Part Two, In Season Events,
Continued From Page 1 |
Women in the fishery.
Sport fishing lodges in Alaska are often thought to
be boys' clubs. This is definitely not true at AlpenView. Women
took a big roll in our program in 2011. Some of the many women
participating in AlpenView’s freshwater fisheries are (above)
Angie Johnson, Erin & Helena Knowles and Evelyn Fuchser.
(below left) Christie Knowles.
|
 |
During the past couple of seasons at AlpenView, we
have held several, after dinner, ping pong tournaments. The girls
have held their own in this venue as well.
Above: Erin and Helena topped the field in this tournament and
Helena went on to win!
|
The biggest halibut caught in 2011,
148lbs.
Wendy Collings caught the largest fish of the season and made
a bold statement for women in AlpenView’s saltwater fishery.
Above: Wendy caught the fish on one of our saltwater spinning
outfits. Very light tackle for a fish of this size.
Right: Windy and Jack display her big catch.
|
 |
Below: More of the many women participating in AlpenView’s
saltwater fisheries are Jill Watson, Diana Jones and Martha Morrissey.
|
During early August there was a break in business.
The staff made the best of the situation by completing some building
maintenance on the lodge. We replaced 16 single pane windows
in the front of the lodge with new double pane windows. While
we were at it, we did a complete paint and trim on the lodge
as well.
|
Above and top right: After completing the windows,
the staff was able to hang two new wood carvings that were made
for the lodge by clients Jim Jacobs and Bob Morrissey.
Bottom right: Isaac pitched this spike camp at the
1500 foot level on Mt. Geddis-Farzukan and spent the night of
July 31st. August 1st is opening day of deer season and Isaac
was ready.
|
|
|
Above: Late July and August in Ugak Bay continue to
provide some great saltwater fishing. The most commonly sought
after species are halibut, lingcod, rock fish and salmon. However,
the sea is full of surprises. This rock greenling is one of the
many remarkably colored species that we catch.
Top left: Lisa Bradley was onboard the Finlander for
some wildlife viewing when Connor played a trick on her. Conner
asked Lisa to "hold this rod for a second" after slyly
hooking a nice halibut. The ensuing fight was fantastic. After
landing her first halibut, Lisa didn’t put the rod down
for the rest of the day.
Bottom left: Bernie Beaudoin landed this king salmon
and another, back to back, on a fun salmon fishing day in August.
Below: During late July and August, freshwater fishing
out of the lodge is best for pink salmon and Dolly Varden. Sockeye,
chum and silvers can also be part of the mix. Denny Sanborn caught
this pink salmon on the fly in mid August.
|
Food is a big part of an AlpenView
adventure.
 
Clockwise from upper left:
The day at AlpenView starts off with coffee and breakfast in
the lodge dining room. One popular breakfast is Eggs Benedict,
often prepared with a choice of ham or lox.
Lunch is most commonly prepared in the field. A grilled salmon
on the river bank is hard to beat.
On return to the lodge an hors d’oeuvre is waiting in the
dining room. A couple favorites are sockeye salmon sushi and
grilled black cod collars.
 
|
 |
 |
|
Dinner is served buffet style in the dining room.
We like to mix it up with meals that feature our great local
sea foods like Halibut Olympia (upper left) and choice meats
such as teriyaki glazed chicken (upper right). All dinners include
sides, salads and fresh bread.
After dinner, a dessert is served. These light and
fresh raspberry tarts were great!
|
 |
Some wildlife shots taken by lodge
clients in July and August.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Above: Sunrise on the Finlander. A calm morning after
a storm.
Right: Fireweed blooms in the yard at AlpenView.
It’s summertime, and the living
is easy.
Some of the "little people" who make life
good at AlpenView.
Below left: Amy Finn works at setting the table with butter warmers
for crab night.
Below right: Helper Carole Velez and chef Deb Christensen pose
in the kitchen.
|
  |
  |
Above left: Fritz Jorg ties a fly pattern while
others look on.
Fly fishing is a big part of the AlpenView program. It’s
fun to predict what patterns may work well for the next days'
fishing. If we don’t have the perfect fly on hand, we have
tools to make it. .
Above right: Shawn loads his box for a day of guiding
on a local stream.
It’s too close to call.
Right: Bernie Beaudoin and Shawn square off in the battle of
the beards.
Below left: Winners never cheat and cheaters never
win. Wendy Collings looks out for any foul play during an evening
poker game.
Below right: Connor finally wins a poker game and
breaks even for the season!
|
 |
  |
Water Problems.
After 11 years of reliable operations, AlpenView’s well
and pump system began to cause trouble. For some reason the pump
would lose prime and cause the water supply to the lodge to stop.
The problem was elusive and we tried several different fixes.
Often the fixes would work for several days and lead us to believe
we had it fixed. Then, it would happen again at a most in-opportune
time. Like when Mickey was in the shower with her hair full of
soap!
|
 |
 |
Above left: In the end, the best fix was to drive
a new well. Dave and Isaac prepare the ground site.
Above right: The well driving, slide hammer in action.
At left: Shawn uses the "always on" winch
to lift the slide hammer for each successive strike.
Below: For safety, Connor stands by the hydraulic
power supply for the "always on" winch. If there is
a problem, the only way to stop the operation is to shut down
the hydraulics.
|
 |
 |
September is silver season at AlpenView.
Above: Bruce Brown, Jim Jacobsen and John Beaver show off some
early September silvers caught in both fresh and saltwater out
of the lodge.
Left: Jan Tryk celebrates a birthday on a stormy night
at AlpenView. Jan got a little older and Kodiak Island got a
lot of rain.
Below left: The heavy rain made the streams swell
so we spent the day halibut fishing with all guests. The Finlander
fishes six rods at a time and was full up. Jan and his son, Jasper,
fished out of the blow boat with Isaac. They had a great adventure
when Jasper hooked a big halibut on light tackle. It was all
the three of them could do to fight and subdue the big fish in
the small boat.
Below: Jasper and Jan display the fish.
|
  |
 
