A fisherman's dream is getting the chance to take a trip to Alaska where he can try his hand at the killer Kings, succulent Sockeye, hefty Halibut and many other types of world famous fish. The added benefit, and what really make this a dream is being able to experience this fishing in a land like no other. Alaska's beauty is awe inspiring to say the least, and will give anyone a new appreciation for nature.

This summer we will be living that dream in Wrangell, AK. Our host's will be Harding's Old Sourdough Lodge and Tenacious Charters. After doing some checking around I found out that they are some of the best outfits in the area and we are privileged to have them host our adventure.

Part two of this story will be available after we have gone on our adventure and can give you first-hand accounts, photography, video and more. Until then we would like to share with you what we are expecting and a few of the attractions the area is noted for.

Wrangell is situated in Southeast Alaska at the mouth of the Stikine River. The Stikine is a wild river. No dams or levies impede it's decent from the mountains of British Columbia to it's mouth 400 miles away. The Stikine makes the fastest decent of any navigable river on the North American continent. The river also supports the largest spring time concentration of Bald Eagles. Thousands of these magnificant birds dot the river and make for an incredible spectacle.

Wrangell is on an island and can be visited by air or boat. It is in the heart of the Tongas National Forest and has 2700 residents. Called the Hidden Jewel of Alaska, our research tells us that we will be visiting one of the ultimate destinations in Alaska for fishing, wilderness viewing and all around pleasure. With daily access from Alaska Airlines and the Alaska Marine Hi-way (ferry service), just getting there should be a very enjoyable part of the adventure.

Bruce Harding, owner of Harding's Old Sourdough Lodge, is providing us with our accommodations, meals and tourist attractions during our stay. His lodge is a rustic Alaskan cedar pole building with native art, a harbor view and sleeping accommodations with their own private baths and other amenities. He even has a sauna, Jacuzzi and double headed showers with some of the rooms. Their meals are Alaskan home style with many seafood delights from the nearby waters. One of the things we like already is the fact that Harding's can take care of all our needs. They will not only take care of lodging, but will also arrange fishing trips, hunting excursions, sightseeing adventures, golf outings and more. They really do seem to be a full service organization and having their expertise at our disposal should prove very helpful.

On our trip to Wrangell, Harding's has scheduled us to go on a fantastic fishing trip with Mike Lockabey of Tenacious Charters. We are told that Mike is the best in the area at what he does and we are certainly looking forward to experiencing a few days out on the water with him.

Our fishing will take place in late June and early July which should give us a chance to hook into some nice Kings, Halibut and perhaps even some Sockeye. I am told that we will be fishing on a state of the art, 42' commercial type fishing vessel. Being a former commercial fisherman myself, I can really appreciate the boat and the safety measures incorporated into the construction of such a vessel.

While we are out fishing we will no doubt get hungry from landing our catch so Mike and his wife Karen will make sure we are fed well. Just thinking about eating our fill of fresh caught fish, crab, prawns and other mouth watering delights is making me so hungry I am going to have to get some seafood for dinner tonight for a temporary fix.

The fishing is not the only attraction near Wrangell. Nearby Anan Creek provides wilderness watchers a spectacular view of black bears in their native habitat. They feed on the pink salmon that run up the Anan Creek which are the largest run of Pink salmon in Southeast Alaska and congregate in the large pools. This is one of the few places you can see the bears regularly feeding on the salmon.

Anan is located on the main land and is only accessible by boat or plane. It is managed by the forest service and is the only developed black bear observatory in Southeast Alaska.

Although we will be spending most of our time fishing, there are many other activities available in Wrangell and Harding's seems to have a grasp on it all. We are real excited to be spending our 4th of July in Wrangell and if the treatment we have received so far from Harding's Old Sourdough Lodge and Tenacious Charters is any indication of the hospitality we can expect when we are there, we are in for a real treat.

