Alaska July 2025

[BilletHead]

  Next morning was the day we departed. Did our flight in the afternoon which was late by a couple hours. Before we took off up to the village Dave showed us the non lethal bear deterrent. I think the bear might die laughing. 

 

   We loaded up the boat with our stuff, Duane our captain took us to town and Dave and Mike came also,

  Looked around town and visited the post office. Store was open. Not much in there and what was priced high as expected. Checked out the community building. Sat down and waited for the plane. Mike decided to nap again.

   We finally told the three amigos to head back and go fishing after finding out the plane would be late. Last hugs given off they went.

 

  Tiny coffee shop in the waiting room. Young lady showed up and we got a hot drink. Raining again. People in and out. Most greeted us and were friendly.  One woman came in with two little children. She tied a dog outside. The kids with the barista made their own drinks.  Woman told us that the dogs name was stormy. Stormy would be on the flight with us to Anchorage. She belonged to her aunt and needed to go there. 

    Plane landed we and Stormy got our stuff in the plane and flew to Anchorage. There we headed to the Anchorage airport to wait for an extra hour because that plane was running late. Split an elk burger with fries and a couple of blueberry sodas,

 

    Flight at Chicago layover was on time but layover was short because we were late. Neither one of us could sleep on the plane. That sucked big time. Trying to land in Springfield was interesting because we dropped down, landing gear down pilot tried twice to land and then pulled up because of inclement weather. We were routed to Bentonville airport for an hour. We even offloaded there. Right back on and back to Springfield. A couple hours later home to unload, get showers and to bed where we actually slept for 11.5 hours. We have never slept that long before. Guess we were tired. 

 

[BilletHead]

      If funds would let us we would do this again despite not liking to fly. We would recommend to anyone this type of trip. By now we are pretty much recovered but reliving the trip still daily. Dave and Mike stayed a couple days longer. Caught some nice grayling and bigger rainbow before they came home. We still all have a group text going on and hope it continues to stay going. Good bunch of people. For those that don't follow Duane he's still working hard getting the place spruced up and in top shape. Thanks for letting Pat and I share the trip. We sure enjoy others posts on outdoor activities. 

[Foghorn]

Thanks for sharing "Pat and Marty's Alaskan Adventure" with us. Hopefully the Seasons On The Fly tv show will air this season with some new programs.

[Johnsfolly]

On 7/23/2025 at 2:31 PM, BilletHead said:

   Just after noon Duane, brother Dave and Mike went to town checking for Mail and freight. I decided to walk down the Jeff the bears trail to the braid trying for greying again. Took a long bet so if I caught one I could reach it not having to get into the water. It was pretty windy. I worked down the bank looking for fish a rises. Seen both but I was spooking fish. I got back from The bank walking way down and started working back throwing upstream. This is when I seen a big greying looking upstream tight to the bank. I tried a couple casts that just died into the wind and finally got my fly tangled up. I crept up and got it loose without spooking the fish. The next cast was over The fish three feet in front of the fish in his feeding lane. He smashed it and I had it. Got it netted. Trying to get my phone out here comes Pat walking down the Bear trail. She said you okay? Yes what's wrong. I heard someone strange while I was catching some sun at the picnic table. It was kind of a growl. Right then I thought she was messing with me. Little did we know maybe not. Pat took a couple pictures of my prize. I laid the fish in the crook of my arm and It was long enough it made it past my fingers.

   This was my largest greying of the trip. A little over 18 inches. I can tell you these are one if not the coolest fish I have ever caught on the fly. 

I have always liked grayling and hope to catch a few before I am done😉

[Johnsfolly]

On 7/23/2025 at 5:26 PM, BilletHead said:

 Sunday morning day 6,

  Up early again and heading towards the town beach and more salmon. The three amigos in one boat with Pat and I followed in another boat. 

  Sunrise over lake Illiamna on the way to the beach,

  We spread out and went to fishing. 

