My wife and I spent the last two weeks in Alaska. As with previous trips, it was amazing. We spent the first 4 days on the Kenai Peninsula. We did a couple of boat tours. One out of Whittier and one out of Seward. We saw lots of wildlife on those tours including Fin Whales, Humpback Whales, Orcas, Dall’s Porpoise, Steller Sea Lions, Seals and even a family of Black Bears playing in a snow patch. Beautiful place. Pic of a calving glacier.
From there, we headed out to Brooks camp in Katmai National Park where we camped for a couple of days. A lot of folks here probably know about Brooks Camp. One of the most famous destinations in the world for bear viewing for good reason. The salmon were in and so were the bears which made for some great bear viewing and fun encounters on the trails. If you spend a day there you will come face to face with one of the many Brown Bears in the area. We did many times. The only one that gave me a bit of a scare was when my wife and I were bumped from the trail by a sow and a coy. It was as you approach the lower bridge from the falls so there was water that stopped us from moving more than 8 feet or so off the trail. Mom stopped right where we stepped off (uh, oh!), gave us a look, stood on her hind legs and proceeded to scratch her back against a tree, ha. She had no interest in what we were doing. We walked in the woods about 40 yards before popping back out on the trail and were on our way. Some cuteness for your enjoyment.
The last week of the trip was spent at a lodge that flew my wife over to Brooks daily to watch and photograph bears while I stayed back and fished. We’ve been here before. It is an amazing place right in Katmai National Park. The accommodations are very comfortable, the food is good and the guides are just really great folks across the board. I only fish with guides in AK because of access and requirement and I really enjoyed my time on the water with all of them. All were super fishy guys and gals and enthusiastic about the fishery. Because my wife flies to Brooks every day, I have limited options for fly outs (require two people…though I suppose I could have paid double, never asked about that). That meant I fished the Kulik river 6 days and only had the opportunity to do a fly out for Sockeye when another guest needed a fill in….which I did to get started filling the freezer. The guides warned that the Kulik was slow and by Kulik standards, I suppose it was. I still managed to land 12-20+ rainbows a day. Nearly all were in the 14-20 inch range with a handful of snakey fish in the 22- 24 inch range. I also had the opportunity to fish the mouths of some of the feeder creeks in the upper lake for rainbows and lakers. Solid fishing up there as well. I think because I had fished the Kulik so many days in row, one of the guides even asked if I had an interest in learning to spey cast. Of course! Why not. Spent a few hours doing that one day too and caught some fish as well. Might have to get myself a Spey rod now
.
Pretty typical of the rainbows caught…
This one had cool colored fins…
Biggest fish of the trip - a 31.5 in laker that hit a big white and olive Dalli Llama stripped in front of a feeder creek. Good fight on a 7 weight!
Caught a couple more smaller ones as well.
I miss it already. I wish we had traveled to the AK earlier in our lives. I’m 46 and this was our 4th trip. My twenties and thirties wasted. What was I thinking? I’ll have to make up for it in the coming years!
From there, we headed out to Brooks camp in Katmai National Park where we camped for a couple of days. A lot of folks here probably know about Brooks Camp. One of the most famous destinations in the world for bear viewing for good reason. The salmon were in and so were the bears which made for some great bear viewing and fun encounters on the trails. If you spend a day there you will come face to face with one of the many Brown Bears in the area. We did many times. The only one that gave me a bit of a scare was when my wife and I were bumped from the trail by a sow and a coy. It was as you approach the lower bridge from the falls so there was water that stopped us from moving more than 8 feet or so off the trail. Mom stopped right where we stepped off (uh, oh!), gave us a look, stood on her hind legs and proceeded to scratch her back against a tree, ha. She had no interest in what we were doing. We walked in the woods about 40 yards before popping back out on the trail and were on our way. Some cuteness for your enjoyment.
The last week of the trip was spent at a lodge that flew my wife over to Brooks daily to watch and photograph bears while I stayed back and fished. We’ve been here before. It is an amazing place right in Katmai National Park. The accommodations are very comfortable, the food is good and the guides are just really great folks across the board. I only fish with guides in AK because of access and requirement and I really enjoyed my time on the water with all of them. All were super fishy guys and gals and enthusiastic about the fishery. Because my wife flies to Brooks every day, I have limited options for fly outs (require two people…though I suppose I could have paid double, never asked about that). That meant I fished the Kulik river 6 days and only had the opportunity to do a fly out for Sockeye when another guest needed a fill in….which I did to get started filling the freezer. The guides warned that the Kulik was slow and by Kulik standards, I suppose it was. I still managed to land 12-20+ rainbows a day. Nearly all were in the 14-20 inch range with a handful of snakey fish in the 22- 24 inch range. I also had the opportunity to fish the mouths of some of the feeder creeks in the upper lake for rainbows and lakers. Solid fishing up there as well. I think because I had fished the Kulik so many days in row, one of the guides even asked if I had an interest in learning to spey cast. Of course! Why not. Spent a few hours doing that one day too and caught some fish as well. Might have to get myself a Spey rod now
.Pretty typical of the rainbows caught…
This one had cool colored fins…
Biggest fish of the trip - a 31.5 in laker that hit a big white and olive Dalli Llama stripped in front of a feeder creek. Good fight on a 7 weight!
Caught a couple more smaller ones as well.
I miss it already. I wish we had traveled to the AK earlier in our lives. I’m 46 and this was our 4th trip. My twenties and thirties wasted
. What was I thinking? I’ll have to make up for it in the coming years!
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