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Fishmyster DOES IT ALL

ny patron of the “angling arts” will tell you that the supreme measurement of any professional fishing guide comes down to a singular question: How does that experienced, skilled guide make you feel about yourself?

It is a tougher question than one might think, given the broad horizon of potential answers. For Allan Pearson, an earnest 26-year-old surf school manager from Tofino, British Columbia, fishing with Ken “The Fishmyster” Myers proved to be a remarkable experience.

“Ken makes me feel like I’m a good fisherman,” Allan recently confirmed while surveying a fish-hold loaded with limits of Chinook salmon, halibut and cod.

His comments came at the end of an outstanding day of fishing with Ken in the Barkley Sound region off the west coast of Vancouver Island, BC. “Ken’s passion is amazing,” Allan continued. “He is so open to sharing information. He answers all questions – even the dumb ones! Ken explains where we’re fishing, why we’re there, all details, including methods and tactics. Honestly, I didn’t know fishing guides like Ken even existed!”

High praise, indeed, but not at all surprising given Ken’s extensive experience. Born and raised in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and based in Ucluelet, Ken has spent the past 25 years as a professional tidal and freshwater guide. Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, Ken provides his guide services 12 months of the year. Spring and summer are spent on the Pacific Ocean chasing trophy kings, “barndoor” halibut and monster cod, all from his luxurious, state-of-the-art fishing machine – a Fountain 38IX powered by three (that’s right, THREE) 300HP Mercury Verado engines.

Ken “The Fishmyster” Myers (left) put Alex When fall rolls around, Ken treats his guests to some of the world’s finest steelhead fisheries. Morrow on this 27-pound king salmon.

“I have been fishing these Vancouver Island rivers since I was a kid, and I know them as well as anybody. Just because the tidal opportunities tail off by October is no reason to stop fishing. Many of my clients fish with me in both summer and winter. Different methods, different fisheries, but still great fishing,” explains Ken. Allan and his friends who joined him on this trip represent the new generation of anglers: young, fit and up for everything. The fact that these young men and women – children of the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation – are so keen bodes well for the future of West Coast fiheries.

All five species of Pacific salmon – Chinook (kings), coho (silvers), pink, sockeye and chum – travel the tidal waters in the Barkley Sound region, and creel surveys indicate that many of these runs are once again on the rise. Likewise, Allan and his friends are prepared to provide the stewardship that is required to ensure these magnificent salmon runs remain vibrant for future generations.

Ken’s boat, the MV Overkill, is fully loaded with cutting-edge navigation systems; personal floatation; life raft; stabilizers (for added comfort while trolling); an Espar furnace (for those chilly Pacific Northwest mornings); a fully functioning head, and loads of deck space.

Ken also treats his guests to “nothing but the best” when it comes to fishing gear: Islander Reels and Sage rods, and an array of tackle that would humble any tackle Wes Hartman hoists a 74-pound halibut while store.

“The Overkill just adds to Jeff Morrow (left) and Ken “The Fishmyster” the complete experience.

Myers (right) soak up the experience.

It is an unbelievable fishing machine – amazing to fish from because there is so much space and it is so solid on the water. Of course, having 900 hp on the back is just so cool. Getting to and from the fishing grounds is a snap!”

Allan gushed.

Ken is currently booking for winter steelheading. Prime dates for September 2015’s tidal season are still available, but they quickly book up.

Contact Ken directly on his cell at 250.720.5118, email him at; fishmyster@shaw.ca. Visit Ken’s website at fishmyster.com.

6 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

JANUARY 2015

ALASKA

SPORTING JOURNAL Volume 5 • Issue 8

www.aksportingjournal.com PUBLISHER James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andy Walgamott EDITOR Chris Cocoles ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tom Reale WRITERS Paul D. Atkins, Christine Cunningham, Mike Gallion, Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Jeff Lund, Bixler McClure, Krystin McClure, Steve Meyer, Andy Mezirow, Dennis Musgraves, Tom Reale SALES MANAGER Brian Lull ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Neelam Bowers, Becca Ellingsworth, Mamie Griffin, Steve Joseph, Mike Smith, Heidi Witt, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Dawn Carlson, Beth Harrison, Sonjia Kells PRODUCTION MANAGER John Rusnak PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker CIRCULATION MANAGER Heidi Belew DISTRIBUTION Tony Sorrentino, Gary Bickford OFFICE MANAGER / ACCOUNTS Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com ON THE COVER Muskox are found in some of the most barren areas in Alaska. Hunting them gives the impression of chasing a prehistoric species given their unique look. (PAUL D. ATKINS) INSET Tampa Bay Lightning hockey defenseman Matt Carle, an Anchorage native, is an avid angler who tries to get back each summer for a fishing trip with friends, some of whom are also National Hockey League players. (MATT CARLE)

MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE 14240 Interurban Ave South • Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (800) 332-1 736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com

8 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

JANUARY 2015

DECEMBER 2014

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

9

CONTENTS

VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 8

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 39

Solunar charts: Helpful or folly?

48

The pros and cons of using e-collars on hunting dogs

57

Sampling suds in Talkeetna: Denali Brewing Company

59

Tales of a retired Alaska SWAT officer: Full speed ahead!

117

Ice fishing with jigs

127 Record pink salmon catch 139 Light-tackle halibut tips

COLUMNS 107 No Sympathy with Steve Meyer: Kenai kings, set-netting and more

109 A FROZEN BEER CAN

The locals around the Anchorage Bowl refer to Little Campbell Lake as “Beer Can Lake” (see our writer Dennis Musgraves’ explanation). But when the lake is iced in winter, anglers can catch not only stocked rainbows and landlocked salmon but curious-looking Arctic char and other odd species. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

FEATURES 16

HOCKEY’S SON OF ALASKA Since around the turn of the millenium, Alaska has produced several solid National Hockey League players. One is Matt Carle, who grew up in Anchorage skating the state’s rinks and outdoor ponds, and spending summers fishing for salmon and trout. Now playing in much warmer Florida, the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman hasn’t forgotten his roots, returning for an annual fishing trip. Matt talks with our resident hockey fan/ editor about growing up in Alaska and enjoying a successful and long NHL career.

31

BEAU KNOWS BOWS Tucked away in a Ketchikan mall is a locksmith shop, and in a tiny corner of workspace there, Beau Dale sells bows for hunters. Dale is quite the bowhunter himself and as a teen begged his dad for one. It’s a passion that continues today, as Jeff Lund explains.

71

ON THE EDGE OF NOWHERE They resemble a creature that could play a part in The Flintstones’ Bedrock, but muskox are the real thing in the extreme north of Alaska’s tundra. That’s where our big-game hunting guru Paul Atkins takes us in pursuit of bulls.

146 Loose Ends with Christine Cunningham: Adventures with extra captains aboard

DEPARTMENTS 13

Editor’s Note

69

Protecting Wild Alaska: Juneau mine threatens Taku River salmon

69

Outdoor Calendar

101 DUCKS OF THE HIGH SEAS Scott Haugen takes us on a journey to Kodiak Island and the remote Pribiliof Islands.

The attraction in these places in January is a late-season sea duck opportunity for hunters. It’s difficult to get there with your decoys and hunting equipment, but if you can, colorful waterfowl are plentiful, and you’ll come back with a tale of a hunt for the ages.

130 THE WINTER STEELIE SHOW Summer salmon was so last summer. In the chill of winter, dress in layers and cast for steelhead.

Alaska Sporting Journal is published monthly. Call Media Inc. Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Inc. Publishing Group and will not be returned. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues) or $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Inc. Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168 or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Inc. Publishing Group, subject to availability, at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Copyright © 2015 Media Inc. Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

10 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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12 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome to snowy Alaska, where winter temperatures can’t prevent the locals from getting outside to play. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

D

ress warm, everyone. It’s winter in Alaska, and we hope this ďŹ rst issue of Alaska Sporting Journal in 2015 will give you a little taste of what life is like in the cold and darkness of a January day in The Last Frontier.

We have stories on ice ďŹ shing, snowshoeing and hunting muskox “on the edge of nowhere.â€? It’s a tribute to what endears us Lower 48ers – the ones who grew up in places where snowakes are foreign objects – to Alaskans’ ability to give winter hell and ďŹ nd ways to get outside even in the bitter cold.

A few of our correspondents who live in Alaska, Dennis Musgraves (North Pole), Steve Meyer (Kenai Peninsula), Paul Atkins (Kotzebue) and the husband-and-wife team of Bixler and Krystin McClure (Seward), shared their stories and tips about a variety of winter activities.

These folks surely are counting out loud each winter day with unbridled enthusiasm with the promise of being one more below-freezing temperature day closer to summer, when hours upon hours of daylight ensure those 10 p.m. casts for red salmon still require sunglasses to avoid the glare off the river.

But what else can you do when your winter seems to lumber along like the ketchup bottle you have to smack viciously to drizzle over your garlic fries. Summer? You may as well plan your itinerary with a stopwatch rather than a calendar. It’s here and gone before you know it.

But here’s Musgraves catching peculiar-looking Arctic char on a frozen pond the Anchorage locals playfully call “Beer Can Lake.� Here’s Meyer dropping jigs through the ice for planted rainbows. Here’s Atkins donning many layers and hunting the frozen tundra for a prehistoric-looking muskox bull. Here are the McClures getting quite a workout on their snowshoes in the search for a ptarmigan.

While the rest of us shiver at the visuals, Alaskans embrace their blustery climate. –Chris Cocoles

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Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Matt Carle, born in Anchorage, is obsessed with someday catching a 30-inch rainbow. He’s still landed plenty of nice Alaskan trout during offseason trips home. (MATT CARLE)

16 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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A TRUE ICE FISHERMAN

Carle has been durable throughout his career, missing just two regular-season games from 2010-14.

He’s now in his 10th NHL season.

(TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING)

ALASKAN NHL PLAYER CARLE REMEMBERS HIS ROOTS

BY CHRIS COCOLES

Y

ou can take a young man out of Alaska, send him zigzagging across the Lower 48 starting at the age of 16, and groom him to be a successful professional hockey

player.

You can take him out of the snow-shoveling winters of traditional hockey territory – locations like Ann Arbor, Mich. (he spent a couple seasons with the United States National Development Team); Omaha, Neb. (a year of junior hockey); Denver (three dynamic years of college hockey); and Philadelphia (where he nearly won a National Hockey League championship) – and find a home in, of all nontraditional markets, Tampa, Fla. But you can’t fully take the Alaskan out of Matt Carle.

Almost every summer, Carle heads north from Florida – he and his wife, Clancey, live in her native Minnesota in the offseason – and returns to his roots in Anchorage, where he’s among a recent surge of NHL imports from the Last Frontier.

Carle’s passion for the outdoors, specifically fishing, provides him and a group of childhood friends – some NHLers like himself – with an opportunity to get out on a river or lake and reminisce about growing up in Alaska.

Carle, a 30-year-old defenseman for the Tampa Bay Lightning, displays his love for fishing in his Twitter (@mattcarle25) profile photo, where he’s holding a colorful rainbow trout caught in his native state.

“I do like filling up my freezer with salmon,” he says. “Fortunately for me, my grandparents have a boat out of Homer and they do a lot of halibut fishing. So they do all the work, and I get to reap the rewards of just picking up the meat.”

Such are the benefits of coming from a state where loving the outdoors and taking advantage of some of the world’s best fishing is part of the curriculum.

“I take a lot of pride in where I grew up,” Carle says. “My heart is always going to be there.”

PLAYING THROUGH PAIN. It’s the battle cry of hockey players. Get cross-checked into the glass? Shake it off. Take a puck off the kisser and lose a few teeth? Go see the dentist between periods and get back on the ice. When Matt Carle was 5 years old, he almost knew what his destiny was when he fished with his family on the Little Susitna River west of Anchorage.

“We’d go over to the Little Su all the time. My dad had, and I’m not sure what year the boat was, a C-Dory. There was a cabin with a door that would go out toward the back of the boat where we’d do all the fishing, obviously,” Carle says. “We had a fish on and everyone was racing around the boat to try and get to the pole. And when I jumped up from inside the cabin JANUARY 2015

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

17

Carle (left), battling along the boards with Rick Nash of the New York Rangers in November 2014, was a second-round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks and helped his previous team, the Philadelphia Flyers, to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, before signing a six-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. (DAVID HAHN/ICON SPORTSWIRE)

(to run out) my thumb got stuck in the door jamb. I smashed my thumb, and I’m sitting there crying my eyes out but still trying to reel in that fish. I ended up landing the fish, and a couple days later my fingernail ended up falling off. So I considered myself being pretty tough for going through such a dramatic experience. So I started pretty young dealing with pain.”

But that’s what made growing up in Alaska so much fun for Carle: the winters made it a natural environment to play hockey, and the summers provided enough daylight and surrounding water to grab the fishing gear and drop a line.

Matt’s the oldest of three boys, and all of the Carle brothers are hockey players.

One of Matt’s younger siblings, David, was also a prospect whose career was cut short in 2008 when he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a potentially fatal condition for athletes.

David is now an assistant coach for the men’s hockey team at the University of Denver, his and Matt’s alma mater. The youngest, Alex, played junior hockey in Youngstown, Ohio.

The Carle family, uncle and cousins 18 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

JANUARY 2015

alike, spent plenty of time traveling the Cook Inlet out of Anchorage to the Little Su. They also bought a cabin on Nancy Lake, 90 minutes north of Anchorage.

That became a summer fishing and jet ski retreat – “I’m still shocked I would swim in water that cold,” Matt jokes – but also the occasional winter playground where snow machines were ridden around the frozen ground when Matt and his brothers had no hockey commitments.

Carle dabbled in snow skiing for a bit, but both the conflicts with hockey and fear of being injured on the slopes essentially eliminated breaking out the skis and boots. ”We’d do a bunch of salmon fishing.

Those are some of my earliest memories of being in the outdoors. My dad really wasn’t much of a hunter, so we didn’t do a lot of that,” he says. “But we were big fishermen and it was something I was introduced to at a pretty young age.”

As was hockey. Bob Carle, Matt’s, David’s and Alex’s dad, had no experience playing the game, but Matt flourished right away.

“Sometimes, we could clear up the

ice that we had our cabin on when the weather was nice,” he says of playing outdoor hockey, which is every young player’s dream in climates that allow for frozen ponds and lakes in winter.

