Notes from my Alaska trip: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

I got back from 9 days in Alaska last night, and I am convinced that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Never had a bad meal, either cooked in one of the many restaurants we ate at, or at the homes of the many friends I got to hang out with.

Day 1 and 2 were spent in Wrangle. We landed and were wisked away to the Stikine Inn. Not a 5 star hotel, but the folks there were friendly and the rooms were clean. We played golf at the only course in SE Alaska, Muskeg Meadows. The course was nice, and very tight. If you left the fairway, you had better pull out another ball cause it was gone. Both days I came out ahead on balls, as I had worn my Alaska tennis shoes (Xtra-Tuf boots). It's a 9 hole course where each green serves as the green for two holes, and they have clubs for rent. Here is the 9th/18th green.

You had to drive over that huge rock in the back ground. Found some bear poop when I looking for balls. If you golf and find yourself in Wrangle, you gotta try golfing there.

Days 3-5 were spent in Klawock on Prince of Wales Island at a client's mill. Imagine the San Juans with many more islands, pretty steep islands, and lots of whales. Lots of protected water fishing, with many boats in the 16-22 foot class, like you would see any day at Sekiu. We were on a little bigger boat, a 33 foot Coastal with twin diesels. That boat flew.

We had to scratch for silvers on the first and last days there landing just 8 silvers in those two days, but we found them on day two landing 23. We also found two small halibut, along with 4 slot limit sized lings for the 5 of us. Fished both north and south of Noyes Island. and we saw a few interesting sights.

Days 6 & 7 were spent on Wadleigh Island with another client in one of the rustic but nice cabins on his 400 acres. This is about a mile west of Klawock. No power, except for a generator and deep cycle batteries recharged by solar power. Fished the inside at a place called 11 mile and we racked up some nice black sea bass, some kelp greenling, and a few other fish on the first day. The next day we ventured out off the coast of Noyes and hit paydirt on bottom fish. We ended up limiting out on ling cod, yellow eye, halibut, and even picked up a few bonus silvers.

The halibut weren't huge, just 20-40 pounds. We headed to a point for some sea bass, and ended up finding a few FB's as well.

We got back to the island, and one of the locals had shot a deer, which became dinner that night. He was having issues skinning it, so I jumped in. Never saw a deer so fat, as it had a girdle of fat over 2 inches thick. No gamey taste at all, considering the deer was 4 or 5 years old.

Days 8 & 9 were spent in Ketchikan. Stopped by Warren's house and had a nice time talking with him and his wife, and I was treated to yet another great meal, and I got to see "Pinky" up by the hatchery. No fishing on Friday, but Saturday morning we headed out and hit the cove where I caught the last two species of my trip, chum and king salmon.

All in all I caught 4 species of salmon, sea bass, yellow eye, ling cod, halibut, and saw whales every day. I will be back sooner than later, and I can hardly wait.

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"Give me the anger, fish! Give me the anger!"

Be like Big Stick!