Welcome back to our 2012

Great Alaska Adventure blog! 

That's it for now- enjoy your fall wherever you are and I'll be sure to post one more time before we close the doors.  Cheers!   Kent

In addition to the great August fishing, our wildlife viewing and nature enthusiasts have been enjoying a stellar summer of weather, whales, bears and adventure.  Johnny Hawes was out Mt. biking yesterday with a few of our current guests, and a group of 6 just left for Denali on our National Park Safari and Bucket List trip.  In addition, our "almost yearly" group of  Nature and wilderness photographers visited BearCamp, and we are anxiously awaiting a few of their incredible images to share with you!  In the meantime, Caprice, Ben and Lilly and James are enjoying the last of the season with bears feeding on the Chum salmon and the colors changing rapidly to fall.  Here is Caprices's latest report from the field:

Report from BearCamp:

The fish are finally in!  There was a lot of excitement in camp as we saw the first Chum Salmon being caught in Horne Creek.   Since then the bear viewing has gotten more and more amazing, with more ane more fish entering the creeks and sloughs with each passing tide.   Over the years, we've found that some bears are good fishermen, and others are just good thieves!  But it is an intense and exciting time for all hear in this very special place and yes, it's great to see the young cubs fattening up for the big sleep. 

We loved having the Adventure Women with us earlier this summer...here is a nice picture of a little waterfront yoga that we were enjoying in the early morning sun.... 

We also want to say thanks to photo group that just left and to everyone else who's been sharing our world with us these past few months.  It's been awesome.  We've got a few videographers from the Disney corporation at the camp now, so look for some great images we can share with you this winter.

James, Ben, Lilly and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Caprice   

8/4/2012 7:01 am

Another King Salmon season has ended at Great Alaska- this time with a whimper as the Kings never reached numbers that allowed us to target them since their closure.  While that was bad news for our guests and everyone else who wanted to troll, cast or cast a fly for these great sport fish, the good news is that the long closure allowed all of the big Chinook entering the river to have unfettered access to the Killey river and main stem spawning areas that are so critical to ther spawning success. 

While the Kings continued their slow run, the Sockeye salmon were another story all together.  The Sockeye run was the most amazing one in recent memory, with our guests taking expanded limits of large, bright, hard fighting sockeye every day from the 17th until the very end of the month.  Here are a few memorable images from the last two weeks of July:

Our guests were the greatests...while we didn't have our traditional big Kings to fish, the Sockeye meant everyone had plenty of fish to take home and not a single complaint was heard...we at Great Alaska appreciate our incredible guests, and want to thank you all for coming- whether it's your 22nd trip to Great Alaska, like Howard and Nina, seen here with you'rs truly after another truly epic day of fishing for both of them (but especially Nina) or Steve and Heather Woodworth of Poulsbo, Wa (7 trips) who limited on 6 Sockeye charters in less than 90 minutes each time! I didn't get a shot of Mark and Amanda Minguillion (12 trips) but their fishining, along with everyone else with us for the past 2 weeks has been incredible.  Thanks to all of you..we'll see you next time!

My next report will focus on the Trout fishing, which has recently gone "off the hook", as well as Pink Salmon and Silver salmon.  We also have our favorite returning bear viewing/photography group at bearcamp right now, so we'll have som spectacular image to share with you soon.  See you!  Kent

7/20/2012 6:53 am

Well we are going great guns here at Great Alaska!  While the bad news is that the King Salmon fishery has been shut down on the entire Cook Inlet region (including the Kenai, and Kasilof, rivers, all offshore Cook Inlet King salmon fishing and upper Cook inlet (Susitna drainage)- the good news is that the Sockeye salmon are continuing to show up in huge numbers, providing our guests with some fantastic salmon fishing.  Trout fishing has taken a bit of a back seat for the past few days with this glut of Sockeye in the river, but the fishing has continued to improve each day.  

