Now, the good part of our Alaska trip!!

We had a blast!!

This was a combo trip with a land portion and a sea portion. We went with Holland America on a co-workers recommendation. We are very happy we did.

We spent a week on land and even got to see Denali in clear weather. Only 30% of the people that go to Denali National Park get to see more than the foot of the mountain. We saw lots of critters and, in general had a blast!!

Now, for the fishing part of the trip.

We fished a half day with Denali Fly Fishing Guides. It was a COLD, WINDY, RAINY day!! That is never good for grayling but we set out anyway. The first river we fished, the Jack river as we remember, was high and the fish were not biting. We fished with Denali Fly Fishing Guides and the guide, Terry, was GREAT! He set up the three of us with different setups so we could prospect a bit. He realized quickly that this was not going to work. So, we took off for another small creek called Fish Creek. It feeds the Jack so it was just up the road. It was not long before we all were into grayling. They were not big but it was a blast watching them attack a fly. Our guide was great.

The next "fishing stop" was Juno, AK. We did a flyout trip with Bear Creek Outfitters:

http://www.flyfishingjuneau.com/index.html

http://www.wardair.com/ provided the air "taxi".

We flew out with Ward Air in a DeHavilland Beaver. It was a water takeoff and landing. It was our first and it was UNREAL. Once again, it was overcast and raining but the ceiling was high enough that we could see the ground most of the trip. We fished Limestone creek. We caught Pink Salmon and Dolly Varden trout and it was a BLAST. Jen caught a pink on her FIRST cast and I was not far behind. We lost count of the fish (like we count anyway) and the eagles. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever fished. There was not a sound anywhere except nature. A little further up the creek we hit the Dollys. We caught several and even got a couple of big ones and one in it's fall spawning colors.If you have never caught a Dolly, they are like hooking a small car. They don't make wild runs, at least these didn't, but they would run around the hole and refuse to come out.

So, there you have it.... Two weeks on land and sea... three fishing trips.... and some great times.

A Warning About a Guide Service in Fairbanks!!

Hi all,

Well, we are back from Alaska!!

First a word of warning.... If you ever hear the name "Wilderness Ent" or Joe Letarte, RUN AWAY!! Here is their website:

http://wildernessenterprises.com/

We arrived at their office/house to be greeted by a guide that was rigging up spinning rods for our trip. This was after we had talked THREE times about the fact that Jen and I only fly fish. The raft we used did not have any seats in it except for the guide. So, we are in a wilderness area in Alaska floating on a river with no seats in the boat. I had to sit on the rear of the raft with nothing to stop me from taking a swim.

We were told that we would have waders to use but that turned out not to be true. So we spent the day in very light clothes from the waist down and wading shoes with no socks. It was COLD!! I got hypothermia about an hour from the takeout and it was really uncomfortable for a while.

We had told Joe and Vickie THREE times that this was going to be a morning only float as we had to be back in Fairbanks by 2:00 pm so we HAD to be off the river no later than 1:00 pm. he never told the guide this and he was planing on having us back to our car around 3:00. He had to do a lot of rowing to get us back on time. He claimed that Joe and Vickie had not told him this little fact.

They also charged us $12.00 EACH for lunch!!! Lunch was a homemade sandwich and a bag of chips.

So, lets just say i was NOT a good day.