Posted by: Tod Osier
Alaska trip, some fishing, some hunting.... - 09/13/13 02:52 PM
I seldom post fishing stuff here and mostly post on the hunting forum (mostly since I don’t fish a lot in CT). I figured I’d put this up here since folks would probably find it interesting.
My wife and I have been wanting to do a trip to AK and last year on our trip home from Wyoming, we decided it was time. Our son is 6 this year and we felt like he was ready. I drove the truck and camper with the dogs and Jen and Gus flew to Fairbanks. Driving up was 4300 miles from CT to AK and taking it leisurely, it took 8 days (7 on the way back).
Once Jen and Gus got in to Fairbanks we loaded up with supplies and headed South. We stopped by the Klutina River for a couple days to fish for Red Salmon. We caught the tail end of a big push of Reds and although the fishing wasn’t the best, it did get us a chance to hone our technique for later in the trip, not to mention stocking up on some great eats. The Klutina River reds are one of the runs that make up the Copper River Sockeye run. The fish were just a touch blushed (not perfectly bright from the ocean), but their quality as far as table fare was beyond excellent. I will say that these fish are also the wormiest fish I’ve ever seen (gut cavity worms, not meat worms), so next time you have a nice piece of Copper River Sockeye, remember that .
My first Klutina Red (Jen’s was actually first, but we don’t have a picture, hers was also bigger).
First bag of fillets – I never got over the color of the flesh when filleting. Growing up we used to catch a lot of 4-8 pound Lake Trout at my parent’s cottage on Cayuga Lake in NY – I’ve cleaned a whole of Lakers that size and these reds were exactly that size and shape, so I was almost on autopilot filleting, but pull the fillet off and every time it was - WOW! can a fish fillet really be that color?
From there we visited McCarthy, AK. On the way we got to watch the personal use and subsistence fishery associated with the Copper River Sockeye run and that was pretty cool.
Personal use and subsistence fisheries (and hunts) were a new thing to me and it was cool to learn about them and see some of it in person. In this case the personal use fishery is open to any AK resident, they can use a net of specified size and there is a seasonal limit as well as extra fish that can be taken based on the number of family members – for this fishery I think it was 25 fish for head of household, plus 5 for each additional family member (don’t quote me, but that is close). There are some crazy deals, especially subsistence fishing and hunting for non-natives on Federal lands (including National Parks) but in my understanding you have to be a local resident (like live in this nearby town to be able to hunt this National Park).
Here is a shot of some personal use dipnetters fishing the Copper River, there were natives dipnetting nearby as well as a large number of native fish wheels further up the river.
Speaking of dipnetters…. I love signs like this, but hate those damn cooler-draining dipnetters….
Native fish wheel along the Copper River. The current makes the wheel spin and scoop the fish and then upon rotation out of the water the fish is dropped and slides into a basket.
Scenery shot of the River.
We planned to visit the Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve. Nice National Park, lots of cool mountains to look at and nice rocks. To get to the park you have to drive the McCarthy Road, which is a dirt road on an old railroad bed. Road is pretty nice these days and we saw a load of nice wildlife along the road.
Black bear sow with a pair of tiny cubs crossed the road right in front of us. One of the cubs had a hard time making it up the bank and ended climbing 3’ up the tree. Momma was watching from the thicker cover.
Nice Bull Moose feeding in a pond – you can just see the antlers in the pic. Lots of waterfowl breeding in the ponds here tooo…
Copper ore processing facilities in the Park.
From there we headed for a few weeks to the Kenai Peninsula. We camped in Seward, the Russian River, Anchor River and then Homer. We did a fair bit of fishing there and it was great to see Salmon in all their forms.
We hiked out to Tonsina Point South of Seward, not a bad view of Resurrection Bay.
Spawning Chum Salmon along Tonsina Creek.
I went out on a combo Halibut and Silver salmon charter, which means fishing for chicken Halibut and mooching for Silvers. I booked late and went with a top notch operation, just wish I could have got on a Halibut only charter to catch a big one.
Couple chicken Halibut.
Nice Silver.
We hiked up Exit Glacier and that was a pretty neat experience. We were able to borrow crampons for Jen and I, but couldn’t get kid-sized, so I made hardware store crampons for him – he didn’t slide off the glacier or into a crevasse, so I guess they worked.
Gus demonstrating his gold panning technique on Resurrection Creek near Hope, AK. He actually just sloshes the water around in the pan, but he does look good doing it .