During early September, AlpenView’s lodge and
camp run simultaneously. Captain Dave ran the Finlander and lodge
operations while Shawn ran the camp. Helping Shawn at camp were
long time friend and guide in training, Craig "Ole"
Olsen and Shawn’s daughter, Amy.
Above left: Ole and Shawn relax at camp at the end
of the day.
Above right: Amy gets into some of the fishing action.
Below left: Early September at the camp is all about
fishing for Dolly Varden and silver salmon. Shawn displays a
large and nicely colored male Dolly Varden.
Below right: The same big rain storm that brought
good halibut luck to Jasper Tryk at the lodge also brought luck
to the people in camp. The rain on the Ayakulik brought a bunch
of silvers running up past camp. David Newman combined this good
luck with skill and determination to land 65 silvers on September
16. His father Sumner had a great day also, landing 48.
 
|
 
Above left: A bear reaches for a spawning fish. Above
right: OK now, SHAKE!
September and October of 2011 were
the season of the bear.
There was a very small pink salmon run on the Ayakulik so the
bears were tuned into the silvers much more than usual. AlpenView
anglers were also tuned into the silvers so bear/human interactions
were constant. While this provided a lot of fun and many great
pictures, it also provided some tense moments.
Below left: Dave runs interference when a mother bear
shows interest in the fish that a client is fighting.
Below right: Dave and the mother bear pretend not
to watch each other during a standoff. The mother’s cub
can be seen on the far bank.
 
|
Bears visit the camp.
Below: Don Andrews enjoys the view from the cook tents'
door.
Right: The stars aligned for this great shot of Bill
Enloe, a bear and a double rainbow behind camp.
|
 |
A new camp record for caviar.
The silver run was strong and fresh fish kept coming into October.
It was great fishing and a good opportunity to harvest some fish
to take home.
Above: Roe is often discarded while cleaning fish
for clients to take home. In this case, all the roe from cleaning
a limit of silvers was processed for caviar by Chris Ward.
Below left: A limit of silvers is transported to the
cleaning table in the jet boat.
Below right: The fish just kept on coming. Bill Davis,
Frank Varriale and Brent Wilde show off a limit of bright silvers
they caught on September 30.
 
|
 
He got one on a popper!
After many years of attempts, Jim Slack finally ran into the
right conditions to fish silvers with a top water fly. Jim caught
several and introduced popper fishing to several other anglers
on the trip, Including Dave! Jim's friend, Joe Taft, also had
good success on his popper.
|
 
Interesting moments in out camp
life.
Above left: Ouch! Bob Berti makes a good case for fishing barbless.
Above right: All Alaska fish are not necessarily big
ones, but the big ones get all the press. Not any more says Bill
Davis.
The Days of wine and roses.
Below left: Deb poses with her flowers in front of the Andrews/Gill/Negley
wine reserve.
Below right: I am the egg man….. I am the walrus……
koo koo ka choo, ka koo koo ca choo.
 
Below left: A calm, clear September evening. It’s
going to get cold tonight! On calm, clear nights the fall temperatures
will often drop into the low 20s. Good thing we have heaters
to help us get going in the morning.
Below right: Fall colors. A nice selection for September
and October on the Ayakulik.
 
|
 
Above left: Brent Wilde steps up to the plate in an
out camp fishing competition. The least amount of casts necessary
to land a fish, the higher he will score for his team.
Above right: Brent Wilde, Brent and Frank Varriale
are The A Team. Frank’s Dolly Varden scores and puts the
A Team over the top for the win!
|
The Big One.
Cliff Rackham caught this 34&¼" steelhead.
Cliff’s fish was the largest of the season and one of the
four he caught on October 5th.
|
 |
Some bright spots in the fall steelhead
season.
Left: "The Breakfast Fly" was first created by Dave
Jones during the June king salmon fishery. It proved itself as
a king fly and later, a great steelhead fly.
Below Left: Isaac’s position as a guide for AlpenView
opened up several opportunities. Here, he lands his first steelhead
of the fly.
Below right: Brent started the season as part of the
camp set-up crew in June. A trip that got him his lifetime largest
steelhead. He returned in the fall with family and friends and
he caught some more nice steelhead.
|
  |
 
All work and no play is not the
AlpenView way.
Above left: We had some beautiful weather for camp break-down.
In this shot, Isaac glasses for game during a hunting day.
Above right: Jim Arneson starts the pack out with a load of reindeer.
|
The camp is buttoned up and laid
flat for winter storage.
|
|
Click
to continue to page three of the 2011 review. |