Alaska is a stunningly beautiful state. I love the days when it isn't raining and we can see the mountains across Yakutat Bay. They seem to magically rise straight out of the sea. Occasionally you can look way up in the sky and catch a glimpse of the triangular peak of Mt. St. Elias. Most days, no matter what the weather, we see multiple cruise ships entering the Bay on their way to view Hubbard Glacier. I haven't seen the glacier up close, but we do see it from the air as we are arriving/departing. We also see the HUGE Melaspina Glacier. When I saw it for the first time, I thought it was just a large landmass. Nope....all ice, on it's way to the sea.
There are many days that it does nothing but rain. Alaska rain is different than Washington rain! Quantity is the difference. A heavy rain in Washington is "just another day" in Alaska. But we have had days where we were fishing in t-shirts and jeans. On those days, the sun was out and the water was as calm as any lake I've been on. Since we fish at the mouth of Yakutat Bay, where it meets the Gulf of Alaska, we have to be prepared for bad weather to roll in fast. The plus to that is that the bad weather can roll out just as quickly as it arrived! Many evenings, the rain will stop and we are able to enjoy a beautiful sunset. The photo below was taken by me, from the deck of our cabin. I don't think I will ever get bored of looking at this view.
Most times we have caught full limits of the Coho salmon that we are after. Silvers are a delight to catch. When they hit the bait, you know they are there! They are a species of fish that will put up a fight, with lots of out-of-the-water acrobatics. One year I even had a Coho that managed to get himself in the boat...no net needed. With all the leaping it was doing, it just launched itself into the air, landing IN the boat. We are also able to catch some halibut in the area, without going out to open ocean, deep water. We have caught numerous halibut in 50 feet of water or less. The photo below is of a typical days catch.
The first year we went, we caught a full limit of really nice fish on our first day. The lodge manager at the time was impressed by our catch and took the photo below, which is still shown on the lodge's website. Not bad for our first day out! That day had US hooked and we intend to return as often as possible.
So, I guess I need to go finish organizing my stuff. I have lots of things to do tomorrow since our plane leaves at 5:00 am Sunday. I will miss my kiddo and animals while I am gone. There is no cell phone service in Yakutat, so any calls home have to be made from the single pay-phone at the lodge. That isn't a bad thing really....it is nice to leave "real life" behind for a few days. If there was an emergency at home, we could always be reached via the lodge's business phone.
Thanks for stopping by! I'll have stories and pictures to share when I get back home on the 20th/21st.
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