North to Alaska

At last, temperatures are rising—a little—here at home. So, what do many people do? Head north to Alaska. I was fortunate enough to do this recently, with some buddies, allowing me to check a couple of things off of my life’s to-do list:

• Do some very serious fly fishing.

• See Alaska (one of only five states I had not visited at the time).

Difficult to Describe

You’ve got to love a place where float planes seem to outnumber cars, and that’s Alaska. In the summer, you see mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, greens, and browns. When it comes to fishing, though, you see salmon. Twenty-four hours a day, it seems as though you can walk across the rivers on the backs of salmon on their way “home” to spawn.

We stayed at a place called Katmai Lodge, on the Alagnak River. You fly from Minneapolis to Anchorage, then transfer to a—What else?—float plane that belongs to the lodge. Note that the summer features lots of foggy, challenging weather, so be prepared for delays getting to your destination.

When you arrive, though, no matter how much time you have to fish, it’s almost guaranteed that you will “limit out” within a couple of hours.  The salmon are that plentiful. Katmai is a little rough around the edges, but then again, it is Alaska. The food was decent and plentiful, and the guides were great fun.

One day, we were on the river, and the fish were behaving strangely, flopping out of the water all around the boats. I asked one of our guides why they were doing this, and the incredibly taciturn man stared at me, slowly removed the cigarette from his lips, and said: “Because fish ain’t got no middle finger.”

The fewest number of bears we saw in a day was six, but with food abundant during the summertime, they had little interest in us…except for one juvenile male. He was so interested that he tried to climb in our boat—thankfully, not while we were in it. However, the boat slipped from under him, and he galumphed back into the grass, never to be seen again.

We spent as much of the 24-hour-long days fishing as we could, enjoying great shore lunches. Here’s a recipe for you: Put brown sugar and mayonnaise on a salmon filet inside foil and grill it. The strange combination is fantastic.

Back in Anchorage

Usually, you end up spending a day on the front- or back-end of a trip at a fly-in fishing lodge in Anchorage. The famous Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria is an iconic place in Anchorage, difficult to get into without a wait, but worth the wait. With a microbrewery on-site, you have a great selection of beers from which to choose. Prince William’s Porter is my personal favorite… it’s a great dark beer that will fill you up.

On a slightly higher-brow note, the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center features exhibits and programs on the art, history and cultures of Alaska. The permanent exhibitions are diverse and unusual. One features a look at Anchorage in the early 1900s, while the other features a look at all varieties of “Art of the North.”

Finally, global warming notwithstanding, it’s often cool and wet in Alaska during the summer, so bring lots of Gore-Tex… and lots of bug repellent.