I knew what I wanted for my 50th birthday...a trip back to the Great Alaska lodge....
Well, the weather has finally broken and the long stretch of gorgeous weather we've been enjoying for the past week has turned into high clouds, rain and cooler temperatures. The offshore breezes have been slight and as a result the Halibut fishing has remained excellent in both Cook Inlet and Resurrection Bay and Prince William Sound. Yesterday, the Terry West party, fishing aboard the Fair Chase with Captain Jeremy and deckhand Andrew, caught this beautiful Yelloweye Rockfish that weighed in at 23 pounds.
Silver salmon fishing has continued to be tough
all this week. The bright sun was initially thought to be the main culprit, however the last two days have shown that there are simply not as many fish out there as last year. Persistence along with a bit of luck is the key lately, as Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry here shows here with his catch of bright silvers, fishing with guided Steve on the Kenai.
The rainbow trout fishing has remained phenomenal, with fish over 10 pounds being landed nearly every day. Today, one of the powerboats (Jeff) landed a 15 pound fish that taped out at 30 inches by a 20 inch girth. An amazing fish. Today, guide Ken fishing with the Harvey party landed his largest trout to date...roughly 15 pounds by estimate. The fish are on the move big time and we are fishing a different stretch of water nearly every day.
Finally, our steelhead fishing has started earliy, wit
h 4 steelhead being caught on a wade fishing trip last week- our fishing should peak for the wily anadromous trout sometime between the 5th and 25th of September. Here's a nice steelhead from last September on a wade excursion with the Murphy party prior to one of their continuing education seminars.
So while the Silvers are a bit slow, the other fishing has remained good and our guests are having a good time. Our remote camps are shutting down- Our Seacoast "Adventure Camp" in Resurrection Bay has been pulled out, along with guide Branden, and all signs of our guests are gone..now it's only the bears and other wild creatures that know we were there.
Bearcamp just finished the last group of the season, and now comes the tough job of packing everying up, putting everything
away and flying the Matt (Verm), Caprice and Dylan back to "Civilization" here at the main lodge. They'll all work with us shutting down the eco camps wile the fishing-only crowd enjoy fall on the Kenai Peninsula. The Sabo party will be returning, along with two Murphy education seminar groups and a few other folks looking forward to one of our favorite times of the year. We'll miss Kathy and Steve Bolline and Winston Huh this year, but hope we'll see them both again next year!
8/19/2010 2:40 pm
2 more riverboats have come in with limits of Silvers in the past few hours, the latest being the Sandra and Richard Grimes and Karen and David Cross party (Fishing with Steve) with a nice looking limit of Silvers. They were only here for one day of fishing but I"m guessing they'll plan for more, next time! Fishing is definitely staying hot on the Kenai river. Next up was the "Raptor" and capt. Don as he returned from a Halibut trip in Cook Inlet with a nice limit of late-season halibut. Here are eight Halibut that were kept: My favorite part of this picture is that you can tell it's actually sunny~ We've hit a great patch of weather for last three days and it feels like we are on Maui! I'll report on the Seward Halibut fishing when Capt. Jeremy gets back with the Johnson party just in time for happy hour tonight.
8/19/2010 12:00 pm
Well, your intrepid "bloggist" is getting a failing grade in filling out "this week at Great Alaska" this season! July and the first two weeks of August have been a blur and we are now into the heart of the fall silver salmon, trophy trout and Steelhead season.
We have had a very wet July and August so far- in fact we've about doubled our normal precipitation for this time of year, but as I write this, we have caught a break and the last few days have been spectacular. While our Silver salmon fishing started a bit slow for the first two weeks of the season, for the last week it has been about as good as it gets..daily limits for everyone! here's an example from yesterday with the Johnson party, who leave tomorrow-------------------->
Our offshore fishing has also been struggling with the bad weather- big winds and lots of small craft advisories have been keeping "The Fair Chase" at the slip in Seward, Alaska. Usually this time of year we are targeting combinatinos of both silver salmon and pacific Halibut, plus the occasional Ling Cod or Yellow eye Rockfish (snapper) on our trips into Resurrection Bay and prince William Sound. Here's a shot of one of the breaks in the weather that we were able to find. During this day we say Humpback whales breaching the water completely, Dall's porpoise, sea lions, Sea otters and much more. We'll be shutting down the offshore fishing within a few days, but in the meantime the weather is great and we're taking advantage. I already heard from the Cook Inlet boat today (with a limit of nice halibut) and we'll know about the seward run by happy hour..but my guess is a great day!
