What we’ve been waiting for: FISHING!!! (Talkeetna)

Get comfortable, grab a drink, this is a good one! If you were to ask Mark what he was most looking forward to in Alaska, he would answer two things: bears and fishing. Most of our journey to this point has been driving through Canada (where we did not get fishing licenses) and then the interior of Alaska, where there isn’t a lot of fishing. The good news is that we have a connection with my mom’s neighbor in CA who is a fishing/gold panning/ATV guide in Talkeetna.

As soon as we veered onto the Talkeetna Spur Road, I insisted on stopping at the birch syrup shop. There are only 3000 gallons of birch syrup processed anywhere in the world and this store makes half of it! They use miles and miles of lines tapped into birch trees on their homestead property and have created an awesome little factory. Birch syrup is even more expensive than real maple syrup. A gallon costs roughly $400! Mark actually didn’t care for it (he doesn’t like real maple syrup either), but I enjoyed a birch syrup sundae made with birch syrup ice cream, birch syrup caramel, and topped with birch syrup toffee crunch. It was amazing!

Without further ado, it was time for fishing. FINALLY!!! Fred Nugent, of Alaska Edge Wilderness Tours, invited us to the amazing quadruple cabin logscraper he is building and proceeded to teach us how to fly fish. Mark has dabbled briefly with fly fishing on occasion but I have never touched a fly rod so we really were both beginners. The benefit to fly fishing is that you can fish in shallow water. Some areas are better for fly fishing or regular spinning so it’s great to have the versatility to do both. Plus it’s an art to fly fish so it was fun to attempt a new skill, which we clearly need to continue to practice. Also the fly line doesn’t cast out near as far as a spinning rod since there is less weight so you often see the process of the fish taking the lure and then reeling it in, which adds to the excitement.

Armed with our beginner lesson, Fred swears we know enough to catch a fish. We camped at Montana Creek Campground across the street from the Susitna River so we were able to gear up in our new chest waders and walk over to the fishing hole. There were two main producing areas on that section and we fished them both. There was whipping and zinging of green line and hooks flying in the air, but we started getting the hang of it. I did manage to catch the tree across the river from us, but I think that was the only lure we lost for the day. When you’re new to fly fishing, you tend to overpower the action with your arm and shoulder so we were both getting pretty sore after an hour but weren’t ready to give up. We switched to spin rods and Mark started catching pink salmon. The regulations for that area are that you have to catch the fish in the mouth in order to keep it. If you snag it anywhere else on its body, it’s called a foul and becomes catch and release. Also, king salmon are catch and release only in this section. It’s okay if you catch them as it’s tough not to have them bite when you’re targeting another species, but you have to let them go immediately without even lifting them out of the water. They want to make sure they make it back to their spawning grounds uninjured in order to keep the population up. We decided to move to the other section of river to give it a shot. It was very mucky, to the point that our boots would really sink in and hold us if we stood in one place for too long. Mark again picked up the fly rod and excitedly announced he has a king salmon on the line! He asked me to video him bringing it in, which is posted on facebook, but then I had to just as quickly shut it off in order to help him get it unhooked. He had to hold it’s tail and rock it forward and back to revive it enough to swim away after it’s fight on the line. He’s feeling pretty good that the first fish he ever caught on a fly rod was a 25ish pound king salmon. A local told us to estimate a salmon’s weight at 1 pound per inch. I never did catch a fish on the fly rod, but eventually brought in a pink (on the right) and a red salmon (on the left) that we decided to keep and eat. I named them… lunch and dinner. We also kept 2 of Mark’s pink salmon. Those 4 fish provided us with 6 meals. I learned how to fillet the fish, which is also a skill that takes practice. It was fascinating to see the difference in the color of meat of the different kinds of salmon. Unfortunately we have that in a video, not a photo so you’ll have to see facebook to see that. I also found an article (which the science nerd and foodie in me loves) explaining the difference in fat and protein content, as well as flavor of the 5 types of salmon.

