In Alaska, the glory of summer is only diminished by the fact that once it is upon you, it is nearly gone. Unlike myself, most people out there probably live a more balanced existence, not spending most waking moments contemplating the next fishing trip. For those with other interests, it can be hard to fit it all in. Due to time and budget constraints, many folks don't have the luxury to take long journeys to their favorite fishing holes, but still have the need to experience the peace and tranquility of a remote experience. Others simply want to harvest fish to eat throughout the year, and have to juggle it with all of summer's other commitments. Still others like, but don't love to fish, and require smaller, more palatable morsels of fishing in order to keep the experience interesting. Then there is the standard Alaskan, who hosts lots of friends and family each summer and needs short trips to send them on. For all these reasons, this feature has been created to examine the day-trip in southcentral Alaska. We’ll discuss a variety of day-trips experienced in 2004 and list options to consider for 2005.

My companions in a five-day blitz of day-trips are two long-time friends, Dave Calleja and John Warren. Both live on the eastern half of Long Island, at the southern tip of New York State. Dave has been here several times before and is an avid outdoorsman, while John enjoys a more urban approach, and for him, this is Alaska for the first time. I engineered a weekly agenda that I hoped would service both friends.

I figured to break John and Dave in slowly to the Land of the Midnight Sun with a short trip float-tubing in the Mat-Su Valley followed by 18 holes at Settler’s Bay Golf course. Settler’s Bay is a challenging, yet fair course, and is in the best shape that I have ever seen it in. Many people don't equate Alaska with golf, but on the contrary, there are 6 excellent, 18-hole courses between Anchorage, Palmer and Wasilla.

Many of the streams in the Mat-Su Valley, like Willow, Montana, and Sheep creeks and the Little Susitna and Deshka rivers, hold resident species such as rainbow trout, Dolly Varden, and Arctic grayling as well as healthy runs of the five species of salmon. An early morning float, powerboat journey, or hike-in fishing trip would be a nice compliment to a round of golf at Settler's Bay or Palmer golf course. We chose to float tube and were not disappointed. Here’s a recap.

A bright blue sky showed promise of a long day with many options.  Dave and John woke early, mostly due from the 4-hour time difference and ensuing jet lag.  A short drive to Long Lake and thorough dousing of bug dope later, we head down the hill to the lake.  Upon entering the lake, we rig up our 4 to 6-weight rods, matched with floating line with 8-foot leaders tapered to 2X tipper.  We'll start with olive lake leeches.

The first fish that is landed acts like a teacher's pet, performing admirably for the rest of the class.  Stripping about 15 feet of line in front of me in the lake, I start to show my friends the basic overhead casting motion and after a few false casts lay the line on the water.  I'm narrating as I go and explain that if they are having difficulty throwing line, then they can simply strip out a bunch of line and kick themselves away from the fly, when a marauding rainbow slams the sinking leech.  Most of the time, I catch fish on a leech that is moving, either through trolling or stripping the fly.  When I'm having trouble finding fish, I'll kick around the perimeter of the lake doing both in unison.  It surprised all - most of all me - to have a fish on the first cast within 10 seconds of starting.  I explained to John and Dave that most casts would go fishless, but from the look on their faces, it's clear that they don't believe me.

By morning's end, we've landed a handful of fish and lost a few others.  They have seen fish hooked while trolling, by casting and stripping the fly, and by casting to and intercepting moving fish. Dave and John have each learned the basics of fly-casting and both are immediately hooked by the tranquility of the sport. After the trip, Dave ruminates on the float-tubing experience: “I really enjoyed floating on the lake. It was great fun to cast a fly rod and fish for rainbow trout. I’m going to look for some places to float tube when I get home.” This type of trip is affordable, relaxing, and usually less crowded than a day spent on the region’s salmon choked rivers. Make sure to have a pair of quality flippers, as these are your means of propulsion.

Rising early the next morning, we head back to Settler’s Bay to play a round of golf before meeting Wayne Norris at Willow Creek for a lower river float for kings. The river is quiet, a bad sign that the kings have not yet arrived, but positive for a peaceful float. Most road accessible rivers in southcentral Alaska bear significant traffic during salmon season, so don’t go expecting a remote, unpopulated fishing trip. But the rivers are very productive and like most of Alaska, there is always something to see. We teach John and Dave a variety of techniques from nymphing with a fly rod, to casting spinners and spoons with baitcasters. Halfway through the trip, Dave takes over on the oars, and by the end of the float, he is learning to maneuver the raft down the narrow, winding Willow. Here is an important point: We caught no fish, but everyone had fun. My guests learned more fishing techniques and Dave got his feet wet at the oars of a cataraft. Another important point is to realize that their expectations were reasonable —they simply wanted to enjoy the fishing and the catching would have been a bonus.