If you would like to contact Harding's Old Sourdough Lodge they can be reached at 1-800-874-3613 or online at http://www.akgetaway.com. To reach Tenacious Charters call them at 907-874-3723 or online at http://www.wrangell.com/business/tenacious/charters.htm.

 

Alaska Getaway - Part 2.

The staff of FishWithUs.NET traveled to Wrangell, Alaska to sample the vacation opportunities there. The staff included Sam Potter – President/Publisher, Richard Potter – Editor in Chief, Kaarlo Jonas – Photographer.
What we found in Wrangell was a group of people who, although in competition with others in the area, were also helping each other out. They are some of the friendliest people I have ever met, yet they have a rugged independence that comes from self reliance born of necessity when you live without freeways and facilities that many of us take for granted.

This is a place for the independent traveler who likes to make their own arrangements. If you are into little gift stores and tour boats, Wrangell won’t be on your list but if you want to see the real Alaska then read on.

Wrangell is situated on a beautiful island on the Inside Passage of Southeast Alaska. The Stikine River flows out of the Canadian Highlands and into the passage just North of Wrangell. It is the fastest free flowing navigable river in North America and creates a delta just off Wrangell that supports the largest spring time concentration of Bald Eagles in the US. The Stikine and other rivers in the area are the spawning grounds to millions of salmon. The salmon are a primary food source for the Eagles as well as the brown and black bears that abound in the area. The wild life is incredible and the scenery is so magnificent it causes emotions to well up inside one to see it.

All my life I’ve wanted to come to Alaska to experience these things and kept putting it off. This year I did it. But why did I wait so long? If you are considering this type of trip please don’t put it off. There is so much to see and do there that one vacation can’t possible fit it all in; but we tried.

We did the following and are going to tell you about each one:

Fishing
Bear Watching
Sight Seeing via a Float Plane
Jet Boat Rides of a Lifetime
4th of July Celebration
Harding’s Old Sourdough Lodge (www.akgetaway.com) was the hub of our activity. The lodge is a large comfortable place located on the South end of the harbor. Bruce Harding is the owner and proprietor and he works very hard to make sure everyone’s stay is enjoyable. He also can help you make arrangements for what ever you are there to do. Bruce can be reached at 800-874-3613 or you can write Harding’s Old Sourdough Lodge at PO Box 1062, Wrangell, AK 99929. Their e-mail is bruce@akgetaway.com.

I recommend that you plan ahead and coordinate your plans with Bruce. He is an expert at lining up the various activities and he knows everyone. If you want the best service remember that they get booked early so call in advance and let Bruce help you with your vacation. Now if you happen to show up and haven’t had a chance to make plans are you out of luck? NO! I personally watched Bruce in action. Some nice folks from Oklahoma were staying at the lodge and decided that they wanted to go fishing. They asked me about it and I told them to check with Bruce. They did and he lined them up with a local guide on the spur of the moment. I checked with the folks from Oklahoma after they returned and they were just thrilled. Bruce had sent them out with Marlin Benedict. Marlin took them fishing for Dolly Varden which they caught but also got a bonus when the lady of the group caught a Steelhead (the first trout she had ever caught and it was a Steelhead!) It was the wrong time of the year for a Steelhead. Go figure, but that is Alaska and the quality of the guides there and a testament to the abilities of Bruce to put something together for his guest.

Another thing that Bruce dose really well is fatten you up. The food is great and the portions are very generous. The food alone is almost worth the cost of staying there. My question is: How does he stay so thin?

One of the things we didn’t do was hunt. Hunting is certainly an option at certain times of the year. In the Wrangell area Bear and Deer are important game species and if you are interested, contact Bruce to set you up on the hunt of a lifetime.

The thing I was most interested in was the fishing. This is a fishing magazine, right! Our first fishing adventure was on the way to Anan Creek where the Bear viewing station is located. We stopped along the way at Marlin Benedict’s Dolly Varden hole (although I don’t think he actually owns it). I used a light weight spinning outfit, 4 lb. Test line and a small gold spinner, it was great fun. Everyone caught fish and everyone was using different tackle. Sam was using a smolt imitation fly on a floating line with a sinking tip. Kaarlo was using a heavier silver and pink spinner. It was the little gold spinner that really nailed them however. I think I may have caught more Dolly Varden in that one spot than all the rest I have ever caught. If you are going to fish for Dolly’s, take Marlin along and ask him for the little gold spinner. Sam also caught several on the fly he was using.