In the Where are they now" department, past General Manager of Great Alaska Joshua Wels (now living the big life in Los Angeles) sent us a photo of himself on the top of Mt. Ranier..and sporting some Great Alaska logowear to boot! That reminds me..if you are out and about in the wilderness, send us a picture of yourself wearing your Great Alaska logowear and we'll post it on the website and on our facebook page..if you haven't checked it out, just look up Great Alaska Adventure Lodge on facebook and we should pop right up. Become a fan today!
Our final REI adventures trip is finishing up on Saturday..for the past two days they have been viewing bears at our fly in Bear viewing camp and fishing for Salmon on the Kasilof river. Today they are Mountain biking in the Chugach National Forest to a viewing platform to see salmon leaping towards their spawning 
r. grounds...and finally they'll spend the last day rafting the exhilarating 6 mile river before ending up in Anchorage. We are just about at the end of the non fishing activities and my next report will talk about that! In the meantime, see you in Alaska!
6/27/2010
The Fishing Report: Overall, we have had a very nice beginning to the season. We started off a bit bumpy with the first run of Kenai River King Salmon not showing up (according to the ADFG sonar counter) in numbers consistent with adequate escapement. In reaction to these low early seaon numbers Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game enacted an Emergency Order (E.O.) closing the Kenai river to all fishing for King salmon from Skilak lake (14 miles upstream) to the mouth...in essence the entire fishery. There was much gnashing of teath and rolling of eyes, as the Kenai River Professional Guides Ass'n (KRPGA) correctly pointed out that we have had a "Stages" based response to low numbers in the past- first "trophy only" (55 inches or better)..then "catch and release" completely, followed by a riverwide closure if the numbers continue to look alarming. These steps could have occurred in as little as 5 days of fishing (or even less) to have the guides and general public feel as if they were a part of the process. The ADFT chose not to do that and it's an issue we are looking at now. 
The good news is that less than 10 days after the closure, the sonar estimates rose dramatically and to the point that the fishery was opened back up and even the use of bait was allowed well earlier than the usual July 1st cutoff. While we continue to be unsure as to the accuracy of the sonar, the resulting fishing has been stellar. Driftboats and powerboats alike have been getting some beautiful Kenai River King Salmon in the 25-60 pound range, with a number of fish released over 50 inches. Steve and Jeremy and Mark all had nice limit catches since the opening and Cullen, Ken and Nolan have also had some great days in the driftboats. Here's operations manager /steelhead guide Andrew's first Kenai river king (while he was on the oars)--------------->
Offshore fishing has continued to be outstanding, wthe Cook Inlet being 
the target so far. Catches have been good with some nice sized fish coming over the gunwale and going home with our guests! As you can see from the picture, the seas have been mostly calm and the fish have been 
plentiful! We are also fishing in seward on the big boat, "The Fair Chase". Silvers are beginning to come into the bays and Ling cod season is right around the corner. Here are a couple of shots to whet your appetite....
More to come...Safaris report, Bearcamp report and adventure camp report!
05/10/2010
Well, here we go again! Season number 29 for Great Alaska Adventure Lodge is about to begin. The Big King Salmon are moving up the coast towards the Kasilof and Kenai rivers, the Brown bears have left their dens at Bearcamp and both sows and cubs are feeding on the mouth watering sedge grasses around camp. Days are getting longer and nights are getting shorter. Spring is here!
We are busy thawing frozen water lines and firing up the furnaces. The outboard motors are being turned over, the driftboats are being put on trailers, and reels are being greased in preparation for your arrival. The last snow was nearly two weeks ago, and the weather has been unseasonably warm. Here is a link to our current weather.
Because the glaciers and snow are just beginning to melt, the water level is at its lowest point of the season. This means great fly fishing for the early season King salmon that travel by the lodge each spring. If you will be with us in May or June and want to give fly fishing for Kings a try, call the office and we can discuss the equipment needed.
At bearcamp, the long winter is just ending but spring has definitely sprung! All of the bears have left their dens and the sows are teaching the cubs about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle... The nutritious sedge grasses that grow in the areas between the waters of Cook Inlet and Mt. Illiamna have been providing easy meals for these beautiful animals for millenia. Until the salmon begin to return to the local streams, these grasses draw bruins from miles away. It is not unusal for our early June groups to see 15 or more bears in the meadow at one time- last season the record was 28 at one time from our raised viewing platform.
Check back later for more.....