“I’m not sure up until what age, but I remember some mornings parents would like us to practice outside because the ice outside made it a lot cheaper to practice on (than renting indoor rinks). And obviously, you’d just get your buddies together and get out and play. There was marsh in south Anchorage called Potter’s Marsh that sometimes we’d go out and skate around on. I do have a lot of memories of playing outdoors, and it’s been cool that I’ve been able to play in two (NHL Winter Classic outdoor games as a Philadelphia Flyer).”

At 15, he played on a talented local team, the Alaska All-Stars (along with good friend and future NHL teammate Nate Thompson), and then headed down to Michigan to play with the U.S. National Team’s Development Program.

“Fortunately for me, hockey was something that I was pretty good at as a kid. And I had a lot of fun playing it,” Carle

says. “It was always about making it onto a team and then making the next level.”

What Carle wanted more than anything was to play college hockey. As a youngster he’d watch the hometown University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, players who became idols. His performance with the U.S. National Team Development Program and a season of junior hockey in Omaha earned him a scholarship at the University of Denver (where he also met his future wife, Clancey Kabella). In 2006, his junior year at Denver, he was one of the nation’s top defenseman prospects. Carle was such a dynamic player, he won college hockey’s version of the Heisman Trophy, the Hobey Baker Award.

“As you get older your goals kind of change a little bit,” Carle admits of his rise to one of the best young American players by the time he was drafted.

The San Jose Sharks had drafted him in the second round in 2003, but after playing two full seasons there San Jose traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning

Catching a giant king salmon is old hat for Matt Carle, whose earliest memory of fishing with his family included getting his thumb caught in the door jamb on his family’s boat but still reeling in a fish while crying in pain.

(MATT CARLE)

in July 2008. Twelve games into the next season, the Lightning flipped him to Philadelphia. With the Flyers, Carle had a memorable 2009-10, both on and off the ice. His team went to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks (Carle chipped in a goal and 12 assists in 23 total postseason games). That summer, Matt and Clancey were married in Minnesota and honeymooned in Bora Bora.

But even such a whirlwind schedule

like that didn’t prevent an annual tradition of fishing and friendship in Alaska, even in this instance a combination fishing trip and bachelor party.

THEY HAVE GONE their separate ways now.

Some of them, like Carle, have played at the highest level of hockey. But their Anchorage roots are never forgotten for long. A group goes back after the hockey season ends in late spring.

Thompson, the fellow Anchorage

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product and onetime teammate with the Lightning, makes appearances there.

Ditto Tim Wallace, another Alaska Stars teammate who has played in the NHL. “It’s been a year or two since I’ve been able to go, but I know the guys went last year. My wife and I had just had our first baby and I had to get my priorities down a little bit,” Carle jokes. “But we’ve all had great friendships (with each other).

You look back on those trips, going fishing with your buddies, there’s no better time to spend, especially up in Alaska out in the middle of nowhere. It’s just a great time.”

Carle has struck up a friendship with Brian Kraft, the owner of the Alaska Sportsman’s Lodge (888-826-7376; fishasl.com) on the Kvichak River in Bristol Bay. “If I’m going to go fishing, that’s usually where you’ll find me,” Carle says. “They have so many different options there, depending on what time of the year you go. I’ve really gotten into fly fishing, and that’s my passion when I get out now.

We’re trying to land a 30-inch rainbow.

That is something I’ve been trying to go after since I started fly fishing.”

Carle compares the ups and downs of fly fishing to golf, a popular pastime for hockey players. Even if he had more opportunities to cast flies without any practice, he wouldn’t be very good at it. But like always wanting to break out a bucket of range golf balls that will, in theory, improve one’s swing and game, there’s an expectation that tying on a streamer and hoping something big devours it will become easier to master after getting into a groove.

“It’s something you have to stick with.

When I go on a fishing trip I’m going to be terrible the first day or so. But by day two or three I’ll pick it up again,” Carle says.

“When you’re fly fishing, it’s always more satisfying catching a fish on a fly rod.

There’s nothing better.”

Unfortunately, getting out on a river is made tougher by the demanding schedule hockey players must adhere to. And Carle surely doesn’t mind when seasons extend well into June when teams are vy-

ing for the Stanley Cup. He came so close with Philadelphia, which fell in overtime of Game 6 to the Blackhawks in 2010.

Carle returned to Tampa in 2012-13, when he signed a six-year free-agent contract worth $33 million.

“He’s not a big, flashy personality. He understands how the game is played. He plays lots of games, lots of minutes,” former Lightning teammate and defense partner Eric Brewer told the Philadelphia Daily News. “You just get used to him playing, moving the puck forward. He handles the puck well, he makes a lot of good pinches, and he’s comfortable moving the puck in traffic. A lot of our guys have been able to get good looks from him.

He’s turned into a steady defenseman; he’s a fast skater, moves the puck in and out of the offensive and defensive zones – a must-have for quality defensemen – and is a reliable scorer. He entered this season with 41 career goals and 220 assists, plus 36 career playoff points.

Tampa Bay’s promising 2013-14 sea-

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son ended in disappointment: the Lightning were swept in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens, who benefited from a few questionable calls along the way over their four wins.

“The series just didn’t go our way,” is Carle’s diplomatic, no-excuses response, perhaps understanding the positives that carried over from the loss to Montreal.

Tampa Bay seems focused on redemption. “In a way, I think it was more of a blessing. A lot of us went into the summer with a chip on our shoulder – go out and prove some people wrong.”

In mid-December, the Lightning were tied atop the Atlantic Division and led by some of the game’s best young forward talent, headlined by superstar Steven Stamkos, Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. At 30, Carle is an anchor of Tampa Bay’s defense core, along with Anton Stralman, Jason Garrison and Victor Hedman. Tampa feels like a third home for Carle, after his Alaska roots and life in Minnesota with his family.

24 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

JANUARY 2015

“I take a lot of pride in where I grew up,” Carle says of his Anchorage roots. “My heart is always going to be there.” (MATT CARLE)

ALASKA’S HOCKEY SURGE There aren’t a lot of people in Alaska. But they root for each other to make it big.

Such is the case in the sport of hockey, which in the last couple decades has churned out several National Hockey League players, Matt Carle among them.

It started in 1999, when Scott Gomez became the state’s first NHL export.

Today, Carle is one of 11 Alaskan-born NHLers either currently active or inactive. Joining the likes of Gomez and Carle have been Ty Conklin, Brandon Dubinsky, Joey Crabb, Nate Thompson, Tim Wallace and others.

“Anytime anyone from Alaska does anything, whether it’s (pro basketball’s) Mario Chalmers or Carlos Boozer, or

in hockey, Scott Gomez and Brandon Dubinsky, we’re the first ones to tell anyone, ‘Hey, that guy’s from Alaska,’” Carle says.

While many Lower 48 kids take advantage of better weather to play baseball or go out for what has become the country’s sports obsession, football, few Alaskans excel in either game, especially baseball. But is there anything more Alaskan than a sport played on a frozen sheet of ice?

“Hockey became a year-round sport for us. Between my younger brothers and me, we didn’t have an offseason when it came to hockey. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get to play any other sports,” Carle says. “A lot of my buddies growing up who were hockey team-

mates played some baseball and a little soccer. But I was a one-trick pony.”

But the commitment to hockey not only landed Carle in the National Hockey League, but several others as well during what has been a trend of Alaskans reaching what is considered the sport’s best league in the world.

“I never really gave any other sport serious consideration. When my buddies were playing soccer I remember wanting to play. Looking back on it, I would encourage nowadays to try different sports,” Carle says. “I think some parents are fixated on trying to make sure their kid is going to be good at one sport the kid may be burned out pretty early.”

Still, those Alaskans who stuck with hockey like Carle have given the next generation of young players the opportunity to dream. -CC

“I feel fortunate to be in this league for nine years now. The moves that I’ve made and the trades that have happened, I don’t want to say they’ve

made me a better person. But you don’t take things for granted,” he says.

“Any day you’re playing in the NHL is a good day.”

The same can be said for fishing back in his roots to the north.

“To me,” Carle declares, “Alaska will always be home.” ASJ

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JANUARY 2015

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BEAU KNOWS BOWS KEEPING HUNTING TRADITION ALIVE IN KETCHIKAN

BY JEFF LUND

I

n the bottom corner of the mall in Ketchikan, Alaska, is a locksmith’s shop.

In the corner of a small space, covered mostly in keys, sits the only place in town to buy a bow. Fittingly, a guy named Beau runs the space.

His name is Beau Dale, and he drenches a Q-tip in rubbing alcohol to prepare an arrow shaft to be fit with a head.

It’s a Friday at the end of the month.

“It’s going to be a busy one,” he says.

It is. Paychecks are in, the rut is coming, and those who hunt with sticks and strings are gearing up. There’s constant commotion, mostly from a quorum of outdoorsmen looking to pick Beau’s brain or unleash excited energy in little coded anecdotes. Though the shop is small,

it’s not crowded. It’s casual and friendly, though not revealing.

Beau talks comfortably in a calm narrative about the last time out, but he’s careful not to reveal much. He’ll talk in generalities, which are indistinguishable.

He’s smart.

Building a business Beau is the local guy – a third-generation Ketchikan resident. His great-grandfather Sigurd came from Norway in the 1800s to fish. His grandfather’s focus was engineering and worked at the Ketchikan Pulp Mill, which closed in 1997.

Beau grew up hanging around the family businesses, Ketchikan Lock and Key (907-225-4107), and his mom’s espresso shop. His passion for archery came during his teenage years.

Beau Dale is a third-generation Ketchikan resident who grew up with a love for bowhunting. As a teenager, he got his first bow for his birthday and now sells them from his family’s locksmith shop.

(JEFF LUND)

Beau Dale (front) bowhunts in Southeast Alaska with a friend. “I’ve tailored my life around my passions,” he says. “I’ve missed out on opportunities, but I’m still living well.” (CHARLIE RATZAT) JANUARY 2015

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“My bowhunting interest started when I was 13 or 14. I loved to look at the Cabela’s catalog and remember seeing the guy all decked out in full camo at full draw about ready to shoot a buck. I remember thinking, ‘Man that’s so cool, I want to be that guy.’

“I bugged my dad relentlessly (before my birthday); he said if he wouldn’t have already ordered (a bow) he wouldn’t have because I was bugging him so much about it.”

Beau’s business experience started about the same time.

“The summer I turned 14, my parents wanted me to come onboard and put together a skateboard shop for me to run,” he remembers. “That was a hobby I had and so they got me started being an entrepreneur. It was a good business to have on the side. Some days it was better than the locksmith, but other days there were zeros.”

As the years went by and he filled the initial market, he moved on.

“I liquidated all my stuff to a new per-

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A corner of the Dale family’s locksmith shop features space for Beau to sell bows to local hunters. (JEFF LUND)

son,” he says. “You dig it, you want to see that prosper and this guy dug it more than I did.”

Though Beau might sound like the industrious type, fortunate enough to have everything he tries succeed, he doesn’t quite see it like that.

“I don’t seem to always do things the smart way the first time,” he says, laughing. “I seem to get into something and hammer out the details as I go. I tend to take a Norwegian approach.”

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand economics. He used to have

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an impressive inventory for the location, but once he filled the market, he couldn’t keep stocking his corner. The biggest obstacle is the Internet.

“Everyone goes online and checks your prices and eBay and Amazon and all those big suppliers are hell on my business – the small guy who cares about giving you quality service, the guy who starts out caring and doing things right. My goal is to do my job well rather than get rich.

(Big box stores) just pump out numbers because they don’t have personal investment in the sale.”

One might think the big suppliers would be happy to help the one guy in town reach clientele. Not true.

“They didn’t understand the market up here. The bigger names were more interested in the bottom line and we stopped having bows on the inventory.”

But Beau will make it, if only because of a passion for his product.

“I find myself more interested in archery than bowhunting,” he says. “I know a lot about the products, the theory be-

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hind the products, and try to offer that kind of insight to folks who are looking into bowhunting.”

Diggin’ it It’s quiet in the bottom floor of a sizable duplex, though the smell of blueberry muffins is strong. The television isn’t on, even for background noise. It wouldn’t do much good anyway since Beau and his wife Andrea don’t have cable. The place is tidy. The handcrafted dinner table was a wedding gift made from wood that came from around the world. On his wall hang two beautiful wooden recurve bows. The duplex is at the end of a dead-end street. But there’s no metaphor to be found.

“I’ve tailored my life around my passions,” Beau says. “I’ve missed out on opportunities, but I’m still living well.

This is a time in my life when I can be really close to my immediate family. We have a very unique lifestyle, and even though nobody’s getting rich, we live a really high quality of life.”

He could probably leave and make more money running a business that gets more attention from suppliers, and where he doesn’t have to worry about the demand waning because he’s reached it. But he’s not interested. He’s at home in Southeast Alaska.

“Every day I lived somewhere else would be another day I would wish I were back in Alaska,” he confesses. “No matter where the destination is, this is where I’m comfortable. I’d rather take vacation on the days for the peak of steelhead, or the rut or alpine hunts. I want to spend my resources spending money on doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

If it’s opening weekend, what he’s “supposed to be doing” is obvious. He’s worked out of the corner in the locksmith shop to provide as much joy to locals as he has hunting with a bow.

“If it’s the peak time to do something, I do it,” Beau says. “I’m a weekend warrior, but when it’s time to hit the woods, I’m out there. I’m not going to be any good at work if I’m there anyway.” ASJ

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Does the movement of the moon affect how fish bite? Believers in solunar tables would say a resounding yes! (GREGORY H. REVERA/WIKIMEDIA)

BY MOON AND THE SUN SOLUNAR TABLES: SCIENCE OR BALONEY?

BY TOM REALE

B

ack in 1926, a Florida fisherman and outdoor writer, John Alden Knight, got the idea that he could find the ultimate secret to catching big fish, lots of them.

Using his knowledge of local folklore, he figured out that the movements of the sun and moon, along with tidal flows, accounted for peaks in the activity of fish. After years of looking at data, such as when people caught big fish or lots of fish, he figured he’d found the key.

According to his data, the rising and setting of the sun and moon had an ap-

preciable effect on fish feeding cycles.