We then went over to Anan Creek to see if the bears were around. The pink salmon that run up the creek in large numbers were just starting to show up and we were a bit early to observe bears, who go there to catch the salmon. Todd Harding took us up to the bear viewing station but no bears this time (some people were probably glad). Since the bears hadn’t shown up yet we decided to fish the mouth of the creek which flowed into an amazing lagoon. We were in Todd Harding’s jet boat and fished right where the creek met the salt water. Sam did the best here using his fly rod. He caught several nice pink salmon. On the advice of our guide Marlin, we all used some kind of bright pink lure. Pink salmon, pink lure, sort of makes sense. Sam’s fly was even pink and looked somewhat like a pink wolly-bugger. I was using a silver and pink spinner and so was Kaarlo and Richard Heath. I found the pink salmon there to be an exciting, hard fighting fish. Of course we were using very light gear and these fish were 5 – 9 pounds. This was fun. We fished the incoming tide and small schools of pinks would come by and we all caught many fish by sight fishing them. As I mentioned earlier, the run was not yet in full swing and I imagine the fishing would be crazy hot when the run is at it’s peak. If you want to see some bears and do some really fun fishing on light weight tackle, have Todd or Marlin take you to Anan Creek. This was a real treat and we did get a chance to see a bear on the way back to the lodge on the shoreline. We looked at him and he looked at us and ran into the woods.

The next two days were spent out in the salt water fishing for salmon with Mike Lockabey on his 42’ commercial style charter boat, the Chelsea L. Mike’s business, Tenacious Charters
(http://www.tenaciouscharters.com), is the true Alaskan marine fishing experience. Mike is a very knowledgeable skipper, a great fisherman and a gracious host. We went on an overnight excursion. The boat has sleeping quarters and was quite comfortable. The meals were amazing. When we got near the fishing grounds Mike and his son (Mikey Jr. age 11) helped us set our shrimp traps and crab pots. We brought food from the lodge but for dinner Mike served fresh barbecued sockeye salmon and fresh crab cooked right there on the boat. It was to die for.

I don’t care how much money you have, you couldn’t buy a finer meal. The next day around noon we went over and pulled up the shrimp traps and mike served us jumbo shrimp for lunch. These were pretty good too. Yea right, pretty good! Like I said the meals were amazing!

It’s hard to imagine but we were there to fish not eat. I guess by Alaskan standards the fishing wasn’t all that hot, yet the six of us on board, Mike & his son and the four of us from FishWithUs all caught limits of Chinook plus pinks, and bottom fish. This doesn’t include the countless shakers and other fish we caught and threw back to retain bigger ones. Numerous times we had triples and landed every one of them. We talked to others out there who hadn’t done as well as us which is a tribute to Mike Lockabey and his fishing skills. Mike knows his stuff and is the best salt water fisherman for the fishing we were doing we have ever run across.

We would locate the fish by trolling for them using flashers and Luhr-Jensen Soundwave Cuttlefish presented with downriggers. When we would find a school of salmon or bait fish we would start jigging for them using Luhr-Jensen Stingers. This was a lot of fun and we would feel the strike of the salmon as we hung on for a veracious fight. Mike would track the fish on his Furuno sounder where we caould see exactly where the fish were and the depth we should jig at. Sam would stand next to the sonar and watch the fish, place his jig in front of their face and actually watch the fish on the screen go after and attack his lure, pretty amazing. When we decided to get another bottom fish we would jig just off the bottom and be pretty much guaranteed a fish. The bottom fish weren’t as much fun to catch as the salmon but were great to have as they are exceptional eating. You can contack Mike and Tenacious Charters by visiting their web site at www.wrangell.com/business/tenacious/charters.htm or by mailing PO Box 1542, Wrangell, AK. 99929. (907) 874-3723.

