Alaska Day #7 Brooks Falls

Today we were scheduled to return to fish for King Salmon on the Nushagak River. However the weather report today at the Nushagak was dense fog meaning that we would run the risk of being able to land on the river but not take off. None of the float planes have any kind of radar notification system to let them know if another aircraft is nearby - everything is done visually by the pilot so flying in fog is very dangerous - especially in an area where lots of aircraft are present. So the general rule is that if the pilot can't see for at least a mile they don't fly. The prospect of having to stay overnight at "King Camp" and missing our flights home wasn't met with much enthusiasm so we went to plan B which was to go to Brooks Falls in the Katmai National Park.

Brooks Falls is a famous place in Alaska because it is where bears come to catch Sockeye Salmon as they travel up the Brooks River. Almost any picture you have ever seen of bears catching salmon - especially on a river or near a waterfall has been taken at Brooks Falls or the Brooks River. The falls are located in the Katmai National Park and the only way to get there is a 35 mile boat ride up the Brooks River from the ocean or by a float plane. Most people come by plane - in fact I have have included a photo of the airplane "parking lot". The cost for a round trip ticket to Brooks Falls on a charter float plane from Anchorage and back is around $600 a person so we felt quite fortunate to have seen the park and the bears for no additional cost.

We saw literally 25-30 bears - some quite close up. Before we could enter the park we had to watch a video telling us about the dangers of bears and how to act around them. However after watching them for awhile and being close to them they started to look more like pets - or big loveable teddy bears. However every once in a while we would see a bear with a wound from a fight - something that happens quite often as the bears fight for food or their favorite spot on the river. In fact when we first got to the park we heard several bears growling at each other - it was pretty intense.

After bear watching for several hours we jumped back into our float plane and flew back to the lodge and started packing for the return trip home - a grueling all nighter on the "red eye" from Anchorage to SLC. One thing I will miss from this trip is having an airplane always at my disposal. It has been fun being able to travel by private plane wherever we want whenever we want.

Enjoy the photos

Alaska Day #6

Today J.J. and I went back to the Nushagak River to fish for King Salmon. It was very cold and rained all day long. We got very wet and tried to stay warm. Both of us were wearing multiple layers of coats, sweatshirts, rain gear and gloves and even with all that the cold cut through us like a knife. We caught about 12 fish and kept 5 of them but our biggest fish was only about 15 pounds. We are only allowed to take two King Salmon per day - and one of them has to be smaller than 28 inches so it becomes a bit of a quessing game which fish to keep. Everyone was very surprised when one of the fish I caught was a Pike and not a salmon. Pikes are usually found in the lakes and not streams so this catch was kind of unusual. Pikes have very sharp teeth and our guide cut his finger as he handed me the fish for the picture. We put the Pike back in the river for someone else to catch. We are returning tomorrow to fish for salmon again - hopefully it will be warmer and we will catch bigger fish.

One of the things that has been difficult for everyone is the fact that it never gets dark at night. I haven't seen darkness since we left Los Angeles last week. I now understand why Alaska is known as the land of the midnight sun and have a greater appreciation for what Kyle had to deal with in Russia. The picture of the lake shown above was taken at 11:00 at night. It gets a little darker around 3:00 in the morning but not by much. And then by 5:00 in the morning it is sunny again. It will actually be strange to see a dark sky, the moon and stars again.

After we return from fishing tomorrow we will have about 1/2 hour to shower and change and then jump on the float planes for a short 15 minute ride to Iliamna - a very small town on the banks of Lake Iliamna. There we will catch a nine seater twin engine charter plane for a 90 minute flight back to Anchorage. In Anchorage we will catch a taxi to go to the Anchorage International Airport and wait for our flight home which doesn't leave until 1:00 in the morning. We have a direct flight back to SLC which will arrive Saturday morning at 7:30. Hopefully we can get some sleep on the plane.

All in all I have to say that this trip to Alaska has been one amazing experience that I will never forget. The country is unbelievably beautiful and the fishing experience is really a once in a lifetime adventure. However for me the best part was being able to hang out with J.J. for a whole week. I will forever be thankful for his kindness to bring me along for the ride. Thanks J.J. for giving me these wonderful memories. I know it will be something we will talk about for the rest of our lives.

Enjoy the photos

Alaska Day #5

Today our whole group jumped into the lodge's two beavers (float planes) and flew to Lake Kijik (key-jick), a beautiful glacier lake that feeds into the Kijik River. This area is one of the few places in the world where artic graylings can be caught. A grayling is usually about the size of a rainbow trout. The Kijik River was full of graylings. There were so many that as we stood in the stream to fish we could see them all around us. Altogether our group caught over 150 fish. J.J. was "en fuego" showing his Fryer roots. He alone caught over 30 fish and had another 15 or more on his hook that got away. Today the sun came out so we could finally fish without wearing a coat. However the water was very cold and we constantly had to get out of the water in order for our feet to get warm even though we were wearing two wool socks in a 1/2 inch neoprene sock in a rubber boot.

In order to get to the spot on the river where the fish were located we had to hike on a bear trail along the banks of the Kijik River. The trail was littered with fish skeletons and bear poop. We walked through grass that was about 4 feet high and knowing that there were bears in the area made the hike a little bit spooky. We made lots of noise and fortunately we didn't see a bear. We do have bears come into our camp area almost every night. I haven't seen them but some of the others in our group have - as close as 20 feet away.

One of the more interesting parts of this trip is flying on the float planes every day. They are a blast to ride in and the scenery is very beautiful. Dropping down over a mountain onto a lake or a river in what appears to your senses to be a crash landing is quite thrilling. I have included some photos of the planes and a little bit of what we see when we are airborne.

