June AK trip report

[traveler]

Well, another great AK trip in the books:)

Happy to say that there wasn't a lot of changes in our 11 yr absensce. A few places changed hands, but reaslly not much more development....really happy to see that:)

We fished halibut twice, and my poor luck continued, luckily both my girls had "first timers" luck and landed a 50+ pounder. Those, along with our smaller ones made a nice mess of halibut to bring home.

We did a flyout with Talon air to the Wolverine, and although the bears weren't in full swing yet we saw a couple, limited out on reds, and had a great pilot who took us on a little flightseeing tour of the glacier on the way home.

We fished the Ressurection snag fishery in Seward 3 times, and it seemed to be winding down; I nailed my 6 fish limit the first night, only 2 the second night, and hung the skunk flag on day 3. There were fewer people each night as well, so I think we were pretty much at the end of the good run.

We were booked into Seward at the start, so we actually missed the good early peak at the Russian. By the time we got there they had just bumped the limit to 6, having reached the escapment. Should have been a good thing, but the fish slowed dramatically about the same time, and more people were fishing, and fishing longer, in response to the raised limit. That coupled with unusually high water made fishing tough, especially since I was fishing with my unexperienced ladies. They pretty much watched me fish, and I managed a couple each time out, so not too bad anyway.

All in all a really fun trip, and we came back with enought reds to can up a bunch, and a years worth of fresh halibut.

Already making plans for next year...

[redhooks]

Glad to hear you filled some coolers and saw some sights!

[live4chrome]

Traveler, how much is a trip to wolverine and who did you go through? Is it a wilderness experience or are there other people around. Been doing pretty good surfcasting. Picked up a 30 and 10 lber last time out.

[fivebucks]

Glad you had a good trip. Too bad the Russian died so fast. I was wondering what your timing was as I followed the posts on an AK forum. Somehow, someway my wife gave me the green light for another trip to AK so I will be up there the last week of July to floss some Reds again.

[traveler]

I'm just finished up the last canner load this morning, and i guess we did a little better than I thought on reds as I got 48 pints, should be able to make that last a year:)

Too bad, I have lots of airmiles and I was gonna see If I could talk my gracious, beautiful, brilliant wife (ya never know when she might sneak a peek at the forum, right?? if I could make a suicide run up the end of July to hammer a few more reds!

Your trip all set fivebucks? need a netman??

[traveler]

Dang it live4chrome, I meant to give you a call while I was there and plumb forgot, I'm sorry! We were kind of chasing our tails a bit trying to maximize our time and keep the girls interested:)

Check youtube for Wolverine creek and you'll see the setup...unfortunatly it's pretty busy, although of course in a beautiful wilderness setting. I do recommend it and it was great for my group, but I won't need to do it again...too many different (and wilder) flyout experiences to need to repeat. For a combo flight/fishing//bearviewing I think it was great.

We went with Talon air (slight discount for paying in advance, at least when we booked...265 a head I believe. They had the best price I found, but barely, and high adventure and alaska west also do the trip, probably others as well.

If you like silvers, our guide said his favorite trip is over to the Kustatan in August.

[fivebucks]

Trip is all set. Used my lovely wife's frequent flyer miles and presto - a week in Alaska. A friend has a cabin booked around Soldotna for our base and then just find public shore fishing with the masses. I just booked a Butt, Ling, Rockfish combo charter out of Seward and I'll hang out with a friend of mine that lives there. If you can make it up there and find a place to crash I will gladly let you net my fish Heck I would even net your fish too. July 24th can't come fast enough.

[live4chrome]

5bucks, I live in soldotna, and if you need or want someone to put you on fish I should (hopefully) have the lowdown on where to go, and maybe even beat the crowds always good to meet up with fellow Minnesotans.also been on a good shore halibut bite

[fivebucks]

Sounds good chrome. I used to live in Seward 20 years ago and fished the Kenai a bunch back then. I am always game to wet some yarn and find some new shore spots. I am going on a charter in Seward but a shore bit for butt sounds interesting. I wonder if that bite stays on when the dipnetters hit the beaches. PM me your contact info and I will plug it into my phone and we will hope for the best. I know I will be busy visiting friends but I would think some time will free up when I am in Soldotna.

[Xplorer]

traveler,

Good to see you had a great trip. Just got my in-laws out the door last saturday on their way to spend 2 months in Soldotna. They took their pickup-camper and are staying at one of the campgrounds in town on the river. He will fish reds for July and then switch over to silvers for August. Also plans to do a Halibut trip somewhere in there and fly it home to us to keep frozen for them til they return (and yes, there is a freezer rental fee he is aware of )

My last trip up was in 2000, so I'm hoping that the next time they go up I and Junior can fly up for a couple weeks and fish with them.

See ya on Red sometime!! Chris

[traveler]

That'll be me in a few short years:) 1st summer after I retire it will be a couple months in a camper up there...no doubt!

Only 5 months till ice time:)