We caught a limit of halibut on a large tide swing on Cook Inlet on wednesday, and then move The Stellar immediately over to Seward to focus on the great Silver Salmon fishing halibut that is peaking right now. Both boats limited yesterday, with ling cod, Yelloweye rockfish, black bass, Halibut, Silver Salmon and even a 25 pound King salmon caught aboard the two boats.  Here is a shot from the Stellar's catch yesterday:

Weather has been stellar, the bears are still in the meadow and one of our groups on Kenai fjords saw some Humpback whales "bubble feeding" right under the boat...in 31 years of exploring the Kenai I haven't even seen that!  I'll try to get some pictures of that to post soon.

In the meantime, gotta run...we are in full July mode!  See you soon!  Kent

7/17/2012 1:25 pm

SOCKEYE (Red Salmon) INVASION hits the Kenai!!!!!

The sockeye have hit the Kenai with a vengence- with nearly 300,000 fish entering the river in the last 48 hours.  Our guides have limited with every single charter for the past two days and the fish are jumping like crazy as I type this.  After a rough start to the salmon season with the low King salmon counts, it's nice to have a huge group of fish enter the river right on schedule and in larger numbers than predicted.  For those of you arriving soon, you are in for a treat.  Salmon, salmon everywhere!  Here are some recent images of the fun...Kent

7/16/2012 4:52 a.m.

As I write this report today, the sun's been up for an hour and a bit more....Weather is still unseasonably cool and the first comments of "are we going to have a summer this year?" are being heard at the coffee shop/gas station in Sterling...but it's supposed to be 65 tomorrow so hopefully it's coming.  In the meantime be sure to bring warm layers, fleece and a knit cap for those brisk mornings! 

Just back from another "hot coffee to your door" wakeup for some guests heading out fishing with Guide Mark for Sockeye this morning, and I can't help but notice a larger batch the Sockeye salmon are leaping just off the shore, a mature (and giant) Bald Eagle is patrolling the shore looking for salmon (or young ducklings) and Sandhill Cranes are making a racket as they fly overhead in formation...

The Kenai RIver Sockeye Salmon are finally hitting the Kenai river in force, providing better and better action for our guests everyday, both on their daily charters and on the beach in the evening after happy hour and dinner is over.  Last year was the best Sockeye season in  years, with over 200,000 fish crossing the sonar counter in one 24 hour period- the greatest single push on record.  My favorite year for sockeye, I remember 10 straight days of over 100,000 fish crossing the counter each day...the Kenai was literally swimming in sockeye.  Let's hope for something like that again this year!

Halibut fishing is continuing to stay strong- here is a shot of a couple of Snohomish, Washington boys Kurt and Lee with the first (of many) aboard halibut that day aboard the Stellar in Cook inlet.  Don't let the calm seas behind them fool you- Kurt's now legendary "Sea legs" are definitely now a part of Great Alaska lore forever!!!!!       And for more good news in the fishing department, the Silvers are finally "in the Bay" in Seward!  Despite some fairly nasty seas to contend with yesterday, , the Lehr party was able to come home with a limit of 18 silvers on their trip aboard the Fair Chase, and we hope that is the first of many great days in Resurrection bay targeting these fine sport fish.

Finally, as we enter the last two weeks of July, we will be missing the trio of Oscar and Gene McCloud (and Henry)- three of our many-year return guests.  Oscar has a good excuse for not making it to Alaska this year- he was wed to lovely Kathy and they are busy making their new lives together.  Here is a great shot of Oscar and Kathy- We'll miss you guys!

Well, I'm off to DO another wakeup- three fishing guides are waiting in their boats, on the beach ready to go fishing, and today's ADVENTURE BOARD shows the safari guides are heading to Kenai Fjords, 6 mile river for whitewater rafting and Homer for a taste of one of Alaska's most eclectic and unique towns.

2nd run Kenai River King Salmon are finally growing in numbers, but we are still watching the sonar counter daily, with a possiblity of a full closure to King fishing possibly beginning as early as next thursday.  We'll keep everyone advised as soon as we know.

That's it for today- hope you have an adventurous day!  Kent

*******

The weather is nice this morning with high overcast and about 46 degrees, and with a high of 55 today.  Yesterday was a bit warmer with low sixties for a high.  This summer continues to be cooler by a good 5 to 10 degrees than our typical mid July summer. This is good news for the fishing and wildlife viewing, as none of the migratory or resident animals we rely on for viewing enjoy the 80 degree days that we sometimes get in July.  Our guests from the South and East also are enjoying this "natural air conditioning" we have in Alaska!

