Alaska August 14-22 2023

What a great trip.  Tim, Mark, Tony and Trace joined me in Alaska for a week of fish catching.  Our bread and butter for red salmon is usually the Russian river.  On this trip, the Russian closed due to road construction, which it badly needed.  The limits increased to 6 per day, so we got most of our fish in 2 mornings before it closed.  12 each is almost enough to fill a 50 pound fish box.  5 more fish and we would be full, and we had 5 days to do it. 

   We had some bluebird days and were able to enter Kenai canyon on two occassions.  This is a special place, and the fishing was great.  We concentrated on rainbows throughout and connected all day. Fish from 17' to 25" was the norm.  Where else can you say that?  From one spot, we stayed until the fish stopped eating, which was 5 hours from when we anchored.  I can't say that I have seen a day this productive in the canyon.  I believe we landed 30+ bows, and lost just as many.  A fish about every 5 minutes.

On top of the good salmon and trout fishing, we went out with a charter out of Ninilchik.  Seas were 2-3 feet and it was halibut sizing most of the day.  We came home with a lot of "Butts" MaryTime charters was our boat and Doug was our Captain. We would book again in a heartbeat. 

Thinking of an Alaskan Trip?  Connect with me for info, guiding, hosting, or writing an itinerary for you.

Marytime Charters: 907 398-1602 (Doug)

 Jeff Powering through the canyon

Tony and Jeff with a sockeye

Getting a workout netting Trace's many fish

The group!

Motoring across Skilak Lake

Lower Kenai limit

Red salmon eating my head

A Pic mid fishing

One of many nice bows

Jeff catches a trout on first cast demonstrating a drift

Green head

A limit on the Russian

Dragging to shore

Catch and Release

Nice Bow Trace!

Tony with a slab

What are the odds/

Trace with nice Bow

"Will it all fit"

Overlooking inlet of Skilak Lake

Steaks for Dinner

Father son and proud

Mark with a greenhead

Brown bear on the walk out

Tim with a nice bow

A boat ready to fish

Leopard Bow

Tony's greenhead

Black bear cub and Momma

Marytime "redeemer" boat

A "Butt"-load of halibut

Chum salmon leg

Enjoying Pasta a la salmon

Fresh off the grill

Good Bye AK.  Until next trip.

Arkansas River below dam

 Great trip this past weekend.  Had my guys on fish all day.  Cloud cover brought BWO's and temps were perfect.  Colors of fish were incredible.  Gotta love spring in the rockies.  

   Alaska dates are booking fast.  Contact me for more information.

Save Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay Alaska-Bad news from the Trump administration:

Bristol Bay Alaska: I remember floating the Alagnak River 25 years ago with Jeff Dixon and Jay Setlock. We almost crashed a float plane, we were stranded on a sand bar for 4 days waiting for anyone to show up with an air pump so we could inflate our raft, we forgot fuel for our stove so we had to eat cold mountain house and couldn’t boil drinking water, but oh my.....was this god’s country. The beauty was incredible. The solitude was awe inspiring. We saw 1 float plane the entire time, more fish than we could ever count, and 12-13 bears a day. What a special place this was. I was in a protected watershed of Katmai national park and preserve, near Bristol Bay; deemed the last wild fishery in America, and the world.

So I was so disappointed to read that President Trump just approved the pebble mine. What a sad sad day for millions of people who adamantly voiced concerns through the last 8 years over disrupting the last wild fishery, Bristol Bay Alaska. The Pebble Mine, a company not even in the U.S., will now take billions in gold, silver, and copper from your public lands. Trump approved Pebble to build a 12 mile (you read that correctly) mine, destroy 2,000 acres of wetlands and more than 100 miles of streams. Think about and all those native fish, wildlife, and the wild salmon in them gone forever. On top of that they propose to connect a 212 mile road to the mine from the Dalton highway, most of which is through Native Alaskan tribal lands.

I don’t normally do politics, or even posts like this, but this is a loss for millions of Americans, the local population of people, and our children.

There are two courses of action to take. #1 is to elect a different president who can put a stop to this, and find truth in the EPA’s negative recommendation of the mine, the concerns for native lands being taken away, and poisonous chemicals flowing into our rivers and oceans.

#2. Get petitions started to inform Donald Trump (and congress)that we are not going to stand for this.

Let’s not treat Bristol Bay like we did the rainforests. Let’s protect Bristol Bay Alaska by finding new leadership in our country, specifically someone who cares how we leave this earth for our children.

Please share this post if you believe in saving Bristol Bay. Together we can make change happen.

4Cory Weidenbach, Paul Cavender and 2 others

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2019 was a great year for fishing in Alaska.  I just got back a few days ago and weather, salmon numbers, and trout fishing was all spectacular.  One of the best trips I have ever hosted.  My three anglers had constant hookups, smiles, and bent rods.  It was incredible.