The Adventure Angle

Saturday, July 25, 2009

July 4th, Alaskan Style

Lucy the bear dog eagerly awaiting the explosion!

Jake set's the charges

July 4th, Alaskan style!

Captain America opens a bottle of champagne

Lodge Life

Cocktail hour at Talaheim

Tying a few flies...

Luke, Mark's son many years ago with a fresh king salmon

Carin, our cook

Updating the blog at the airstrip

McArthur Adventure

Photos from a recent sockeye exploratory to the McArthur River...

We fish the tributaries of a drainage near us that is absolutely beautiful... One of the tributaries doesn't have a name so we've dubbed it "No Name Creek" Here are a couple of pics from a recent mission to No Name...

Fly Fishing Ninja

George and Yann from France joined us for two weeks of helicopter fishing early season...

I dubbed Yann the "Fly Fishing Ninja"

Yann with a trophy northern pike on a fly rod

Early July Videos

Chopper landing at Black Bear Run on the Lower Talachulitna River

Close-up take off.

Landing at the Coal Seam hole on the Tal.

The tradition on the middle Tal is whoever catches the first king delivers the head to their neighbors. A couple of years ago, fish heads appeared on stakes in our outhouse. This year, like last, we had the pleasure of dropping a couple of king heads out the door of the helicopter on Bear Tracks Lodge.

Alaskan fireworks: 4th of July on the Tal, Captain America sets off a blast of plastic explosives.

The approach and landing at Talahiem International in our Cessna 180.

Early morning take off at Talaheim International.

Flying up Talachulitna Creek looking for fish, and spotting a couple of moose.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Guides Day Off

Scott with a pre-season king, 160 river-miles from the ocean.

A fly-caught 42lb king on a FethaStyx 10'8" 8wt switch rod.

Around The Hood

The Talachalitna flows into the mighty glacial Skewnta River.

Alexander Lake on a beautiful day of pike fishing.

An Alaskan sunset from my tent.

The Tordrillo mountains, part of the Alaskan Range, our backdrop.

Hard at Work

Mark Miller in his office.

Scott and myself on our daily commute.

Our shop at the airstrip.

Waiting for the chopper, minutes before a grizzly walked by.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Pre-Season Guiding

While the lodge isn't open yet, our first client, Dr. John Downs came out for a weekend after completing some surgery in Anchorage. I guided John on Talachulitna Creek for an epic day of early season rainbow fishing. Whoever says you can't catch rainbows on dry flies in Alaska obviously hasn't been to the Tal!! John and I had an excellent day of fishing with large dry flies and mouse patterns.

A well-chewed "Doc's Caddis", a high floating, very buggy Hexagenia mayfly imitation. In Michigan hex mayflies are often referred to as caddis.

The main flow of Tal Creek. During the king salmon season we see a few recreational raft float trips on our river, as anglers fly into the headwaters to a lake called "Judd Lake", home of the "Chugach Powder Guides" heli-skiing lodge, and float to the mouth or to Skwentna. The rafters generally disappear by the time king salmon season closes on June 12th.

I never saw the creek this low all season last year, and we haven't even opened yet! I feel sorry for anyone taking a raft from Judd Lake down, many hours will be spend draggin rafts. During just our float from Rainbow Bend to the Forks, a distance of a couple of miles, we dragged our Aire inflatable canoe around three sweepers completely crossing the channel! Good luck this year guys!

A strange figure appeared at the Forks, perhaps a cousin of "Wilson"?

Owner and operator of Talaheim Lodge and bush pilot, Mark Miller. I have met very few men in my life with his amazing variety of skills and talents, he's an inspiration to work for and with!