# The Road to Alaska



## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I don’t spit bars, rhymes, or any types of poetry. And even a trip to the last frontier can’t inspire that sort of creativity in me, but I can give a report on my trip. I’m going to add pics and a report from each day in each reply below. It may be a little clunky as I will add pics from my phone and then go back in and edit with some commentary. 

I will say this: If a trip to Alaska is on anyone's list, I would strongly recommend moving it up your list. This trip met and exceeded my expectations in pretty much every way, and my expectations were pretty high! It was seriously incredible, and I would highly recommend anyone that has the desire to go make it happen. 

I do have some preliminary thoughts here. The sockeye run on the Kenai Peninsula has been incredible this year. The numbers are basically double or more than any year in the last 5 years. We were just a week late on getting the epic numbers where you are basically walking across fish in the river. The week before we went was epic numbers of fish running each day. There were still plenty of fish running each day and we had a great experience.


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## Wyo2ut (Aug 2, 2016)

Vanilla said:


> I don’t spit bars, rhymes, or any types of poetry. And even a trip to the last frontier can’t inspire that sort of creativity in me, but I can give a report on my trip. I’m going to add pics and a report from each day in each reply below. It may be a little clunky as I will add pics from my phone and then go back in and edit with some commentary.
> 
> I will say this: If a trip to Alaska is on anyone's list, I would strongly recommend moving it up your list. This trip met and exceeded my expectations in pretty much every way, and my expectations were pretty high! It was seriously incredible, and I would highly recommend anyone that has the desire to go make it happen.
> 
> I do have some preliminary thoughts here. The sockeye run on the Kenai Peninsula has been incredible this year. The numbers are basically double or more than any year in the last 5 years. We were just a week late on getting the epic numbers where you are basically walking across fish in the river. The week before we went was epic numbers of fish running each day. There were still plenty of fish running each day and we had a great experience.


Your wife came by my house to visit my wife along with some friends and your kids while you were gone...I am just trying to figure out how you convinced her into allowing you to go. I haven't made that kind of trip for about 15 years and am itching to do it again.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Day one we went on a combo charter out of Seward with J-Docks. The sea was a little rough and the fishing wasn't great, to be honest. It happens, I don't think it was a reflection on the charter company at all, but I will say that throughout the week it became apparent just how unfriendly this first boat captain was. He wasn't really social and definitely didn't communicate with us or try to teach us much about what was going on. It was also a little discouraging to listen to the different boats with the company communicating on the radio and after going for nearly 3 hours out into the ocean, to basically be telling each other "No fish here, I don't know what to do next!" 

We didn't catch many halibut initially. We caught some rock fish, smaller lingcod we couldn't keep, and even a stingray. Eventually the boat took us to a place full of chickens to just get some halibut in the boat before heading back. I caught my two halibut, both very small, but better than nothing, I guess. 

Honestly, when I go back I will bypass Seward entirely. It is a very cool town but it is a long ways out of the way to where we were most of the rest of the time, and not worth the time out of the way, in my opinion.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Wyo2ut said:


> Your wife came by my house to visit my wife along with some friends and your kids while you were gone...I am just trying to figure out how you convinced her into allowing you to go. I haven't made that kind of trip for about 15 years and am itching to do it again.


A second login? You're playing with my emotions now, W2U. My wife is a saint, that is how I convinced her. 18 years of marriage and never a single time saying "No, you can't go" for a hunting or fishing trip.

It's still hilarious to me that I came to your wedding reception all those years ago and didn't even know it until more recently. Probably better that we didn't make the UTOF connection that night.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

After our day in Seward we drove to Soldotna, where we stayed for the rest of our trip. 

Day 2 our group of 9 needed to split up for a second charter on the ocean. The one we had planned later in the week was not big enough for all of us, so half got booked on a charter out of Homer with Destination Alaska. Brandon was our boat captain and he did a FANTASTIC job. It was kind of funny, the day before wasn't the best experience, so most of the group wasn't too thrilled about another day out on the ocean. A couple of people had got pretty sick and the fishing kind of sucked. We didn't have a great experience day 1, so when it came time to decide which 5 were going day 2 to Homer to hit this excursion, the excitement level wasn't real high.

I'm pretty easy going and figured I'd go get the second ocean event out of the way so I could focus the rest of the time on what I'd come to Alaska for: fishing the rivers. A few others volunteered and one more was voluntold they were going, and off to Homer we went. I'm so glad I did, because this ended up being one of the highlights of my trip! This was a totally different experience than the day before. Our boat captain was fantastic. He was social and very knowledgeable. He was engaging and was willing to teach us about the fishing and help us have a great time, not just try to put a fish on the end of the line and not be bothered to interact otherwise like our prior experience. He taught us about the tides and reviewed the tide cycles for the day with us, telling us basically when we were going to start having hits and when we'd have to move. He gave us a clear game plan for our combo charter that day, and it played out perfectly. He was the son of the owners of the charter and had been a deck hand for 5 years. This was his first year as boat captain. Our deck hand was Brandon's friend that is a fisheries biologist for the state as a day job and came out on the weekends to help out on the charters. It was fun to be able to talk to him about things and learn a little more about the fish and the fisheries. This was a very educational day, and a ton of fun fishing.

