Nixon Fishing Report: Part Three

On July 13, 2011 the Nixon's will become official residents of Alaska.  We will have fulfilled our 12 month residency requirement and by doing so, we will be entitled to quite a few benefits such as $24 hunting/fishing licenses.  Other benefits that I have come to enjoy are the long summer days; the ability to be in the middle of nowhere if you go 5 miles in any direction; and the continued shock and awe over events that occur on just "normal" days in Alaska.  The State is beyond definition and I am continually amazed at my surroundings.

To complete our fishing trifecta (rainbows, halibut, and sockeye) we booked a fly-in fishing trip across the Cook Inlet to fish the mouth of Wolverine Creek.  Joe had enjoyed a business-related trip similar to this last summer and thought it would round out Reese's vacation with us.

Sea Otter

We picked Joe up from work at 4 pm and headed the three miles to the fly-out service.  We were greeted by Doug, the owner, who would also be our pilot for the trip over.  As we donned our waders Doug asked if we would be willing for another couple to join us on our trip over.  They wanted to do some flight seeing so we would flight see; Doug would drop us off to fish; then the 3 of us would catch a smaller plane back.  Sounded like fun to us so we loaded the Otter with our gear and climbed aboard.

Reese was asked to be the copilot.  As she was strapped in and put on her headset, I was a little jealous.  She was going to have the best seat in the house to see any wildlife we might run across.  Had I any clue what we would soon be privileged to see; I would have wrestled her out of that seat and put myself in it!

We are in good hands

Instrument Panel

As we took off from the lake, we quickly gained altitude and in the distance I could see the ConocoPhillips LNG plant: the very reason I am in Alaska.  We were quickly over the water of the Cook Inlet and I could see oil and gas platforms in the distance and observe the treacherous currents for which the Inlet is famous.  Along the right side of the plane, we were able to observe the shoreline and Joe and I were watching for a glimpse of some wildlife...hopefully some bears.

A sow and her cubs

We suddenly began spotting bears:  big brown, furry dots on the bright green landscape.  Doug took a hard bank to the right and circled a sow and her two cubs.  In my mind, my day was a success.  I had seen my first brown bears.

As we approached the far mountain range, it felt as though we might be flying right into the side of a cliff but Doug expertly maneuvered the plane through the jagged peaks to give us magnificent views of huge waterfalls and crystal clear lakes.  It seemed at times as if our wings were 10 feet from a mountain wall but we had no time to be frightened.  With each turn we were experiencing surreal views of green valleys banked by rugged, jagged rocks that towered above our plane.  He suddenly climbed over one of these peaks and stretching ahead of us was a huge glacier.  The erosion it created was quite evident from that altitude and the blue ice looked like huge aquamarine stones.  It was gorgeous!

Runoff forming rivers

We flew around a bit and found our way into a deep concave impression surrounded by tall peaks.  I'm not sure but I think we were probably in the bowl of a long inactive volcano.  We gained altitude again and topped the mountain range and were back in a lush green valley with milky runoff from the melting glacier spreading across the landscape below us.  On the horizon, we spotted a lake with several small seaplanes anchored there next to flat-bottomed aluminum boats and we knew we were near our fishing spot.

Doug gently landed on the lake and it was strange to see water sprays splashing up as high as the wings.  I will confess that a water landing seemed much smoother than one on a tarmac.  I don't know if this is normal or if it was just a good landing!

We carefully exited the plane onto a makeshift boardwalk.  Our fishing guide, Tony, loaded our rods and ice chest into the boat and we were off...headed to the mouth of Wolverine Creek for the first red salmon run!

...to be continued