My sumer AK vacation with Dr. Luv...: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

The final chapter of my summer vacation started too early in the morning on August 5th. My lovely wife drove me to the Boise airport, and I got on a Horizon Airlines plane for Seattle. Upon my arrival I met Luv2fish, and we jumped on a plane for Anchorage. Little did I know (yeah right...!) that would be the last time I saw my liver and kidneys for a week. The flight to Anchorage was a grueling 3 hours (man, I really wanted to get there in a hurry...), plus a 25 minute flight in to Kenai with Svetlana, our Russian Stewardess. We liked the way she talked...

We landed at about 1:00 local time in Kenai after the hop, and my luggage (including fishing clothes) didn't make it. We ran to Fred Meyer, got hotdogs, Chili, Ramen Noodles, fishing licenses, and beer (#0 bucks a case-Yow!). While we were walking to the car, the airlines called and my bags were in, so I went and grabbed them. I noticed as I drove out of the airport that the clouds were clearing, and the sun was out. The rain we saw upon landing was the last we would see all week.

I got back to camp, I beautiful little group of cabins located just off the river, changed into fishing gear, and hopped in the boat with John and Luke Haman. Luke is one of the "young guns" of the Kenai. He knows that river like no one else, and is one hell of a fisherman. He may be the best I have ever seen. Literally 4 minutes after we started backtrolling for Silvers, I was fast into a 35-40 pound chrome bright king. This fish was hotter than Luv2fishes credit cards, and on light tackle it was a hoot! I landed him as fast as possible (Luv videoed the whole thing), and Luke released him. 10 minutes later it was de ja vu all over again. This fish was about 5 pounds larger. We pounded the river for silvers, but netting in the inlet was keeping the numbers down. We had one on, and saw one other fish caught. I had been in Alaska 8 hours, landed the biggest salmon of my life, and we had polished off a case of beer (with help from Nate Morris who joined is for a couple of hours with his hottie girlfriend Mandy). I was beat, and tomorrow was going to be another epic day.

Day 2 dawned bright, clear, and sunny with some medium strong winds. We went to breakfast with Bo Ansell, our host for the week, and a bunch of other guys that were in cabin 5, and some other friends. One of those friends happens to be the "King of all sockeye fishermen" and taught us a trick to get them to actually bite the hooks.

After breakfast, Luv and I jumped in Luke's boat, and ran up river to fish reds. I had never caught a sockeye before. Man do these puppies fight! Luke is an incredible fisherman, and definitely had it down, but I drew first blood. We got our limits (6 a piece), plus Luv caught a bonus Silver.

For the next 4 days, all I heard was "Hey, did I tell you I caught a Silver?!?!?" He has some great pictures, I'm sure he'll post them soon. After a mega fish cleaning party, we drank beer and hung out with board member AK Chemist. Bill is a great guy, lots of fun, and knows a ton about curing eggs.

I was good meeting him, and he came by about daily to see us. That was about a 3 case day.

Day 3 we jumped in Bo's sled and hit the Kenai for silvers. The bite was slow, but we managed 4 silvers, 1 red, and one monster Humpy (it isn't supposed to be a humpy year), plus several dollies and big rainbows.

We'd have had more, but there was some cracker on board. It was another incredible day on the river with a guy that is a legend among Kenai guides. We heard of no other silvers caught that day. After we got off the river, we spent the afternoon readying Bo's ocean boat, SKYWALKER, of a day on the ocean at Seward. We got to bed relatively early, because the alarm was going off at 3 bells. It may have taken a few cases of beer to get everything in order.

Day 4 we jumped in Bo's truck with Bo and Lowell Engle, cruised through the Grind coffee shop (which Bo owns), met the guys from cabin 5, and headed for Seward. What a gorgeous area! We launched and ran out to the mouth of Resurrection Bay. We fished for silvers, and bottom-fish, catching 15 silvers, and 8 or 9 big black sea bass, and one 36 inch ling cod.

The scenery was amazing and the company was good. The weather was even better. Dead calm, no swell, and sunny. It got so warm I had to strip off my gear, and was just wearing my jeans and a t-shirt. The scenery was great, plus there were thousands upon thousands of seabirds nesting in the area. It was really cool seeing puffins and all the other birds. Huge glaciers hang on the extremely steep and rugged mountains. We finished up and were on the road home by 2:00, but it had been a long day, and there was more to come. After we got back to camp, got the boat cleaned up and put away, and cleaned fish we had a few brewskis and relaxed for a moment.