We'd start out going for our smaller halibut. (If you're not aware, a nonresident on a charter boat has a limit of 2 halibut, and only one may be over 28 inches.) From there we could go out to one of his favorite places to fish and catch a mixed bag of things, or we could go "big fish hunting" for larger halibut. We'd then go troll for salmon. We hit a few smaller halibut and decided we'd move over to the mixed back. We caught a lot of rock fish and one really nice lingcod we were able to keep. After that we went to the "big fish" location and caught some better sized halibut, but nothing huge.

We then went and used the most of the rest of the day to troll for salmon. Let me tell you this- this was one of the most fun fishing experiences I've had in a long, long time! You'll see in the pics below a picture of me holding a really nice king. I did not catch it, but told the guy that did I was taking a picture with it anyway.  We had two rods out trolling and just took turns working them between the 5 of us. It was pretty fast action. These guys had it dialed in that day and it was a ton of fun. We caught 11 different species of fish. We did not limit on halibut because we were having so much fun trolling for salmon that we didn't have enough time to hit the halibut hard again, but that was a choice we made and were fine with it.

If anyone is looking for a recommendation out of Homer, Destination Alaska with Brandon is absolutely one I would do again! In fact, I really hope to do a day just like this again sometime in the future. It's a bit of a drive down from where we were staying in Soldotna, but not too big of a deal. 

The rest of our group went and fished the Kenai River on their own and had some decent success catching good sized sockeyes. 


























































View attachment 152947


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Day 2 continued... (10 pic limit per post)


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Day 3 we did a float trip on the Kasilof River. We floated the upper section and made pretty quick work of our limits (once everyone got to the right spot). This river was pretty spectacular in beauty. It was a really neat place to hang out for a day. 

Funny story: We had 3 boats in our float. 6 of the people were not with us, but got grouped together with the three boats. One boat took 5 of the other group that was with us, and the 9 in our group would split up between the two other boats. One of the guides walks up and says, "Who is the most experienced fisherman here in this group of 9." Everyone kind of looked around and pointed at me. He then looks at me and says, "I don't want you on my boat. I want people who are going to listen to me." In my head I thought, "Huh, that's an interesting way to start off working for your tip!" 

Well, long story short, he screwed his boat over and ended up having to actually go do, re-launch and come back up to where we were at catching all the fish. We had limited before his group even got back to us after their re-launch. I had told our guide what this other dork said, so when they pulled up he walked up to him and said, "Man, why did you give me all the experienced fishermen? They made my job so easy I basically have been sitting here with my feet kicked up the whole time!" The original guys was ticked and dropped some expletives at us all and then he proceeded to be kind of a dink the rest of the day. I don't know what he got tipped, but I'm guessing it was much less than the other two. Deservedly so. I definitely enjoyed floating the Kasilof, and ended up doing it again a couple days later. Standby.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

pretty awesome! Thanks for sharing pics!

Now you need to go try out Valdez!



W2U -- Just some friendly advice with your wife: Stop asking permission!!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Day 4 was a flyout trip, and I have to tell you...this was one of the coolest days in my entire life. The trip was through Alaska West Air and we went to Crescent Lake in the Lake Clark National Park and Reserve. The fly in was so cool. When we landed and I got off the plane, my jaw basically hit the ground. I don't know that I've ever been to a more beautiful place on the planet. It was truly spectacular in every way. It was a bit of a surreal experience to be standing on the banks of Crescent Lake, in one of the prettiest valleys I've ever seen, looking at brown bear scat all around me and thick brush just a few feet away, and realizing that this was going to be my day. I got to experience this. It was pretty magical. This is a trip I would highly recommend to anyone that is contemplating it. It was the most expensive excursion we did, but it was totally worth it, even with just a 3-fish limit. (Kenai and Kasilof were extended to 6-fish limits a few weeks ago because of the huge numbers of sockeyes running.) We caught some pretty amazing fish in some really amazing country. It was a very special day that I will remember for a long, long time.

We fished with a guy named Tony Mann, who was another awesome guide. This vacation taught me clearly that who your guide is makes a huge difference in your experience. Not just your success, but your experience. If you guide people for anything, don't be a dink. Be a social person that gets excited for your clients and guests. Talk with them. Teach them about what they are doing or the area you are in. Don't just be a robot with a goal of successful harvest in mind. 

We had some cool bear interactions as well, but that will be in the next post.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Holy cow - looks like an incredible trip!!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Day 4 continued....the bears

We saw a handful of bears and had some pretty cool encounters. I have some awesome video of one of the bears diving down and getting a salmon, but I can't upload videos here and I don't want to go put them on YouTube first, so sorry!

Our guide showed us some videos he had from prior trips and it is incredible how close these bears are around fishermen all day. I think bears are the coolest animals on the planet, so this was a real treat for me to be able to be that close to wild brown bears in their natural habitat. I will admit that at times when I would think about it, it was a bit unnerving fishing knowing a bear could pop out just feet behind me at any given moment, and I had nothing but a fishing rod to separate me from it. I'm glad that didn't happen, but it was a really cool experience up at this lake. Again, this was the pinnacle of the trip and something I hope to take my wife back to do sometime in the not-too-distant future.

The picture below in the grass of what looks like a little bit of guts is what was left of the fish after the bear took what appeared to be about 3 bites, and then walked off. I decided my best option at that point was to go take a look at what he left behind. 