In addition to these obvious cues, he postulated that there were minor periods of fish activity in between the peak periods. He published his idea in 1935, and since then his “solunar tables” have been a fixture in outdoor magazines and have now made their way into our GPS receivers labeled as peak hours for hunting and fishing.

When he was compiling his data, he was working with coastal fish in Florida, and assumed that the tidal flows also had an effect on his subjects, as did weather and barometric pressure.

But according to Knight, the main culprit here was the apparent gravitation-

al effect of the moon.

You can see where the idea might have some semblance of validity when applied to saltwater fisheries. After all, tidal flows have a huge effect on the movement and feeding habits of fish in nearshore waters, and by adding in some additional lunar and solar influences, you could make the case that the tables were just tweaking the times for best fishing.

Eventually it was postulated that these lunar effects influenced the feeding and movement habits of freshwater fish as well. After that it was somehow applied to land animals, too, and one group of solunar aficionados even JANUARY 2015

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states that, “As the moon circles our planet, its gravitational pull tugs and stretches the soil. It creates high and low tides in all the water on Earth, including the dew that surrounds sprouting seedlings.” Hmm, the leap from the moon moving the tides around to affect fish to influencing deer and dewdrops seems like a big one.

LOOKING INTO THE history of solunar tables, one early tipoff is that one of the Wikipedia keywords for the subject is “folklore.” This does not usually coincide nicely with real science.

In addition, while websites and other published articles frequently mention words like “research” and “data,” there’s precious little of either to be found. And while some people have gone to great lengths in keeping logs of their hunting and fishing successes, or lack thereof, over the years, there’s not much scientific rigor involved. Instead, what you get is a lot of anecdotal information.

For example, a fishing guide posted his findings on a solunar website with the observations that his logs revealed “The predictable frequency of big fish catches during the peak moon phases of full and new moon. Specifically, a lot more big muskies, walleye, and bass were taken right on the scheduled calendar day of both the full or new (dark) moon peak, and continued for a threeto five-day stretch afterwards.”

He then goes on to say, “Trust me – thousands of entries in my fishing logs can’t be wrong. This stuff really works!”

Another true believer, a deer hunter, agreed. “My hunting buddy and I found the tables absolutely accurate on 15 straight hunts or traveling during the feeding times on the way to hunt,” he said. “On three afternoon hunts, deer entered the field within a few minutes of the beginning of the feeding periods.”

Given testimonials like this, the question is: Is it a good idea to schedule your hunting and fishing times around these periods? For starters, before we had this data on our GPS units, you had to calculate these major and minor periods of activity by using complicated tables, taking into account your geo40 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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What Tom Walgamott’s GPS labeled a “poor day” for hunting at his location in North-central Washington actually saw numerous mule deer sightings, including several bucks, and a fair amount of shooting, but not by him. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

graphical location, time zone, daylight saving time, and other factors. It was like doing trigonometry homework before going in the field. Now, all we have to do is push a button and we’ve got these numbers readily available – no more homework involved.

One thing to keep in mind here is the vast difference between anecdotal information and scientific evidence.

It’s very easy to get testimonials for almost anything, from the validity of solunar tables to getting rich on online gambling sites to sightings of Bigfoot, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should put your faith in them.

ONE OF THE problems with relying on the experiences of other people – whether they’re good friends or anony-

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mous people on the Internet – is that you really don’t know how diligent they’ve been in compiling their data. Without knowing the methods used in evaluating a topic, there’s no way to know how much weight to give their opinions.

For example, say Nathan Nimrod wants to see if there’s anything to the solunar idea. He decides to go into the field and look for animals and compare his findings to the tables. He documents his findings as to when he goes afield, how many animals he sees and when, and concludes that indeed, he’s seeing more game during the predicted times.

He then concludes that these are the best times to hunt, and arranges his trips around them. He scores regularly now, and tells you all about his findings. You’ve seen the animals he’s brought home and figure the guy knows that he’s talking about. Does this make sense?

Well, maybe, but maybe not. There are lots of questions to consider before making a judgment here. For starters,

The moon rises over Hobart Bay in Southeast Alaska. Could the moon’s movement determine when it’s best to go fishing and hunting? (CMDR. JOHN BORTNIAK/NOAA CORPS)

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one of the main things you need to consider when drawing conclusions like this is sample size. How many times did he go into the field?

Also, was he documenting his sightings just at the peak times, or taking random samples. How did his success rates differ before and after the study, and did he document the differences?

Was he rigorous in deciding when to go afield, or did he just go when he felt like it, or when the weather was good?

Were there other factors that could account for seeing more animals over the course of the study, like a difference in the game populations, hunting harvests, predators, etc.?

Finally, is it possible that his preconceptions have colored his findings?

Did he “know” ahead of time that he’d find more animals during the predicted peak times or have some reason to think so? If that was the case, there’s the possibility that he was cherrypicking the findings, and maybe looking harder during the peak times, or going

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to places where he knew the game was more abundant.

This is a great setup for “confirmation bias,” the tendency to use data to support one’s own beliefs. The analogy here is to say that someone uses data the way a drunk uses a lamppost – for support rather than enlightenment.

Given the apparent lack of believable research on solunar tables, does it make sense to use them to plan your hunting and fishing trips? On the one hand, traditionalists might lean towards a yes answer here, since the tables have been in use for 80 years or so and are based on years and years of experience. Our more scientifically minded friends might not be so inclined to accept the information, since there doesn’t seem to be any real science to support the idea.

Personally, I’d be inclined to more or less split the difference. The best time to go into the field is whenever you can manage to get away, and the more time you spend outdoors, the better

your chances of scoring. It can be hard to drag your butt out of that nice warm sleeping bag on a frosty morning, but if you use the lack of a supposed “good time” for finding animals as an excuse to turn over and go back to sleep, you can guarantee that it won’t be a good time to hunt. After all, as hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky theorized, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

However, if you use the peak times as an exercise in forcing yourself to try a little harder or look a little more or put in just a little bit more effort, you can probably give yourself that little extra edge by virtue of just making yourself work a bit harder and gain more confidence in your fish-and-game-finding expertise. And really, isn’t that what we’re really looking for here, a way to get more and better time outdoors, doing what we love? So check your tables, pay attention to the time, and get out of that sleeping bag and into the field. ASJ

JAN6"RY 2015

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E-COLLAR PROS AND CONS

IS ELECTRIC STIMULATION THE PROPER TRAINING APPROACH FOR YOUR DOG?

Irish setter Winchester sports a beeper/stimulator-style e-collar during a hunt. The dog wasn’t a fast learner and didn’t stay as close as the author’s previous retriever dogs. Winchester wasn’t that interested in returning on command, prompting the e-collar that would allow for a little more control when he seeked out a bird flush. (STEVE MEYER) 48 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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BY STEVE MEYER

M

y partner, Christine, was across the loft where we write, and where she does her best to ignore whatever I might be doing; she says I distract her. Evidently my jumping a bit each time I pressed the stimulate button for the electronic collar fastened around my neck got her attention.

“What the hell are you doing!” she demanded from across the room.

Winchester, our beloved English setter, was the only reason I had bought the Dogtra 2500 beeper/stimulator collar, a purchase made from the fear of losing him or his venturing into places he should not go, places his prey drive took him and where he had no fear, even as a puppy.

Having owned Labrador and golden retrievers most of my life, I was used to relatively close-by working dogs that were easily trained with a pocket full of treats. These were dogs that really didn’t want to get too far away from me, except when a local female came in heat.

Granted, sometimes they might chase a moose, but they always returned fairly soon and took to heart the scolding they received. When the retrievers were puppies they wanted to be close to their people all the time and would be underfoot wherever we went.

Winchester had none of those traits.

He learned to come when called during day to day activities. Heeling took a bit of time, but he learned that as well. Being a pointing dog he was never trained to sit and didn’t take to staying either. When outdoors his prey drive was unlike anything I had ever experienced. He would hit the ground hunting, and wherever his nose took him he went, oblivious to commands. His heritage is of big running setters, born and bred on the western prairie of North Dakota, where dogs do their business on the edge of nowhere and hunters ride horses to stay in some semblance of range.

The amount of ground these magnificent animals are able to cover make them the perfect choice for hunting Alaska’s high country for ptarmigan. A snow-cov-

ered mountain can have thousands of acres of suitable habitat, and it is difficult for a foot hunter and a close-ranging dog to really cover the ground. The country we hunt is rugged terrain with steep cliffs and shale rock. Once the guns come out and we would head into the mountains, Winchester was not interested in a command to return, creating a real fear of losing him.

NOT BEING MUCH in favor of electronics of any sort in the field, I had been reluctant to use an e-collar; but if I could use one to have some sort of influence when Winchester was hunting out a half-mile or more it was worth a try.

Here’s what you cannot do: strap an e-collar on your hunting dog and start stimulating them immediately. It is a time-consuming process that should start when the dog is at least six months old so the weight of the collar isn’t causing problems.

Start by putting the collar on only when you are doing something the dog loves (taking to the field). It isn’t long before they associate the collar with an outing and thus become excited as soon as you bring it out. For the first couple of months there is no reason to even turn on the collar.

Do not use the e-collar for training.

The e-collar is not some wonder tool that instantly makes dogs do whatever they are told. They must know a command before you consider stimulating them for not obeying that command. If your dog doesn’t know what “heel” means and you stimulate him, he will have no idea what he did or did not do for that to happen. Teach the dog the commands you are going to use as the puppy matures, and only when you know he understands what you are asking of him, consider the e-collar stimulation.

Every dog has a personality and not all are ready to be trained at six months, eight months – even a year, at times.

Your dog may not be ready to hunt at six months, and even if he is, he is still a puppy, so let him be a puppy. Spend as much time as you can with him and get to know

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The Dogtra 2300 collar (far left) is great for close working dogs and retrievers. The Dogtra 2500 beeper collar (second from left) is a good medium-range pointing dog collar. The Sport Dog Tech 1.0 (second from right) is a GPS/Training collar that features vibrate and tone for training and good range. The Garmin Alpha 100 GPS/ Training collar (far right) is for big running dogs that operate on the edge of nowhere.

(STEVE MEYER)

his personality and he yours. Some dogs are very sensitive and will crater even with the use of a stern voice. Let the dog become your partner; what you do with him in the field for the next 10 to 14 years will be so much better for the time spent.

IN SOME WAYS, e-collar introduction parallels the introduction of your dog to the sound of gunfire. If you take a pup out and shoot a 12-gauge over his head with no prior introduction, there is every chance that dog will be gun-shy and of

no use in the field. Make the introduction to gunfire fun. Take him or her to the range and leave him in the truck with the windows rolled up. Shoot a few rounds of a .22 rimfire rifle and then let him out and play with him. Load the dog back up, crack the windows a bit and shoot again.

Watch what he does. Most dogs are just wanting to get out and be with you, if not and if the dog is showing signs of cowering then stop, play with the canine and try again another day. Gradually work up to having your pup outside when

CHOOSING THE RIGHT E-COLLAR There are a myriad of e-collars on the market. My choice of the Dogtra 2500 came from talking with other hunters with big-running pointing dogs. The 2500 is a beeper collar that can be set, so when the dog stops on point, the receiver beeps to announce the stop.

You can also beep the dog collar, which tells you where he is out to about 400 yards. Stimulation is available by a “nic,” a very short stimulation, or constant stimulation as long as you hold the button down. I’ve never used the constant setting and cannot imagine where one might.

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locate my English setter, Winchester, beyond about 300 yards. So I added a bell, which is good in bear country anyway, and I can hear it somewhat further. I can use the beep on the collar to call him in, and it works out to around a half mile, which is not quite far enough. When Sport Dog introduced its Tech 1.0 GPS tracking and e-collar it appeared to be the answer to pointing dog owner’s prayers. It turns out, for the most part it is. It has the GPS feature to locate, a vibration setting to remind the dog when he isn’t doing something right, a tone that only he hears to bring him in and a stimulate setting for corrective measures.

you shoot, watch what the reaction is and adjust accordingly. Have treats, food and toys available so he associates gunfire with a good time.

Using this method both of our English setters and our three Labradors were running and playing behind the firing line while trap and skeet was being shot.

Our Irish setter, Red, who we rescued at age 7½, was completely gun-shy and cowered at any loud noise. It took two months of steady exposure for him to realize that gunfire meant a good time; now he will go to sleep in the shade next to the range. It’s the same with e-collars. Gradual exposure while having fun is the way to success with most dogs.

My Labs were well into adulthood by that time and good working dogs, but there were times – particularly late in the year with ice on the rivers and hard-running tides that can be dangerous for the best water dogs – when I wanted that long-range ability to recall one when things started getting out of hand.

Using the same strategy of fun associated with the collar, they quickly learned that the collar was a sign of good times ahead; the difficult part is getting them to hold still long enough to get them on. The vibration stimulation is all that is ever needed to bring them in or to remind them to sit tight in the blind.

The Sport Dog e-collar is advertised to range to 7 miles; I can’t attest to that, but I can say it works very well out beyond 1 mile and eliminates the need for two collars. Since then Garmin has introduced a similar collar that also has mapping capabilities and I suppose I’ll end up with one of them as well.

The success I had with the first e-collar prompted me to add two more Dogtra collars: the 2300 Series that’s made for close-working dogs such as flushers or retrievers. These have the stimulation settings for nic and constant but without the beeper.

They also have a vibration button that is great for getting their attention without stimulation. SM

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Cheyenne, a chocolate Lab, wears an e-collar after helping secure the haul of an Alaskan upland bird hunt. The author doesn’t suggest e-collars to be used to train a dog. But once a dog is trained e-collars can be valuable safety devices in treacherous terrain. (STEVE MEYER)

OUR HUNTING DOGS are family. When we

Remember these tips: Never use an e-collar to punish the dog. Never stimulate your four-legged hunting partner if you are unable to see them and know what they are doing. Stimulation at the wrong time can set back months of training, and can even ruin a dog.

