What is that fourth pic down in that first set of pics, it almost looks like some sort of fish trap but it seems too open for that. Lots of road construction up there, some of the equipment they used had wheels almost 10 feet high. That cabin sure looks like it has seen better times. One of the Gold rush shows, with Dave Turin had one season above Valdez, some of those river pics remind me of that season.
Yes it’s a fish wheel replica built out of willow limbs. The old food storage cache (cabin looking building) was very cool but only about 6’ square.
The road construction is very intense were it’s happening, large amounts of earth being moved, which I assume is to remove the perma frost and with the short season no off days
OK, that explains why the cabin is so small and there are openings in the walls. I’m sure you are right about the permafrost causing the road damage, that was what they told us.
That was a fair chunk of back tracking, but I can see it would be tough to get your riggs on the ferry… Lots of pretty country.. How has the weather been treating you? Lots of rainy days? Are you starting to head back now, or are you going to hang around while before you return? J
Weather has been good had a couple days of rain here and there in different areas. Yes we are starting to move Bach toward Canada, I think we have about 5 more days in Alaska. Current plan is to be home on August 1st
Today was saltwater fishing day and had a great time fishing for halibut and ling cod out of Valdez. I ended up with the biggest halibut at 60”s and 80lbs and biggest ling at 44”s probably 30lbs. We also got yellow eye and blacks rock fish. Killer Whales on way in along with humpback whales.
Man way to go on the salty day, that’s great fish compared to the trips I’ve been on out of Homer… Approximately how far from Anchorage over to Valdez? Looks like the fishing is a lot better over there… Love the reports… J
Jeff
Around 6 hrs driving, quite a few people that flew into Anchorage and drove over. From what I see the ferry would be almost the same amount of time. I figured that as Valdez isn’t a regular cruise ship port that the area might be better for a fishing trip with less pressure and after some posted on a FB RVing to Ak page about their experiences fishing here I decided that this was going to be it. The trips are long, we traveled about 3.5 hrs to get to the spot we fished but with yesterday be the opening day for long cod we fished different areas then what the Captain has been going to. When we booked they said we would be out for 12 hrs and the the captain decided to stay a bit longer trying to get the boat the last long so ended up being on the boat for 14 hrs. A lot of chicken buts caught from what I saw at the dock, and getting a keeper ling over 36”s wasn’t fast or easy, we through a bunch of fish back that were right at the 35-36” mark. I got lucky to get both those big fish for sure. From what I gather the salmon fishing for silvers I’d pretty good but I think you could end up with pinks also which isn’t good in my book, so Homer/Seward and the Kenai Peninsula would be much better for salmon
Thanks Alan, that’s great information… Hard to believe what looks like not that far on a map is like driving from Cache Valley to St. George… It’s sure a big ole state up there… Agree with your salmon assessment as well… I don’t really care much for the pinks… Have you been able to try any Kings up there? Seems like they are closing down a lot of those king runs… Sure like to be able to tie into one of those monsters, it’s just hard to believe how big an 80 lb salmon is until you see one of them take off in a river and leave a wake like a boat… What are your plans for today? J
The kings are just getting started from what I see but there are a lot of restrictions on the rivers because of low numbers. Go to the Rouge River in Oregon for Kings at Gold Beach, I think the average size is much better then Alaska but over 45lbs isn’t going to happen probably. Today we’re going on a wildlife/glacier boat tour to the Columbia Glacier with the girls, should be fun with the calm arms around here
Be cheaper to get to Oregon than AK for sure, how do they fish for them up there? I’ve liked the shallower water fishing, but i’m into learning new things… Have fun on the tour today, we really had fun on a similar day trip when we were up there… Man I’m feeling sorry for your bank account with this undertaking, but what an incredible trip of a lifetime.. Is your daughter still with you guys or did she have to get back by now? Anyway catch ya again soon… Jeff
They troll for them and it’s shallow water. Well I can’t take it with me so it’s time to enjoy the results of years of work lol. Daughter and her husband flew home on the 18th before we went on to the Kenai.
Went out on the wildlife, glacier cruise on Lu Lu Belle ( yes she’s back in operation as of 7-1 after repairs) out of Valdez. Great time lots of whales and otters, puffins were pretty much a no show except 1 that was flying by and the glacier and icebergs was awesome. Very comfortable boat and the history and information given during the tour was very good. Best part is that he takes the time to stop and see things and let people get pics, so although it’s advertised as a 6 hour trip it can be much longer depending on wildlife encounters.
Wow, did you two catch all those fish? 80 lb halibut and a 30 lb ling, impressive. Always cool seeing the killer whales and humpbacks. Are you keeping any of those fish?
Love the pic of you holding up the buoy. Too bad you missed the puffins but cool glacier pics. What is the story behind the Lu Lu Belle, did it sink at some point?
Captain Fred built the boat 1979 for salmon fishing out of Westport Washington, shortly after it was done the courts decided the the salmon catch was not fair to the native Americans and cut the fishing in half he decided that it was time to go else where and brought the boat to Alaska for the summer’s At some point he started the tours, and on a tour in late May he found an uncharted rock that damaged his props and did some damage to the hull so it’s been up in Seward getting repaired all of June
The last pic is what was caught on the boat by the 6 people fishing. Tom and I ended up with 107 lbs of filets that were having shipped home
Wow, that’s a lot of filets, hopefully someone will be there to get the filets, unless you can delay shipment.
We are sending to the neighbors who will put everything in our freezer when it arrives next week