There was bear scat and sign everywhere. They have their free run of the place up there, that's for sure!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Day 5 was back to the Kasilof. It took a little bit of work, but we were able to get a full limit of sockeyes. We caught some decent fish this day, but it became apparent that the fish in the Kenai, as a whole, were bigger than their cousins in the Kasilof. I don't know why that is, maybe someone with more experience there can shed light on that one. 

One thing that happened this day that did not two days before fishing the same areas, was there was a TON of little dolly varden and rainbows cruising around eating fish eggs. We watched a group below us where one of the fishermen sat in the front of the beached drift boat fishing with an egg pattern under an indicator while their guide fileted fish, and basically caught a small rainbow or dolly every single cast fishing with that setup. We hooked into them incidentally while flossing quite a bit this day, but if you were targeting them, you could have had a field day. We didn't see anything with any size, but they for sure are in there!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Day 6 we finished off at the Kenai River. We put together one more full limit, and the fish were a lot better here. We were fishing only about one river mile from the ocean, so these fish were very fresh and had a decent amount of spunk! One guy in a our group caught a silver, and we all caught a ton of pinks, but we did finally get our limit on sockeyes. We took this picture with just two fish each, but that is only 1/3 of the fish caught this day. I did catch one dolly varden that was not just tiny, but still not a big one. 

This was a great day fishing, and I can tell you that my arm and shoulder were extremely tired fighting these last fish after a week of doing this.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

Holy Cow Vanilla, what a trip. Amazing pics and experience. How much did you end up bringing home? 

If I may ask- what was the total cost of the trip? I've been really wanting to go to Alaska, and all the pictures are really, really making me want to make it happen.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

That wraps it up for the trip. Here are some additional details:

We booked this trip through Absolute Alaska Adventures. Some of you may remember or know Sterling Lyman, he is a former Weber County guy that is now up in Alaska running this company. I could not have been more impressed with how they did things. It was very easy getting prepared for the trip with the information they gave us up front. They provided all our fishing gear: waders, rods, nets, tackle, fish clubs (seriously), etc. etc. etc. That was a huge help. We could have brought all our own stuff, but that was just extra gear to transport. They processed, packaged, cold stored, and eventually boxed up all our fish to bring home on the plane. I know a lot of people have Alaska figured out and can do it on their own, but if you are not in that boat, I would highly recommend Absolute Alaska Adventures. They will treat you well, no doubt.

As stated above, the fly out to Crescent Lake with Alaska West Air and the combo charter out of Homer with Destination Alaska are absolutely things that I would recommend, and will likely do again myself in the future. The guided river trips were worth it for me as they put me in position to catch as much fish as possible without having to stack shoulder to shoulder with 700 of my closest strangers. (Some people love that part of Alaska salmon runs, but that isn't really my idea of a great time.) The guided river trips were the cheapest of all the trips we booked, and only one was part of our original itinerary. The others Absolute Alaska was able to book just the night before for us with guides that had openings. Most of them are running doubles with one group in the morning and another in the afternoon. The last afternoon/evening fishing the Kenai and getting into some pretty big sockeyes that were very fresh from the ocean was a ton of fun, as was catching fish all week long.

We came home with about 650 lbs of fish total, which was not as much as it could have been had we done better with halibut and also a couple days where we left some salmon off our limits. (combo charter days we could have gone out and fished all night for sockeyes when we got back, but didn't, as an example) I brought about 75 lbs of that home. It would not be wise to do a cost in dollars per pound spent to bring that fish home, but the experience was totally worth it!

A couple things we didn't do that I'd still like to do in the future and just some other considerations:
1- I'd love to do a fly out to target trophy dolly varden one day. This has always appealed to me and one day I'll do it.
2- It would be awesome to do a rainbow specific day chasing big bows. This isn't really the time to do it, although the fish are there and you can catch them if you target them. But one day would like to head back and fly fish for big rainbows specifically.
3- I wouldn't mind taking a day and doing some sightseeing. We did a lot of fishing, and saw some incredible places doing so, but it would be fun to relax a little and see the sights. Alaska has a TON of them, and I will be back to see more of it.
4- The Kasilof River is a much prettier place than the Kenai River, in my opinion. But the fish in the Kenai were bigger. So take it for what it's worth. Both were really cool and I'd do both again in the future.
5- Total cost, I don't have that yet. I still have a portion of the balance I have to pay this week and I'm waiting on the final number. We ate out for dinner every night and a couple times for lunch, which we could have saved money to cook our own. (Cabins had kitchenettes in them) But I'm guessing we'll be close to $4k when all is said and done after flights, gas, excursions, tips, etc. 

This was a trip of a lifetime for me, and I feel very lucky to have been able to do it. Now I've got to get back into the swing of things at work and start focusing on killing a couple animals this fall.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Glad you had a great trip. The lower Kenai is about as unscenic a place to fish in Alaska as there is, but there are parts of the middle/upper that are in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge that are just jaw dropping. Genetics of the Kenai fish are just bigger for kings, silvers, sockeyes, pinks, rainbows, and dollies than surrounding areas like the Kasilof. There's some debate about the quality of the nutrients in river during the fry stage allowing them to be larger by the time they go out to the ocean, that plays into that too. Bottom line, we know they are bigger but we don't actually know exactly why. 

