Cody's Visit...

This is a little late but things have been busy and uploading the pictures for these posts seems to take forever and doesn't work all of the time.

On July 21st, Cody flew in from Portland at about 1:30am. I picked him up from the airport and went back home and went to sleep. We got up the next morning and started packing everything up and hit the road.

It was a beautiful day and made for a nice drive up. It was good to have someone else along that we knew well, it made for a great trip and good conversation. I know Cody enjoyed the drive too, it was a much needed break from his hectic work schedule. He'd no sooner got here and woke up that morning and he was already getting phone calls and emails from his office.

We made our way to our first camp spot and threw up tents and unloaded some of our gear from the truck. We decided to hike in to a spot that we'd fished last time we were up that way and loaded a pack and we were off.

It was a two mile hike into this spot and last time we were there, the fishing was awesome and there were grayling everywhere. This time however there were very few fish to be found and I think I caught one and Rose caught two. It was pretty disappointing, here I thought we'd take Cody in and catch just a mess of grayling. Not sure what had happened but you could see the fish in the river before and we searched and searched and only saw a couple.

So back to camp we went and it was time to cook up some dinner; chicken stir fry! Afterwards, we made some smores and hung out next to the camp fire and finally hit the hay near 11pm.

The next morning we got up and ate some breakfast and headed down the road to another stream and fished where it emptied out of a lake. It was pretty productive, but the grayling were pretty small. It was a good warm up and then headed further down the road about a mile to where it dumped into another lake. This was a bit better for larger grayling and we all caught a few.

Later on, back at camp, we ate some lunch and packed things up. It was time to head down the road to our next destination and hopefully our best fishing was yet to come. When we arrived at the next stream, there was no one there and we fished the hole that was right near the road. Rose literally raced over so she could get the first cast, which resulted in a fish-on!

She had been kicking Cody and I's butts as far as the number of fish caught and I think she was getting a little cocky! Cody and Rose fished while I took some photos and they both caught several fish. The hole finally stopped producing and it was time to walk down stream to less fished waters.

We thought that we could get away with not having to put our waders on so we hiked down river about a half mile. Well, we should have put on our waders cause we couldn't get to the stream due to a back channel blocking our path. So back to the truck we went.

Now, ready this time, we proceeded to fish and we caught fish immediately. We managed some nice grayling and turned them all back. On to the next hole and again, immediate hook-ups. It was pretty hot fishing and we were having a blast. I spotted a nice big grayling in a pool and told Cody and try for him. A few casts later and BAM! Cody caught and landed a super grayling for such a small stream.

It didn't take long though for Rose to out-do both Cody and I for the whole trip. By now, we were a ways from the main road and in an area that probably doesn't get fished much. Rose and I were fishing along a nice cut-bank and just drifting our little bead-headed nymphs as close to the far bank as we could. I hooked up a nice fish but it broke off before I could see how big it was. While I was re-tying my fly, Rose had a hit and we could tell it was big when her rod almost bent in half. It took just a short while and we were enthralled at what was on the other end of her line. What a lunker for the Denali Highway!

We kept three medium sized fish for dinner that night and headed back to the truck. Down the road we went and found our next camp spot for the night. We threw up the tents and cooked up our catch, which was delicious! We stayed up late and hung out by the fire and just had a good time. In the morning we'd be heading back to Anchorage to round out our trip on the Kenai River.

On the way home we stopped along a small river. It wasn't that big and it was gin clear. We thought we'd check it out and see if it might be worth fishing. So I'm looking for trout or grayling in one of the pools and see a king salmon that was all red. There were more just down stream. I didn't expect to see these big guys clear up there. Here we were some 230 road miles from where these fish begin their journey from the ocean. It was incredible to see how far they'd come and to see how big some of them were. I'd guess there were a couple that were 50 lb kings.

We reached home and cleaned everything up and went out to a nice dinner and had a good nights rest. The next day we took it easy for the most part and then began packing again for some salmon fishing on the Kenai. We loaded up and headed down with the idea of stopping along the way and fishing for pink salmon in Resurrection Creek in Hope, Alaska. It was pouring down rain but the creek was loaded and we couldn't resist. We fished for several hours and we couldn't catch any of those darned pinks to save our lives.

Wet, cold and a bit tired, we stopped in at a cafe to get warm and dry off a bit. But the place was cold inside and they had the doors open? Hmmm. All Cody wanted was a beer and something warm to eat. We all ordered some seafood chowder an started in on that and the guy never brought him his beer. We were done eating and just wanted to get out of this poor excuse for a cafe.

We finally got a bit lucky and it stopped raining and we were able to set up camp and put the raft and fishing gear together. We went to bed pretty late and the plan was to get up at 4:15 and pack everything back up and then hit the water.

This particular float was one I hadn't done before but was suppose to be red hot for salmon. The stretch is the middle section of the Kenai and is 12 miles long. To reach it, you have to row through the lake for one mile before you reach the mouth of the river. Then it's another mile or so before you begin to get any current.

As we rowed along, the lake was just full of salmon. They were jumping all over and you could see them swimming around with their tails and fins sticking out of the water. After a long while, we reached the river and finally began slowly floating. Other people, that had motors had a much easier time! It took us a while to find a good spot to fish, but once we did it didn't take long to start hooking fish.

I think Cody had three fish before I caught one. He was doing good while Rose was getting frustrated, looks like her fishing streak wasn't running so hot right then! I had two fish and Cody had three and finally Rose hooked one and was able to keep it on. We helped her land it and it was a nice big sockeye. We took it back to the raft and took care of it and she had another one on! Then another one! She caught and landed three fish in about 10 minutes!

Things began dying off and we each had three fish, the limit was six apiece. So with it getting later in the day and a good ways left to float AND being wet and cold, we headed down river for the take-out point. I had a shuttle run my truck down so that it would be there when we were done fishing.

What a day, we all caught fish and had a ton of hook-ups and fish on. At home, we got all cleaned up and filleted all our fish and in the morning it was time for Cody to head home. Rose and I got up and took Cody to the airport and said good-bye. It was tough seeing him go, for the both of us. It's been hard being up here away from everyone and we hope that we can come home soon.

Thanks Cody for coming up and it was a ton of fun having you up here.