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The e-collar is in no way a substitute for training. I view it as the most humane way to add an element of safety when you must do the thinking for your supercharged hunting dog. They will quite literally kill themselves to accomplish the mission if you let them.

come home from a hunt they don’t go to a kennel, they come in the house and lie by the fire. They sleep with us, they eat with us, and they are our partners in every possible way. So when the decision was made to try the e-collar experiment, there was no chance of using it on any one of them without first finding out what they would feel if used. My background in law enforcement introduced me to numerous forms of electronic stimulation, including being Tased, which I can say is awful. So strapping an e-collar around my neck was not that big of a deal.

The Dogtra collar systems use a rheostat for the stimulation that starts at 1 and goes to 127. At 24 I could feel a slight shock; at 40 there was a noticeable shock but nothing you couldn’t stand for several seconds; at 60 it started to be very uncomfortable. When I got to 92, much to Christine’s delight, I was jumping out of the chair and at 100 it was downright painful. With the dogs I started at 20 and had to work up to 30 before they noticed

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at all.

Now I keep the collars at 35, it works just fine and I rarely have to use the stimulation at all. The tone and the vibration settings are really all that ever get used,

You don’t always have to have your hunting dogs wear e-collars. The author’s Labs, Cheyenne and Gunner, go collar-free when hunting far from civilization in mild conditions.

But it’s a good idea to have the collars on when in water areas with potential for strong tides or on rivers with ice. (STEVE MEYER)

and that is mostly to get their attention or call them in. The Sport Dog collar uses simple settings of one, two, three and so on. No. 2 is about the same as 35 on the Dogtra; three is somewhat uncomfortable and four seems a bit excessive.

Every dog is different, and you’ll want to start very low and increase only when necessary.

Having used e-collars for several years now I have to reluctantly admit they are simply a wonderful and humane tool for keeping your hunting partner safe, provided they are used appropriately. Sadly there are people who abuse these tools, and those people it seems could benefit from a good dose of electronic stimulation. Don’t be one of them.

I suspect most who have hunting dogs are like me – not dog trainers, just folks who love bird hunting, love dogs and cannot really enjoy either without the other.

In my 45 years of bird hunting with dogs I have learned a few things; perhaps most importantly, at least in my experience, is that less is better most of the time.

Dogs have taught me a hell of a lot more about bird hunting than I ever taught them. Let them hunt. Spend a lot of time in the field with them and you get to know each other.

Pretty soon you will be partners, and there is just hardly anything better than that. ASJ JANUARY 2015

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BY BECCA ELLINGSWORTH

estled into tiny downtown Talkeetna you will find the unique and comfortable tasting room of Denali Brewing Company. It’s where the brewmasters first got to work in 2009, back when the outfit was producing only 400 barrels a year.

Attached to the tasting room is the Denali Brewpub, where you can get a bite to eat of unique local favorites. I chose the tasting room’s comfy and casual yard to grab some artichoke fritters and a cold brew – or two.

The beer garden at Talkeetna’s Denali Brewing Company is a popular hangout for a summer brew. (BECCA ELLINGSWORTH)

Denali’s standard beers include Mother Ale, Single Engine Red, Twister Creek IPA and Chuli Stout. (BECCA ELLINGSWORTH)

Owner and brewmaster Sassan Mossanen explains barley’s role in the brewing process during a tour of his operation, which he and his family started in 2009. (BECCA ELLINGSWORTH)

And just outside of town – mile marker 2 – on Talkeetna Spur is the site of Denali’s new-and-improved brewhouse and tasting room, built in 2011. It stands with authority before a massive Mat-Su Valley backdrop. This is where I met Sassan Mossanen and family, who, with a lifetime passion for brewing and a drive to help the community around them, jumped into the brewing biz six years ago.

I found Sassan very particular about

his ingredients and what becomes of them afterwards, which was refreshing.

He insisted on a taste test of not only the brews, but the handpicked toasted barleys as well. Time and special care has been bred into each recipe Denali Brewing sets out (except maybe the Belgian Bastard, which I have personally renamed Girly Bastard due to its light and citrusy notes – a personal favorite).

There is no doubt that Denali Brewing (907-733-2540; denalibrewingcompany.com) is a hometown success story. Since opening during the boom of the brewery craze, they’ve gone on to produce 6,500 barrels in just five years. And something else sets them apart. Maybe it is the fact that sportsmen and -women now have a delicious craft beer in a user-friendly can that they can take on the river, hike or hunt.

Maybe it’s the fact that they employ the most year-round jobs in the area; that they feed the local cows with the spent grain; or that they have a commitment to brew at the highest standards of quality. For me, it didn’t take more than a tasting and I was hooked.

Even though most of their beer is con-

sumed in Talkeetna, you can find Denali brews at almost every restaurant, pub or local retail store in Alaska. If you are not in The Last Frontier at the moment, you have to hit up a specialty shop. For me, it’s worth the extra mile. ASJ Editor’s note: Becca Ellingsworth is an account executive for Alaska Sporting Journal.

The author (right) and Mossanen toast a cold one. (BECCA ELLINGSWORTH)

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Getting around Alaska in winter can be a challenge for any driver.

But for Alaska State Troopers who have calls to various isolated areas, having a durable vehicle is a must. (ALASKA STATE TROOPERS)

WHAT A TRIP IT’S BEEN WHEN THE LAW RESPONDS, GETTING THERE IS HALF THE STORY

BY STEVE MEYER

B

eing in law enforcement, particularly as a part of a S.W.A.T./ S.E.R.T. team, isn’t always as glamorous or exciting as it may seem from the outside looking in.

Frequently, a call-out consisted of long hours, sitting in the cold and waiting out a suspect who posed no immediate danger once contained

within a perimeter. Bad as we would want to blow open the door and settle that individual’s hash post haste, that was not often how it was done.

Most of the time that suspect would eventually surrender, everyone went home unharmed and, while the threat was resolved, the “action” was, shall we say, rather unsatisfying.

There were few things more disappointing than getting geared up in

tactical gear, loading a Colt 1911 and strapping on an MP5 to resolve the task only to have the suspect be a weenie and surrender after hours of simply containing the situation. And so it went.

THERE WAS ALWAYS some excitement available for the adrenalin junkies.

When a license is given to those bent in that direction, they will drive fast.

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An Alaska State Troopers canine unit on a call. The author says one of the most thrilling aspects of the job was the high speeds traveled responding to an emergency situation. (“RADIOKAOS”/WIKIMEDIA)

Often times, the most exciting segment of going out on a call was the drive to get there. Running “code” or red lights and siren as fast as the rev

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limit on the vehicle allowed was supposed to be reserved for those times when a situation was developing and immediate response was required;

that was as opposed to a warrant service or similar task that didn’t demand immediate attention.

But we treated all calls the same

and drove fast; not so much in residential areas or other congested areas where such behavior would endanger the public, but on the open road, we accelerated in a hurry. Fortunately, because of the vast area we covered, many of our call-outs required road travel of 50-plus miles, which translated to lots of fast driving.

For many years, Alaska housed prisoners in jails in Arizona; a growing prisoner population and lack of bad space dictated these moves, and we would sometimes move 80 to 90 prisoners from the Spring Creek Correctional Center (SCCC) in Seward to Anchorage, and then fly them south on a U.S. Marshals Service 727. We would gather at the SCCC in the middle of the night; we’d load the prisoners into 10 transport vans and head to Anchorage.

With patrol vehicles in front and back of the convoy, we would head out in the dark, red lights flashing and drive the 100 miles to Anchorage at

The author says prisoner transport never lacked subplots, including the transportation needed for the trip. (ALASKA ARCTIC WARRIORS)

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80 mph.

In the dark of winter, such a trip is in itself pretty exciting, but the icing on the cake was that the vehicles were separated by no more than a car length. Yep, 80 mph on ice – in snow or rain – we would white knuckle our way, some of the very best of times.

AS WE CAME into Anchorage, every intersection was lit up with flashing red and blue lights from the Anchorage Police Department and Alaska State Trooper patrol vehicles. It assured us that no one would interrupt the move.

Typically, we would arrive in Anchorage around 4 a.m., and thus, few bystanders witnessed the magnificent display of lights and the choreography of patrol vehicles leapfrogging from one intersection to the next to stop possible threats to the convoy.

There are a lot of intersections between the outskirts of Anchorage and Ted Stevens International Airport, and in the many moves we made like

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this one, we never had a problem with anyone intervening in the move of some very dangerous folks.

Prisoners were not always moved in mass. Time and circumstance would dictate moves via commercial airline. Two of us would take two prisoners, board a commercial airliner in Anchorage and fly to Phoenix, Ariz., where we would get a rental car and drive the 80 miles to the prison in Florence. We would never know what the administration would have reserved in the way of a rental car until we arrived. For sure they were never the same, which worked out well as we were able to determine the top speed of every rental car the fleet had to offer. Most were rather anemic and would reach a rev limit of around 100 mph. At first glance, that seems fast enough, but the Arizona desert at night with virtually no traffic invites much higher speeds than that.

On one trip we had a vehicle that ran out at 112 mph, and going at that

speed a two-story motorhome went past us like we were crawling. I don’t know what it was, but I sure wanted one.

The funny thing about prisoners being transported: they always had lots to say. They would complain and generally be annoying at the start of any trip. Once on the open road, as speeds could increase, the noise subsided until around 80 mph when there was absolute silence. I was never sure if this was fear or fascination; no matter I suppose, it worked great.

IN ALL OF the prisoner moves I was involved in during my law enforcement service, the only mishap occurred (thankfully) when I was driving the speed limit.

As we headed to Seward with nine prisoners early one winter morning a moose came out of a steep side ditch and we hit that big animal broadside at 55 mph. Once the smoke cleared from the airbags and we determined

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we were still alive and all of the prisoners were able to speak (meaning they were, at least for the moment, fine), I opened the van door and started checking on each one.

A prisoner sitting on the outside of the bench seat was complaining of leg pain. Pulling his pants leg up to check, I was astonished to see his leg had literally no calf muscle and a large scar instead. I said “holy (expletive)� or something to that effect and he said, “Oh, that isn’t from the crash, a dog did that.�

One week later my partner, an adventure junkie who loved excitement as much as I did, and I were tasked with making four trips to Phoenix in seven days. Due to scheduling, the third trip in the series found us at the airport around 10 in the morning with prisoners who were both doing life.

Both huge from hours in the weight room in prison and tattoed from head to toe, the pen did not invite casual conversation. Normally, we would be

at the airport for departure at 1 a.m.; in this instance there were not that many people around and those present were half-asleep. While waiting, we would seat the prisoners away from everyone and normally facing out toward the tarmac; this day was no exception.

As we walked into the waiting area, there was a particularly attractive woman who was focused on us.

Shortly after sitting the prisoners down she walked over to the window directly in front of them. She wore spandex pants that left little to the imagination and bent over in a manner that inviting staring. What a time to have to be professional, we thought, as we scooped these two guys up and moved them away from whatever commotion was going on.

We finally arrived in Phoenix and found the car company had managed to rent our reserved sedan.

Our only option was a Mitsubishi Mirage convertible. Well, when in Rome! We went on our way with two huge convicts towering above us in the backseat, top down and cruising the hot concrete freeway at 117 mph, the rev limit of the car. Of course that was purely for the sake of security; jump out of a vehicle moving that fast and there is every chance a meeting of your maker will occur much sooner than you would prefer. Neither one of these guys said a word on the drive, but when we got to the prison they both thanked us for “the best day they had had in a very long time.”

Sadly, those days are past, and while we had a great time making our own excitement, the flavor of the day now would more than likely result in termination for such great fun.

It’s precisely why I retired in perfectly good health, perfectly capable of doing the job for many more years. ASJ Editor’s note: The author was a longtime Special Emergency Response Team leader for the Alaska State Troopers.

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PROTECTING

WHEN MINING THREATENS SALMON

T

he controversial Pebble Mine project that opponents contend could threaten one of the world’s largest salmon spawning waters, Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska, is clearly a hot-button topic around the state and has made national headlines.

Down on the Alaska Panhandle, another mining controversy is brewing, and just like to the northwest, so too is the absurdity of opening or reopening mines that could compromise valuable natural resources.

The Tulsequah Chief Deposit is located just east of Alaska’s capital city, Juneau, across the Canadian border in British Columbia. Once a busy gold, zinc and copper mine, the site hasn’t been mined since being abandoned in the 1950s.

Enter a Toronto-based company, Chieftain Metals Corp., which acquired the mine in 2010 and had reportedly planned to first construct a road to transport ore from the mine. Now, the idea is to use barges from the adjacent Tulsequah River, to the salmon-filled Taku River across the border in Alaska and ultimately into the Pacific.

“We are now poised to make The Chief a reality,” the company’s website

(chieftainmetals.com) proclaims in big letters on the front page.

It very well may happen, but like the Pebble Mine, Chieftain Metals figures to receive plenty of opposition from, among others, fishermen. The Taku is Southeast Alaska’s biggest producer of various salmon species, including large runs of Chinook and sockeye.

“It’s going to create a lot of acid-generating waste rock,” Guy Archibald of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council told Juneau radio station KTOO. Archibald cited the dangers of allowing acidic water to infiltrate the Taku and its tributaries.

“It can have very significant impacts, starting with the fisheries. And that leads to problems with the economy, which leads to issues in the small communities, whether they can continue to maintain their populations,” he told the radio station.

And that’s where money always seems to trump the environment. It’s understandable for a company to see the potential for a dormant mine to churn out valuable minerals and perhaps stimulate the local economy. But we’ve also seen such projects destroy ecosystems, as Alaskans who endured

The mountains around the Seward Highway on the Kenai Peninsula are a great place to explore Southcentral Alaska. (BIXLER MCCLURE)

WILD ALASKA

BY CHRIS COCOLES

The Taku River, Southeast Alaska’s most prolific salmon fishery, would be a major transport center of a proposed mining operation in British Columbia, Canada, just across the border from Juneau.

(COMMANDER JOHN BORTNIAK/NOAA CORPS)

the Exxon Valdez spill know all too well.

Like the Pebble Mine tug-of-war, Southeast Alaskans are surely asking a legitimate question: “Is it worth it?”

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ON THE EDGE OF NOWHERE HUNTING MUSKOX MEANS FAR-FLUNG DESTINATIONS

BY PAUL D. ATKINS

I

tried to regain my balance after falling down for the 10th time, but gravity took over and I slid down the side of the mountain on a nonstop crash for the bottom.