Alaska Day #4

Today J.J. and I along with three other people in our group jumped in one of our float planes (they are called "beavers") and flew back to the Nushagak River (about 100 miles in the air) to fish for king salmon. At this time of year over 300,000 king salmon enter the Nushagak from the ocean to swim upstream to the spot where they were born to lay their eggs - some will swim as far as 400 miles. All of them will lay their eggs and then die if they don't become food for people or animals before they make it to their birthplace.

In addition to King Salmon there are other types of salmon in the river heading upstream to spawn. About two-thirds of the salmon we catch are king salmon - the rest are known as chum salmon. Both are very good to eat. The king salmon are more prized because they are generally much bigger. There is a limit to how many fish we can catch. We are allowed to keep two king salmon per day but one must be smaller than 30 inches, and we can keep 5 chum salmon per day. Our one week fishing license limits us to four king salmon. Since we can only keep four we end up releasing a lot of kings if they are small in hopes to catch a bigger one. If we have already caught our limit and then catch a big one we would have to let him go. It becomes a guessing game trying to decide whether or not to keep a fish. We don't want to come home empty handed but we also want to land - and bring home a big fish.

We are fishing about 25 miles from where the river meets the ocean and many of the fish we catch have only been in fresh water for a day or less. A lot of the salmon will travel more than 20 miles per day. This is the only time of the year that the King Salmon enter the river.

The Nushagak River is about as wide as the Snake River in Jackson. Our pilot lands the beaver on the river right in front of what is known as "King Camp". This is where our three guides live. They live in tents on the river for about four weeks during the salmon run. They work with guests of the lodge from about 9:00 to 4:30 every day. When not guiding they do what they love to do most - fish. In about two weeks King Camp will be moved up the river about 100 miles for two weeks to meet up with the migrating salmon again. Flying on the beavers is an adventure in and of itself. Each plane can carry up to 7 people and are everyone's primary mode of transportation. The pilots can land and take off on very small areas - as long as it is water.

Today our group caught about 30 Salmon and we kept 10 of them. We didn't catch any big monsters like we did before but J.J. caught the biggest fish of the day again - a king salmon that was almost 3 feet long and weighed 20 pounds. The weather was overcast but slightly warmer. I only had to wear my long johns, wool socks, hiking pants, rain pants, turtleneck, wool shirt, sweatshirt, hat and gloves. I had two additional coats in my day pack that I didn't need today. So that was an improvement.

Fishing for salmon is very relaxing compared to fishing for rainbow trout on the streams. For the most part we just sit in the boat holding our fishing poles waiting for a strike. Sometimes it is hard not to fall asleep. We float downstream in what is known as "back trolling". The guide uses a trolling motor to push the boat upstream against the current to slow it down. It is like we are trying to use the motor to push us upstream against the current but losing the battle. By slowing the boat down our lures spin against the current and look like tasty morsels to the salmon.

Enjoy the photos.

Alaska Day #3

Today J.J. and I went fishing on the Copper River - a place designated as a blue ribbon trout stream. Only fly fishing is allowed and everything is catch and release. The only drawback today was that it was very cold and it rained most of the day. Fortunately it warmed up in the afternoon. We saw several bald eagles again today.

Together J.J. and I caught about 10 fish. We each caught several large fish - we both caught a rainbow trout that was between 23 and 24 inches and weighed around 4 pounds. That was pretty fun - especially with a fly rod. We both have sore arms and hands from casting. Obviously we haven't spent enough time developing our fishing muscles.

Enjoy the pictures

Alaska Day #2

Today J.J. and I along with four other people in our group flew on a float plane to the Nushagak River to fish for Salmon. Altogether we ended up catching about 15 fish that ranged from 10 to 30 pounds. J.J. was the big winner catching the trophy fish. His king salmon was 38 inches long and weighed 30 pounds.We brought back to the lodge over 50 pounds of fresh caught wild king salmon.

In addition to the fishing we saw at least 7 bald eagles, several moose - including two that swam acrossed the river near our boat, and a mother bear and her cubs. The flight from the lodge to the river took about an hour over the Alaskan Tundra, which was covered with animal trails. In about a month close to 1,000,000 Caribou will migrate through the area headed north for food.

Enjoy the photos.

Alaska Day #1

Today we traveled from Anchorage to Ilimana. The flight was very interesting in that we flew only at about 1000 feet through a mountain pass in the rain with mountains towering over us on both sides. Imagine flying up Big Cottonwood canyon - twisting and turning - with giant mountains on both sides. J.J. had a little trouble and filled a barf bag about two minutes before we landed in Iliamna.

Anchorage is an interesting town. It reminded me alot of West Valley. Most places were kind of run down and the people were all very working class and hardy. Imagine a town of people that look like they are welders or mechanics whose idea of a good time would be to ride a Harley and you have a snapshot of Anchorage. Needless to say it isn't a destination resort.

Everything outside of Anchorage however is just as beautiful as the pictures. Alaska is truly still an unclaimed frontier. The area we are staying is owned by the Alut Indians - about 200 live in Iliamna year round. It doesn't snow more than two or three feet here in the winter because it gets too cold to snow.

Enjoy the photos.

Alaska Travel Map

I have copied a map using Google Earth to show you where J.J. and I will be going for our Alaska trip. We fly to Anchorage on Friday afternoon arriving at midnight. On Saturday afternoon we take a Seaplane from Anchorage to a city on the Aleutian Islands called Iliamna. The people from the Rainbow River Lodge will then pick us up in their own small Seaplanes (six seaters) and take us to Lake Pike - about 200 miles from the nearest road.

Our First Post

Flori and I have started this blog so you can enjoy our adventures with us.