Alaska Marine Highway System: Part 1 Haines

As many of you know, Jane and I spend part of our winter working at sport shows promoting our business. The reality of working the sport show circuit is that we talk about all of Alaska and not just what we do. So, after years of "acting like experts" about Southeast Alaska and the Inside Passage we thought it was high time that we actually visited this area of the state. There are two ways to visit this part of Alaska: by plane or by boat. We decided to drive our vehicle to Haines, Alaska and get on a ferry and travel the Alaska Marine Highway System. The Alaska Marine Highway System has 11 vessels that travel over 3500 nautical miles. On an annual basis the ferry's accomodate over 300,000 passengers and 100,000 vehicles. Pictured above is the is M/V LeConte which we boarded for a 4 hour ride to Juneau. The vessel can accomodate 300 passengers and 34 vehicles.

We purposely arrived in Haines several hours before departure so we could explore. All I can say is what a great little town. We aren't the only one's who think that way. The writers of Outside magazine ranks Haines among the ten most desirable small towns in America.

I thought the Kenai Peninsula had quite a few bald eagles but the Chilkat Valley (Haines) has the largest congregation of bald eagles in the world. I don't know who counts the eagles but the population is estimated to be 3,500.

We stopped at the Haines Visitor Center to find out what else we should see while we were in town and we were told if we wanted to see brown bears we needed to drive down to the end of the road to Chilkoot Lake/River. I'm sure glad we did.

There were three brown bears working on the last few remaining chum salmon entering the river. It could easily be their last meal before a long winter of hibernation.

Just to give you an idea of how close we could view these bears, that's Jane's elbow in the upper left corner of the photo. This is the closest that either one of us has been to a brown bear and I'm not sure I'd want to be any closer.

After our bear viewing we boarded the M/V LeConte for a short 4 hour trip to Juneau. In my next post I will tell you about our time in Juneau.

The Dock is In

People often ask how we take our dock out. It's pretty simple. Wait for a really large tide, disconnect the floating section from the permanant wood section and then float it up to higher ground and let it sit there until spring. It takes all of five minutes to do this.
This is what the wood dock looks like when there's a 25 foot tide. As you can see, half of it is underwater.
And, this is what the front yard looks like when we experience a 25 foot tide. Simply amazing.

Final Fish Report--Week Ending 10/2/11

Well, the 2011 fishing season is officially over for me. I had a single trip this past week and the fishing was definitely on the slow side. Pictured above are Matt, Pat, Mike and Jake. Even though the weather and the fishing were marginal, their attitudes were definitely the highlight of the day for me. Thanks guys for ending my guiding season on such a positive note.

I did get a chance to go out and fish several times on my own this past week. Here's Jane posing proudly with a 15lb silver. On this particular day the weather was a bit cool but not raining. Jane asked if we could go out and see if there were any fish around. There were, we caught our limit, and the best part of the afternoon was the fact we were the only boat out on the lower river. It's times like these that make the Kenai River magical. I'm sad to see it end.....

Well, that's a wrap. You won't see a current Kenai River fishing report until May of 2012. Make sure to check the blog often because I plan to post on a weekly basis. Thanks for reading!

Fishing Report Week Ending 9/25/11

Part two of the Joe and Ron show. The beginning of the week the fishing remained hot but by Thursday the boat limit streak ended. I don't think that Joe and Ron seemed to mind having an off day and a half on the water. It's kind of hard to be upset with the fishing when the total silver catch for the both of them was 37. Joe summed it up well: you take what the river gives you. Indeed.....the Kenai was very generous to these two.

So, after struggling on Thursday I was a bit nervous about fishing Team ABC Seamless on Friday. It was me afterall that cancelled their trip a couple of weeks ago due to poor conditions and told them to come back down when the fishing improved. Talk about putting my neck on the line. Anyway, there's no doubt the old saying that "everyday is a new day" definitely held true for us. It was great morning of fishing as you can see on the faces of Tanner, Wally, Nate and Jeff.