Luckily, my bunny boot caught a rock that was anchored into the ice and I stopped. In the back of my mind, though, I started thinking that this might be a bit too much, considering the situation we were in.

Hunting the cold, wind-swept tundra for muskox is relatively easy. You find a bull, make a stalk and eventually your arrow or bullet will find its mark. Pretty simple, right?

I’ve heard some say it’s like going out into a pasture full of cattle, finding a

bull and shooting. Not much to it, and to tell you the truth, they’re really not far off. But, like most hunting situations, it depends greatly on how big and remote that pasture is.

Once you find muskox they’re pretty easy to take after you get into position.

If you’ve ever seen a muskox hunt on TV, you usually noticed that the hunter is taken close to the herd, dumped off, and a stalk takes place. They get the bull by himself, and once he is shot, it’s “big bull down.”

IN SOME PARTS of Alaska, muskox herds live in places where man never ventures; access can be downright aggravating, if not dangerous.

Here in Northwest Alaska, we have some of the most beautiful country

in the world: mountain ranges to the north with deep valleys and creek drainages all lined with spruce trees, alders and willows. Wildlife runs abundant in the fall, and without a careful eye, you cannot see them due to the colorful foliage. The winter, however, is a bit different.

The “white” background created by deep snow and frost allows you to see it all, almost to the point of illumination. Believe me, it’s quite a sight to see a moose in the snow, a lynx or maybe even a pack of wolves cruising a ridge top looking for their next meal.

Muskox are no different. To see these big burly beasts with their shaggy coats of armor plowing through the snow is quite a sight. It’s almost like seeing a dinosaur in its natural habitat or Bigfoot, even. It’s quite surreal.

To locate and hunt muskox in the high country, though, you’ll have to look

Muskox are incredible creatures that have survived for thousands of years. Prehistoric in appearance and limited to remote Arctic lands, and to ultimately take one is quite the accomplishment. (PAUL ATKINS) JANUARY 2015

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The Arctic in January can be a tough and challenging place, especially if you’re venturing into when it’s 30 below zero. Typically covered in ice and snow these harsh conditions are ideal for muskox. Good binoculars and warm gear are a must. (PAUL ATKINS)

up. Wolves are the number one enemy of muskox, so to keep safe they get out of the deep snow and head up to the scraggly rocks of some of our steeper mountains. They’re safe there, as looking down on your enemy is a lot easier than looking up.

For the hunter, it makes it pretty tough, especially if you have chosen to chase them in the winter.

I HAVE TAKEN several muskox over the years, and each time has been a different experience with its own set of difficulties: whether it’s climbing rocks or braving the wind and cold to get into position. I’ve taken ox with

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both bow and rifle, and both have been a challenge. Rifle is much easier if you have a good rest, but your shot has to be true or you’ll end up having to have follow up several times. It actually reminds me of buffalo hunting in Africa.

Archery is a lot different. You have to deal with the wind, and it can be quite dangerous, especially if the bull doesn’t like the fit of your snow pants.

If shooting a rifle, pick a big caliber.

These creatures are extremely tough, and the fact is all that hair and bone can take quite a pounding. Being able to hit the right spot and get through all that mass will take a heavy caliber.

Anything smaller than a 7mm won’t cut it. I once killed a bull with a 7mm, but it took a follow-up shot to bring him down. I highly recommend using a .300 or better to get the job done.

Archery can be even tougher. Cuton-contact broadheads are essential, and you must be pulling enough pounds to get a pass-through, if possible.

Properly placed arrows with single-entry wounds will work eventually, but a muskox’s hair can soak up and seal a lot of blood. I personally use a Steel Force Premium head, which not only cuts everything it touches, but with enough pounds will go right through the toughest animal. Plus they don’t go far.

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A COUPLE OF years ago, we were sledding up a familiar drainage when we crossed a set of tracks that were really fresh.

We knew it was muskox by the rounded groove of the track. We didn’t know if it was alone or part of a group. The area was about 5 acres and literally torn up from ox digging through the deep snow to find the frozen vegetation below.

We followed the tracks towards the mountains. We made our way past the first hill, but something told me to look back and check the mountain and the jagged rocks we had just passed. I’m glad I did.

Nestled between two boulders like a tick was a lone bull watching us. I couldn’t believe it! We had actually passed by him the first time, a reminder of the massive size of this country.

We quickly turned around and headed to the backside of the mountain.

Once there, I untied my bow case from the sled and assembled my quiver, arrows and broadheads. Even though I had my bow stored outside for weeks

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and the fact that it was cold, I was still worried about the performance.

Once I had all my gear assembled, I started the climb. It was a pretty treacherous trip; the rocks were covered in sheer ice and it was steep!

Trying to find a good route up any mountain can be tough, but even more so in these conditions. It was a slow process, and I was worried the bull would either move off or climb further into the rocks.

Finally, I got to where I thought he should be, I peered over a big boulder to have a look. Like magic, or something you might see on TV, there was my bull standing right below me, quartering away. How perfect could it get?

I eased the rangefinder up, punched the button and it read 17 yards, which is pretty close, though he looked further away. I took the arrow that I had been carrying in my teeth and put it on my string. I knew that I had to get to my knees to clear the rocks in front of me; I just hoped when I did he wouldn’t no-

tice and decide to bolt.

I drew the bow with no incident and placed the 20-yard pin a bit low. Carefully feeling for the trigger on the release I squeezed. I watched the fletching stop just short of going all the way through.

Muskox hair is thick, believe me, but the 100-grain broadhead did what it is supposed to do.

In less time than it took to load another arrow the bull was down.

I had my muskox bull.

LAST YEAR’S HUNT was not that easy. We began in early January with the thermometer reading minus 30. The ride across the ocean was painful, and if it hadn’t been for my cold-weather gear, beaver hat and the electric warming grips on my snow machine, I would probably have stayed home.

The first time out I just wanted to scout. Finding muskox can be tough.

During the winter they tend to roam and search for food and safety. Also, I wanted a big bull and, unlike moose and car-

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Though rare, finding a lone muskox bull roaming the hills is a real possibility, as the author, pictured here, has found.

Some bulls venture off on their own, but in most cases they can be found with a small herd of cows on ground swept of snow by the wind. (PAUL ATKINS)

ibou, they weren’t around every corner.

At an area where we’d taken muskox before, we stopped and glassed the surrounding hills, only to see snow and more snow. We traveled on and glassed as we went. We finally spotted muskox at the top of a mountain near its peak.

Looking through the spotting scope, I could see four cows and one bull, but I couldn’t tell how big he was.

We needed to get closer, which was going to be tough considering the spot they were in.

We took our snow machines up the side of the mountain, parked them and then made the stalk to the top.

Unfortunately, the wind was head on, and getting through the deep snow was a miserable experience. When we reached the peak we peered over and there they were, seemingly right in front of us. Surprise!

They saw us and, as muskox do, formed a line facing us. I was carrying my .300 Winchester Short Mag, but there was no shot. The standoff last-

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Packing up and heading home. Getting a bull off a mountain can be tough, but what a relief when you do. Getting it back to civilization and into the freezer is well worth it for some of the best-tasting meat around. (PAUL ATKINS)

ed only a few minutes, and then they turned and skirted the ridgetop away from us. That ended our hunt, but it turned out to be a good day of scouting

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despite our frostbitten ďŹ ngers.

Thinking the group wouldn’t move far from the area, we made a plan for the following week. Saturday arrived,

and we found ourselves glassing the same hills, but to our disappointment there was not an ox in sight.

This became the norm for the next

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SECURING YOUR TAG Muskox tags are getting harder and harder to come by, especially here in Alaska. There are basically two ways to get one. First and foremost, you will have to apply for these tags through a draw or a questionnaire process. This process takes place beginning November 1 and ending December 15. It is all done electronically and can be found on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website (adfg.gov).

There are limited places to hunt muskox here in the state and the tags are highly sought after. Nunivak Island is a very popular choice, even though the logistics can be tough at times. This island hunt is listed in the draw supplement and can be applied for through the general drawing. Permits on Nunivak do vary from year to year and are based on surveys conducted by the local biologist in the area. Some years there are numerous tags, while in others it can be limited to just a few based on herd numbers.

Another avenue for the muskox hunter can be found on Norton Sound, in and around the Nome and Shishmaref area. These tags are broken into several units within the area, and again are based on the number of muskox to hunt. Biologists look at numbers and determine each year the maximum amount that can be taken from the herd. These tags are also available through the general drawing.

Last but not least are hunts available through the Tier II system. These hunts and or tags are only available to hunters who live in that particular unit. Tags are very limited, highly sought after and can be quite hard to ob-

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three weekends. In six days of searching, we didn’t even cut a track.

THE WEEKEND OF the Super Bowl – early February – we decided to go out and try our luck again. Like previous weekends, we saw nothing on the hills and surrounding area. We were about to leave when I told my hunting partner that we should check the backside of the same mountain we’d seen the five ox on earlier.

He agreed and decided if we didn’t see a bull, then we could set the wolf traps we had brought along with us.

Circling the mountain was tough.

The snow had become crusty and hard, and it was a rough, bumpy ride.

We ventured behind and came up with nothing. “OK, let’s set some traps and head home.”

On our way out I had to look one more time. Low and behold, I spotted an ox! Stuck in a bunch of boulders were the same five we’d seen in January.

It was a tough spot, and with day-

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WE CAREFULLY CIRCLED and came in betain. Most who are lucky enough to secure one of these coveted permits are those who have been applying for years. The process of getting a tag is not really a draw system, but is based on a questionnaire that comes from ADFG. Questions include factors such as how long you have been applying, the community you live in, where do you buy gas and food, and others. Tier II hunts are regulated from a meat standpoint and the subsistence lifestyle.

It doesn’t matter whether you apply or draw, if you’re one of the lucky ones and do obtain a tag, it can and will be a hunt of a lifetime. More importantly, if you do score it will be some of the best meat you will have ever tasted! PA

light about gone, we decided that if we were going to attempt this, we had to attempt it quickly. We rode as close as we could and began to climb.

Bunny Boots are standard issue here in the Arctic. Created by the armed forces for Arctic deployment, they are a blessing. Though hard to walk in at times, they have pretty good traction. Luckily, my boot gripped the rock and I was able to continue up towards our target.

When we got to the top we peeked over and there they were, this time un-

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aware of our presence. We inched closer and finally found a spot where I could get the Bog-Pod up and settle the rifle.

The big bull was on the far right.

Catching my breath, I was finally able to settle the crosshairs only to have the bull move in between two cows. We waited, and with daylight about gone, he moved again and gave us the shot. At 250 yards I heard the 180-grain bullet hit hair and bone. The bull stumbled and disappeared behind the rocks. The cows just stood and watched.

hind them. I peeked over the rock and there was my bull. It was an incredible trophy, but more importantly we had some of the best meat you will ever eat.

Muskox meat looks a lot like beef and but tastes better. You probably wouldn’t think that considering what they eat, but believe me, it’s awesome! I was so grateful to get him.

Hunting muskox is challenging, and finding a bull in some areas can be about as tough as it gets. However, finding one and shooting one is the easy part, compared to bringing one down off a mountain in extreme weather, loading it in your sled and then heading home in the dark. ASJ Editor’s note: The author is an outdoor writer and a contributing writer for Alaska Sporting Journal. He has written hundreds of articles on hunting big game throughout North America and Africa.

You can find him on Facebook. Paul lives in Kotzebue, Alaska.

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IN THEIR SHOES SNOWSHOEING YOUR WAY THROUGH A SHORT WINTER DAY

BY KRYSTIN MCCLURE AND BIXLER MCCLURE

I

Author Krystin McClure looks ready to conquer the deep snow of a short Alaska winter day. There are only a few hours of daylight to get outside and snowshoe around, and many times ptarmigan may be in the area for hunters. (BIXLER MCCLURE)

t was 9:30 in the morning and I finally rolled out of bed. No worries though, the sun had not yet risen.

The three weeks surrounding either side of the winter solstice are always the most awkward. Here in Alaska, we get four hours useable sunlight. We probably wouldn’t get moving for another hour, when the sun peeked over the snowy mountains.

Our destination was nowhere in particular. With Alaska frozen solid, the wilderness is at our fingertips. No more worrying about bears, brush, bugs, mud, or rain. A thick blanket of snow covered the willows and other brambly bushes and opened up otherwise inaccessible territory to those willing to deal with over-snow travel. Our favorite method: snowshoeing.

We started snowshoeing when we came to Alaska. If you want to get anywhere by foot beyond a packed trail this time of year, snowshoes are a necessity.

Our first pairs were Atlas snowshoes that came in a starter kit, designed for an introduction into the sport over easy rolling terrain. After five winters of heavy use climbing mountains, navigating willow thickets for ptarmigan, and crossing lakes, we finally upgraded to the heavy-duty version (also Atlas).

There is a big difference between the two. Our mountain climbing snowshoes have sharp crampons and a beefier

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frustration and started heading straight down the hillside in his snowshoes to retrieve the wayward ptarmigan. The hillside was steep and had only a few inches of snow over shale. Bixler hit a shale patch and slid out of control. I watched on the

SNOWSHOEING BASICS

Bixler McClure heads down a steep hill in the Seward area, trying to track down a ptarmigan that slid away after it was shot. (KRYSTIN MCCLURE)

construction for the rigors of our style of snowshoeing.

AT 10:30, THE sun finally rose over the mountains and we headed out the Seward Highway looking for a new snowshoeing destination. The Seward Highway is peppered with nameless roads and trails, both in and out of use, from a long history of hunters, miners and explorers.

We stopped and picked one of these random trails, parked the car, and grabbed our snowshoes.

A dry winter means little snow at the lower elevations, so we carried our snowshoes up until the snow got deeper. We had a backpack full of clothing to put on or take off when necessary. Snowshoeing is a major calorie burner and a great way to stay warm on an otherwise chilly day.

For us, there is nothing worse than post-holing, or walking through deep snow without snowshoes. As soon as the snow was deep enough, we strapped on our shoes, remarking at the immediate relief our calf muscles felt after a mile of light post-holing. At this point, we were Snowshoeing is a great way to stay in shape and get outside in the Alaskan winter. There are also tasty upland birds like this one Bixler McClure is holding to bring home for a hearty protein-filled meal. (KRYSTIN MCCLURE)

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above the treeline on our mysterious trail that at that point was a well-used road.