We fished the Kenai River and Russian River Runs for a few days and hit the timing just right for us. We were at the early part of the run and there were plenty of bright fish and the number of fishermen was not too bad. By the time we left the number of people fishing had doubled and over the course of the next week there were a lot more people coming in to fish.
My first limit of Reds. Photo was taken at 11pm, or so – the light all night thing is pretty great.
Small brown bear that was hanging around the lower Russian River. We had seen him eating salmon carcasses earlier in the day, but when I was on my way home at midnight he stood up on his hind legs from out of the weeds riverside. He wasn’t close enough to hit with the tip of my fishing rod, but was close, say 15 yards. He was gone so quick that I didn’t have enough time to get nervous.
Nice pile of fish from the confluence of the Russian River and the Kenai.
Gus had hooked a couple fish the first day (with some help), but wasn’t able to land anything, so the goal the next day was to get him his limit of Reds. Given the current, the depth of the water, the weight of the gear and the strength of the fish, he needed some help, but he did great.
Gus with his biggest Red Salmon, he was pretty excited….
We hiked up to the Russian River Falls and Lower Russian Lake to see the accumulation of Red Salmon trying to make it up to the lake for spawning.
Salmon stacked up below the falls.
Salmon at the lower portion of the lake after having made it above the falls…
This is a moose that we saw swimming across the Kenai River. We stopped checked it out swimming in the river and then got back in the truck and headed out. He ended up crossing the road right in front of the truck a mile or so down the road.
From the Russian River we headed to the Anchor River area and spent a few days fishing and exploring the area.
This area has a very cool system for boat launching that I’ve heard about for years and was excited to see. They use tractors (look like log skidders to me) to launch the boats. There is a large tidal fluctuation and there are no harbors in the area to build significant boat launches for big boats, so they use the tractor launch. Here is the fee is $50 for a launch, parking and pick up. The tractors can get way out there to launch and retrieve.
Bayliner in AK? At least it is a good look at the tractor.
There were some fish in the lower Anchor River, some nice dime bright Pink Salmon, which ate well fresh. Neatest was the bycatch, these Starry Founder would hit you up in the fresh water inside the river. Always neat to catch something different. I wish I’d eaten one, but they are supposed to be a little soft and I had plenty of salmon in the fridge.
In Homer we were between salmon runs, but the Pollock fishing was outstanding. To do it again, I would have kept a bunch for chowder, but I was plenty saturated with fish cleaning at that point.
Gus was more interested in starfish than Pollock fishing….
From there we worked on getting gear ready for our float trip and headed North to the North Slope of the Brooks Range. Both Jen and I had always wanted to visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, so we planned a float trip Caribou hunting and fishing down one of the rivers that flows North out of the Brooks Range into the Arctic Ocean. One neat thing about the North Slope is the drive there, the road is not all that bad and it travels over 400 miles through the Boreal Forest, the Brooks Range and then the Arctic Tundra all the way to the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean). The road has a bad reputation for being tough on vehicles, but we had a good setup, 2 spares for truck and camper and good heavy duty tires all around. We saw only one truck with a flat and a truck with a truck camper that sheared his lugs off and needed a 200 mile tow to Fairbanks (apparently if you drive several hundred miles on rough road with loose lug nuts that is what happens).
Camp on the bluffs over the Yukon River.
Even though it was mid-August, you could really feel Fall in the air as we moved North. The Fireweed was done, which is a sure sign Fall is coming.
This is heading up into the Brooks Range.
We stopped and ate Halibut ceviche for lunch at Atigun Pass at 4,800 feet, which is WAY above tree line this far North.
Looking North at the last fingers of the Brooks Range after coming over the pass, we would hunt somewhere in there to the far right.
Last of the Bluffs before they give way to the coastal plain.
We made it to the Arctic Ocean.
For the raft trip, we were able to get all of our gear out in 2 650# flights. This included Jen, Gus, I, Pete and Skeet as well as raft and gear.
The dogs did really well (I take them everywhere), it was funny to see their faces on the take-off. A clear WTF?!?! moment for them. Once we leveled off they just calmly watched out the window like in the truck.
This is the River we floated, this is pretty much the most braided part, some of it was a single channel, but most was somewhat braided.
Coming into the mountains.
to be continued....
