Alaska Fishing Trip

About 6 months ago a friend of mine, Dave, at Columbia suggested that we take some customers up to Alaska to go fishing. His son, JJ, charters fishing trips for Seward Adventure Charters out of Seward, AK. We got it scheduled and all put it on our calenders but forgot about it until a couple weeks before we were leaving. I had never been to Alaska so I wasn't sure what to expect. Several people shared their experiences with me and I kind of had an idea that Alaska would be cool but kind of touristy. While it was somewhat touristy in town, once you got out of town or on a boat you hardly saw a soul.

We (Jim, Bruce, Jen, Molly and I) flew Anchorage on Sunday July, 15th, rented a car and drove about an hour and a half down to Seward. When we got to Seward, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was about 65 degrees. Perfect weather. Dave met us at the hotel with beer and cocktails and invited us to dinner over at Ray's Waterfront Restaurant after we got settled. Jen, Molly and I were ready to walk around after sitting and traveling for half the day so we dropped our stuff in our rooms and walked down the boardwalk to check out the town. Naturally, we ended up at a bar (Ray's) to have a beer before we met the others. After a couple ice cold Alaskan brews, we headed over to the dock to meet Dave. JJ had come in with some clients and was busy cleaning their fish on the J-dock (check out the live camera). After meeting JJ we headed over to the restaurant. We ate some great seafood and discussed what the plans were for the next few days.

I had a hard time sleeping that night because it was still light outside at 2:00 am. I felt like I needed to get out and take advantage of the extended light in Alaska...but rolled out of bed at 6:00 am. We had to pack two days worth of clothes because we were staying on an island in Prince William Sound that evening. After some breakfast in the fantastic Holiday Inn Express brecky room, we headed down to the boat to meet JJ and get fishing.

Another gorgeous day greeted us. Not a cloud in the sky and warm again. JJ motored us out about an hour and twenty minutes before we started fishing near a rock covered in sea lions. He immediately had us on some Silvers (Coho Salmon). I got one picture of Bruce holding a fine Silver. I was too busy catching fish to take more pictures. We had doubles and triples, it was complete chaos in the boat for about 30 or 40 minutes. After catching A LOT of salmon, we moved to fishing for some Ling Cod. This was a little bit more difficult fishing as we were dropping our lines down on pinnacle spires on the ocean floor. JJ stressed to let the jig hit the bottom but to reel up immediately after it did or we would get snagged. Yep, I was the first to snag the bottom forcing everyone to reel up so JJ and Justin could deal with my stupidness. After that incident, we slayed them!! Again, we had a couple doubles and complete chaos on the boat. These fish are huge!!! So big, that they have to hit them in the head with a bat when they bring them aboard so they don't break a leg or knock someone overboard. This also creates a lot of blood and guts flying in the air. We were covered! It didn't take us long before we had each limited on the Lings. This was already a highly successful day of fishing and we hadn't even tried for Halibut yet.

The next spot was a Halibut hole that they called a chicken field as it had a lot of small fish in it. Although they were small, they put up a big fight. We were all wondering what the big ones would be like. We each caught a few before JJ took us to a hole with a lot bigger fish in it. Bruce got the honor of pulling up the biggest Halibut not only for the day, but the whole trip too. At about 6:30 pm we started heading over to the lodge for the night. We were late getting there because of the tremendous fishing all day and were anxious to get some dinner. But it would have to wait a little longer because on the way we saw some Fin Whales. The Gods must have been shining on us because the whales weren't just swimming along, they were breaching and putting on a show for us! It was absolutely unbelievable!

We finally arrived at the Port Ashton Lodge sometime after 8:00 pm. Lia and Randy opened the lodge this year. It's a very rustic, very Alaska place. Power is provided by a generator that shuts off at 11:00pm. Randy built all of the cabins and always has a project brewing. Lia cooked us an excellent meal. We all took a stroll around the place after dinner and decided that it would be a good idea to turn in. Even though I had a lot of light coming through my window at midnight and Bruce was sawing logs with a nitrous powered chainsaw in the room below me, I had no trouble sleeping.

