Willow Creek

After leaving the penninsula we went north to Willow, still in search of our silver and chum salmon. We stayed in the Pioneer Lodge RV park in Willow and it sits right on Willow Creek. We walked out of our trailer and watched silvers and chums right there in the camp ground. The chums were about done as were the silvers. We really didn't care though, as we just wanted to catch them, we didn't want to eat them! Our freezer is still full of halibut and Copper River Reds that a friend gave us.

We really enjoyed the park in Willow. It is a tiny little thing, maybe 15 sites with a restaurant and bar. The first night we were there, we went to the bar to get local info about the fishing, and meet some of the locals. I'm not sure, but I think if you want to live in Willow, you have to have several teeth missing! We met several people that could have really benefitted from dental work. The first guy we met was an expert on shooting pool and drinking Miller High Life, (That seems to the beer of choice in Willow!) His name was Fuzzy. Fuzzy didn't know a damn thing about fishing, but he was really quite the character! He did tell us that we needed to come into the bar the next morning and talk to Jerry, as evidently he is the local fishing expert. OK, so we visited with and laughed at Fuzzy for the evening, along with Tom, who is leaving soon to go to Thailand as he thinks he wants to live there. And Kathy, a lady who has lived in AK for 20 years, is currently between husbands and you guessed it......has some teeth missing! Fuzzy, Tom, Kathy and Jerry are not natives of AK, but transplants. So, the next morning, we went into the restaurant for breakfast and to talk to Jerry. He also is a piece of work, will talk to you forever about fishing and put us on to some great places to fish. He is the chief cook and bottle washer there at Pioneer and prides himself on being able to do it all there. He doesn't have a vehicle and lives right there on the property. Makes me think he is like many here in AK who are running from something on the outside. But anyway, Jerry was a wealth of information about fishing the Willow, since, I guess he doesn't do much else other than work, drink, shoot pool and fish!

So, we went down to the mouth of Willow Creek where it flows into the Big Susitna and fished there one day. The only really bad thing about fishing AK this time of year is, it smells terrible! There are dead fish everywhere, as the salmon are finishing spawning and then they are done. The bear love it, and you have to be constantly on the lookout for bears. We were lucky and didn't have any encounters. But , does it stink! I had taken halibut out for supper that night and after fishing all afternoon with that nasty smell, I didn't know if we could eat fish, but after being off the river for a while and having a cocktail, we were OK! So then the next day we walked up Willow Creek and got into some absolutely wonderful rainbows! They have been eating salmon eggs for several weeks and they are like footballs! Just beautiful fat fish! They were also hitting beads and we had a great time.

Barry got his silver and his chum. I got my chum but didn't land my silver. Barry's silver was already red and wouldn't have been good to eat! So, Barry got his salmon slam, catched all 5 different kinds of salmon. Then we went after rainbows and that was just a blast! They were such fat heavy fish it was wonderful fun. We also have those pictures that we will post later.

So, now we are back in Glennallen waiting for our mail and we will be on our way back to the outside on Tues. after Labor Day. I probably won't have cell or internet through Canada, so probably won't post until we get back down.

The Kenai Penninsula

After leaving Glennallen and spending a few days in Anchorage, we made our way south to the Kenai Penninsula to fish the Kenai River. We had hoped to get our silver and chum salmon there, but our timing was off just a little bit. So, (oh rats), we had to fish for big rainbows and dolly varden. We wade fished the Russian River right after we got down there and it was full of red salmon and we did catch some small dolly and rainbow there. It was fun to fish it after you read so much about it in the flyfishing mags. Then we chartered a float trip down the Kenai River and had a wonderful time! Our guide was pretty sharp and able to put us on lots of fish. There was another couple fishing with us from CA. Very nice people. That was pretty different for us, as we are used to fishing two to a drift boat in WY, so being in a 20 ft. drift boat with for fishers was different. It was OK, once you got the hang of it. We did in fact catch lots of BIG rainbows and dollys. The 30 inchers that we were hoping for did elude us however. Between the 4 of us, we boated about 100 fish that day, which was really nice. Some of which were in the 25 to 27 inch range. Really nice scrappy fish, and the dollys were just as much fun to catch as the rainbows. We fished with beads, something we had never done before. You put a bead that resembles a fish egg about 2 inches above a bare hook and when the fish takes the bead, as soon as he spits it out, the hook gets him. Guess that was illegal here until a year or so ago, but everyone seems to fish that way now. We fished with a lot of weight and a strike indicator. It was a great day. I have photos of the day I will post to this after we get outside and I get stronger cell signal.

