# My Alaskan Summer



## gomer (Dec 30, 2000)

Well, as some of you may know, I got a job guiding for a lodge in Alaska for the summer and I thought I would share a bit of my experience with everyone here.

My summer officially started on memorial day, when I made the 7 hour nonstop flight from Detroit to Anchorage. I spent the first week in Anchorage in a hotel with the other guides while we took a class in order to get our "6 pack"s. Which for those of you who don't know what that is, is a coast guard certification that guides need in order to operate boats in Southwest Alaska. After what seemed like the longest week of my life, I flew out to Lake Marie Lodge, which is a 100 mile bush plane ride from Anchorage and is about 50 miles from the base of Mount McKinley. Here I spent two weeks with the other guides building an addition on the lodge and getting it ready for the first clients of the year. Lake Marie Lodge is mainly known for its king fishery, but unfortunately not many had shown up yet while I was there for the first 2 weeks in June.

Here is a picture of Mount McKinley (right) and Mount Foraker (left) from the lodge at 2am.









There are a lot of bears in area around Lake Marie Lodge, both black and browns. We didn't have too many problems with them while I was there, but a blackie did get into one of the guide cabins one morning and the lodge owner had to shoot it (he did have a tag for the record). 









The fishing was slow the two weeks I spent at Lake Marie, but I got into a few kings while fishing for trout, however, they were a bit smaller than I expected. :lol:










Finally, after being in Alaska for three weeks, I was shipped out to a different lodge, called Alaska's Clearwater Lodge, which is ran by the same owner as Lake Marie. Clearwater Lodge is near Bristol Bay on the Kvichak River. The Kvichak (pronounced "Kwee-jack") is the outflow of Lake Iliamna, which is a huge 90 mile by 30 mile lake. It is known mainly for its big rainbows and it gets the largest run of sockeye salmon in the world. Aside from one short week or so break in the middle of July, I guided every single day until the end of August.

The Sockeyes start running at the end of June and peak in the beginning of July. It was basically solid fish swimming along the shore past the lodge every day for almost three weeks. 








They were all bright silver out of the ocean and fought like crazy, but sockeyes don't really hit anything until they start to hold up near spawning areas. However, lining is an excepted and legal practice out there for sockeyes. The clients loved it, but I must say it felt funny teaching people the most effective way to floss fish...:lol:

During our short break from clients in the middle of July the fishing was kind of slow because it was in between runs. The streamer and mouse fishing for rainbows was pretty good though and the last few days the silvers started showing up along with quite a few chums. The chums were super aggressive when they were fresh and would chase down streamers big time. 

Typical fresh chum









Nice bow









The bows really liked white bunny leaches and for good reason, check out these crazy things


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## STEINFISHSKI (Jan 30, 2001)

Awesome Adam! What a great experience!


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## j1musser (Sep 2, 2007)

Nice report and pics. Sounds likes ur living the dream. Enjoy!
Thanks for the pics, they make it hurt more being stuck in Michigan..:lol:


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## gomer (Dec 30, 2000)

continued....

this was about the typical sized rainbow on the Kvichak, this one ate a mouse.









When the silvers showed up it was basically a slay-fest, these fish basically hit anything you threw at them, but pink was definately the color of choice.

























big colored up male sockeye









29 inch bow I caught on a 5 wt










the kvichak river doesn't get many kings but we did catch a few. Most of them were jacks, but there were a few adults around.









Most of the clients wanted to bring home salmon, so when all of us got in at the end of the day, it was usually a blood bath at the cleaning table...:lol:









Most of the clients enjoyed "fish cleaning time" because the carcasses attracted basically every trout in the area.


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## gomer (Dec 30, 2000)

and continued again....

I didn't take very many pictures while I was guiding because I was usually quite preoccupied, but I did get a few good ones.

Here is one of the bigger silvers caught, right around 14lbs









Cow and calf moose crossing the river










I made a few casts a couple days while my clients ate lunch and got into a few nice fish including this one on a bead










The sunsets out there (when it started to actually get dark towards the end of the summer) were pretty amazing also










Typical shore lunch- salmon, potatoes and onions










For those of you who have never been to Alaska, save your money and take the time to make a trip out there. It is truly an amazing place that everyone should experience at least once in their life.


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## EdB (Feb 28, 2002)

Sounds like a great summer, thanks for sharing!


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## Getaway (Jan 17, 2001)

Very very awesome.

Thank you for sharing.


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## Wellston (Dec 28, 2000)

Gomer
Sounds like a great summer!!! Thanks for sharing. I spent some time at Iliamna and Port Alsworth in the past. Need to get back up there.
Jim


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## Stinky (Jan 19, 2002)

my dream is to get up there, how did you hook up with the guide opportunity?


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## gomer (Dec 30, 2000)

Stinky,

A few of my friends guide at various lodges out there and I've always wanted to go out there and do it. A friend of mine went to Lake Marie Lodge a few years ago, so I gave the owner a call. Turns out he bought a new lodge last winter and was hiring some new guides. The rest is history...

One of the other guides took this video another one of the guides and I doubling up on silvers, enjoy!
If you look close at the beginning you can see the fish take a polywog on the surface.
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q19/bakcountrybooter/?action=view&current=silvers.flv


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## Salmonous Maximus (Jan 28, 2004)

Sitting here INSANELY jealous! Damn, looks like a great way to spend the summer, nice job.


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## Gone Fishing (Jul 31, 2001)

We went to the Kenia area last year. It was definitely one of the most fabulous vacations we have taken. My son put that above Costa Rica where he caught Marlin and Sails. It's definitely beautiful and a must do in your lifetime if you can pull it off. I hope to be back some day!


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## Speyday (Oct 1, 2004)

were those white leeches attached to living/dead flesh?
Where they inside stomachs?
Or were they swimming on the bottom of the river?

I'd really like to hear your story on those.....fascinating!

Thanks


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## Capnhook (Feb 14, 2004)

WOW WOW WOW Gomer, What a great experience it must have been. Ditto on the leech question. What were those things? Wifey and I are going to do the Alaskan Hwy next summer, if diesel is less than $10 a gallon. Thank you for the pics and story! Do you think you might do it again next year? Capnhook


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## Butch (Aug 29, 2001)

Cool, thanks for posting. 

Butch


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## 2PawsRiver (Aug 4, 2002)

Outstanding, thanks for taking the time to share and I agree, make the time to go to Alaska. I would say it's a once in a lifetime thing except I went last year and am going back next year.


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## gomer (Dec 30, 2000)

Capnhook, 

Heck yes I am going back next year!

Speyday,

The Kvichak river is loaded with small fish called sticklebacks. If you catch one or find one dead along the shore you can squeeze it and probably 99% of the time one of those leaches would pop out of its stomach. I did find a few leaches just washed up on shore dead as well. The gravel on the bottom of the river is so light colored that it would be tough to try to spot them.


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## loweboats (Apr 1, 2007)

Goose, your my idol...wait no philly is.


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## Carpmaster (Apr 1, 2004)

Man I am Jealous!! Looks awesome!


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Very nice  thanks for sharing


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