I got up the following morning to be greeted with yet another beautiful sunny day. I thought this place was supposed to be rainy and dreary (foreshadowing)! Lia and Paige cooked us a great breakfast complete with quiche and lots of coffee. After breakfast we packed up our gear and headed out to the dock. JJ and Justin had packed our fish from the day before in snow, they wanted to keep the Ling Cod intact to show off at the dock that night. The whole extended family sent us off from the dock. I highly recommend visiting this lodge.



We got out fishing about 10:00 or so, a little later but it wasn't a big deal as we were already really close to the fishing grounds. We didn't do any Ling Cod fishing because we already had our limit in the boat. JJ got us on a ton of Halibut and Silvers again. We tried for some King Salmon but we missed the run by about two weeks. No problem, because we caught a lot more fish. We got back to Seward and had a boat load of fish to bring up to the hanger. JJ and Justin had filleted our fish from the day before so all of the fish hanging in this picture were from day two! After cleaning up a bit, we went downtown to a pizza joint for some food and beers. JJ met us out after taking care of the boat, cleaning fish and other guide duties. You got to really admire a guy who orders a double crown and coke and two beers at once!

The following day was overcast and rainy. Dave and JJ planned a surprise visit to the glaciers in the Kenai Fjords. The fishing wasn't overly exceptional during the day so having a field trip out to the glaciers was perfect. The glaciers are unbelievably beautiful, my pictures just don't do them justice. We pulled a couple pieces of floating ice on board so that we could make some martinis and gin and tonics. The ice crackled in the drinks as it released trapped gasses from long ago. Definitely one of the best and most interesting drinks I've ever had. We navigated back out of the Fjords to take another shot at fishing but the weather was getting worse which meant a rough ride back to port. We opted to call it a day and head back. It turns out that if we had waited any longer to make a decision, we would have had to wait over 5 hours before we could head back. The seas were rough but not more than 5 or 6 feet. Everyone was able to hold it together and not hurl their guts out. This was our last night in Seward, so we decided to have a low key fish and chips dinner. It's hard to beat fresh fish and chips.

On Thursday morning we headed down to J-dock to split up our fish. We all netted a little over 60 lbs of fish each. It will be arriving at my doorstep on Tuesday and hopefully I have enough space in the freezer! After dividing the fish we headed over to Le Barn Appetit for some breakfast (my stomach is totally stretched out at this point and I'm always hungry!). This is place has got a lot of character. Yvon and Janet are the owners and have lived in Seward for over 40 years. Yvon never stopped talking and was one of the crudest people I've ever met. He spoke about having sex with his wife, other women's breasts, his daughter's love life and many other things that just make the average person uncomfortable. It was great! I don't know how he pulls it off, but it was OK. He makes a mean crepe as well. We all had Reindeer sausage, cheese, egg and spinach crepes. Definitely worth stopping by for breakfast if you're ever in Seward.

Now back over to Anchorage for some touristy stuff. We all went shopping on 4th st. where all of the souvenir shops are. I got my boys some Alaska books and Abby an eskimo made necklace. Not bad for a guy that really, really, really hates to shop. After fishing for three days, we were all ready for a good steak. Dave got us set up at Club Paris for dinner that night. I had a nice ribeye with blue cheese on it and a loaded baked potato. A perfect way to end a great trip.

We had a leisurely morning on Friday before our flight home. Of course we had to stretch our stomachs once more before we left, so we ate breakfast at Gwennie's Restaurant. I had a pile of Reindeer sausage so big that I could hear my arteries hardening. None of us ate even half of our plates of food. If you like big food, this place is for you. The flight home left at noon and arrived back in Denver at 9:30 pm. A long day of travel but well worth it.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip and I wouldn't change anything. Here are a bunch of photos that didn't get on the blog. I'll be adding more in a few days...