Here is  shot of one of the nice fish taken on one of the boats in the last few days...trout fishing is picking up and we are getting more and more of the larger fish to the boat.  We've hooked (but so far not landed any) double digit rainbows, but that will end soon!  Mike Schroeder landed this nice 28 inch rainbow fishing with guide Daren on the middle river yesterday, with a number of other nice fish coming to hand.

Bear Viewing has continued to be fantastic this year, with only two instances of folks either not being able to get out to camp or not being able to get back (on schedule, at any rate!)  With the solid weather and record numbers of bears, it's been an incredible experience for our guests.  Chief bear whisperer Caprice has this report from BearCamp:

This week at BearCamp:  report from the field in Chinitna Bay

Hey everyone:

The official high count of resident spring cubs is 5! (note:  spring cubs are Caprice's favorite..(kent)   With triplets belonging to the one Sow (female) and twins belonging to another Sow we call Madonna. 

Madonna is our Alpha female.  On the meadow and is keeping us all in check!  It has been a very buy month with all of our guets from the Princess lodge, along with all of those high-strung AdventureWomen (you know who you are.... :)  )

We've also had an exceptinoslly good weather!  We hope if continues while we wait for the fish to come in (the bears are waiting, too! Ben, Lilly James and I are all waiting both for the salmon and for you!

Yours, Caprice 

7/12/2012          Hello everyone, and welcome back to This Week at Great Alaska!  it's been  while since the last report, but of course as always there  has been lots happening here on the banks of the Moose and Kenai rivers.  The Fowlers arrived in late June, and enjoyed a great safari, viewing bears, Moose, Eagles and even a beautiful Lynx one day, paddling from the lodge upriver on Moose river.  Here is a great shot they took from the front seat of their canoe (in fact it's so great I made it a giant image- it's worth it!)

Fishing Reports:

The first run of Kings (May/June)  was well below recommended escapement levels (escapement is the number of fish that make it upriver to spawn).  Because of this, emergency restrictions went into place, initially catch and release and eventually becoming a complete closure to all King fishing on the Kenai until the end of June. 

The second run of Kings (July 1-31) has so far been poor, and because of that, catch and release was just implemented as of July 10^th.   It is possible that Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game could close the river to all fishing for Kings until 2^nd run escapement levels are met, (but that has not happended yet, and we are catching kings every day as I write this)....restricting us to Sockeye salmon and Trout fishing while on the Kenai, until the end of July If they choose to do that.  As of now, that has not happened, in fact fishing has been pretty fair for the past week, with our boats landing kings every day.  One boat hooked three and landed on plus a small "Jack" the day I wrote this.

Overal, July fishing has of course been tough for the world famous Kings,  but one of our boats released a 60 pound buck on Tuesday and on Wednesday on of the two boats landed one nice kings and lost another at the boat..so as I write this on thursday, as always with Kenai kings, you've got a chance if your line is in the water. 

Here is a link to current King salmon information:

Other Fishing reports:

The sockeye Salmon run began well in June, and in fact was one of the better runs in a few years for our guests fishing at the lodge, but the second run of fish, famous for entering the river with a bang around the 12-15^th of July have not, as of today, entered the river, save for a few groups here and there.  We anticipate that changing soon, and the rumors of a large group of sockeye out in the inlet have been reported, but nothing 100% solid yet. We are still in a waiting mode for e second run sockeye..but as I write this they have been jumping at the lodge all day, and here is a nice one young Trevor landed earlier today!

Halibut fishing has been great all year both in Cook Inlet, our focus in May, June and Early July, and weather has been mostly good enough to get out.  Aboard The Stellar, captain Jeremy and I have limited every single trip, with mid 60's being the largest so far (quite a few of those).  We're still waiting for our first 100 pounder of the year, but we are happy with the larger mid-sized fish as the really large fish are all females and very important in keeping a healthy population of halibut here in Cook inlet and Alaska in General.  As to Seward, aboard the Fair Chase,  Halibut fishing has been good, and the Silver salmon have just hit Resurrection Bay.  We're pretty excited about getting our guests into some great freshwater and offshore fishing .