When you get serious about a trophy dolly trip, let me know. I have a trip I want to do in NW AK for huge dollies and sheefish.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Thanks for the write up and pictures. It looks like you had a ton of fun.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Funnest read of the year and amazing pics. Congrats on making the dream come true! One day I’ll get up there but for now the jealousy runs thick! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Great write up Niller!!! Pics were amazing!


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## castnblast15 (Dec 23, 2011)

Thanks for the write up and pictures. All the good memories came flooding back. I went to Soldotna last year (July 2021). It sounds like we had a similar experience- Homer, Kasilof, Kenai and a fly out. We caught no pinks (they run every other year) and we missed the big run of sockeye by a week (We only caught 5 fish between 6 of us on the Kasilof day). We did hook into a few kings on the Kenai which was an awesome experience and caught plenty of sockeyes on the Kenai. I will never forget our fly out. One of the better days of my life. We went to Big River Lake at Wolverine creek with Alaska Air and the bears were so fun to watch and we were hooking fish every cast. It is interesting to hear of others peoples experiences there. I agree with what you said about the guides. I don't know if I would do Homer again, but glad I did it once. Maybe it was our guide -he didn't say 10 words all day. I can't wait to get back to Alaska. I am curious how this trip compares with a strictly ocean fishing for salmon and halibut experience out of Ketchikan.... any thoughts from those that have done both?


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Awesome report! It sounds like you had quite an experience. 

Ready to go back?


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Catherder said:


> Ready to go back?


Absolutely! I want to take my wife on a similar trip. She’d absolutely love it. The problem there is I have to pay for 2…


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

3 days...

-DallanC


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

Looks like an awesome trip, thanks for sharing!

my only question is, how many pounds of of meat did you take home?


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Vanilla said:


> We came home with about 650 lbs of fish total, which was not as much as it could have been had we done better with halibut and also a couple days where we left some salmon off our limits. (combo charter days we could have gone out and fished all night for sockeyes when we got back, but didn't, as an example) *I brought about 75 lbs of that home.*


Ray ^^


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Vanilla said:


> Absolutely! I want to take my wife on a similar trip. She’d absolutely love it. The problem there is I have to pay for 2…


Yeah, I would love to do another trip like yours too. However, my last trip to Alaska was a cruise with my wife, and we had a blast. Not as much fishing though that way. If all goes well with her health issues in the next year, I'm debating doing another Alaska cruise with her to celebrate.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Vanilla said:


> Absolutely! I want to take my wife on a similar trip. She’d absolutely love it. The problem there is I have to pay for 2…


There is another way...


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

That looks like a great trip, Vanilla!

I need to really get my dad in high gear about planning a similar trip. It would mean the world to him as he's never fished up there (only been an business trips).


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

johnnycake said:


> There is another way...


...called Canada.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

PBH said:


> ...called Canada.


called residency.


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## slapwater (Jun 18, 2009)

I did an 8 day wilderness float trip in Western Alaska a couple years ago. It was one of the best weeks of my life. My brother-in-law and I went with a guide and for 8 days we didn't see another person. The fishing was excellent too. Rainbows on mice flies is a riot. This thread has dramatically upped my need to get back up there. What a cool place. Thanks for sharing.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

caddis8 said:


> called residency.


Alaska is just plain expensive. That doesn't mean it isn't worth it. But, like Vanilla has said numerous times: "once in a lifetime".

Or is it? Will Vanilla go back and do it again? Even at that $4k expense? maybe. maybe multiple times. Maybe next time he'll float the Good News or the Kenektok. It would be worth it -- and would be another "trip of a lifetime". Why can't we have more than one trip of a lifetime?

I get it. I love Alaska. But if I want to experience awesome fishing (salmon / halibut), I don't have to spend the money to go to Alaska. I can dramatically cut the expenses and fish for the exact same fish, and see some fantastic scenery, and have an epic experience simply by going to Canada instead.

But, I get it. I really want to get my wife up there for a _real_ trip.

My "once in a lifetime" trip wish? When I retire I'm buying an RV, and then I'll head up I-15 to the border, on to Calgary, then head NW through the Parks, spend some time in that area, then slowly make my way through the Lakes District of BC, head towards Terrace and Prince Rupert, back to the Cassiar highway, cross the Liard (again!)......at some point I know we'll make it to Alaska! I'm thinking we'll just spend a couple months on the road enjoying what we enjoy!


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

It's definitely a lot cheaper to go chase these kinds of adventures if you live where they are! And it's a lot easier to move to AK as a US citizen than it is to move to Canada.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

PBH said:


> Alaska is just plain expensive. That doesn't mean it isn't worth it. But, like Vanilla has said numerous times: "once in a lifetime".


You've done the BC route numerous times, I remember now. 

Honest questions- is the fishing as good as Alaska? What is the cost difference between the two? Is it the same type(s) of salmon in BC as AK? I imagine so, because it's the Pacific. I'd anticipate the scenery would be comparable. Is there more trouble and cost to get the fish back stateside across borders? Shipping fish from AK isn't cheap, so I'm not suggesting Alaska is cheaper. Just wondering logistically speaking. You have me wondering.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Caddis -- the fish are the same fish. The mountains and lakes and rivers and trees and rocks (and fish) are big. Yes -- the fishing is every bit as good.