The next day Wally opted out and perhaps that extra rod would have made a difference in getting the boat limit (I know Wally thinks that). We sure had plenty of opportunities to get all our fish but wound up being a couple short. I think 19 silvers boated for Team ABC Seamless over two days is pretty good fishing. Since Jeff limited out first both days I know he sure thinks so.

This last photo is for Tanner's mom and dad, Steve and Sherri Collette. It's hard having your son being so far away but after spending a couple of days in the boat with him I'm glad to report he's doing just fine. My guess is you'll have to come up to see him because I don't think he wants to leave any time soon.

Fishing Report Week Ending 9/18/11

Usually the first photo on the blog is a fish picture but it wasn't too hard for me to decide to use this one. This photo was taken Thursday at 7:00am and it's a silhouette of a golden eagle with the moon in the background. This is another great example of never knowing what you'll see on the Kenai.

So on to the important stuff. The silver salmon fishing this past week has been the most consistent of the whole season. There wasn't a day that the boat didn't limit out and usually it was in time for a hot breakfast. The photo above is Joe Schnitzler and Ron Perez with their limit.

Here's another photo of Joe and Ron with their fish. I could post more photos of these guys because they fished four days with me but I figure two is enough. Next week you'll see more photos from Team Joe & Ron because they have three trips booked next week.

A great morning with Team Polycom/ACS (the group photo was taken after I filleted two fish). This is the second year these guys have worked in a fishing trip on the Kenai and although it wasn't a pink year I think they had just as much fun if not more. They certainly liked the fact that they could keep three salmon apiece.

Finally, here are Matt and Phil with their catch. It was a cold morning but the fishing sure made us forget about the temperature. Ending the trip on a double didn't hurt either.

Fishing Report Week Ending 9/11/11

The beginning of the week the fishing was fantastic. However, by mid day on Wednesday the river took a turn for the worse. Rising water levels and reduced visibility forced me to make a decision and I chose to cancel my trips scheduled on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Luckily I was able to reschedule most people for later in the month, this is good, and the group that I couldn't I sent them to a friend who guides on the Kasilof River. The rain has not affected the Kasilof nearly as bad as the Kenai and it makes for a great second choice. On to the report.The top photo is Gwen's husband Billie. If you recall from a previous post the banana mojo seemed to keep the fish off of Billie's line. Well, it was a bit different this time. Billie and Gwen were on their way back from Kodiak and decided to fish another day on the Kenai, sans the bananas. It was a good choice. The photo above is Billie, Gwen, April and Duane.

Here are the last two fish caught this past week. Duane had a bite and set the hook. April grabbed her rod and as she was reeling in she said that she had one on too. Good thing I brought two landing nets because we needed them both. It sure was a great way to end the day (see you guys soon!).

If you're a regular follower of this blog you're probably getting sick of seeing these two posing with fish. They can't help it if they like to fish. As always, great fun in the boat with Dan and Mary Meyer. It's sad to see them go and next year can't come soon enough.

The week ahead should be better than the previous week. As I write the water levels are dropping and visibility is improving. I hope our biggest obstacle is keeping the seals away from our fish!

Fishing Report Week Ending 9/4/11

For most of the week the silver salmon fishing has been below average. Sunday, however, we were back to limiting out the boat. Hopefully, that will be an indicator for the the week ahead.

Pictured above are Kim, Taylor and Tanner Larson. I've known Kim for many years and he is good, good, friend of mine. He's been up to Alaska several times but this was the first time he was able to bring his kids with him. Fishing was a bit slow the day they were here but you would never know it by the smile on their faces.

Here's Tanner trying to get inside the mind of the fish. Good luck. Hey Tanner after fighting that fish I might want a refund for my tickets to the gun show! Actually, you did a nice job of reeling that fish in. Soon you'll be ready to tangle with a Kenai king salmon.

Here's the Beaver Creek All Star Team. Pictured from left to right is Duane, April, Mary, and Dan. Always a lot of fun to be in the boat with these guys.

Here's Judy "Nanook of the North" and her husband Bob posing with their catch. Judy had the hot seat two days in a row. I think it's her parka that made the difference.

I think the week ahead should better overall. The local fish biologist said that he predicts that the peak of the second run of silver salmon should start some time around September 7th-10th. Hope he's right.