   We stayed a little longer than the day before. We started seeing other lodges float planes in the air coming in. Then boats of guides and clients coming up river. One boat came bye looking for places to fish. They pulled into shore above us. Duane being Duane put down his rod and went up to them. Then they begin to push back out. I know what you all are thinking but it's not that way. Duane told them there is plenty of room. We will tighten up and everyone can fish. So that boat went down and bleached. Spread out just below us. This was the area they had fished before. Right away fish were being caught. 

     We caught more and called it a morning. Back to clean and process salmon. 

   The sockeye are stacking up!

   Some stickleback hanging at the back of one of the boats. For a second there is a sculpin in the bottom of the video. 

    Something else to tell you. No on got a picture of this but we were sitting in the lodge looking out the window. A duck kept flying out front and landing somewhere right by the boats. Leaving and coming back every few seconds. We thought maybe she had some young somewhere. Finally Duane went out to watch. This duck even landed on the gas grill on the deck right out the window. I got a good look and it was a hen GoldenEye. Duane said there was a bunch of dead stickleback down there. She was getting those. 

  This next thing relates to that. I was texting Ham one morning. We were chatting so much better I just called him and rested the fingers. We discussed the stickleback. He said there is a parasite that those fish get. When getting afflicted more the fish become sick and swim to the top and eventually die. The birds eat them and as the parasite evolves that bird is the next host. They become effected and pass it back into the water for the stickleback to pick it up again and repeat the process. 

 

 

Now you're talking my kind of bycatch😉😁

[Johnsfolly]

Eventhough I have caught slimy sculpin in PA, I would definitely want to catch them in Alaska😁

[Terrierman]

My only comment is how sorry I feel for you for not having ever slept 11.5 hours before.  Beauty sleep is a very important thing.

[Phil Lilley]

On 7/24/2025 at 12:21 PM, BilletHead said:

  I do and have been looking at recipes. Duane has been doing some after we all left. Of course he has been sending pictures. We will be doing some. 

I use real maple syrup on my salmon to make candy

[Phil Lilley]

On 7/24/2025 at 8:40 PM, BilletHead said:

  Next morning was the day we departed. Did our flight in the afternoon which was late by a couple hours. Before we took off up to the village Dave showed us the non lethal bear deterrent. I think the bear might die laughing. 

   We loaded up the boat with our stuff, Duane our captain took us to town and Dave and Mike came also,

  Looked around town and visited the post office. Store was open. Not much in there and what was priced high as expected. Checked out the community building. Sat down and waited for the plane. Mike decided to nap again.

   We finally told the three amigos to head back and go fishing after finding out the plane would be late. Last hugs given off they went.

 

  Tiny coffee shop in the waiting room. Young lady showed up and we got a hot drink. Raining again. People in and out. Most greeted us and were friendly.  One woman came in with two little children. She tied a dog outside. The kids with the barista made their own drinks.  Woman told us that the dogs name was stormy. Stormy would be on the flight with us to Anchorage. She belonged to her aunt and needed to go there. 

    Plane landed we and Stormy got our stuff in the plane and flew to Anchorage. There we headed to the Anchorage airport to wait for an extra hour because that plane was running late. Split an elk burger with fries and a couple of blueberry sodas,

 

    Flight at Chicago layover was on time but layover was short because we were late. Neither one of us could sleep on the plane. That sucked big time. Trying to land in Springfield was interesting because we dropped down, landing gear down pilot tried twice to land and then pulled up because of inclement weather. We were routed to Bentonville airport for an hour. We even offloaded there. Right back on and back to Springfield. A couple hours later home to unload, get showers and to bed where we actually slept for 11.5 hours. We have never slept that long before. Guess we were tired. 

 

The ride home is always the hardest.

[ness]

1 hour ago, Phil Lilley said:

I use real maple syrup on my salmon to make candy

Is there a salmon candy recipe you could point us too? I don't have Alaska salmon, but I do have Aldi salmon.