We headed out the next day to another secret spot Fred had recommended on Montana Creek by the bridge off Yoder Rd, full of hope. This stream was much shallower, and narrow, which gave us a bird’s eye view into the water to see these magnificent animals. The king salmon were plentiful. We could also see rainbow trout, which were good sized compared to home but dwarfed by the kings. This stream was a bit trickier to fish in as there were more logs and debris in the water that offered abundant snagging opportunities. I grabbed the fly rod determined to catch one of those kings. It only took a few rookie casts before wham! Fish on! And it’s a big one! It jumps out of the water and I see the big red body – IT’S A KING! I spent time learning how to cast, but I hadn’t learned what to do when I actually caught a fish. On a fly rod, it’s different because you may have some slack in the line that you use when casting, which I did. Mark had told me previously that if I catch a fish, I should hold on to the line in order to keep tension. Now I’ve got a king salmon on my rod and it’s big and I’m excited. I clamp down the fingers of my left hand around the line to hold it and I can feel that fish pull. Hard. And THWACK! The green line snaps back straight at me and strikes me in the neck. It turns out the instructions I had missed were to hold the line softly while allowing all the slack to be taken up and then I would fight the fish with the rod and reel the fish in. Now I know… Mark came over right away to help, inspect the equipment, and tell me how to avoid that scenario in the future. I was still in shock and smarting but he thought I was upset that I had broken the line (which is expensive on a fly rod.) He said, “Why are you crying? We can get new line.” (I may have hyperventilated a little.) I said, “I don’t care about the line. My neck and throat sting!” I took a selfie for inspection and you can see where that line came back and smacked me good. The pain didn’t last and there was no permanent damage, except that we couldn’t fly fish any more until we got more fly line and leaders. Chalk it up to an amazing Alaskan experience and another story to tell.

We spent our 20th anniversary relishing that we are, after 10 years of dreaming, in fact in Alaska. We started July 17 morning in historic downtown Talkeetna at the Roadhouse for a sourdough blueberry pancake, reindeer sausage, and a raspberry cinnamon roll. It was equally impressive and disturbing that the edges of my pancake actually touched the table so I just creatively ate all the parts that weren’t touching the table.

We each worked for a few hours while we had good cell service, and then we loaded up and headed to Willow, AK. Willow is known as the recreation capital of Alaska. We stayed in an RV park called Willow Creek Resort because they had given us permission to ride the ATV directly from the campground. Just before this trip, Mark had installed a new full windshield on our ATV, which protects us from rocks and wind and rain. Incidentally, it also traps all the engine heat in the cab and creates a vortex of dust so the passengers are unbearably overheated and covered in dust and dirt. Mark decided enough was enough and pulled the whole windshield off. We started off down Hatcher Pass on our way to Independence Mine on the windshieldless ATV, only to find ourselves in sheer misery. The wind was strong in our faces to the point I had tears leaking out on the sides. Thank God we didn’t pass any vehicles that kicked rocks at us because we literally had no protection. We rode 20 miles until the black clouds started producing rain and then turned back. We got back to the camper and Mark immediately reinstalled the windshield. Once again knowing how bad Alaska needs rain, we knew we couldn’t complain. Instead we spent the evening doing laundry. We woke up early and hit Hatcher Pass again, much more comfortable with the windshield and no dooming clouds ahead. What a drive! We rode up out of tree line, which is only 3000′ elevation in Alaska. (Treeline at home in CO is 12,000′.) Of course our eyes were “peeled” for wildlife but it was the views that were most impressive. We arrived at Independence Mine at 8:45am only to find out the gate didn’t open til 9am. This booming gold mine (1906-1947) was a self-guided walking tour of dilapidated buildings and equipment all with rich stories and a fun destination to imagine a different life. Several hundred men lived and worked here until WWII shut down all “nonessential” factories. We did learn that wildlife did not have any resources at this altitude so we were able to appreciate the views even more on the way back without scanning for animals.

We hit the road again, making a brief stops for stuffed burgers at Triple J’s Roadhouse in Houston followed by the Iditarod headquarters in Wasilla. We made a few shopping stops in Wasilla for fishing equipment, groceries, etc. and then kept driving toward the Kenai Peninsula. Close to 9pm, we finally pulled over and spent one night at Cooper Landing South Campground to get us as close to Homer as we could manage. Our goal is to get an oceanside site so we wanted to arrive down there as people were leaving around 10am.