Later in our second day of fishing with Mike, John Verhey and Sylvia Ettefagh of Alaska Vistas came out and picked up Sam and I and took us sea kayaking on the Inside Passage. It was fun watching the seals follow us around. They seem quite curious about the kayaks. Alaska Vistas (www.alaskavistas.com) works in conjunction with Bruce Harding and offers a number of unique vacation packages including sport fishing, wildlife photography adventures, rafting down the Stikine River and of course, kayaking. They also provide jet boat tours and have the experience of being commercial fishermen for many years in Alaska. As for their jet boat tours up the Stikine River, Sylvia put it to me this way: "If you want the wild ride go up the Stikine with Todd Harding and Stickeen Wilderness Adventure , if you want the mild ride go with us." Alaska Vistas is another very professional organization that can put together a vacation package to suit your wants and one that you will remember for a long time. You can reach them online at www.alaskavistas.com or Alaska Vistas, PO Box 2245, Wrangell, AK. 99929 (907) 874-3006.

We’re still not done yet. The next day Sam, Kaarlo and Richard went with Tyler at Sunrise Aviation on a float plane tour of the glacier fields and remote lakes and forest service cabins. The tall mountains produce some of the worlds most spectacular glaciers and seeing them from the air is one of the most awe inspiring sights to behold.

While the boys were up in the plane I went with Todd Harding (yes, Bruce Harding’s brother), owner of Stickeen Wilderness Adventure in his Jet Boat the Iskut Express, with several other guest for the wild ride up the Stikine River. The ride is fun and fast and our first stop along the way was at Farms Island where we visited with Earl & Mary Benitz, owners of the River Shoppe and Benitz’s Bed & Breakfast. The store featured crafts & gifts and is something the ladies should be interested in, I know my wife would be. I found it fascinating that such an enterprise could be found in such a rural setting, accessible only by boat or float plane. Their store, their home and way of life is a unique combination. Modern high-tech and historic primitive that one tends to find in Alaska. They can be reached at: Earl and Mary Benitz, PO Box 2152, Wrangell, AK. 99929.

From Farm Island we headed up the Stikine and rendezvoused with the float plane Sam and the boys were flying around on. They were very impressed with the sights they encountered.

We then continued up the Stikine again with side trips up Andrews Clearwater Creek and Alpine Creek. It’s hard to believe that a boat with 10 people on board could travel up such a small creek and in only a few inches of water, but not for Todd. One of my favorite parts of the trip on the Iskut Express, Todd’s jet boat, was up a side slough to Shakes Lake and Shakes Glacier. The scenery was phenomenal and Todd, who is a very informed individual told us a lot of the history and geography as we passed by. On the way back to Wrangell we learned about the garnet mine that belongs to the children of Wrangell and then stopped at Petroglyph beach where ancient native Americans carved symbols and pictures into the rocks on the beach.

Todd Harding has been featured on Charlie West's TV Show on ESPN for his adventurous trips on his incredible Jet Boat. Todd is a true expert with his craft and safety comes first but don't let that fool you, this is not a ride for the faint at heart. Take a ride with Todd and you will experience beauty and adventure that you will never forget. Call Todd Harding today at 1-800-874-2085 and buy a memory.

Wrangell is a very small community with a very big heart. The people are friendly and patriotic. We spent our last day there on the 4th of July. The whole town turns out to celebrate and we enjoyed the celebration with them. Sam and Kaarlo had to fly out early to get to their next destinations but Richard Heath and I took the Alaska Marine Ferry out at 11:55 that evening and got to view the famous Wrangell fireworks before the ferry departed. We then shook hands with Bruce Harding who saw us off at the dock. As I left I made a vow to return again to Wrangell. This trip was one of the vacation highlights of my life and I will do it again.

by:
Richard Potter