There were leafless alders poking up through the snow, animal tracks everywhere, and not a single human in sight: the perfect Alaska experience.

The trail steepened and I stopped again to peel off another layer. Bixler was pushing ahead to break the trail while I lingered behind. Soon the alders disappeared and the scenery was all snowy white. Bixler stopped ahead and I finally caught up to him.

“This is ridiculous, why are we doing this?” I complained. I was carrying the bulk of the load while Bixler carried the shotgun looking for any stray ptarmigan.

My backpack was full of all my remaining layers and I was hiking without gloves, a hat or a jacket at this point.

“I don’t know, it was your idea,” Bixler smirked back. We pushed onward, going up the steep hillside on a forgotten trail.

The snow deepened and the vegetation disappeared. The flat light made it impossible to discern features along the trail.

“Is that a ptarmigan?” Bixler stopped suddenly and pointed randomly above us.

I stopped to catch my breath for a second before responding.

“Yes, I can see its eye,” I replied. How he managed to see the bird perched on the outcrop is a complete mystery.

Bixler fired the shotgun at the bird. It was a nice shot, but it sent the bird rolling down the hillside. To our horror, it had no intention of stopping. Bixler looked over at me like I was supposed to do something, but I just watched the bird roll over and over again down the valley.

Bixler set his gun down on the trail in

So you want to start snowshoeing?

Snowshoeing is an excellent way to stay in shape during the winter and to explore new terrain. Here are some tips from some long-time snowshoers: *Invest wisely. A new pair of snowshoes can run a few hundred dollars, but don’t be put off by the cost. Anticipate what you plan on doing in the snowshoes, whether it is walking around a snowy field or climbing steep mountains. *Crampons are key. We recommend snowshoes with crampons to help with changing conditions.

They will also prevent the snowshoer from sliding downhill on theway home. *Poles or no poles? Sometimes we use poles, sometimes not. We recommend poles for first-timers to help with balance up- and downhill. As you become a more advanced snowshoer, you can try without poles – especially if you forget them at home! *Layers, layers, layers. Snowshoeing is a major workout and you will find yourself peeling off layers, especially on steep climbs.

Anticipate wearing a few layers to keep you warm at the start and when you stop. Don’t wear too much while snowshoeing because you can overheat easily, especially when the sun is out. *Bring a snack, and a backpack.

There is nothing worse than going hungry on an epic snowshoe trip.

Be sure to bring along a few extra calories. We recommend a backpack to carry food, water and all those layers you might be taking off during your adventure. KM

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into the snow with each step. He handed me the ptarmigan, looked up and saw another one. This time we were poised to catch the bird, like football players diving to recover a fumble. Luckily, it

trail above, unable to help. He dug his snowshoes into the ground and came to an immediate stop. Below was the bird.

Bixler snowshoed straight up the hill back to the trail, digging the crampons

ISLAND HOPPING WITH YOUR BIRD Need a taste of the islands in the winter? When we lived in Hawaii, we loved driving around on weekends and getting Huli-Huli chicken, the Hawaiian version of barbecue chicken. In Hawaii, you can find this at roadside barbecue joints all over. Naturally, we make this with grouse and ptarmigan now.

Ingredients

Combine ingredients in a bowl and marinate for about an hour. Heat your grill to medium-high. Remove ptarmigan from sauce, drain slightly, and place on grill, turning occasionally until done.

For the real Hawaiian experience in Alaska, make it a plate lunch by serving with white rice and a scoop of macaroni salad. BM

One ptarmigan per person, split in half length-wise 2 cups soy sauce (or enough to cover) Hot sauce (Sriarcha is our favorite), as much as you want 1 tablespoon sesame oil A couple of gloves of garlic, mashed 1 tablespoon grated ginger

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stopped on a single willow branch and Bixler retrieved it.

We pushed onward, legs aching at this point, to a dead end in the trail.

We stopped for a snack and remarked at our two low-calorie ptarmigan after expending 1,000 calories to get up here. Bixler and I put more layers of clothing on. I checked the time: 2:30 and already we were losing our sunlight. We wanted to continue further, but we would be out of daylight in an hour.

We stopped briefly, legs quivering, to admire the view. We had been so focused on our two ptarmigan that we neglected to look around. The low light in winter makes for stunning pictures of mountains, especially from above.

Snowshoeing to get to that destination is difficult, but the view is worth it.

Trust us. Oh, and you might see a few ptarmigan on the way, too. ASJ Editor’s note: For more on the authors, go to alaskagraphy.com.

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From

FIELD FIRE

Tim Delarm, the producer of Alaska Outdoors TV, has been on many waterfowl hunts throughout Alaska, but ranks last fall’s hunt with Jeff Wasley of Four Flyways Outfitters in Cold Bay, to be the best of the best. (TIM DELARM)

HUNTING FOR THE HEARTY

WATERFOWLING A JANUARY OPTION, IF YOU CAN GET THERE

BY SCOTT HAUGEN

W

hile many of Alaska’s hunting seasons have passed, there’s still great duck hunting to be had in parts of the state. For Game Management Unit 10, including Pribilof, but excluding Unimak Island, waterfowl season runs through January 22.

On Kodiak Island, where the season also runs through January 22, transporters are more commonly utilized.

While there are some residents who

have the hunting somewhat dialed-in in these remote places, most hunters hire the services of a guide, due to the nature of the hunt.

“This is a tough spot for the do-ityourself hunter,” shares Capt. Moe Neale, of Alaskan Eider Outfitters (alaskaneideroutfitters.com) on St. Paul Island.

“Not only do you need to bring a lot of gear to be prepared for the ever-changing conditions, but without a 4x4 vehicle, snowmobile, boat or quad, you may not even reach the hunting grounds.”

To

King eiders are considered the pinnacle of the waterfowling world, and St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea is one of the few places on Earth these birds can be hunted with consistent success. (MOE NEALE)

Moe has been outfitting and guiding hunters on St. Paul for a decade.

“I’ve seen people fly in and none of their gear makes it, and with only three flights a week coming from Anchorage, that can ruin a hunt,” he says. “That’s why we have most of the backup gear a person needs.”

For avid bird hunters and collectors, St. Paul is usually the last stop, as it’s the best place in the world to hunt prized king eiders.

“Kings are at the top of the chain of North America’s 32 waterfowl, and usually the last thing hunters go for,” notes JANUARY 2015

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Moe. “King eiders are one of the most prolific sea ducks in the world, but hard to get a census count on due to the remote area they live in. On St. Paul, you’re going to see kings all the time, but connecting is about being in range and making the shot count.”

In addition to king eiders, St. Paul offers coveted harlequin ducks, longtails, black and white-wing scoters, plus a mix of others – including puddle ducks – depending on seasonal conditions. Be prepared for high winds and harsh conditions during the peak of the season, mid-December through season’s end.

Island hopping Some of Alaska’s best sea duck hunting is found on the western half of the Aleutian Chain. Again, access is tough, and if you don’t have decoys, boats, quads or other rigs, simply getting to a hunting place can be impossible.

“Early in the season, people can hike out on their own and hunt from shore, but be prepared to cover a lot of ground, and know that easy access spots get more pressure from other hunters,” offers Jeff Wasley, veteran guide of the Cold Bay area (fourflywaysoutfitters.com).

“Early on there are more Canada geese and puddle ducks, along with brants, but from late November through the end of the season, December 16, this area turns into more of a collector’s hunt.”

Wasley’s clients have high success on common eiders, the largest duck in the northern hemisphere, and what attracts many hunters to Cold Bay late in the season. “We’re about 90 percent on common eiders, and luck in to four or five kings a year; there are tons of harlequins, longtails, black and whitewinged scoters,” Wasley shares.

Lately, coveted brants have been sticking around Cold Bay. “Brants are actually wintering up here, and studies showed that last winter, upwards of 50,000 of the birds stayed here; usually around 30,000 brants stick around,” points out Wasley. “Brants decoy really well, and the past couple years we’ve had hunters taking birds right up to the end of the season.”

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From

FIELD FIRE To

FIGHT STRONG FLAVOR WITH BACON

BY TIFFANY HAUGEN

M

any people feel sea ducks are best made into jerky or warmed for hours in the slow cooker. However, birds like harlequin ducks and brants are delectable when properly cooked. Goldeneyes, scoters and eiders may need some extra touch to make enjoyable to the pallet, and that’s where duck bacon comes in.

Yes, bacon traditionally comes from a pig, but you’ve heard of turkey bacon and soy bacon – why not duck bacon? Originally a recipe for ground duck jerky, duck bacon makes a great breakfast meat. If you find yourself with ducks on hand that have a stronger

Late in the season, Cold Bay also offers common goldeneyes, bufflehead, greater scaup and red-breasted mergansers. To reach birds this time of year, a boat is needed, meaning the guided route is about the only way to go. Wasley has very high success with low-profile layout boats, and quality decoys birds can see from a great distance.

“I’ve been fortunate to travel much of the state, and the bird hunting at Cold Bay is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” 104 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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flavor, this brine/marinade treatment is just the taming they need. Having a Cabela’s jerky gun to make the strips is great, but they can also be cut by hand.

2 pounds ground duck meat 2 teaspoons kosher salt ¼ cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons liquid smoke 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon granulated onion and/or garlic 1 tablespoon olive oil or bacon grease for frying Skin ducks and remove all breast, leg and thigh meat cleanly from bones, tendons and ligaments. Grind ducks on the finest grinder plate or pulse in a food processor until

shares Tim Delarm, producer of Alaska Outdoors TV. Delarm has also filmed king eider hunts with Moe, and points out that while there are plenty of birds, hunters need to prepare for tough conditions and shoot well, as these birds aren’t easy to bring down.

This winter, if you’re looking to pursue king eiders, get in touch with Moe. Or if you’re looking ahead to next season, now is the time to solidify plans and see why

ground. Add remaining ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

Refrigerate 12 to 24 hours. Fill jerky gun with cold meat and squeeze out strips of desired length. If you don’t have a jerky gun, simply roll out ground mixture between two sheets of waxed paper. Par-freeze 10 minutes and cut to your desired size. Heat olive oil or bacon grease in a skillet on medium-high heat. Fry duck until browned on both sides, one to two minutes per side.

Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany Haugen’s popular cookbook, Cooking Game Birds, send a check for $20 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489 or order online at scotthaugen.com.

sea duck hunting is an adventure many waterfowlers around the world dream of.

ASJ

Editor’s note: Personally signed copies of Scott Haugen’s thrilling book, Hunting The Alaskan High Arctic, can be ordered by sending a check for $35 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275 Walterville, OR 97489, or order at scotthaugen.com.

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OUTDOOR NEWS AND NOTES

BY STEVE MEYER

S

ometimes, there are some really amusing bits of information found in outdoor publications.

Not long ago, an article in one of the major hunting/fishing publications set out to “prove” once and evidently, for all, things which were evidently questionable in the arena of shooting in the hunting field.

Is fiberglass more stable than wood?

By way of proof they used a fiberglass stock of unknown origin and a wood stock of equally unknown origin, but claimed it was properly sealed. The test was to soak both in a tub full of water overnight and see which one retained its zero. Really? With the mere possession of several working brains cells it seems one would know that fiberglass does not absorb water and wood, regardless of sealing, soaked overnight, will. No surprises; the wood-stocked rifle didn’t hold its zero.

In all the years (49 and counting now) that I have hunted, I simply cannot remember (which may be from loss of certain faculties due to advancing years) ever having soaked one of my hunting guns in water overnight. I’ve crawled through some swamps putting the sneak on some unsuspecting ducks and submerged my wooden-stocked over-under shotguns on many occasions.

Typically, by the end of the waterfowl season the buttstock has swelled a bit beyond the perimeters of the recoil pad.

This is the place where most woodstocks swell from field use; it’s the standing against a tree or other object in wet grass.

Factory sealing isn’t typically the greatest under the buttplate or recoil pad.

In those 49 years there have been times when hunting moose or bear that it never stopped raining for days. In spite of my wood-stocked rifles, I’ve never had

one lose its zero on a hunting trip.

Another general belief that the article wanted to prove was a hunter will shoot a rifle with a good trigger better than one with a bad trigger. Funny stuff, and credit to them that they admitted it; it didn’t work out that way. Five shooters shot better with a bad – heavy and creepy – trigger. Determining it must have been from concentrating harder with the bad trigger, which may be the case, they missed the most important point about triggers and the press thereof. It doesn’t matter how heavy or creepy or how light and crisp a trigger is. If you aren’t pressing it correctly, which means letting the gun go off, not making it go off, the shooting will not be as good as it can be.

What about the Kenai?

The last time the Board of Fish (BOF) held a meeting in Kenai was 1999. The cities of Kenai, Soldotna, Seward, Homer, Seldovia and the Kenai Peninsula Borough, in a joint resolution (No. 1), requested the BOF meetings concerning Upper Cook Inlet fin fish in 2017 be held in Kenai. Since 1999, the BOF meetings have been held exclusively in Anchorage, and the request was made in an attempt to allow more Kenai-area residents the opportunity to participate.

Residents of the Kenai area who wish to participate must do so at considerable cost and inconvenience, and the resolution cited holding the meetings in the Kenai area on a rotating basis would produce a venue that is more transparent and equitable to two groups: those who are either commercially committed to the salmon fishing industry or sport, and personal-use folks who would like to have their concerns be heard face to face with the BOF. Seems reasonable, given roughly 80 percent of the folks involved live on the Kenai.

Well, would you believe the BOF denied the request? Yep; you see, it seems the BOF has become nothing more than

NO SYMPATHY a group of political hacks, who, depending on the flavor of the day, are bought and paid for by the commercial fishing industry.

Game, set, match?

This August I went down to a commercial set-net site to purchase pink salmon for supplementing my hunting dog’s food.

The faces at the site were familiar. Growing up in the Kenai area I’ve done commercial drift fishing, long-line fishing and set-net fishing.

I’ve known the folks involved most of my life; they are friends and neighbors who work hard and love the life. There were kids from age 3 to teenagers at the site, all pitching in with the family activities.