Day three gives John and Dave their first taste of a fly-out experience. Providing the flight is Willow Air, a family-based company that provides fishing (both drop-off and guided), flight-seeing, drop-offs to various wilderness lodges, drop-off hunting, float trip transportation, and bear viewing in their Beaver and Supercub aircraft. Located in Willow, the planes depart directly from the float pond at their office at Mile 70 on the Parks Highway.

Our day would be spent fishing for pike at Alexander Lake with Alaskan Custom Expeditions. In addition to guided trips on Alexander Lake, Travis Laing’s company provides day-trips on Mat-Su Valley rivers like Montana, Sheep, Willow and Little Willow, a trophy program for big rainbows, and a helicopter program that spans five full days and four nights. The heli program allows Travis to bring plenty of gear and to provide a more luxurious camp.

Steve White has been flying for Willow Air for seven years and expertly pilots the Beaver to Alexander Lake, a short 20-minute flight away. Travis’s head guide Kyle joins us and will captain one boat with Dave and John, while Travis and I fish from a second boat. On John’s second cast he hooks a pike. Later he reflects, “ I had a great time. Today was terrific. I knew it would be a good day when I had a fish on my second cast.” In all, we caught at least 50 pike, from 18 to 30 inches, among the three of us. Using topwater flies like frogs, ’Wogs, and mouse patterns, and subsurface streamers with dumbbell eyes, I landed many fish on a 6-weight rod. Dave and John saw good results with the standard fare of spoons and spinners. One commonality between all the riggings was a short section (18-24 inches) of steel bite tippet. Pike have very sharp and plentiful teeth, so in addition to steel leaders, I bring a long pair of pliers for removing hooks.

Travis and Kyle epitomize the traits that I associate with good guides. Both are friendly, outgoing, skilled, and knowledgeable, and most of all, get genuinely excited when their clients catch fish. I was glad to have good guides to teach my friends about pike fishing—it reflects positively on all of Alaska when visitors both enjoy their time in the state as well as feel like they were treated with respect. Ultimately, a traveler’s impression of Alaska is not only based on the fishing and scenery, but also on the guides and service providers.

On day four, saltwater fishing is on the menu. We depart for Deep Creek from my house in Chugiak at a bleary 4:30 a.m. to meet Ron Gillham of Golden Eagle Charters mid-morning at the Deep Creek boat launch. Ron is a seasoned captain that came to Alaska in the early 80s on a construction job and never left. He has been in business since 1988 and offers saltwater fishing for salmon and halibut from Deep Creek, kings and silvers on the Kenai and Kasilof, and silvers from Seward.

We arrive at Deep Creek to the usual crowd of excited fishermen and departing boats. Both Anchor Point and Deep Creek have become immensely popular for halibut and salmon fishing, and with the tractor-assisted beach launches provided by companies at both locations, these destinations are accessible for charter boats and private vessels alike. Joining us is a couple from Nebraska and Ron’s son and fellow captain, Tony. Ron’s 28-foot custom-built boat is well powered to cover water quickly and the 16-mile journey is a short ride. We fish with 5-foot custom rods, Penn 16s International Gold spooled with 135- pound Izorline. Tides are moderate, and it takes three-pound weights to get herring and cod-baited circle hooks to the bottom.

After catching a few fish, we pull anchor and move to a spot where we can drift over pods of fish. We are able to reduce the size of the weights, with one and two-pound leads allowing us to keep the bait near the bottom and our lines vertical as we drift along. Fishing is brisk, with several fish on more often than not. A limit of halibut between 10 and 35 pounds is caught—perfect size for eating—and we head back to the boat launch.

The schedule finds us with Ron the next day on the Kenai River for kings. Ron has recently built a cabin on his property in Deep Creek and he graciously allows us to stay the night after our day of saltwater fishing. Before retiring to the cabin to cook some fresh halibut, we take a scenic drive to Homer, where the guys ooh and ahh from the breathtaking views of Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay.

