Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 151

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 151

Alaska

7/16/09 to 8/8/09 - Soldotna/Kenai River

Get ready. Get comfortable. I’m gonna tell you all about it. 

Fishing: 

A well-known ‘truism’ – not to be confused with a ‘secret fact’ – is … Fishing Can Be Boring! No, no, it is absolutely true! Boring.  Especially bait fishing.  Even using power bait.  Boring. You toss your line, complete with baited hook, into the water and wait for a fish to bite.  Sometimes the wait is all you get.  It can be very exciting when the fish jumps right on the hook; or the water is so clear that you can see the fish swimming by your hook; or you are one to enjoy the changing weather; or fishing is relaxing for you.  But – it can be boring!

Not Sockeye Salmon Fishing!!!  THIS IS FUN!!!! You just have to watch out for the splashing fish oil!  When it gets in your eyes – it is hard to think about, let alone do, anything else but fish!  The many steps of Sockeye Salmon (Reds) fishing add intensity to that splashing. 

Soldotna River Near Soldotna Bridge

Gear: Sam bought me the cutest pair of army green hip boots.  They were cheap, and don’t have heels, but they still are cute.  Then, I had to have chest waders in case I wanted to get even more up close and personal with the Sockeye’s natural habitat.  Then, I needed several pairs of thermal socks and thermal underwear – this water is glacial. Then, I had to get another new pole, a lighter, blue pole, so I can fish longer with less pain (back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, finger) - less pain.  Add gloves and hooded rain jacket and I am dressed to fish.

Then we needed tackle:  If anyone tells you that they hate to shop and are not into artsy-craftsy stuff, they do not fish for Sockeye Salmon. When we were not fishing, we were shopping and buying fishing tackle by the handfuls – Sam’s BIG hands full.  Tackle salesmen were tickled.  We had to buy red hooks, sizes 3 and 4, Gamakatsu brand hooks.  Lots of them! 30 pound line, with 12 and 20 and 30 pound leader.  For sinkers, we had to have a variety.  Almost edible sub-sandwich looking sinkers from little to big. They have a crevice the length of one side to the center and are over-stuffed with a piece of rubber that sticks out on each end of the ‘sub’.  All you have to do to attach it to the line is to place the line next to the crevice and twist both ends of the rubber filling.  Amazing dohickie and you don’t need pliers or strong teeth.  Some split shot sinkers for old time sake. Some new-fangled rolls of worm-looking lead that you wire snip to size and stick in a rubber sock attached to the swivel.  Sam says they are called pencil weights. Lots of sinkers! Then a big surprise – small snippets of ‘fat’ yarn in various bright colors.  Expensive for yarn – but this is ‘fishing’ yarn. Lots of it.  (Two shopkeepers told me that men buy mostly red yarn – no reason for it since the fish don’t care.) Then there are the swivels.  The different kinds of swivels have multiplied in the last few years.  I spent many a minute standing in total bewilderment in front of the swivel population.  I gave in and just bought a lot.  Oh, I forgot to tell you about the beads.  We need beads.  Bright, colorful, beads to place on the leader line just before the hook.  I am not real sure why, but I think they either keep the hook ‘down’ or to add to the ‘color’.  You decide.  We bought three containers of beads. We buy a big, big fish net (we might catch that trophy salmon) and a fish bonker. Once we have containers and backpacks to carry all of the tackle – we are ready to fish!!  Oh! Not yet!! We need to ‘rig’ our poles. This is where the artsy-craftsy skills really come in handy.

Soldotna Bridge

Riggin’ Up:  We spend an unquantifiable amount of time, talking about, reading about and actually rigging up our lines.  Length of leader (3 to 6 feet), strength of leader line (I take 20 – Sam tries them all).  We like ¾ ounce weight in Klutina, but this area needs less due to less swiftness, and weight needs varies with the location on the river. We place a small chunk of red, yellow, fluorescent green yarn on a 3 or 4 red hook, threading it onto the neck of the hook.  We place one red, or bright orange, bead (size of a small pea) on the leader line above the hook.  I like barrel swivels, Sam likes variety.  Sam ties his stuff on using an advanced clinch knot and Palomar knot, I use a Uni knot.  We try to practice changing rigs quickly, since snagging and breaking line is constant, and river space to fish is at a premium.  Now we are ready to fish!