Then we began prepping for an even more brutal 3:00am wake-up for halibut fishing.

Day 5 we wake at 3:00, on the road by 3:30. We drove out to Anchor Point about an hour south of Soldotna (I slept most of the way). He hopped in Huston Morris's halibut boat (the BLACKFISH) and got the first trailer launch off the beach.

The ocean was like a pond, flat as glass. Just after we launched, a porpoise swan by, surely a sign of good luck.

We had Lowell deck handing for us, John, Luke, and the 3 guys from cabin 5. Huston runs a sweet boat, a 26 foot Alumaweld hard top ocean boat with twins 175's on it. We ran the 40 minutes to his halibut hole, only to discover it was infested by sharks, and the current was ripping so hard we could barely stick. He pulled anchor and moved to another spot. Similar current, but no sharks. We ended up filling the fish box in short order with some nice chickens.

I can honestly tell you, halibut fishing is all about work. The scenery was amazing here as well. We had a great view of Mt. Redoubt, Illiamna, and several other huge volcanic mountains including one off to the south that was belching steam. The Cabin 5 guys had an afternoon fly out, and we were done early, so we headed back to camp. After a quick clean-up, lunch, and re-gearing we hit the Kenai again with Luke, Luv, Seth, and Dave. It was my "the sun shines on every dog's ass one day" moment. The first 5 times a rod went off it was mine. Unfortunately they weren't silvers, they were big kings. I'll let Luv fill in, but the biggest hands down beat my previous largest king.

We fished till dark, then went back to camp and had a bunch of beers while packing our gear and BSing with Luke, Seth, Tank (Huston's dog) and Huston. The party broke up around 3:00am, and we hit the hay. At 6:00am the alarm went off, and it was time to head home. Sleep is overrated.

So day 6 dawns beautiful (again). On the way to the airport we get the call that Dave had shot his moose with his bow, and Luke and Dave had a long day of packing meat ahead of them. It wasn't a world class trophy, bit it was a nice one apparently. That was pretty cool. We get on the plane and fly to Anchorage, an easy 20 minute flight. Here is where things go surreal. We are waiting for our plane and there is this dude walking through the gate area approaching all the girls that appeared to be single. He would walk up and talk to them, trying to hold their hands. He was wearing jeans and a blue collared shirt that was buttoned improperly, like he got 1 button off at the top, and so it was uneven. After watching him get run off by a couple irate fathers or mothers, we watched as he walked over to the area where the people were getting off the plane we were to board. He stood there muttering names trying to get a response from the passengers. Then a group of foreign exchange students got off the plane, mostly girls, and he zeroed in. Luv went to the gate attendant, and explained the scenario. He told her that we were freaked out at the prospect of being on the plane with this creep for 3 1/2 hours, as were many of the other passengers. She said she would take care of it. When we get on the plane, he is onboard, sitting in random seats (next to girls) till someone comes along and kicks him out. Luv mentions to the flight attendant sitting across the aisle that this guy has problems, and everyone sitting around us chimes in that he's wierding them out as well. He walked by again without his shoes, and we all got really nervous. John said "all I could think of was the shoe bomber". He roamed the plane for a few minutes and sat down up front. He was either mental, or WAAAAY whacked out on drugs. Luv talked to the flight attendants, and we got up and told them we'd help pitch the guy off if needed. After some negotiations between several flight attendants, probably about the amount of paperwork they would have to fill out, they called security and the guy got hauled off. We soon pushed back from the gate, and the next thing I know we are starting our descent in to Seattle. It got a bit bumpy, and John got a bit nervous (like "dude, could you let go of my knee, you are cutting off circulation to my foot"...), but the pilot greased the landing and we survived another trip. I hopped on my flight to Boise, and arrived home around 7:00. When it came time to grab my baggage, only one of my boxes of fish had arrived. Apparently ERA Aviation had "bumped" my fish box due to weight and balance issues in their plane. The good news is it would be in around 9:30, so we went and ate dinner, ran back and grabbed the fish, and were home by 11:00. I threw my fish in the freezer, plugged in to the dialysis machine and went to sleep.

It was an amazing trip! I know I have abused that word, and the word awesome in this diatribe, but they fit. The fishing, scenery and friends I made were incredible. Seeing my old friends again was also wonderful. If you have never made a trip like this, you are missing out. I suggest getting a group of friends together, and scrimping the cash (It's expensive) and heading north. It was truly the trip of a lifetime! Thanks John! You are a one in a million guy. I really appreciate you making this happen. I owe you.

Tight Lines,

Mojo

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