Interesting how many Europeans we run into fishing in Canada, and how few Americans. 

The system we fish has chinook, pinks, chums, and coho (and steelhead and cuthroat). Another river a short distance away has those same fish plus sockeye. The Skeena is one of the world's longest undammed rivers (over 500 miles). It's huge, and has runs like the kenai -- but it's hundreds of miles long. You can get away from the crowds. It has held previous world record chinook salmon (over 90 lbs!)

Bringing fish home: this one is hard. You have to remember that when people go to Alaska for these "meat" trips, that they are exploiting a loop-hole with regulations. In Alaska, and Canada, you still have "daily" and "possession" limits that have to be followed for each species. The trick is, as Vanilla mentioned in his post, when the fish has been "processed" or "packaged" - sealed, labeled, frozen, etc. Many services will process the fish for you, which then removes them from your possession limit. That's how people bring home lbs, and lbs of fish. If you don't have those services available to you, then you can only keep a daily and possession limit -- often times a single fish or two. On our trips, we eat fish for many meals, and try to bring home a couple fish per person, as per the possession limit allows.

As for costs -- last time we went and did a ~10 day trip (7 days floating and fishing, another 3-4 days travel), it cost me ~$700. That's fuel, lodging, food, licenses, and souvenirs. BUT -- we also have our own rafts. And it's a ~2,000 mile trip (one way / 33 hours drive time).


It's an awesome trip. I'd love to do it again. And again. And again.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

You definitely could do this trip cheaper. I could have shaved a hundred bucks or so off by not eating out as much. We added two more guided river floats than were on our original itinerary, which cost a combined total of $585, including tips. If you were more of a DIY style trip it would not be hard at all to get the trip down to around $3,000, if you were still wanting to do a fly out and halibut charter. If you simply wanted to fish rivers on your own, I could see getting this trip down to $2000 or less. I can’t even take my wife to the Utah-Florida football game next month for that cost.

Getting fish home isn’t as bad as it sounds, I discovered. It cost me a whopping $20. I utilized airline perks and brought it home on the plane. Everything I took for 8 days, 7 nights fit in a carry on and a “personal” item. (My 30L waterproof fishing backpack) It was a tight fit, but I made it happen. I also have the Delta AmEx card which allows for 1 free checked bag on every flight. (Saved me $350 on my trip to Hawaii with the fam in January alone.)

I brought two boxes of fish (50 lbs each) home. I checked both as luggage. First box was free, second cost me $40 as a second checked “bag.” Half that box was for my buddy, so we split the $40 cost in half.

100 lbs of fish cost a total of $40 to bring home. That’s tough to beat. And yes, processing and packaging the fish allows you to get around possession limits, which otherwise would really cut down on the amount of salmon you could bring home. Even if you are on your own, there are plenty of companies that will do this for you there. Signs every few blocks in Soldotna advertised this service all around town. Not sure what they’d charge, I’m guessing more than I paid since Absolute Alaska Adventures did it for us.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

PBH said:


> As for costs -- last time we went and did a ~10 day trip (7 days floating and fishing, another 3-4 days travel), it cost me ~$700. That's fuel, lodging, food, licenses, and souvenirs. BUT -- we also have our own rafts. And it's a ~2,000 mile trip (one way / 33 hours drive time).
> 
> 
> It's an awesome trip. I'd love to do it again. And again. And again.


$700 trip is amazing. But I’m guessing that trip becomes a lot more expensive in 2022 prices than it was the last time you did it.

Your share of the fuel alone is probably more than double than you spent on your entire trip last time if you did it today.

What is the closest airport? Next time you go, pick me up and drop me off there and I’ll come with ya!


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

'nilla -- we've flown my sister in, and picked her up at the airport so she could spend a couple days fishing with us.

You are correct -- the last time we did the trip was 2013, so expenses have certainly gone up.

But we'd make you drive with us. That's just part of the experience!!


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Just for clarification -- I'm not saying, by any means, that what Vanilla did was wrong. He obviously had an amazing trip -- a trip I'd do in a second if the opportunity came up.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

PBH said:


> Just for clarification -- I'm not saying, by any means, that what Vanilla did was wrong. He obviously had an amazing trip -- a trip I'd do in a second if the opportunity came up.


I didn’t read your post as a criticism at all. Just a perspective based upon a question asked.

You mentioned why should we only get one trip of a lifetime before…I agree! We should all be trying to get as many “once in a lifetime” experiences as we possibly can. That doesn’t have to be traveling to far away places to fish or hunt. There are many incredible experiences all around us that we have goals to do “one day.” 

I’ve had a lot of thoughts recently about putting things off, and we aren’t guaranteed any tomorrows in this world. If you have things you want to do, and have the ability to make them them happen, I say get to doing those things posthaste. You may think you’ll get to that later when later never comes.