Fishing Tackle Box - The Whole Thing

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 150

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 150

Alaska

7/15/09 - To Soldotna

We spent all this time at the wonderful Rolly Campground, which had a wonderful lake with easy access and was reportedly wonderfully good for pike fishing.  Unfortunately, it was one of the thousands of lakes in this area that we did not try out. And it was right there.  Lake Rolly will also go on our ‘Oughtta See’ list. We pack up and go back to Wasilla, and head to Anchorage.  It was interesting to discover that this area is much more temperate than the Valdez area, or even the Glennallen area.  Here the weather rarely dips to 20 below and most of the time, we are told, it is like the Pacific Northwest – without the rain.  This area is definitely much more populated than other parts of Alaska.  The roads do not have ice heave action and are pretty well maintained. It is overcast/hazy again. We turn just before entering downtown Anchorage and head south towards Seward and Soldotna. 

Sam, How'd They Get Past Those Mud Flats?

We find ourselves traveling next to one of the far inland arms of Cooks Inlet.  We are still pretty far from the ocean. The size of this arm is amazing.  It appears to be low tide, but there are signs up all over warning people not to walk on the mud flats, as the silt from the glaciers builds up and creates quick sand. Just past Beluga Point, I discover that white beluga whale actually enter this inlet up to this point.  Due to something or other, when there is a change in tide from low to high, it can happen very quickly and a wall of water, up to 6 feet high, can whisk into the flats.  With all that in mind, I will not walk, run, or even think hard about the mud flats.  The views are fabulous, again.  I still do not tire of the views.  The mountains are muted on the other side of the water mass, but the faint outlines indicate mountains growing straight up from the shores.  Very dramatic.  We turn off from the road to Seward and head westward, to Soldotna.  We fit right in with all the other traffic, although almost all are from Alaska.  Can’t imagine why.  We find our campground, complete with our reserved space.  Full hookup, with wifi at only $20 per 7 days.  Since most charge minimum of $9 per day, I jump at the chance.  Yipee!  We set up and I flush water through the bathroom appliances without concerns.  Ah! Life is good.

Cook's Inlet

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 149

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 149

Alaska

7/14/09 – Susitna River

This day starts early.  Really early.  We talked to a park ranger who told us that the Susitna River just down the road would be open for fishing for pink salmon as of 12:01 am on 7/14/09.  So we went to bed early last night, took a nap, got up at 11:00 pm (still last night), and get to the Willow Creek Recreation Site, where Willow meets big brother, Susitna.  We are there and a few others are already waiting – but only a few.  We go to the river, wade in and start fishing.  We are feeling pretty good, although no fish yet.  Then we notice the moon and one star.  We are stunned!  We have not seen these natural phenomena in so long.   When we look back down, we discover that although we can see each other fairly well, we cannot see into the water. We are hip deep in it and we cannot see our hooks dangling at the end of our lines.  We decide to go back to camp and return when it gets a little lighter.

Scenic Route

We get up all ready to face the day we already had faced once before.  I’m not sure of the technical word for this, but I assured Sam it is not stupid. Redundant, umm maybe.  We head back to the park.  Only a few people are still there. We are told that when the weekend hits, the locals will be here in vast numbers.  Sam and I settle down to steady, rhythmic ‘casting and drawing in’ of our lines.  We mesmerize ourselves, but the fish are oblivious to our efforts.  One master fisherman, there with his wife, two of their nine offspring and myriads of grandchildren, caught his three.  We did not.  We talked a lot.  I talked to the wife and she told me everything, but her name.  I enjoyed just listening.  During WWII, she and eleven of her siblings were taken from their parents by the Assembly of God missionaries to ‘save their souls’.  The family had been living just north of the Arctic Circle, where the family had all been born to parents who had been born there. The woman said that her parents fought to keep them, but were told that nothing could be done (before Alaska statehood). She did not see her parents again until 20 years later.  She said that the missionaries that took them, made no effort to keep them together, and dealt them out to any church that would take them.  She was raised in “the Lutheran Church – not the Missouri Synod”.  She was adamant about this.  She said that all nine of her children have college educations, good jobs and marriages.  After a reasonable time (under eight hours), we decided to leave these fish to the locals. Maybe the fish require fish whisperers.  I’ll study up on that. 

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 148

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 148

Alaska

7/13/09 - Rolly Lake Campground

I know… I already told you how nice, secluded and pretty this spot is.  But it really is nice, secluded and pretty! It has a lot of great trees, shrubs, berry plants with ripe berries just waiting.  Lots of green, on a gentle hillside, with no neighbors and very few mosquitoes.  All for $10 per night.  We like Alaska! We decide to stay all four days at this site and drive out to other locations from here. 

