We had the early flight out of Anchorage so had to be at the airport around 6am. When went went to the Avis desk to turn in our rental car, there was no one at the desk. All of the other car rental companies had people working but the one we needed. Apparently, no one showed up for work. We were lucky...since we were just returning our car, we could use a drop box they had set up. Others who were picking up their car were not so lucky. There were about 5 or 6 people who had been waiting since midnight and were completely stranded. Yikes!
We flew into the small town of King Salmon, population 400 (in the summer). The area was desolate and the airport was super tiny. They don't even have a metal detector, you just walk right onto your plane! A van was there to pick us up and take us to Branch River Air's seaplane base. There were no roads to get to our lodge, so we had to take a float plane in.
At the dock, we met Minott and Minott, a father and son from Montana who would be guests at the lodge the same week as us.
So, the four of us hopped into the plane and with the pilot as the fifth person, the plane was full. We flew over a flat landscape with tundra, winding rivers, several small lakes and spruce trees for about 30 minutes until we landed on the Alagnak River.
The entire staff was there to meet us at the dock and carry our bags to our tents. We unpacked, got a quick tour of camp and were fishing by 11:00.
We took one of the camp's boats to a gravel bar about 10 minutes away. Scott picked up flycasting a lot quicker than I did, but it didn't seem to matter. The fishing was UNBELIEVABLE despite the fact that I couldn't cast that far at first. We fished until 5:30 and had 22 doubles! They were mostly beautiful spawning Chum Salmon that fight like crazy. We also landed some Coho Salmon, but most were females so we had to release them. The males were taken back to camp to be cleaned and put in our cooler. The Chum Salmon do not have the tasty meat like the Coho, so we let all of the Chums go.
It was a picture perfect first day, the sun was shining, fish were jumping EVERYWHERE and I had very sore arms from fighting the acrobatic Chums. The final count was about 140 fish on the first day. Jim (our guide) was very patient and helpful with teaching me how to flycast.
Back at camp, we cleaned up and had dinner in the dinner tent with the other guests, guides, and owner. On the menu was baked salmon (of course). As we sat on the deck looking out at the river, we watched a bear fishing on a sandbar. It was a perfect ending to a spectacular day. We went to sleep with full stomachs and sore arms. Tomorrow, we would be flying out to Contact Creek and couldn't wait to see what was in store for us there.
*Travel Tips: If you fly into King Salmon, go to the King Salmon visitor's center right next to the airport. They have great pamphlets and brochures on the region. Sit on the right side of the plane on the way in for a great view of Mt. McKinley.
*Up Next: Fly-out to Contact Creek for a day of trout, char, and grayling fishing and bear viewing that you will not believe.
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