5:30 a.m. is usually a good time to roll over and go back to sleep, but not during fishing season. Arriving in Soldotna at this early hour, we meet Ron and head to River Quest RV Park to launch Ron’s boat. We will move up and down the lower river in sear ch of Chinook. We will back-troll a Luhr-Jensen K-16 on certain rods and a Spin n’Glo setup on others. Both rigs will include a size 20 Jet Diver—also made by Luhr- Jensen—to get the lure to the right depth in the river. Ron has us carefully measure the amount of line let out behind the boat, so that he knows that the lures are at the correct depth. This ends up being near the bottom, as the kings generally run up the deepest part of the river just off the bottom.

Gillham’s rod of choice for this application is the Berkley IM 7 Buzz Ramsey signature series, which he matches with an Ambassedeur 6500 C level-wind reel and Berkley line. In both his saltwater and freshwater applications, Ron uses top-of-the-line gear . Fishing is slow and by lunch, we have landed a 15-pound hen. We decide to call it in early day, pick-up our vacuum-packed, flashfrozen halibut from Deep Creek Processing and head back to Anchorage.

These five experiences gave my friends an authentic look at the cross section of fishing that can be done during a long summer day in Alaska. There are many other options available—from different saltwater ports, to drifting the upper Kenai or biking into the upper Russian —so the ones that we experienced were a combination of personal preference, familiarity, and timing.

Since a huge range of options exist, it would be impossible to be comprehensive in this article. Here are some of the more popular to consider:

A FLY-OUT ACROSS COOK INLET Waterways on the western shores of Cook Inlet like the Chuitna River, Silver Salmon Creek, Wolverine Creek, Kustatan River, and Big River Lakes offer more remote and less crowded opportunities for salmon than their road system counterpar ts. Several outfitters, including Alaska Air Taxi and Alaska West Air, provide transport to these systems. Alaska West Air also provides daylong fly-outs to popular southwest Alaska locales like the Nushagak River.

CANOE TRIP ON NANCY LAKE OR SWAN LAKE/SWANSON RIVER SYSTEMS There are a multitude of very productive lakes that can be accessed all over southcentral Alaska. The Nancy Lake and Swan Lake/Swanson River systems are a series of lakes connected by trails. The systems allow for an angler to get into secluded water and experience a number of lakes. Multi-day trips are usually the norm, but an angler could visit quite a few lakes in a system in a day. I’ve stayed at the Alaska State Parks cabin in the Nancy Lake system with two friends on the way to completing the system in two days.

WADE ANGLING ON THE KENAI, KASILOF, DEEPCREEK, OR ANCHOR I mention these rivers as they are accessi - ble, popular, and productive. Expect combat fishing, but the crowds of people are usually tied into the crowds of fish. A similar experience can be had in the Mat- Su Valley on the Willow, Montana, Sheep, and Little Susitna, if you would rather be on the north side of Anchorage. The Kenai Peninsula rivers are especially popular for waders targeting sockeye, while the northern rivers are better suited to wading for kings. I spent several days fishing for sockeye on the Kenai, and while it was very crowded, the sockeye run was incredibly strong and we caught fish in good numbers each day.

FISHING OFF THE BEACH IN SEWARD OR AT THE HOMER LAGOON Another popular spot for anglers to catch salmon is from the beach in Seward or in Homer at the lagoon. Stocked fish—silvers in Seward, kings and silvers in Homer—return to these spots on a yearly basis. It provides another road accessible means of harv esting fish.

SALMON AND HALIBUT FISHING FROM OTHER SOUTHCENTRAL SALTWATER PORTS Other popular saltwater ports include Homer and Seward, and like Deep Creek, you can launch from the beach at Anchor Point. In addition to halibut and salmon, certain skippers will also target lingcod and rockfish. There are plenty of charters available from all three ports.

SUSITNA DRAINAGE FLY-OUTS TO DESTINATIONS LIKE LAKE CREEK AND ALEXANDER CREEK I have fished both destinations for kings and have done well. Both are short flights from Anchorage with many of the local providers like Rust’s Flying Service and Alaska Air Taxi making regular routes. Check with outfitters at both destinations for a complete picture of the fishing opportunities.

This discussion is certainly not a complete analysis of all the trips available in southcentral Alaska, but it should serve to pique an interest in trips not yet consider ed and a reminder for familiar options that have been overlooked. There is something for everyone here, be it the occasional visitor or the seasoned Alaska traveler.

-Marcus Weiner is a publisher of Fish Alaska magazine.