2023 is a great year for an elk hunt…


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Vanilla said:


> Getting fish home isn’t as bad as it sounds, I discovered. It cost me a whopping $20. I utilized airline perks and brought it home on the plane. Everything I took for 8 days, 7 nights fit in a carry on and a “personal” item. (My 30L waterproof fishing backpack) It was a tight fit, but I made it happen. I also have the Delta AmEx card which allows for 1 free checked bag on every flight. (Saved me $350 on my trip to Hawaii with the fam in January alone.)
> 
> I brought two boxes of fish (50 lbs each) home. I checked both as luggage. First box was free, second cost me $40 as a second checked “bag.” Half that box was for my buddy, so we split the $40 cost in half.
> 
> 100 lbs of fish cost a total of $40 to bring home. That’s tough to beat. And yes, processing and packaging the fish allows you to get around possession limits, which otherwise would really cut down on the amount of salmon you could bring home. Even if you are on your own, there are plenty of companies that will do this for you there. Signs every few blocks in Soldotna advertised this service all around town. Not sure what they’d charge, I’m guessing more than I paid since Absolute Alaska Adventures did it for us.


^^^This is how it's done. Growing up we went fishing in Alaska a lot, and always flew our fish home as luggage. Works slick as can be. There's one other trick that works on Alaska Airlines, and it used to on Delta (but I haven't used it in several years), when you pay for the extra bag(s) those aren't limited to the same 50lbs that your free included bags (for mileage members) are. You can pay the $100-150 for the 3rd bag same at 50lbs as as 100lbs (but 100lbs is the hard limit on most routes).


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

"Once in a lifetime" ??? wth...

We started going to Alaska in the mid 1980s with that group that advertised on the back page of Outdoor Life magazine: "Alaska Sports Fishing".

That first year it was $495 per person, round trip air from Seattle, you got a car, condo, free boats to DIY, poles, gear, fish processing etc... everything but food... for a week. We started doing that yearly. IDK how many times we went, I know it was cheap enough if we missed "the run" my dad and mom would fly back up the next week and hit it again.

That guy who ran it eventually passed on, and we started making runs to Anchorage, Seward. Soldona, Homer etc. Eventually met a great guy Don who gave us good deals running out of Juneau (Kittiwake charters). Don's out of the business now... like most of the old timers. He left a lot of good memories. I like the Juneau area the most and thats were we tend to go now.

Honestly cant say how many times I've been up 16 to 20 I'd guess... I do think this year will be #8 for my wife since we got married. Some years we DIY more than others to save some $$$. Prices really took a jump this year, IDK what the future holds.

-DallanC


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I think you’re misunderstanding what I mean by once in a lifetime experiences. Just because you have a once in a lifetime type experience doesn’t mean you can only do it once. 

If you’re not trying to create once in a lifetime experiences, what are you doing?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Vanilla said:


> I think you’re misunderstanding what I mean by once in a lifetime experiences. Just because you have a once in a lifetime type experience doesn’t mean you can only do it once.


Uhh.. I dont think you understand what the word "once" means. Its your phrase, I disagreed with it. 



> If you’re not trying to create once in a lifetime experiences, what are you doing?


Having as many great experiences and events as possible. This mortal existence would suck if we could only do the greatest things once. 

I also think it casts a stigma on an event calling it "once in a life time", it keeps fence sitters on the sidelines mentally making it such a grandeous event, they never get around to taking it... especially when they should be just getting out and doing it. I fall into this category with respect to an Africa trip... yet Critter's done it several times now. Its very cool and I am envious, and every time I put off this "once in a life time" trip, it becomes more and more expensive. I should have done it by now... and should be well into planning a repeat.

Alaska is awesome. It used to be that you could do it super cheap. Thats getting harder to do, but still doable. People dont need lodges, the $20k per night Pybus Point cabins etc etc, some DIY based out of the Best Western works mighty fine on the cheap. 

I hope people go to Alaska, go back... then start going back often. Heck with "once in a life time". 

-DallanC


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

DallanC said:


> Uhh.. I dont think you understand what the word "once" means. Its your phrase, I disagreed with it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just toughen up, pack as tent, and sleep in the rain with the bears. Saves a ton of $


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

One thing that is nice with that once in a lifetime opportunity is when you go back and make the experience even better.

I was asked about going back to Africa just the other day. I'm not sure if it will happen but it is nice to think about it.

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

johnnycake said:


> Just toughen up, pack as tent, and sleep in the rain with the bears. Saves a ton of $


Done it. We camped in tents out on the Mulchatna Drainage caribou hunting. That was one helluva crazy trip lemme tell you. I've never seen wind like that... the D-Rings on the tent corners pulled out. Someone told us to use those screw in dog anchors as tent stakes, that worked out fantastically... but the wind was still strong enough to flatten the tent at any given moment. Flew out there on Ketchum Air... I want to say 1996? or maybe it was 1998. Wife got a really nice 'bou that we mounted.

DallanC


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

DallanC said:


> Done it. We camped in tents out on the Mulchatna Drainage caribou hunting. That was one helluva crazy trip lemme tell you. I've never seen wind like that... the D-Rings on the tent corners pulled out. Someone told us to use those screw in dog anchors as tent stakes, that worked out fantastically... but the wind was still strong enough to flatten the tent at any given moment. Flew out there on Ketchum Air... I want to say 1996? or maybe it was 1998. Wife got a really nice 'bou that we mounted.
> 
> DallanC


Yeah I've spent a couple weeks in a tent out west of Lake Clark in that wind and rain. That ain't no joke


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Dallan, I am trying to not take anything for granted these days planning on tomorrow. I will look at every opportunity as if it will be my last, and if I get to do that again, what a welcome surprise that will be!