Trout fishing struggled early in the season, due to unseasonably high Kenai River water, but it’s been improving every day since, with better overall action and  27”, 28” and 29” fish being landed in the last week.  On your left, here's a giant trout taken in August with one our guides from last season.

Weather has been good overall, and the glacier cruising, bear viewing, hiking, scenic rafting and other activities have all been doing well all summer, so all in all it’s been a great year so far!   We are anxiously awaiting your arrival.  A turbine Otter (made by DeHavillend, a canadian company) just took off with the Harding party, and a 6 passenger De Havilland Beaver left a few  hours later with the Crivillo party- who won their adventure with Cabellas- the worlds's largest outdoor supplier.  Nassim and Beno Sarfati of Brazil just left following a custom fishing, helicopter glacier hiking and whitewater adventure and soon we'll be full to the rafters with our returning clients!  We anxiously await your arrival.  Cheers, Kent

******

6/24/2012  The Kenai river closure for King Salmon fishing will continue until July 1st, the official start of the second run of Kenai Kings..however to protect the fish that have made it into the river to spawn in the first run, bait will be restricted from the opening of the second run.  In addition, the middle river (Skilak Lake to the Soldotna bridge- the area where the lodge is located) will remain closed until the first tuesday after the 15th of July.  Bait will also be restricted until the number of fish improve.  Here is a link to a story regarding the closure.  Sockeye fishing will not be affected.

Of course there is much more going on besides the kings (thanksfully!) with our guests flying to BearCamp, hiking in the Chugach forest, cruising Kenai FJords, rafting the upper upper Kenai, spotting eagles nests on our scenic Kenai river floats, fishing for Kings on the Kasilof river, trout on the Kenai, flyouts for sockeye salmon and Grayling, tours of Denali and more.  The Swank party just left us after a week of wilderness adventure- Elizabeth said her two highlights were the bearcamp stay and seeing a pod of Humpback whales "Bubble feeding" right under the bow of the boat!  Your intrepid adventure blogger is anxiously awaiting some of her pictures to share with you all.  The AdventureWomen ladies also just left after their yearly trip..the weather was nearly as spectacular as their spirt and once again they reminded us why we love hosting this group every year.

We'll keep everyone up to speed on the Kenai RIver kings, but in the meantime if you have any questions regarding the closure or anything else about your trip please give us a call at 800 544 2261.

Thanks,  Kent

6/22/2012  5:53 pm  The Atkinson family just returned from a day on Cook Inlet halibut fishing aboard the Stellar with Captain "Ron" Jeremy and trusty deckhand Chase.  Weather was, well, "Stellar", and a good time was had by all with a limit of smaller but feisty fat flatties and a few True Cod for good measure.  Here are some of their photos from the day:

In addition to the Halibut fishing they enjoyed a nice day on the upper river, fishing trout below Skilak Lake with guides Steve and Mark.  Fishing was a bit slow as the trout are still working their way back to "full attach mode" eating wise, but a few nice fish fell to the Atkinsons. 

Well that's it for today's report.  Weather is 72 and gorgeous today, seas were calm, the the Adventure Women ladies enjoyed a nice float on the upper upper Kenai river and we'll hve some photos for you on tomorrow's post!  Hasta la vista, baby!  Thanks, Kent

6/21/2012 BearCamp report:  The bear viewing and weather has been absolutely incredible of late, with all of our guests enjoying stellar viewing and weather at the same time...a great combination!  The Koebel party just returned and April was sharing a memory card full of close up shots of gorgeous, healthy bears.  Here's a shot of a pair of cubs who were very curious, and wanted to discover what the bright red thing on top of one of the kids heads was.....apparently he'd never seen a bright red ball cap before!  Of course not all sightings are as close as this one, but in Alaska you never know what's around the corner so keep your memory card open and your camera on!

