Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Alaska Full of Firsts

I have to proclaim Alaska a state of firsts even though it is the next to last state admitted to the Union.
While on a Cabela’s writer’s trip last week to Alaska, I experienced the following firsts in my lifetime: sightings of moose, black bear, seals and humpback whales in the wild; seeing an active volcano; catching my first halibut and then a limit of halibut; flossing for a limit of sockeye salmon; backtrolling to catch a king salmon; battling a case of seasickness on the halibut boat; and losing my lunch to a sandwich-snatching dog.
After flying from St. Louis to Chicago to Anchorage, I spent the night in Anchorage with fellow outdoor writers Chuck Smock, Jeff Samsel and Colin Kearns. The next day we took the four hour drive to Homer AK where we were going onboard for a two-day halibut trip to the ocean with Ninilchick Charters (www.ninilchik.com), but rough seas were predicted so we diverted to a smaller boat for two days of fishing in Cook Bay. With the boat rocking-and-rolling in 8-foot waves the first day I got hit with a case of seasickness that had my head spinning and my legs wobbling, so I was unable to contribute to the catch of halibut that my partners accumulated. Medicated with Dramamine the next day I was able to catch my two-fish limit of halibut.
After a half-day of halibut fishing and an afternoon side trip of trout fishing, we got back to our cabin and decided to eat half a sandwich for dinner and save the other half for the next day’s lunch. While sitting at a picnic table, I had to go into the cabin for a minute, so I left my sandwich on the table but when I returned, the half of sandwich I was saving was in the mouth of the neighborhood dog.
Our next adventure was an excursion on the Kenai River in quest of big king salmon. It seemed like everyone in the state was on the river that day as the boat traffic resembled a city highway during rush hour. On some of the stretches we fished I counted as many as 50 boats lined up side-by-side backtrolling. Despite the fishing pressure, we still managed to catch one legal king salmon and three sockeye.
The last morning of our trip was spent flossing for sockeye on the Kenai with Mike Flores, owner of Ninilchik Charters. You floss for sockeye by flipping out a fly with four split-shots on the line and letting it drift down in the current. When the line drifts by a sockeye it flows into the fish’s mouth and as you pull up on the line (floss) the hook of the fly catches the sockeye in the mouth and the fight is on. It took about a half-hour or so of flipping my line in the current before I finally flossed a sockeye. But once I got the hang of it, I quickly landed a three-fish limit and missed three or four more fish.
For anyone wanting to plan an Alaskan halibut/salmon trip, Flores suggests the following dates as prime times: middle to late June for giant halibut; last two weeks of July for trophy king salmon; and July 14 to the end of July for the sockeye run.
Although we never landed a trophy fish, we each brought home a 50-pound box of halibut and salmon filets. That definitely made up for my lost sandwich.