People can half @$$ something and regret it when they never get to go back and do the other half their planned to do in the future to their own peril. I’m trying to do things differently these days.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Well I'm off on the road to my once in a Wednesday August 10, 2022 opening day grouse and ptarmigan hunt with Ava. 

Enjoy your dreams, peasants


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Congratulations on your trip of a lifetime, or trip of whatever we are trying to call it since the goal is to go back hopefully a number of times. I haven't done anything too grandiose like this yet. For me the money isn't really too much of a stumbling block like it is for others. Not because I'm loaded or anything, but my perspective is that money is just money. If you spend it you can go make more of it. It's the logistics of the whole thing that I find daunting.

I'm a bumpkin. There is a very good chance I might get lost on my way to the SLC airport and have to bag the trip and go throw rocks at coots on the GSL instead. First checked bag free, second checked bag X amount of dollars? You guys are making my head spin. If I make it down to my bowhunting spot a few hours from home here in a couple weeks without forgetting anything or having to do an iron-sphinctered shuffle into the Fillmore Maverik bathroom with beads of sweat rolling down my face I will consider it a great success!


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Vanilla - seriously, what an amazing adventure. Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure with us!


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

colorcountrygunner said:


> It's the logistics of the whole thing that I find daunting. I'm a bumpkin. There is a very good chance I might get lost on my way to the SLC airport and have to bag the trip and go throw rocks at coots on the GSL instead.


The beauty of "doing Alaska" is that there are a lot of different ways to go and none of them are universally "wrong" or "right". There are ways to make it happen for every budget, time constraint, and, er, cognitive ability. 

What you do need to figure out is what you want for an experience and who is going with you and their needs and wants. That isn't beyond the candlepower of most "bumpkins".


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Catherder said:


> The beauty of "doing Alaska" is that there are a lot of different ways to go and none of them are universally "wrong" or "right". There are ways to make it happen for every budget, time constraint, and, er, cognitive ability.
> 
> What you do need to figure out is what you want for an experience and who is going with you and their needs and wants. That isn't beyond the candlepower of most "bumpkins".


I guess my strategy will be enlisting Mrs. CCG on my trip. Her candlepower is the yin to my candlepower's yang, and she has hunted Africa a number of times with her grandpa, so she knows a thing or two about navigating them hifalutin airports. Then I can make myself useful to her by taking the fish off her hook. The reality of me doing an Alaskan fishing trip without her isn't even in the cards anyway so...
Candlepower lol. I'm gonna have to start using that.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

johnnycake said:


> Well I'm off on the road to my once in a Wednesday August 10, 2022 opening day grouse and ptarmigan hunt with Ava.
> 
> Enjoy your dreams, peasants


I hate you so so very much! More of a burning fire of jealous hatred! 

Dang NV deer tag--I will make it up to the great north one day to hunt birds... This dang thread makes me want to go this year--dang it Niller!


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## turkinator (May 25, 2008)

Another suggestion to save some money is to get an Alaskan Airlines credit card about a year before you go up. Most times they have a sign-up bonus that will get you enough points for a round trip ticket to AK if you book early. With the card you will also save money on luggage fees by sending your fish home as luggage as already been described. After you get back, you can cancel you credit card so you don't continue to pay the annual fee.

This past July I went up to AK for the 3rd time. Took my oldest son and my dad on this trip. We did one guided river trip and 2 charted ocean trips. We were able to do the trip for under $2500/person. I used credit card points to pay for our lodging as well which saved a ton of money.

Lots of ways to save money for a trip like this and definitely worth saving/sacrificing for to make it up there. AK (and I'm sure western Canada as well) is truly and amazing place!!


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## Wyo2ut (Aug 2, 2016)

I set off with a friend about 20 years ago with the thought of having an Alaskan adventure. We loaded up his car, purchased the "Junior Dome" tent from a Walmart in Montana for about 30 bucks and continued driving north to wherever the Road Atlas took us. We finally reached "Alaska" a couple days later in the town of Hyder (if you can even call that Alaska). Slept in the Junior Dome until it filled so full of water it was no longer useable and then slept in the car. It's kind of funny because all of my Alaskan dreams were fulfilled in Canada...


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

^^

That post by W2U is what started our Canadian fishing trips.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

So have any of you Canada fishermen spent anytime around Kitimat, BC?


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

turkinator said:


> Another suggestion to save some money is to get an Alaskan Airlines credit card about a year before you go up. Most times they have a sign-up bonus that will get you enough points for a round trip ticket to AK if you book early. With the card you will also save money on luggage fees by sending your fish home as luggage as already been described. After you get back, you can cancel you credit card so you don't continue to pay the annual fee.


This is the best advice I can give someone for this type of an excursion. I did Delta, not Alaskan Airlines, and got the same benefits. Alaskan Air would work well too. I use the credit card just like a debit card, only for expenses I would normally be paying anyway, and pay it off every month. 