My wife and I have been wanting to do a trip to AK and last year on our trip home from Wyoming, we decided it was time. Our son is 6 this year and we felt like he was ready. I drove the truck and camper with the dogs and Jen and Gus flew to Fairbanks. Driving up was 4300 miles from CT to AK and taking it leisurely, it took 8 days (7 on the way back).
Once Jen and Gus got in to Fairbanks we loaded up with supplies and headed South. We stopped by the Klutina River for a couple days to fish for Red Salmon. We caught the tail end of a big push of Reds and although the fishing wasn’t the best, it did get us a chance to hone our technique for later in the trip, not to mention stocking up on some great eats. The Klutina River reds are one of the runs that make up the Copper River Sockeye run. The fish were just a touch blushed (not perfectly bright from the ocean), but their quality as far as table fare was beyond excellent. I will say that these fish are also the wormiest fish I’ve ever seen (gut cavity worms, not meat worms), so next time you have a nice piece of Copper River Sockeye, remember that .
My first Klutina Red (Jen’s was actually first, but we don’t have a picture, hers was also bigger).
First bag of fillets – I never got over the color of the flesh when filleting. Growing up we used to catch a lot of 4-8 pound Lake Trout at my parent’s cottage on Cayuga Lake in NY – I’ve cleaned a whole of Lakers that size and these reds were exactly that size and shape, so I was almost on autopilot filleting, but pull the fillet off and every time it was - WOW! can a fish fillet really be that color?
From there we visited McCarthy, AK. On the way we got to watch the personal use and subsistence fishery associated with the Copper River Sockeye run and that was pretty cool.
Personal use and subsistence fisheries (and hunts) were a new thing to me and it was cool to learn about them and see some of it in person. In this case the personal use fishery is open to any AK resident, they can use a net of specified size and there is a seasonal limit as well as extra fish that can be taken based on the number of family members – for this fishery I think it was 25 fish for head of household, plus 5 for each additional family member (don’t quote me, but that is close). There are some crazy deals, especially subsistence fishing and hunting for non-natives on Federal lands (including National Parks) but in my understanding you have to be a local resident (like live in this nearby town to be able to hunt this National Park).
Here is a shot of some personal use dipnetters fishing the Copper River, there were natives dipnetting nearby as well as a large number of native fish wheels further up the river.
Speaking of dipnetters…. I love signs like this, but hate those damn cooler-draining dipnetters….
Native fish wheel along the Copper River. The current makes the wheel spin and scoop the fish and then upon rotation out of the water the fish is dropped and slides into a basket.
Scenery shot of the River.
We planned to visit the Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve. Nice National Park, lots of cool mountains to look at and nice rocks. To get to the park you have to drive the McCarthy Road, which is a dirt road on an old railroad bed. Road is pretty nice these days and we saw a load of nice wildlife along the road.
Black bear sow with a pair of tiny cubs crossed the road right in front of us. One of the cubs had a hard time making it up the bank and ended climbing 3’ up the tree. Momma was watching from the thicker cover.
Nice Bull Moose feeding in a pond – you can just see the antlers in the pic. Lots of waterfowl breeding in the ponds here tooo…
Copper ore processing facilities in the Park.
From there we headed for a few weeks to the Kenai Peninsula. We camped in Seward, the Russian River, Anchor River and then Homer. We did a fair bit of fishing there and it was great to see Salmon in all their forms.
We hiked out to Tonsina Point South of Seward, not a bad view of Resurrection Bay.
Spawning Chum Salmon along Tonsina Creek.
I went out on a combo Halibut and Silver salmon charter, which means fishing for chicken Halibut and mooching for Silvers. I booked late and went with a top notch operation, just wish I could have got on a Halibut only charter to catch a big one.
Couple chicken Halibut.
Nice Silver.
We hiked up Exit Glacier and that was a pretty neat experience. We were able to borrow crampons for Jen and I, but couldn’t get kid-sized, so I made hardware store crampons for him – he didn’t slide off the glacier or into a crevasse, so I guess they worked.
Gus demonstrating his gold panning technique on Resurrection Creek near Hope, AK. He actually just sloshes the water around in the pan, but he does look good doing it .
We fished the Kenai River and Russian River Runs for a few days and hit the timing just right for us. We were at the early part of the run and there were plenty of bright fish and the number of fishermen was not too bad. By the time we left the number of people fishing had doubled and over the course of the next week there were a lot more people coming in to fish.
My first limit of Reds. Photo was taken at 11pm, or so – the light all night thing is pretty great.
