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AlpenView's 2012 Season Review

People, Places and Dates
The following is a who, when and where overview of the 2012 season. An asterisk (*) is placed after a person's name if they are a repeat visitor. The asterisk is red (*) if they are veterans of three or more trips with our organization. We are honored by the continued patronage of our guests and blessed with the continued help of our friends and staff.

Please help with this review. Send photos, additions and corrections to: mail@alpenview.com

The 2012 season started, as they all must, with the setting up of the out camp. It's like "the day the circus came to town".

 

Camp set-up crew from left to right: Tim Longrich, Fritz Jorg, Bob Richmond, Craig "Ole" Olson, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

 

While working on the camp we disturbed a mother fox that had been raising her kits under one of our tent platforms. She made several trips while moving the family out of camp.

Left to right, top: Len, Tom, John, Rick and Isaac.
Bottom: Marty, Pat and Dave 

Camp, June 8 - 16, 2012 

Pat Steed * Eden, NC

John Maresca * Wirtz, VA

Rick Saroney * Canastota, NY

Marty Steed * Atlanta, GA

Tom Steed * Key Largo, FL

Len Steed * Brackney, PA

 

Crew: Molly Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

 

John with a big buck steelhead.

Pat and Rick with a pair of bright kings. 

Left to right: Ian, Irven, Molly, Lindo, Isaac and Norm. 

Camp, June 16 - 23, 2012 

Ian Donald - Sutton Coldfield, UK

Irven Hall - Staffordshire, UK

Lindo Daum - Germany

Norm Whittlesey - Pullman, WA 

 

Crew: Molly Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

 

Ian and Irven display stringers of sockeye while a bear looks on.

 

Norm caught this nice king on the fly rod.

 

The fox family we displaced during camp set-up didn't stay away long. Within a week, mother fox moved her kits back into camp. They remained there for the rest of the summer months and provided endless entertainment to guests and staff.

 

 

It was a low water season so downstream adventures were made in the raft. We actually put six people in our six man raft!

 

The sun sets in the north, northeast at about 10:40pm during the summer solstice.

 

We used a spike camp to extend our fishing time in the lower river.

 Camp, June 23 - 30, 2012 

Frank Varriale * Boise, ID

Brent Varriale * Fruitland, ID

Frank Pirnique * Palouse, WA

Scott Kaufman * Idaho Falls, ID

Jeff Burkhardt - Vale, OR

Derek Burkhardt - Vale, OR

 

Crew: Molly Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

 

Top, left to right: Frank Pirnique, Jeff and Derek.
Bottom: Scott, Frank Varriale and Brent.

 

Scotty "The Net" Kaufman displays a king salmon.

Brent (foreground) and Frank Varriale enjoy a father and son double hook-up on king salmon. 

 

Birds are a big part of the wildlife. Several species of birds use the salmon runs as a food source. Pictured above are: a juvenile bald eagle, a sea gull and an adult bald eagle.

 

Bear management is an important skill to have while guiding fishermen on the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. All bears like fish but some show to much interest in fish that humans are catching.
Above: Isaac stands his ground as a pesky young bear charges. The bear halts and then runs away after Isaac blasts an air horn.

 

Other bear management tactics include rocks and blunt arrows.

 

Bears often engage in heated arguments over access to fishing spots. Mostly it is all talk as these encounters rarely come to blows. Molly Jones photos.

 

 

 

 

Left to right: Bill, Mark, Derek, Ed, Rafael and Juan.

Camp, June 30 - July 7, 2012 

Rafael Pastor * Portugul

Juan Vert * Spain

Mark Donovan * Tucson, AZ

Derek Donovan - Tucson, AZ

Bill Engber - Madison, WI

Ed Weber - Little Rock, AR

 

Crew: Molly Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

 

Isaac and Bill in a patch of lupine.

 

Derek and a fine king salmon.

 

Sometimes the father fox would show up and spend time with the mother and kits.

 

By mid-July the kits had changed from fat little balls of fur into little foxes. When we returned in September they had all grown up and left the camp.

 

On the railing, left to right: Juan, Shawn, George, David Zava, Bob and Dave.
Back row: Rafael, Charlie, Beth and Ted.

Lodge, July 7 to 14, 2012 

Rafael Pastor * Portugul

Juan Vert * Spain

Charlie Ryan * Lima, OH

Beth Ryan * Lima, OH

George Yu - Annapolis MD

David Zava - Beaverton, OR

Ted Zava - Beaverton, OR

Bob Wood - Columbus, OH

 

Crew: Molly Jones, Shawn Finn, Mickey Jones and Dave Jones

 

Packing red or "sockeye" salmon filets to share with friends and family back home.

Left to Right, Top row: Jim, Bernie, Shawn, Isaac and Bill.
Middle: Mike and Dave.
Bottom: Bob, Martha and Phil. 

Lodge, July 14 to 21, 2012 

Jim Jacobs * Davidsonville, MD

Bob Morrissey * Annapolis, MD

Martha Morrissey * Annapolis, MD

Mike Hagerty * Oro Valley, AZ

Phil Horvath - Naperville, IL

Bill Vermaat - Naperville, IL

Bernie Burba

 

Crew: Molly Jones, Shawn Finn, Mickey Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

Jim Jacobs landed the season's largest halibut, 224 lbs. It was a grueling fight lasting over an hour. We had to cast off the anchor and chase the fish on a mile long loop that eventually ended up right back at the anchor.
Jim caught the fish on one of our saltwater spinning outfits. Very light tackle for a fish of this size. 

 

Above: Bob holds up four yellow eye rock fish.

Below: Mike takes in his strange catch.

 

A female and a male kelp greenling above a rock greenling.