I actually signed up for the card when we were checking bags for our Hawaii trip earlier this year. The very helpful woman explained the sign up bonus (50K at the time, you can sometimes get 70-100K if you time it right), how much it would save on this trip alone, and how if we only signed up, got our 5 free bags for that trip and the signup bonus miles, then cancelled the card in 3 months, what the benefit would be. I can have this card for 5 years paying the annual fee before I equal what the card saved me on the one trip to Maui in January. Add in what it saved me on this trip to Alaska in baggage fees and we're now talking 7 years just to lose the benefit of these trips alone. I'm not sure why it took me so long to do an airline specific card, but it's a great investment if you are not prone to excess spending and getting yourself in trouble with a credit card.


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## Wyo2ut (Aug 2, 2016)

colorcountrygunner said:


> So have any of you Canada fishermen spent anytime around Kitimat, BC?


Yes...lots.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Wyo2ut said:


> Yes...lots.


Oh my! My employer has a location in Kitimat and sometimes it's fun to dream about making a transfer there for the awesome hunting and fishing opportunities. Through my research of the place some party poopers say it's a town with a decaying infrastructure, an opioid crisis and 365 days of rain per year. I'm not trying to hear about all that though! All I think about is all the bears, goats, moose, big fish and so on and so forth.


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## Wyo2ut (Aug 2, 2016)

colorcountrygunner said:


> Oh my! My employer has a location in Kitimat and sometimes it's fun to dream about making a transfer there for the awesome hunting and fishing opportunities. Through my research of the place some party poopers say it's a town with a decaying infrastructure, an opioid crisis and 365 days of rain per year. I'm not trying to hear about all that though! All I think about is all the bears, goats, moose, big fish and so on and so forth.


Kitimat's future is probably bleak...but, Terrace BC is close by and I'm sure its future is probably better. Regardless, I love Kitimat. Incredible area and really pretty.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

I'd really like to explore more of the range to the West of the Alcan. It's been almost 20 years since my one drive up there. Hopefully if my wife & I can ever retire we'll give it a go together.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Wyo2ut said:


> Yes...lots.


Looking at the picture of the two fish with the two fishermen, the fish on the left definitely looks bigger and better tasting...


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

They were both big. They were both in good condition too -- not yet zombies. Although, I don't think we ate either one.


they sure put up a heck of a fight! They are gear-busters for sure!!











(Or were you referring to the other picture of the chinook??)


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

(I've sure wasted a lot of time at work the last two days looking at 'Nilla's pictures, and then going back through all of my own pics and vids!!)


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## Wyo2ut (Aug 2, 2016)

Vanilla said:


> Looking at the picture of the two fish with the two fishermen, the fish on the left definitely looks bigger and better tasting...


With pretty tight harvest regulations on that river, we were usually pretty selective on which fish we kept and which fish were released. Generally speaking, brighter salmon with less coloration were chosen to harvest. My guess is that both of the fish in the pic were released. It's hard to say, though, because on that trip, the chums were so plentiful that we had no problem catching them (other than the time and fight the fish put up).

The crazy thing is that the pic of the king I posted came on the last day they were legal to harvest. I kept it, took it home, and ended up eating the whole thing....and thought it was excellent. Most of the locals would turn their nose up on eating a fish that had been in the river that long, but I could never tell a difference between it and the other salmon I took home.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

Well done Vanilla, well done!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

PBH said:


> (Or were you referring to the other picture of the chinook??)


I was just trying to bust your chops a little bit. Not very effectively, obviously! 

Both awesome fish. They look like freight trains, I'm sure that is a heck of a good time tying into those things.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Vanilla said:


> They look like freight trains, I'm sure that is a heck of a good time tying into those things.


It is a good time!

BUT -- the first thought that goes through your mind on the first cast you make after landing one of those bruisers? _I hope I don't hook another one..._


seriously, your forearms will be on fire and your back will hurt. You might have burned or cut fingers from slack line sliding between them. You may have sore knuckles from the reel handle spinning backwards and hitting you. Those fish beat the crap out of you and your equipment. We've watched reels explode and rods shatter.

What a blast!


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## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

Vanilla said:


> Day 5 was back to the Kasilof. It took a little bit of work, but we were able to get a full limit of sockeyes. We caught some decent fish this day, but it became apparent that the fish in the Kenai, as a whole, were bigger than their cousins in the Kasilof. I don't know why that is, maybe someone with more experience there can shed light on that one.
> 
> One thing that happened this day that did not two days before fishing the same areas, was there was a TON of little dolly varden and rainbows cruising around eating fish eggs. We watched a group below us where one of the fishermen sat in the front of the beached drift boat fishing with an egg pattern under an indicator while their guide fileted fish, and basically caught a small rainbow or dolly every single cast fishing with that setup. We hooked into them incidentally while flossing quite a bit this day, but if you were targeting them, you could have had a field day. We didn't see anything with any size, but they for sure are in there!
> 
> ...


Great pictures......lived there for 20 years...makes me homesick for Alaska. Yes the reds are always smaller in the Kasilof River than the Kenai......it has always been that way.
Brian


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Very nice Vanilla, very nice. I think you've had this on your mind for awhile.........fun report, thanks!
Good to see you Doc! You've been gone a long time....


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

DocEsox said:


> Great pictures......lived there for 20 years...makes me homesick for Alaska. Yes the reds are always smaller in the Kasilof River than the Kenai......it has always been that way.
> Brian


I've been missing pics of your adventures.


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