It is really expensive to fish the Kenai with a guide. We were amazed, but decided if we wanted to fish it, we would have to bite the bullet and cough up the almost $600.00 to do it, and, you don't even get lunch, you have to take your own! Wow! There are good things about WY that we didn't even appreciate! I guess if you want to fish a famous river like that, it is expensive.

August past so quickly

Well, haven't I just been the lazy heifer in getting back to this huh? August was a busy month for us. I went to WY the 2nd week to work in the bar during Sturgis. The Burnout event at the bar was a hum-dinger, with more people than last year. I have photos to post to this blog, but will have to wait until I am somewhere where I have a stronger signal, as I just can't get them to load here. All went well in Sundance during the rally, my Mom is well, and her usual self. I flew into Casper and drove to Sundance, then drove back to Casper. It was a whole lot cheaper to fly into Casper than to Rapid City and besides, I got to see the kids. They are doing well, and Jevin and Gavin are growing like weeds. Gavin turned 4 in Aug. so is growing up way too fast. Had a little cocktail party at Julia's in Casper so got to see lots of good friends. Boy the weather was warm. It was pretty different for me after being up here in AK all summer. Our bosses were in Palmer for medical stuff while I was gone, so Barry had to run the park by himself for a few days. I think he enjoyed it though, as if you are here alone you get to meet all the people coming and going. After I returned there was a couple here in the park, (actually they were here when I left and still here when I got back) from Germany. They spoke OK English and had brought their 14 year old motorhome over from Germany. Now lets just say that wasn't the smartest thing, as it broke down and of course they couldn't get parts for it here in the states. Anyway, we became friends with these folks and before they left I gave them one of our cards in case they had trouble as they were being towed to Anchorage where they were going to salvage out their motorhome, as they didn't want to ship it home and customs won't let them just discard it here. Anyway, a few hours after I had given them our card, they came to me and pointed to the words "trout bums" on our card and ask what that meant. I ask them if they knew what a trout was and they said yes, but Rolph said "this word here, I put it into my translator and it comes up"......he patted his butt! So the poor people thought our card said we were fish butts!!! We hadn't thought that the word "bum" wouldn't translate into what we meant. So, us old fish butts are just traveling along!

So, about the 17th of Aug. we left Glennallen and went to Anchorage and spent a few days, getting our carpet cleaned and enjoying the shopping after being in Glennallen for the summer. There are just lots of things you can't get in an Alaskan town of 450 people! We had planned to be done on the 15th, but our boss was in Palmer for two days then for chemotherapy, so we stayed until they got back.

We had a great summer here. We loved the work and the area as well. It was nice being able to go to Gakona, about 20 minutes away and see our friends who used to live in Sheridan that now own the Gakona lodge. We met lots of nice people here, both people staying in the park and people that live here. Itwas also fun learning the history of the area. And of course catching our kings here was wonderful. I really believe that this little RV park is one of the nicest in AK at least that we have found. All the guests really enjoyed the cleanliness and well kept aspect of it. Barry did a wonderful job of keeping it all landscaped really nice, and that is no small feat when the sun shines 24/7 during June and July, plus there is plenty of rain too. We are so glad that we came, but now, we have to drive the long way home, and that isn't something we look forward to! Oh well, it beats spending the winter in AK!