I hadn’t gotten to my chore as early as I should have and, since it was nearing the end of the season, I wasn’t sure if there would be anybody there. I walked up and said to the fella who greeted me, “Glad you guys are still here, I was afraid I missed the boat.” His fatalistic reply was, “This may be the last time we are allowed to do this.”

The other adults at the site gathered around and we talked about what they all believed was an inevitable eventuality. Set-net fishing was going to go away. It struck a nerve in that our Alaskan lifestyles are being minimized at the expense of political pressure – be it areas we once roamed free to hunt, areas we grew up fishing being overrun by tourist propaganda, or restrictions that are clearly made to make room for visitors.

It does seem likely these folks are right; they are going to be forced out by political pressure. Times change and sometimes that is necessary in an evolving world. The sad thing about this, and many other situations that affect our lifestyle, is these changes will not help what has happened to our fish runs or our game populations.

It is all about putting money in different pockets and, sadly enough, almost never about the resource – in my not so humble opinion.

Think about it. ASJ JANUARY 2015

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OPENING AN ICE COLD BEER (CAN)

Anchorage locals refer to Little Campbell Lake as “Beer Can Lake.” Located the shadows of Alaska’s largest city, it offers some unique ice fishing opportunities. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

URBAN WINTER FISHING WITH A TWIST

BY DENNIS MUSGRAVES

L

ooking at the odd finned creature dangling from my fishing hook led me to state the obvious: “What the (expletive) is this?”

Having spent many years ice fishing in Alaska I thought I had caught every identifiable species of freshwater fish found in The Last Frontier. However, this bizarre fish had me scratching my head.

Dark brown mottled skin covered its 6-inch cylinder-shaped body, which

displayed similar characteristics to a saltwater goby or a miniature burbot.

I stared hard, examining the fin placement and enlarged eyes, but it was to no avail. I had no clue. Neither did my buddies, Chris Cox and Paul Ferreira, who happened to be spending the day with me on the ice. All of us were intrigued and dumbfounded at what I just brought to the surface.

ANCHORAGE MAY NOT sound like the ideal destination for an outdoor ice fishing adventure or discovering a new species of fish. But passing on a chance to wet a fishing line in the big city during the winter is almost criminal – especially

for an all-weather angler like me.

Residents of the most populous city of the 49th State have over a dozen stocked lakes that are spread out across the Anchorage Bowl. I enjoy taking advantage of the unique fishing opportunity whenever I visit in winter.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages a vigorous stocking program for the public lakes, including a variety of fish species. Catchable rainbow trout, Arctic char, and landlocked salmon can be found in good numbers, and regulations allow a liberal bag limit for those wanting to harvest fish for the table.

In addition, accessibility is not dif-

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Paul Ferreira shows off one of the lake’s hefty though slightly mishapen char stocked by state fishery managers.

(DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

ficult, making it convenient for anyone eager to experience ice fishing inside the city limits. The combination of a good population of fish to target and easy access presents a sound argument for ice anglers to give it a try.

A favorite of mine among the several small bodies of water available is Little Campbell Lake, or Beer Can Lake as it is commonly referred to by locals. I have heard a few different stories about how the nickname for the lake came to be, but since my wife grew up in Anchorage in the 1970s and 1980s, her version sounds most credible.

She says the area was once well known for being a late-night hangout and party spot for young people. Underage drinking and vandalism were common events – the name Beer Can Lake at some point in time was conceived and stuck. “It’s been called Beer Can Lake since as far back as I can remember,” declares my wife.

I won’t deny ice fishing at a lake with a cool sounding moniker is part of the charm.

MY MAIN REASON for targeting Little Campbell Lake has to do with the fish stocking plan. About once a year 110 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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ADFG places a limited number of broodstock Arctic char in the lake. The fish are much larger compared to normal size stockers, as seen by searching the ADFG online stocking report. In recent years char averaging 5 pounds have been released.

My friends and I have noticed that their tails seem to take on the likeness of an ungulate’s hoof. Whether this is from a genetic issue or due to being pinned in a concrete containment farm while they fatten up – causing wear to their tails from rubbing on a coarse-surfaced enclosure – I do not know why the fish have these malformed tales. I do know that the fish are big, shaped like footballs, covered in polka dots and fun to catch.

Actively jigging spoons or bait in 5 to 8 feet of water will bring fish in. My friends and I favor using bright-colored weighted Aero Jigs, because they have worked with great success.

In addition to oversized char, Beer Can Lake periodically receives a supply of rainbow trout and landlocked salmon from ADFG. The fish are much smaller in size compared to the broodstock char (some are less than 6 inches in length), but they are just as fun

to catch with light tackle. The quantity of fish provides constant action for anglers of every level.

Enticing a bite using a subtle approach also works well. Threading a fishing hook with a small piece of shrimp or salmon eggs, dropping it down a hole in the ice, and letting it hang in the water column near the bottom is a good technique. Although passive, it’s a simple and effective approach; sometimes that’s all you need to catch active fish.

After all, I’d caught the unidentifiable tiny creature while fishing hands free, placing my short ice fishing rod in a special stand designed for “dead sticking” bait. The rod-holder device held my fishing pole sturdy at a 45-degree angle, allowing the line to hang motionless in the water.

Each time the fish bit at the baited hook, my fishing rod tip would bounce slightly, acting as an indicator and letting me know something was nibbling on my bait.

Responding to the twitching rod tip, I knelt beside the ice hole and secured the fishing rod carefully. I did not want to spook the fish by suddenly changing the depth at which the bait was sitting, potentially scaring away whatever was chomping away.

Once I secured the light-action fishing pole from the holder, I grasped the handle firmly. I could feel the intermittent striking at the bait on the other end of the line. Timing my setting of the hook in unison with each deliberate tug on my line tested my reaction; I whiffed my first couple attempts. However, I remained steadfast, refining my motion and timing after each miss. Determination in full swing now, I finally connected, and with hardly a struggle brought the strange little guy out of the water.

It wasn’t much of an angling challenge, but I did face a dilemma.

What name to give the fish?

MY INITIAL RESEARCH on the ADFG website brought the mystery to a quick conclusion. I had indeed not discovered a new species, but I did catch a fascinating one. This was an Alaska black-

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fish (Dallia pectoralis). The unusual fish can only be found in Alaska and parts of Siberia. What makes them special is their ability to breathe air. Thanks to genetic evolution, they are one of only two

known fish that have a modified esophagus, which allows gas absorption, giving them an air-breathing capability.

Alaska blackfish are bottom dwellers and found in abundant amounts over

ICE FISHING ANCHORAGE Where The Anchorage Bowl area has over a dozen public accessible lakes available for ice fishing. The lakes are part of a robust stocking program that is managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Easy access, catchable size fish, and liberal bag limits allow both visitors and residents opportunity for a fun outdoor winter activity without having to travel outside the limits of the big city.

Campbell Point Lake is one of the lakes located within the municipality.

The small lake is situated inside the boundary of Kincaid Park, just south

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of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. A short road near the front entrance of the park branches off the main road, leading visitors to a small parking area and turnaround, which is adjacent to the lake’s edge.

Better known by locals as Little Campbell Lake, or Beer Can Lake, the cigar-shaped fishery has less than 9 acres of surface area and is relatively shallow, with its deepest point only 17 feet down.

A variety of fish species are stocked in Beer Can Lake, including rainbow trout, Arctic char and landlocked salmon (Chinook and coho).

much of the state. Alaskan Natives use the fish extensively as a food source for both humans and dogs. According to ADFG, the fish are not naturally occurring in Beer Can Lake and were probably

Another unique fish called an Alaska blackfish is also found in the water; however those fish are not stocked.

Blackfish are small in size (mature fish rarely grow longer than 8 inches) and have a modified esophagus, allowing them air-breathing abilities.

The odd little fish can be found in good numbers naturally around Alaska, but ADFG suspects the fish were either accidently or illegally introduced into a few of the lakes around the Anchorage area, including Little Campbell Lake.

How Basic equipment is required to go ice fishing anywhere in Alaska. Anglers will need an ice auger (either man-

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Tiny Alaska blackfish are not stocked in Beer Can Lake, but they have made their way into the waters and will bite your lures or bait. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

accidently or illegally introduced there.

All I know is I was able to notch another mark on my belt by adding another species caught ice fishing in Alaska.

Sometimes the great outdoors can be found not far from the city – certainly so for ice fishermen jigging the frozen lakes found in Anchorage.

Catching funky-tailed char and mutant air-breathing fish through an

ice hole at a lake known affectionately as “Beer Can” certainly has made for a few entertaining outdoor winter fishing adventures for my friends and me.

ASJ

Editor’s note: Author Dennis Musgraves and his fellow fishing fanatics are known as the Alaskan Salmon Slayers. Check out more at alaskansalmonslayers.com.

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ual or power) for cutting out fishing holes in the ice, an ice scoop to keep the holes open for fishing, and, of course, fishing rods and terminal tackle.

Angling methods used for hooking a fish can be active or passive. Fish can be caught consistently by jigging small-sized plastics or spoons in the water column at locations 5 to 8 feet deep, or by dead-sticking bait near the lake’s bottom. Bright colorful Aero Jigs are ideal to use when targeting the broodstock-sized arctic char.

If you’re not interested in purchasing items for ice fishing, ADFG has a terrific rod loaner program, offering ice-fishing equipment that anglers can check out and return at no cost. Fishing lures and bait are not included in the program. Equipment normally available includes manual augers, ice scoops and ice fishing rods. Contact the nearest ADFG of-

fice (907-267-2218) for questions and to confirm availability.

Safety Make sure you do a good risk assessment prior to winter activities and traveling on frozen icy surfaces. Safety considerations should be well thought out for safe ice thickness, avoiding slipping or falling on slick ice, and preventing injuries. Checking ice thickness with a test hole, wearing traction devices on your feet, and dressing appropriately in layers for inclement conditions will assist in mitigating the hazards. Avoiding mishaps and being comfortable will keep you fishing and having fun longer.

Strict rules apply for sportfishing in Alaska, and individuals should be aware of all the regulations before they drop a line. Current regulations, additional information and emergency orders can be found at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website (adfg.alaska.gov). DM

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JIGGING THE ICE

SMALL LURES WILL CATCH FISH

BY STEVE MEYER

F

umbling with numb fingers, the single salmon eggs from the small jar seem to get smaller and infinitely more difficult to manipulate onto the tiny ice fishing jig.

You start thinking that cold hands must be somehow figured into the economics of salmon egg sales, as more fell down the ice hole than made it onto the hook.

There had to be a better way. There is.

Be prepared for an Alaskan ice fishing excursion with not just layered clothing for the brutal cold but also some heavy-action gear that includes baitcasting rods and reels. (STEVE MEYER)

Getting jiggy with it The ice fishing sections of sporting goods stores are typically well stocked with tiny, colorful jigs, that when tipped with a salmon egg, a piece of shrimp, or a grub worm, are effective and generally the go-to lure of choice. Their diminutive size allows packing as many as 100 into an ice bucket without knowing they’re there. In places where live bait is allowed, one of these small jigs tipped with a minnow, at least according to the reports, are fabulous fish catchers.

Drop one of these bait-adorned little jewels down most any ice hole where there are fish and something will soon be nibbling.

Of course, the nibbles are often from tiny fish that aren’t really big enough to get their mouth around the hook. Nevertheless, in short order it’ll be time for another egg or piece of shrimp. Thus the process goes, given enough time maybe a “catchable” will actually take the bait. Catchables are those fish stocked by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in many lakes across the state. Mostly they are around 8 inches long, and while they can be caught, if eating them is part of the plan, it takes four or five per person to make a decent meal.

A better way revealed itself many years ago on a backcountry snowshoe trek into a remote lake. There were decent populations of respectable rainbow trout and char. Fishing with standard ice-fishing gear – tiny jigs with single eggs and JANUARY 2015

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For hearty anglers, colorful trout are the reward for a winter fishing trip on the frozen lakes and ponds of Alaska. (STEVE MEYER)

shrimp – for several hours produced nothing but the tiny nibbles that barely moved the rod tip but swallowed a lot of bait. Changing locations and drilling enough holes for a golf course didn’t help either.

Pure coincidence had dropped a Mepps “Piker” kit that contained sev-

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eral large spoons and spinners in my backpack. In desperation mode now, I sent a 5/8-ounce, silver Mepps Syclops descended into the depths. Lifting the lure quickly and letting it drop in the fluttering motion these spoons make, I was instantly rewarded with a strike – an unexpected one that was missed.

A couple more drops of the Syclops was rewarded with a hard strike; this one was answered appropriately, and quickly a 17-inch red-fin char was flopping on the ice. On the next drop down the Syclops produced a twin of the first fish.

Stay on the move Being greedy on a hot ice hole never seems like a good idea, and besides, moving frequently while ice fishing not only finds more fish, it keeps the blood flowing. So it was off to one of the previously drilled and nonproductive holes.

On the drop the levelwind pawl on the Ambassador 6000 traversed the width of the spool three times before hitting bottom. Bouncing the spoon off the bottom produced no strikes. Bringing the lure up to 20 feet seemed to produce nothing, until the ninth or tenth working of the lure when all hell broke loose.

The leviathan of the lake hit hard and spooled line on a hard angle threatening to cut the line on sharp sides of the

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6-inch ice hole. An epic fight ensued and I eventually brought to hand a 21-inch bronzed, natural-run rainbow trout. The beautiful fish gasping on the ice won my sympathy. I just didn’t have the heart to turn her into dinner and she darted away with a brief resuscitation at the surface.

Picking tackle Most ice fishermen pick up one of the very small spinning rod/reel combinations sold specifically for ice fishing.

These set-ups work fine to a point. They are great for stocked lakes with plenty of 10- to 12-inch rainbows or char, and one can have a grand time catching a limit in a relatively short period of time.

But if you’re seeking bigger fish – and who amongst us isn’t? – especially lake trout and pike, then you may want to ask yourself a question: If you were fishing for trophy-size fish in the summer, would you use a tiny reel, a limber rod and suspect 6-pound test?

Probably not, eh? So why not step up your ice fishing equipment a bit?

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Quality fishing rods with casting reels for ice fishing are marketed by Wright & McGill, Fenwick and St. Croix. Jason Mitchell, a trophy walleye fishing guide from North Dakota, has developed an outstanding line of rods for trophy ice fishing too.