Today we check out Hatcher Pass.  We drive through the town of Willow and turn back towards Glennallen.  We do not plan on making it all the way back – I have my purse.  Dave recommended we experience the pass.  Historical mines, scenic vistas and all that.  We drove in and started up for several miles, but the forest fire haze was hiding the beauty. We turned around, adding it to our ‘Oughtta Sees’ when we make our next trip to Alaska. On the way back, we check out Willow Creek.  This is more like the Oregon creeks we know and love.  Only thing is – Sam still has fish oil in his eyes and wants to go for BIG fish.  We walk around a little and head on down the road.

Walk About

Sam has heard about a Honeybee Lake and a Lynne Lake that are near the entrance of the road that takes us to our campground.  We turn down a road that is narrow, bumpy and dusty.  Signs indicating ‘private property’ are posted everywhere our eyes travel. The road dead ends and no public access to the lake is found, although we have good views of the lake.  We give up and turn around.  Not a productive day so far.  We get back to the road going to our campground (about a 5 mile long road).  We take the next road to try and make it to the lakes.  This one should work as it has a sign showing a fish with a hook real close to its mouth. The sign says: Public access to Honeybee and Lynn lakes.  We optimistically follow the road.  It goes from paved to gravel to extremely rutted, hole-filled pathway, barely big enough for Brutus to fit – with brush hitting both sides.  We bumpily make it to a dead end with a private property sign on the drive in front of us.  Sam hops out of Brutus and walks a few more feet down the shrub-lined path and sure enough, Bumblebee Lake is on the left side of the road and Lynn on the right, just before the private property sign.  Parking space is limited to one and someone is in it. Turns out that the rig belongs to a family that owns one of the cabins on the other side of the lake – one of the cabins off of the first road we traversed.  They are from Anchorage, but have a vacation cabin here.  Turns out that they come for a short time every summer, but mostly come during the winter for ice fishing. When they leave, we take the parking space and unload the boat.  We get our fishing gear and push off. 

We don’t go far.  The side of the lake is full of marsh reeds and they have grown and died and grown and died, until there is a nice, soft, spongy, glue-like substance that wants to eat your feet, then legs, then ---.  I get in the boat before I go under.  Sam has a theory that if he does not leave a foot in one spot too long – he will win the tug-of-war.  He does and we laugh as we paddle to the middle of the lake.  We fish.  We fish with all sorts of tackle.  Not even a nibble.  We decide to try to make it back to shore.  We mentally prepare and surprise, we are able to paddle almost all the way in.  I jump to shore and tug.  Sam gets in without the danger of sinking into oblivion.  Yeah!!

Moose!

On the way back to camp, we see a big, beautiful moose.  Just at the side of the road.  Not too concerned about us.  She stayed around for a good photo op, although it was pretty clouded over.  We were the ones to give up first and leave.  We both love seeing these big, healthy wild animals in their natural setting – well, ‘next to the road’ is a modern natural setting.

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 147

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 147

Alaska

7/12/09 - Surprise Trip

You would think that at this point we would go fishing, check out the area for touristy activities or something of that nature.  Not today.  As we get ready to leave the trailer for a sightseeing drive over Hatcher Pass, I discover that I cannot find my purse.  Oh yeah!  My purse.  The one that carries our passports AND my fishing license. That purse.  The one that I left in the trailer when we went across national borders.  That purse.

Great Parking Lot

We decide a nice, peaceful drive back to Glennallen to retrieve it from the restaurant we went to with Sourdough Joe would be a good idea.  So off we go.  Sam is not being overly talkative to begin with.  After about an hour, he got bored with whatever thoughts he was having, and the trip went much faster. Since it was Sunday, we saved some time because they were not working on the road (the 45 minute delay kind).  My purse had been picked up by the restaurant staff and placed in a safe place.  All was in order.  We like Glennallen. We drive back towards Rolly Lake happy with purse in hand. We stop and take pictures of Matanuska Glacier, several mountains, lakes, and rivers. We stop at Walmart in Wasilla, then on to the trailer.  It is so late in the day that it was actually twilight out and we see several porcupines and one pup of a coyote or wolf or ?. Took us all of this day.  One more smile Sam? Thank You.

Young ???