Monello
Well-known member
So the Alaskan Adventure is ended. I spend the rest of the winter huddled down thinking about our amazing time we had in the 49th state. Then I get to thinking.... Let's do it again.
The best part about a do over is you get to tweak things that you either missed the first time or didn't quite get right. So armed with this information we plan a late August, early September trip. The sockeye run will be over by then but the coho and pinks will still be running. I'm on an Alaskan fishing forum that only serves to amp up my AK fishing frenzy.
So using the prior year's trip as a blueprint we go about with our tweaks. First thing is to use airline miles to purchase our plane tickets. We get seats for $50 each. A huge savings. We add some gear but decide to not take a bunch of other stuff. We also rented an RV that was 3 feet longer than the last one. 3 feet longer doesn't sound like a lot but when your overall length is less than 30 feet, it's significant. I also invite my 70 something year old mom to join us for the first week. Since my dad's passing, she hasn't gotten out and around all that much. She understands this is going to be geared around fishing but she's happy to go along just the same. She brings a bunch of paperback books to keep herself occupied. Since we are in different states, the plan is to fly to Texas then all of us hop on the same plane heading northwest.
I twitch and fidget until the time arrives to leave. We arrive and head out. First stop is to a river not too deep into the Kenai Peninsula. There was mention of silvers congregating in this area. The weather isn't the best as it's slightly raining. Off we go, I quickly hook up with a nice coho salmon. I actually saw it break off and hit my fly. It was pretty awesome.
Then I make more casts to the visible school of silvers but I can't get anymore interested. So I target the pink salmon in the creek. They have been in the freshwater a while and it's starting to take it's toll on them physically.
We spend the night alongside the same lake where we camped the previous year. My mom is a bit concerned about our safety. I reassure her the best I can. She also mentions bigfoot, crazed lumberjacks, grizzlies, rutting moose, etc. As you can see from the picture, it's sure a lot prettier than spending the night in a campground. After an uneventful night we head to the quaint town of Hope, AK.
We fish with hardware for pinks in Hope. Then we take in the cute little tourist town. The surrounding scenery is breathtaking.
Next stop is Seward. Seward is a proper town when compared to Hope. It's right on the bay and has a large marina for people seeking charter fishing opportunities. Since I'm retired military we stay in the campground at the Army recreation center. It's a good place for a home base while visiting Seward.
Since I can only insert 5 pictures per post, I'll continue this in another post
The best part about a do over is you get to tweak things that you either missed the first time or didn't quite get right. So armed with this information we plan a late August, early September trip. The sockeye run will be over by then but the coho and pinks will still be running. I'm on an Alaskan fishing forum that only serves to amp up my AK fishing frenzy.
So using the prior year's trip as a blueprint we go about with our tweaks. First thing is to use airline miles to purchase our plane tickets. We get seats for $50 each. A huge savings. We add some gear but decide to not take a bunch of other stuff. We also rented an RV that was 3 feet longer than the last one. 3 feet longer doesn't sound like a lot but when your overall length is less than 30 feet, it's significant. I also invite my 70 something year old mom to join us for the first week. Since my dad's passing, she hasn't gotten out and around all that much. She understands this is going to be geared around fishing but she's happy to go along just the same. She brings a bunch of paperback books to keep herself occupied. Since we are in different states, the plan is to fly to Texas then all of us hop on the same plane heading northwest.
I twitch and fidget until the time arrives to leave. We arrive and head out. First stop is to a river not too deep into the Kenai Peninsula. There was mention of silvers congregating in this area. The weather isn't the best as it's slightly raining. Off we go, I quickly hook up with a nice coho salmon. I actually saw it break off and hit my fly. It was pretty awesome.
Then I make more casts to the visible school of silvers but I can't get anymore interested. So I target the pink salmon in the creek. They have been in the freshwater a while and it's starting to take it's toll on them physically.
We spend the night alongside the same lake where we camped the previous year. My mom is a bit concerned about our safety. I reassure her the best I can. She also mentions bigfoot, crazed lumberjacks, grizzlies, rutting moose, etc. As you can see from the picture, it's sure a lot prettier than spending the night in a campground. After an uneventful night we head to the quaint town of Hope, AK.
We fish with hardware for pinks in Hope. Then we take in the cute little tourist town. The surrounding scenery is breathtaking.
Next stop is Seward. Seward is a proper town when compared to Hope. It's right on the bay and has a large marina for people seeking charter fishing opportunities. Since I'm retired military we stay in the campground at the Army recreation center. It's a good place for a home base while visiting Seward.
Since I can only insert 5 pictures per post, I'll continue this in another post