Day 108 – June 26 (Alaska Day 17)– Fishing with Bears

Last night I decided to take a couple of photos around 11:15 p.m. to show how light it is here during the “night”.

Then today we drove to Soldotna to take our trip to fish for salmon.  All I can say is, “Oh WOW!”.  We got up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready for the hour drive from the campground to Talon Air.  It was drizzling rain and the dogs were not happy to get up early and then go out into the wet weather.

We got to the charter office about 15 minutes before our check-in time of 6:30, so we waited in the car until the office opened up.  Once the office opened we paid the remaining balance due and got our rain gear. 

At 7 we loaded into a floatplane and took off for Big River Lake.  The flight took us over the Cook Inlet and despite the low clouds we were able to take a couple of pictures.

We got off the airplane directly into a 19-foot Jon boat and settled in for the ride to the fishing spot.

We landed on Big River Lake and Bill (our guide) explained the salmon leave the Cook Inlet and travel up Big River, which runs from lake to the inlet.  They crossed the lake and headed to a small stream that runs between Wolverine Lake and Big River Lake.  The stream is named, what else, Wolverine creek.

When we got to the fishing spot there were three other boats in line before us.  Bill said they take a turn in the lead spot since the lead boat has the best spot to catch fish.  Every 30 minutes the lead boat moves to the back of the line and the second boat moves up to be the lead boat.  It seems to be a good system.

There was a black bear eating fish when we got into line.  We were in the 3^rd position and Bill got the rods ready while we watched the bear.  Then a mom grizzly and two cubs came down out of the brush to eat.  It is very unusual for black bears and grizzlies to share an eating area.

When we were in the second position Dorrie caught the first fish.  Before any of the rest of us caught a single fish, she had her limit of 3 salmon!  She was feeling great – a good halibut trip and now the first to catch a salmon and the first to get her limit.

We were in the lead position and I had caught one fish when I made a cast and hooked and lost 3 fish on a single cast.  Bill helped Mary catch her limit while we were in the best spot.  I had two and Rick had one when we had to move.

Instead of going to the rear of the line we moved over to the side of the prime spot where 2 other boats were fishing.  The lead boat in this new area moved out and the second boat was bear watching and not fishing, so we moved up to the front.  I finally caught my final fish.  Rick had boated one during this time, so he needed only one to have his limit.  He caught one right in the tail and it had to be returned, so he was still missing the final fish.  He caught his last fish and we moved out of that area.

Bill took us by a nesting Bald Eagle on the shore of the lake.

And then we pulled into a large cascade that flowed from the upper Wolverine Lake down to Big River Lake.  We posed for pictures with some of the fish.

Then Bill fixed a fish he had caught for lunch.  He had a small gas grill in the boat and cooked it there by the cascade.  What a treat!

We went back to the fishing area after eating to watch the bears some more before the plane returned to take us back.  It had rained all day and the temperature was in the low 50s and we were on water that was in the low 40s, so it was getting cold.

One of the cubs trying to get a fish in the lake

Looking for fish

The return trip included a fly over of a glacier.  The surface was rough and had blue color in the some areas.

We returned to the charter office and I got to take a picture of one of the planes they use (not the one we were on).

Back at the camper Rick and I fileted the 12 fish.  Afterwards we found Chuck (the campground owner) and he vacuum-sealed the fish and we added 24 bags of salmon to the 36 bags of halibut we have in his freezer.

We took the fish remains to the local beach and threw them into the water.  While we watched the bodies float in the surf, a Bald Eagle came down and grabbed one of the salmon bodies out of the water and flew off.  What an perfect ending to a great day!!