Small brown bear that was hanging around the lower Russian River. We had seen him eating salmon carcasses earlier in the day, but when I was on my way home at midnight he stood up on his hind legs from out of the weeds riverside. He wasn’t close enough to hit with the tip of my fishing rod, but was close, say 15 yards. He was gone so quick that I didn’t have enough time to get nervous.
Nice pile of fish from the confluence of the Russian River and the Kenai.
Gus had hooked a couple fish the first day (with some help), but wasn’t able to land anything, so the goal the next day was to get him his limit of Reds. Given the current, the depth of the water, the weight of the gear and the strength of the fish, he needed some help, but he did great.
Gus with his biggest Red Salmon, he was pretty excited….
We hiked up to the Russian River Falls and Lower Russian Lake to see the accumulation of Red Salmon trying to make it up to the lake for spawning.
Salmon stacked up below the falls.
Salmon at the lower portion of the lake after having made it above the falls…
This is a moose that we saw swimming across the Kenai River. We stopped checked it out swimming in the river and then got back in the truck and headed out. He ended up crossing the road right in front of the truck a mile or so down the road.
From the Russian River we headed to the Anchor River area and spent a few days fishing and exploring the area.
This area has a very cool system for boat launching that I’ve heard about for years and was excited to see. They use tractors (look like log skidders to me) to launch the boats. There is a large tidal fluctuation and there are no harbors in the area to build significant boat launches for big boats, so they use the tractor launch. Here is the fee is $50 for a launch, parking and pick up. The tractors can get way out there to launch and retrieve.
Bayliner in AK? At least it is a good look at the tractor.
There were some fish in the lower Anchor River, some nice dime bright Pink Salmon, which ate well fresh. Neatest was the bycatch, these Starry Founder would hit you up in the fresh water inside the river. Always neat to catch something different. I wish I’d eaten one, but they are supposed to be a little soft and I had plenty of salmon in the fridge.
In Homer we were between salmon runs, but the Pollock fishing was outstanding. To do it again, I would have kept a bunch for chowder, but I was plenty saturated with fish cleaning at that point.
Gus was more interested in starfish than Pollock fishing….
From there we worked on getting gear ready for our float trip and headed North to the North Slope of the Brooks Range. Both Jen and I had always wanted to visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, so we planned a float trip Caribou hunting and fishing down one of the rivers that flows North out of the Brooks Range into the Arctic Ocean. One neat thing about the North Slope is the drive there, the road is not all that bad and it travels over 400 miles through the Boreal Forest, the Brooks Range and then the Arctic Tundra all the way to the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean). The road has a bad reputation for being tough on vehicles, but we had a good setup, 2 spares for truck and camper and good heavy duty tires all around. We saw only one truck with a flat and a truck with a truck camper that sheared his lugs off and needed a 200 mile tow to Fairbanks (apparently if you drive several hundred miles on rough road with loose lug nuts that is what happens).
Camp on the bluffs over the Yukon River.
Even though it was mid-August, you could really feel Fall in the air as we moved North. The Fireweed was done, which is a sure sign Fall is coming.
This is heading up into the Brooks Range.
We stopped and ate Halibut ceviche for lunch at Atigun Pass at 4,800 feet, which is WAY above tree line this far North.
Looking North at the last fingers of the Brooks Range after coming over the pass, we would hunt somewhere in there to the far right.
Last of the Bluffs before they give way to the coastal plain.
We made it to the Arctic Ocean.
For the raft trip, we were able to get all of our gear out in 2 650# flights. This included Jen, Gus, I, Pete and Skeet as well as raft and gear.
The dogs did really well (I take them everywhere), it was funny to see their faces on the take-off. A clear WTF?!?! moment for them. Once we leveled off they just calmly watched out the window like in the truck.
This is the River we floated, this is pretty much the most braided part, some of it was a single channel, but most was somewhat braided.
Coming into the mountains.
to be continued....
) Great post, thanks!
and when we went on the float, we dropped it in Fairbanks for 2 weeks. People in AK expect to help on stuff like that since meat and fish are so important up there. I'm confident that you could just drive down the road and randomly knock on doors and if not the first person, but the second would offer either freezer space or space to plug a freezer in. On the drive back, I had a couple hundred pounds of meat and fish in it, so it had a large thermal mass keeping it chilled. I ran it on the generator a few hours per day. When it was hot in the lower 48 I plugged it in overnight to make sure it was really cold.
