. They were everywhere and all out of the same mold. Here I am fly fishing for those monster fish! The scenery was simply breathtaking as we hiked along the foaming Crescent Creek as it raced towards the Kenai.

Having arranged the use of a friends boat, the first night we pulled it to Stewart's Landing owned by our good friend Jeff King of Kings budget Charters. Arriving at his "office" with boat in tow, we asked about landing and fishing the area. His first reaction was, "you guys got a boat, don't you have a trip booked with me tomorrow." I think his expectation was that we would also cancel our trip. We would have none of that and explained we booked the trip in January and have no intention on breaking our date. I got the impression that he was impressed with our attitude and proceeded to show us where to fish, how to fish, gave us an anchor, and a few other tips. Doing exactly what he told us, we had our first and still probably our best Kenai experience. The silvers were in thick and gave us quite a show. Jeff was spot on in his description of where these magnificent salmon hold in the river. The next day the guide we were schedule with loaded us into his boat and anchored in the exact same position we were in the night before. Talking to our guide Keith, I learned he was from Brainerd MN and we had much in common, especially Mille Lacs. Well, without saying a word we started the day where we left off the night before. Keith was netting and unhooking for a hour straight. Finally he exclaimed, " Geez guys, I don't feel like I am doing much more than netting your fish instead of guiding". We laughed and told him Jeff had us anchored the night before exactly where you are now. "So you are the guys he said did well last night!!!" To make him feel more useful we asked for a ride downstream to show us similar hot spots and he was more than happy to assist. In less than 2 hours we had caught at least 24 silvers, keeping our limit of 8, and back at the landing in 3. Although we could have done as well ourselves, we gave Keith an $80 tip for his efforts and river tour. The guide trip and tip were some of the best money we spent. The first picture is me holding a very nice silver caught in our "Honeyhole". The next picture is my brother Steve holding another nice silver just served up by our expert netman Cousin Greg.

These trips have been made more enjoyable by the help of a number of people like Jeff King, Ken and Judy Marlow, Mickey, and my family. We had learned that fresh sweet corn on the cob is as good as gold and brought a couple of coolers with. It was one of the best things we did as it solidified our relationship with the locals. The year before I bought my 2001 Ranger from Frankie Dusenka. His brother Brad spent a month every year in Soldotna and had a 16 foot Lund with a 35 hp motor (max allowed on the Kenai) at a friends house in Sterling. He insisted we use the boat and gained the fishing freedom few visitors experience. All of our trips have been memorable however the trip in 2002 marked the beginning of a better understanding of the Alaskan fishing experience. If you are looking for more interesting information on Alaska please check my links on the left side. We are busy planning our 2010 trip and hope to have everything set by the end of December. As for fishing this week............well I spent 2 days helping my brother-in-law who is now in home hospice. Sometimes there are more important things than fishing. I did head to the River for a couple of hours Sunday night only to watch the water flow by. Hopefully Mille Lacs is in the cards for this coming weekend.