 Rock greenling have blue flesh.

Left to right: Dave, Wes, Kelly and Shawn.
Kneeling: Isaac.
 

Camp/Lodge, July 21 to 28, 2012 

Kelly Sobczak - Valrico, FL

Wes Sobczak - Valrico, FL

 

Crew: Molly Jones, Shawn Finn, Mickey Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

 

Above: Wes caught the first halibut from the Captain K.

Below: Molly and Mickey get into the moment.

 

Dave's shorter twin brother, Dave.

 

Our first wedding at AlpenView, August 1st, 2012.
"Uncle Shawn" presided over the ceremony on AlpenView's front lawn. After a cool, foggy morning, the sun broke through the overcast to grace the outdoor experience.
Guests and family traveled from many parts of the country came to help celebrate. They were joined by friends from neighboring cabins in Ugak Bay.
Special thanks to Lynn Murphy, who made a generous supply of her outstanding berry wines for the occasion.

 

The groom, Zackary Porter, arrives with Mickey on his right and his mother, Linda, on his left.

 

Here comes the bride, Kathryn Jones, with her father, Dave.

 

The Vows

The greater AlpenView family.
Top, left to right: Dave, Mickey, Molly, Kathryn, little MaeKennah, Zack, Amy, Fru, Marie and Shawn.
Bottom: family pets Vikoda and Boots.

 

Congratulations to the happy couple and their beautiful daughter.
Zack and his daughter, MaeKennah, welcomed Kathryn to their little family on this day.

 Lodge, August 4 - 11, 2012 

Peter Schug * Staufenberg, Germany

Reinhard Schmidt * Frankfurt Am Main, Germany

Udo Luerssen - Bad Homburg, Germany

Terry Richardson - Puyallup, WA

Mary Richardson - Puyallup, WA

Zack Porter - Dickenson, ND

Kathryn Jones-Porter - Dickenson, ND

MaeKennah Porter - Ceadar City, UT

Crew: Amy Finn, Molly Jones, Shawn Finn, Mickey Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones

Top, Left to right: Mickey, Reinhard, Udo, Mary, Terry, Isaac and Shawn.
On the stairs: Zack, Kathryn and MaeKennah.
Bottom: Molly, Dave and Peter.

 

Shawn lends encouragement too Amy while she stands in as lodge cook. She did great!

At right: Udo and Shawn display a lingcod, "the wolf of the sea".

Below: Reinhard and Shawn with a nice king salmon.

 

 

 

At left: Captain Shawn at the controls and liking it.

Below: The CAPTAIN K is put in to service as AlpenView's new saltwater fishing boat.

 

 

2012 was a great season whale watching as a large pod of humpbacks spent the summer in Ugak Bay.

 

A bear checks the creek for salmon at Eagle Harbor.
Bears around Ugak Bay get into good bear fishing conditions in August as the pink salmon fill the streams.

 

Spouting humpback whales.

Standing, left to right: Mickey, Evan, Jesse, Gary, Jordan, Shawn, Molly, Mason, Ryan, Derek and Isaac.
Kneeling: Drew and Dave.

 Lodge, August 11 - 15, 2012

 Drew Shaffer * Ridgefield, WA

Derek Shaffer - Ridgefield, WA

Jesse Shaffer - Castle Rock, WA

Ryan Mackin - Ridgefield, WA

Mason Davies - Ridgefield, WA

Evan Davies - Ridgefield, WA

Gary Rood - Battle Ground ,WA

Jordan Rood - Battle Ground ,WA

Crew: Molly Jones, Shawn Finn, Mickey Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones.

 

A seafood fettuccini with an attitude!

 

Standing, left to right: Shane, Bob, Heather, Gary, Kristy, Isaac, Molly, Dave Anderson, Tammy, Scott and Shawn.
Sitting: Dave and Mickey Jones.

  Lodge, August 18 - 25, 2012

 Dave Anderson * Nampa, ID

 Kristy Anderson - Nampa, ID

Scott Lamb - Longmont, CO

 Tammy Lamb - Longmont, CO

Gary Stone - Casper, WY

Bob Onders - Kodiak, AK

Heather Onders - Kodiak, AK

Shane Onders - Kodiak, AK

Crew: Molly Jones, Shawn Finn, Mickey Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones.

 Shane and Heather heading out for a big adventure in the skiff.

 

Mickey is happy in her work as lodge chef.

 

Bob is doing a great job vacuum packing his catch.

 

Some of our finished product, ready to load in the freezer.

 

Gary displays two kings.

Scott, Tammy, Kristy and Dave with some of their catch on salmon.

 

Isaac and Dave test their ability to withstand the cold waters of Ugak Bay. Their conclusion, "if you're out on a boat in Alaska, don't fall in"!

 

Kristy's birthday party.

The tail of a sounding humpback whale is silhouetted against the spout of another whale that has just surfaced.

Clockwise from left: Shawn, Isaac, Bob, Ray, Dave, Michael, Greg and Mike.

Lodge, Aug. 25 - Sept. 1, 2012

 Ray Sirois * Shapleigh, ME

 Michael R. Sirois * Hinesburg, VT

Greg Nelson - San Francisco, CA

 Bob Sirois - Harwinton, CT

Mike Sirois - Torrington, CT

Crew: Molly Jones, Shawn Finn, Mickey Jones, Isaac Fritz and Dave Jones.

Ray (above) and his cousin, Bob (at right) hit back to back, 30 pound kings on the first day of the trip.

Great start Bob.

Isaac preforms a back flip into Cool Pool on a creek with no name.

Splash!

Ray encountered a curious fox while fishing Portage Creek.

Mike caught this silver on a fly rod.

[Continued in Part 2]