FISHING REPORT:   Well, the latest news isn't the greatest news, but the Kenai will be closed to King salmon fishing as of Friday.  The fishing has been pretty fair for us so far this year, with very few folks on the river fishing kings and we've been doing well, releasing lots of nice fish...but the numbers over the sonar counter are lower than the state likes them to be and so we are looking at a "no kings" fishery for a while at least.  We'll be contacting our soon-to- arrive guests to give them the option of changing dates, but as usual we'll be working hard to keep our guests into as many fishing options as possible.  Sockeye salmon are available, as are Rainbow Trout Offshore halibut is also available and for now we can still target Kings on the Kasilof river, with retention of hatchery fish only at this point.  If you have any questions about this closure, please call us at the office to discuss it. 

Things have been moving at a fast pace with the heart of the summer right around the corner.  The weather has stayed quite nice, with only a bit of rain since June began.  Here is a weather report for the local area.  Remember "past weather is not an perfect indicator of weather during your trip", as the financial advisors say!  :)Temperatures have averaged between 45 degrees and 66 degrees so far at the main lodge, with the weather at BearCamp being a few degrees cooler generally. 

Fishing has been ranging from fairly good to very good, with the Kasilof River producing some very nice catches (Dustin went 5 for 5 earlier this week and we had some nice two fish days as well.  The Kenai river has been starting the season a bit slow with modest numbers of Kenai kings coming into the river over the sonar counter since it was installed in the river in late May.  In fact, while our Kenai fishing has actually been fairly strong (Steve landed 3 fish one day, two of them over 46" (so in the "slot limit", meaning the fish were released, averaging from low fifties to high fities).  Outstanding, beautiful Kenai King salmon.  He also landed a mid 30's fish that was retained and foul hooked another that got away before it could be released.  King salmon fishing at the lodge has also been very good, with a number of the big kings being taken by our guides and guests off the beach at the lodge.  All were released to continue upstream (for nearly 20 years, our policy has been catch and release for Kenai Kings taken by staff while fishing at the lodge- guests are free to retain them if they choose). 

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO OUR FISHING GUESTS ARRIVING SOON:  Due to the lower than average numbers of returning Kings to the Kenai, the state department of fish and game has instituted a CATCH AND RELEASE emergency closure.  For the immediate future, all Kenai Kings between 20" and 55" are to be released until the order is removed.  This could be anywere from the 1st of July to 1 week...it totally depends upon the numbers of fish being counted over the sonar. 

Great Alaska Adventure Lodge supports catch and release when the security and well being of this amazing and one of a kind race of fish are at stake.  Many of our guests choose to release these great fish even when they are allowed to keep them, and we appreciate that!  If any guests are booked for a trip in the next few weeks and would like to discuss moving dates to a time when they may be able to retain the Kings, or even to August to target Silvers, Trout and Sockeye Salmon, just call our office..we are happpy to change dates for you on a space available basis.   

Other fishing:  Offshore halibut fishing has been, well, 'Stellar"! with limit catches on every single charter so far.  Our offshore captains Jeremy and yours truly have been enjoying some great days on the water aboard out 29' offshore Hardtop, "Stellar". In addition to the great offshore fishing, the early sockeye salmon run has been very good and guests have caught a number of them in the evenings after happy hour and dinner.  Finally, Trout season opened up just a few days ago and the fishing has been getting steadily better every day.  Jesse, one of our driftboat guides, landed 5 fish over 20 inches with the McHugh party, a very respectable day on the water with the fly rods in early June.  Expect the trout fishing to get better and better each day until the end of the season.

Report from Bearcamp: Love is in the air this week at bearcamp with sightings of 5 different mating couples on the night of June 9th.  This is an exciting as it brings the hope of spring cubs in 2013! 

We've had a high count of 19 bears in the meadow at one time, and have named a couple.  "Ski" is a little rascal male bear and "Martha" is a delicate young femail who minds her manners. We are looking forward to seeing you soon at BearCamp!  Courtesy of Caprice

On other wildlife fronts, the Fowler party paddled face to face to a Lynx on their paddle into the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, saw a black bear on the road around Skilak Lake and the Moose have been literally everywhre for the past few weeks.  they will be getting farther and farther back from the road over the next two months, but they have been a real treat for our early guests this year. 

That's it for now...until next time, have a great day!

6.11.2012