Alaska Living: 6/29/08

Fred The Moose

This moose decided to spend the night with myself and Mac Daddy II (Esquire) in Anchorage last night, I named him Fred.
(Anchorage has more moose than human inhabitants-they should really pay taxes).

Taken before bed.

Taken first thing in the morning from bed.

By the way, I have now moved into the Anchorage House for my month of luxury, Mac Daddy II (Esquire) is now my vacation home. "smile"

I Love This Sailboat

Other than the fact that it's made out of wood and I would probably put a hole in it my first sail, I love this boat. No I don't own it and have no plans on buying it but have come across it many times in my searching (I will have a boat soon), just had to put it on my blog so I can see it and keep the dream alive.

Russian River "Combat" Fishing Adventure

Alaska's Combat Fishing is known at just a "meat harvest". It's not the remote, peaceful, image that most think of when they think of fly fishing in Alaska. However, if just catching big fish or putting salmon on the table is your goal, this is where it's at. It's almost impossible not to catch a fish during a run on this river. It was a pain having people so close but what I found very helpful was all the advice I would get from those "actually catching fish" around me. I learned a lot but not sure if I learned the right things "smile". By the way, I want everyone to know that I went to the local fly shop in Cooper Landing and got the perfect set up for these fish.
Fly Rod: 8-9
Line-8-9
Strong 7 foot Leader
4 weights spaced 2 feet from the fly (this is so the weights bounce along the river and the fly floats up two feet to catch in their mouth-these salmon aren't feeding just headed up stream with their mouth open).
I used a 10:00-2:00 cast
bright green colored fly (which was what everyone around me was catching on).
If I felt any change in the line i would try to set the hook.
Many times people around me would say.."I don't get it, you seem to be doing it right). "smile". (How many times have I heard that "smile").

Here are the stats:
Russian River "Combat" Fishing Adventure:
Time spent on river: 5 Hours (10pm-3am)
Fish Caught (or even close to caught)=once again 0
Bears: 0 (mass of people scare them off).
Times fell in the river: once (trying to get out of the way when my neighbor caught his 3rd fish).
Fishing friends made: 5
Laughs: lots

Kenai River Fishing Adventure

People pay millions of dollars to fly to Alaska and fish the Kenai and Russian Rivers which are now chocked full of red salmon. Since it is my goal to become one of "Alaska's Hot Fly Fishing Babes" (or at least be able to catch a single fish on a fly rod and end my 8 year Kirsten 0- Fish 100 dry spell), I figured I better get out there and get serious about this (notice the new gear "smile"). The next two blog entries are the account of my weekend fishing adventures.

Kenai River Fishing Adventure. Time Spent On River: 4 Hours; Fish Caught 0 (do you think it was the pink?)
Bears in the Area: 2 black and 1 BIG Grizzly.
Time Kirsten spent fleeing these bears: 2 Seconds.

Kayaking Island Lake, Kenai Alaska

kayaking adventure to Island Lake on the Kenai a few days ago. My digital camera had some gremlins attack during my download, so I lost a handful of shots. Ironically all with me in them must have been the little monsters favorites. Here are some of the highlights that were saved.