Randy and Alan's Great Kodiak Adventure VI

Little River Bear Camp has a magnificant natural palate with so many peaceful vistas, it was easy to relax after a hard day's fishing. Randy and I had a wonderful experience which ranks right up there with our best fishing trips. It is a trip that we would seriously consider repeating, which says a lot when you consider all our various options in the world.

Randy and Alan's Great Kodiak Adventure V

Little River Bear Camp is aptly named as we saw 2-5 Kodiak Brown Bears a day. We were told by our guide, Dick Rohrer, to never let one of the bears get our catch as once that happened, they would always associate fishermen with food. Needless to say, we had great respect for their privacy. Interestingly, they respected ours and let us have our ground, walking around us to their fishing sites. The closest we came to an encounter was about 100 feet when we walked up on the bear on the left. When she became aware of us, she ambled out of the river and setteled down in the field. The picture was taken from about 50 yards away. The bear in the display was a record Brown Bear mounted in the Anchorage airport. These bears weigh over 1500 pounds and stand over 10 feet! Magnificant animals with no natural enemies except bear hunters. Certainly not fly fishermen!

Randy and Alan's Great Kodiak Adventure IV

Fishing this late in the salmon runs supposedly is less productive than earlier in the summer (e.g. July and August). However, between the 14th and 20th of September, I personally landed 59 silvers; 4 pinks; 26 Dolly Varden; 12 steelhead and 1 rainbow. Randy and Nick did equally as well. Most fish were caught on either a Pink Revolution; purple or black egg sucking leech or a Leftie's Deceiver. Because the silvers were fresh from the ocean, and even though they were starting their spawning run, they were still on the feed. The hottest fish were caught using the Deceiver, rapidly stripping to immitate small bait fish. One day, the 20th, we had a major front pass through with driving rain, steady 40-50mph winds and bigger gusts. Randy and I actually fished for our evening dinner in that weather, two handed "wind casting" about 20-30 feet between gusts. I was lucky enough to land a nice silver which provided great salmon steaks for dinner. The weather otherwise was great with occasional showers, but several partly cloudy days with temps in the 60's during the day and in the 40's at night.

Randy and Alan's Great Kodiak Adventure III

Our cabin, while spartan and lacking running water, electricity, etc, was extremely well built and provided more than an adequate shelter from the elements. The main cabin included four bunks, a galley and an eating area. A second cabin provided the loudest snorer (Nick) privacy and the rest of us a relatively quiet night. It was called the "Jimmy Carter Carter Cabin" as it was built for a fishing expedition of the past President. (Did you notice the solar electric fense used to keep out bears when the camp wasn't in use?)

Randy and Alan's Great Kodiak Adventure II

The flight from Kodiak to Little River Camp gave us a preview of our week. We flew over vast fields of wilderness with wandering streams, bears fishing on the sandbars, pristine lakes and a couple of native settlements and fishing cabins. At least 1/3 of the land mass of Kodiak Island is wildlife refuge and we were in the middle of it. Dick's property is one of the very few privately owned acreages providing a privacy not common to fishing camps. I noticed almost immediately (once our helicopter left) the absence of sounds of civilization. The rhythm of the ocean's swells on the shore, the whistle of the wind, the calls of the birds, and later, the full brilliance of the Milky Way in an unpolluted sky, let us know we were in Nature as it was meant to be.

Randy and Alan's Great Kodiak Adventure I

After dreaming of this trip for several years, Randy McAllister and I, with the help of our benefactor, Henry Kopfinger, finally realized our dreams this September. After much research, we decided to contract with Dick Rohrer who quides not only salmon fishing on Kodiak but bear hunting trips. His Little River Bear Camp is about as isolated as you can get, sitting in the middle of a wildlife refuge with only access by helicopter. Dick takes only a few anglers to his remote camp each year so we felt fortunate to have contracted with him.

Our trip started on September 13th with Randy and I arriving in Anchorage and staying at the Millennium Hotel that night.

After a short flight to Kodiak on the 14th, getting licenses and picking up a third party, Nick Kowenko, we connected with Tom Walters, our helicopter pilot who whisked us to Little River Bear Camp.

I'm Blogging Again

It has been a long time since I have added to this blog. I guess the 2008 elections and subsequent economic depression and Democratic bungling has left me with little incentive to post. I am, however, now convinced that the current administration and their policies of power grabbing regardless of the costs (financial; personal freedoms) and the corruptness of politicians regardless of party are seriously threatening our way of life. So... I will vent in my blog. Rather than focus on my frustrations, I will share some of the ways I have tried to cope with the increasing anger directed at our country's leadership.

Did you know that striking a golf ball is a great way to take out frustrations? It is for me, so I have maximized my opportunities for playing. Not that my handicap has improved (currently 9), but, perhaps because I am hitting more shots and still walking most rounds, I am usually relaxed after a round of golf. My golfing buddies have varied political views which make our conversations interesting. After rounds of golf, my golfing group often gathers for card playing, a further distraction from decreasing retirement funds, higher costs of living, and our aging process.

Susan and I have invested in Kindles and are spending more time reading together. Talking about mystery novels is less stressful than wringing our hands about the rape of our country. We read before going to sleep (nighttime reading is a great soporific for me!) and are getting 6-8 hours sleep most nights - a big change from my 5 hours per night while I was practicing.

Daily exercise (40min morning workouts with pilates, yoga, stretching, pushups, etc) plus weekly pilates or ortho-bionomy massage, complements my golfing and fishing and, for the most part, has kept me healthy these past several months. Susan and I have also done better watching our diets and our weight remains stable.

We have delayed some home improvements to protect our cash flow and continue to receive professional advise about our investments.

Our extended family also occupies much of my thinking time and our time with Ryan each Monday certainly helps keep priorities straight.

All the above work for me to keep focused on what I can do to protect myself from excessive stress. So far it's working.