Any of the known brand of baitcasting reels are going to be decent, but it’s also nice having the pawl on the levelwind follow of the line as it goes down, which Ambassador 6000 offers. This allows you to keep track of depth, a critical factor in ice fishing.

Superbraid specifically designed for ice fishing is worthy of consideration. While supposedly preventing ice buildup on the line, it doesn’t work in temperatures below about 20 degrees (nor does any line), but it has virtually no stretch; your ability to “feel” what is going on with these lines is practically priceless. Stepping up your level of equipment allows the use of the heavy spoons that are so successful in the quest for big fish through the ice.

Watch that line Line twist is an issue when jigging big spoons. The twisting/turning action they produce will wind up line in no time unless a swivel is used. A snap swivel makes it quick to change lures and keeps your hands minimally exposed to the cold. Ever try threading one of those tiny jigs at 15 below zero with cold hands? Miserable is the first word that comes to mind.

It’s best to use a snap swivel that does not have a hook that sticks out where it locks. Inevitably the line will hang up on the exposed hook and ruin the action of the lure until it is cleared.

Those snap swivels that are made by Danielson are sleek, inexpensive and work really well.

The multitude of colors available in jigging spoons are more for attracting fishermen than any real difference to the fish, it seems. The main issue is visibility to the fish. Bright silver flashes nicely and produces more strikes on bright sunny days. On low light, overcast days

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edge of the hole, and the fish instantly twisted off. This can happen with single hooks, but isn’t nearly as common.

Think rainbows aren’t predators?

This fish was gorging so fast it wasn’t digesting baitfish and still hit the author’s 1-ounce Syclops spoon. (STEVE MEYER)

a fluorescent orange spoon seems to be the most successful, as it supposedly appears black to the fish and they see that more readily. I’m not sure if that science is true, but it works.

The Mepps Syclops and most other large spoons come equipped with a large treble hook, and they work

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great, so long as the angler is mindful of the hook when bringing the fish up through the hole. Work the fish below the hole until it can be brought straight up the center of the hole.

So many times before figuring this out, I’d brought the fish up on the side of the hole the treble hook caught on the

Work the spoon Fishing your jigging spoon is fairly simple: drop the spoon to the bottom, thump the bottom a few times and then bring it up so it is just off the bottom at the lowest part of the rod stroke. Lift it up around 2 to 3 feet and let it drop before repeating the process.

Work it that way about 10 strokes, then crank up a few feet and repeat.

Working the entire depth of the water column and finding where the fish are holding is your first order of business.

Vary the speed of the lift, sometimes slow and deliberate; if that doesn’t produce, faster and more aggressive lifts can make a difference.

Rainbows and char typically hit while the lure is falling; you have to stay alert as it is easy to miss a strike if you’re not paying attention. Lake trout will typically hit on the upstroke; they

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love the chase. Lakers will also slap the lure as they go by with the intention to stun the “fish,” and then come around and nail it.

Stay with your game after what seems like a missed strike and you’ll catch more fish. When sitting on a chair or a bucket, be ready to stand up to set the hook if the fish hits at the top of the jigging stroke – unless you have really long arms.

Since “discovering” the large jigging spoon for ice fishing rainbows, char, lakers, kokanee, pike and even grayling, all readily come to hand for me. It’s hard to beat a combination that produces bigger fish and eliminates the frozen finger bait process.

Turning ice fishing into a real passion not only makes the long winter pass faster, it can even make you wish for a longer winter – well, maybe not, but it is a great way to enjoy the winter outdoors in Alaska.

Especially when you catch a few fish. ASJ

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Arctic char are among the targets for ice fishing throughout the state. (STEVE MEYER)

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PRETTY IN PINK The International Game Fish Association certified Mike Gallion’s pink salmon, caught on a small fly he developed with a barbless hook, as a line-class record. (MIKE

GALLION)

CATCHING AND RELEASING A RECORD HUMPY

BY MIKE GALLION

S

ome mornings are just made for fishing! On this one, there was not a cloud in the sky, almost no wind, and the temperature was climbing towards 70 degrees. All this, and in Alaska yet!

It was about a 50-mile drive in the early hours of the day to reach Cowee Creek, north of Juneau. But the sunrise and the view of the Chilkat Mountains, just a few miles across Favorite Channel, made the time pass quickly, in spite of the condition of the road in places. When signs in Alaska say rough roadway ahead, it’s not an exaggeration!

I parked the pickup near the bridge where the road crosses Cowee Creek, set up my fly rod, put on my waders and walked down to the stream. This was the day I had been waiting for. It had not rained for several days (unusual in an Arctic rain forest), and the creek was just low enough to allow me to reach the spot I wanted to fish. But first I tied on a

No. 6 L.G.T. and made a few casts near the bridge. My efforts were rewarded with two nice pink salmon, each about 3½ pounds. They were beautiful fish, but not exactly what I was looking for. After releasing both, I headed on downriver to a spot I was unable to fish earlier in the week due to high, fast water.

As I approached the special spot, I could see that the water was indeed lower than a few days earlier. Since there were no beaches or gravel bars nearby, the only way to get into the creek was to ungracefully slide down the bank, hanging onto whatever was handy. Since Cowee’s primary source is a glacier, the water is sort of a chalky white color from the glacial flour. In other words, if it’s more than a foot or so deep, you can’t see the bottom!

Fortunately, the spot where I slid into the water was only about 2 feet deep – so far so good. I waded out to the middle of the creek to a submerged gravel bar and walked to the downstream end of it.

From there I could easily place a fly into the hole downstream from me, with the

upstream portion of the creek giving me room for my back cast.

After a couple of casts, letting the current sweep the fly across the face of the hole, I had a fish on. I could tell it was not large, and it felt like a Dolly Varden, which, in fact, it was. I released the char and made a couple more casts, moving the fly a foot or so further downstream with each cast. If I had found the Dollies, the salmon had to be nearby; they moved upriver with the pinks, feeding on the salmon eggs dropping from the ready-tospawn females.

The strike Suddenly the rod bowed, and from the load I could tell it was not a Dolly Varden. Now the immediate objective was to keep this fish out of the tree roots, limbs, stumps, rocks, and other obstacles lining both sides of the creek. Pinks have the softest mouths of Pacific salmon, and any attempt to horse the fish, particularly with a small fly with a barbless hook, almost guarantees a long-line release.

After 10 minutes or so, the fish was tiring and I was ready to start moving it to JANUARY 2015

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the closest thing I could see that resembled a beach. It was a short horizontal chunk of log stuck into the bank with a bit of dirt behind it.

I played the ďŹ sh over to the log and carefully lifted it out of the water and laid it on the dirt behind the log. I quickly grabbed the Chatillon scales, my camera, a record form, and the measuring tapes. A quick weighing and measuring,

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The author caught his record pink in Cowee Creek, located north of Juneau. He also released the salmon to continue on its spawning journey.

(MIKE GALLION)

a few photographs, and the fish was ready to be returned to the water.

I held him gently by the tail with his head pointed upstream so water would flow through his gills. After a couple of minutes he was revived enough that he swam back out into the current, ready to continue on his upstream journey. He would soon spawn and then die, continuing the cycle of life for all Alaska salmon.

Perhaps two years from now I will catch another pink salmon in Cowee Creek, a descendent of this fish, a descendent that would not otherwise have been there had this fish not been released.

I caught and released a couple more fish that day, and then hiked back to the truck. As I walked along the creek, a bald eagle flew down the center of the Cowee, checking on the state of his kingdom.

Today had been a good day. I had caught what turned out to be world-record fish on a fly that I had developed ,and used a barbless hook. I played the fish to hand, and it was neither netted nor gaffed. The fish was released unharmed to continue the spawn. I had no assistance from anyone and had enjoyed the solitude of the water in the early morning, shared only with the eagles. It really doesn’t get any better than this! ASJ Editor’s note: The author lives on Whidbey Island in Washington and is a retired Southeast Alaska fly-fishing guide. In addition to having set several fishing world records, he has also won several world championships in handgun competitions.

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RETURNING TO WINTER WATERS STEELHEADING IS A RITE OF PASSAGE

The author looks forward to the colder weather, the repetition of cast after cast without a fish and then the rare moments of success, that define steelhead season. (JEFF LUND)

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BY JEFF LUND

I

t’s finally here.

They might not be, but it’s that time of the year that you won’t know for sure unless you go.

Special care is put into assembling the suit because you’re a steelheader now. The warm days of summer salmon are over. You dressed warm during hunting season, but you weren’t standing in water in the dead of winter. This is a different program.

The socks are wool – high-quality wool that will stay put, stay warm and isn’t so thick as to cause crowd-

ing in the boots. The boots might be new along with the waders. If not, the holes better be patched because cold water is colder when you have time to notice it. And anyone who has fished for winter steelhead knows all about time.

The excitement of being out slowly wanes after a little while. The initial focus is numbed. You tricked yourself into believing that by being the only, and probably the first, one out there, there was a good chance that there was a chrome hen waiting to be caught. But when that doesn’t happen after the first cast, the first 15

minutes, the first half-hour, the first hour – eventually, the cold becomes more palpable. You were hoping to get lucky. As much as you know and are willing to put in the time, it sure would be nice if you didn’t have to.

You cast and watch your warm breath get overwhelmed by the sharpness of the heatless air.

Then, on an otherwise unremarkable cast to a spot that doesn’t look any fishier than the others, comes the tink. Was it bottom? You didn’t hit a rock on the previous swing, so why would there have been that disruption on its path that time? Fro-

Your summer salmon gear is now put away, so it’s time to bundle up and chase Alaska’s winter steelhead run. Just know it won’t be easy. (JEFF LUND) JANUARY 2015

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Steelhead bring out the best in obsessed anglers in frigid Alaska. (JEFF LUND)

zen guide? You cast again. Nothing happens. Maybe it was on a different line. You try to replicate the cast you made two casts ago which is starting to fade into memory. Three casts. Four casts. Seven casts. By cast No. 11, you’re sure that one of

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them had to replicate the one that hit the rock you now know is a fish.

That was your chance. If you were going to get one pull the entire day, this was it. The hot girl let down her guard for a second, but you asked her for directions to the bathroom rather than

her heart.

So you continue to move downriver, maybe a little more careless and sloppy than before. The pressure is off. The chance has passed.

You’re back to the routine when the line stops, then runs. Fish on.

You wonder what you did but don’t have time to analyze because the excited panic sets in.

It’s all happening. It’s now. A month ago you were hunting for deer. You walked for hours, saw one and it was over in a matter seconds. This is taking minutes. There is a fight you feel in your body, not a pull you feel in your finger. You forgot what this felt like and all you can think to do is focus and keep tension.

Nothing is cold anymore; you feel your way over rocks downriver and toward shore in those clumsy boots.

You hadn’t planned a place to land it because it seemed a little presumptuous to do so, as if calling your shot.

The fish leaves the water; it’s heavy

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and mean below the surface, then it’s running. It works through a variety of tactics, but you’re still connected. The line comes in slowly. Then it leaves.

Back in, back out, more in. You’re gaining. The fish doesn’t break, but it does tire. The first grab around the tail is rejected sternly and the swish of its

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When you land a hard-fighting steelhead, you only have a few seconds to admire and then release your trophy. (JEFF LUND)

tail sends icy water up your sleeve.

You don’t care, at least not yet. You get the line back, reach for the tail and it lets you. You drop the rod, turn the fish on its side and stare at its flanks.

You caught fish during the summer because there were so many around.

You were just hoping for one chance at one fish today; luckily, you got two.

As overwhelmed as you were by the tussle, you know that it can’t stay half-submerged on this sandbar for long. You wanted to catch it, not kill it.

So as much as you want to admire it, you only deprive it of water for a few moments, or however long it takes to document the moment digitally. You let it slide from your grasp, feeling the slickness as it leaves you. You follow it move swiftly.

It slows, puts its snout into the current and then becomes part of the river. You keep staring right at it, but can no longer see it.

You haven’t thought about being cold for a long time. Rather than go right back to fishing, you stand for a few minutes or even find a log to sit on. You’re still alone – the only person out, maybe the first one out. This moment doesn’t happen often. You catch steelhead, but that first winter fish is always special. You’re a year older, but you’re still at it.

You hope every winter starts like this. If it does, you’ll forever feel like you’re living, not just breathing. ASJ

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The thought of trying to land one of these monster Seward halibut on 16- to 22-pound test line seems too daunting. But the author says it’s more than possible to have a puncher’s chance to catch a big fish on light tackle.

(CRACKERJACK CHARTERS)

ADD A LITTLE SPORT FISHING THE BOTTOM WITH TO HALIBUT LIGHT TACKLE, ALASKA-STYLE

BY ANDY MEZIROW

C

atching trophy halibut is one of those endeavors that often takes persistence. But the end game is this: catching a 100-plus-pounder, and experiencing that burn in the forearm, and tightening of your muscles in the lower back, with sweat pouring off the

brow and the second belly button.

Now, imagine catching halibut on tackle that gives them a fighting chance of escaping. In my opinion, catching a large halibut or lingcod on light tackle remains one of the ultimate fishing challenges in Alaskan waters. It requires special tackle, techniques and strategy.

TACKLE AND TECHNIQUE First, you need to have your fishing tackle in perfect working condition.

Check your guides for burrs (run a strip of pantyhose through them). Lube up your reel and fill it with high-quality line. Sharpen your hooks and go find some halibut. Here are tackle recommendations for this fishing style: JANUARY 2015

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LINE I would recommend starting your ďŹ rst light-tackle trip with 8- to 10-kilogram (16- to 22-pound test) International Game Fish Association line. These line classes are very forgiving and you will likely still bring home dinner, even if you make a few mistakes.

The diameter of this line is thin enough to use very light lead and still reach bottom. I exclusively use Berkley IGFA line. IGFA-rated line is line tested to break at the IGFA-rated line-class strength. Noncertified line will often overtest by as much as 30 percent.

RODS I prefer a medium-action rod for this kind of fishing. The action on a Fenwick Elite tech 7-foot, 9-inch Muskie is perfect. The length and action makes it very forgiving, yet it has enough power to wrestle a big flattie off of the bottom.

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Sometimes, it can take up to an hour to land a large halibut on lighter line. But the sore arms and overall exhaustion will be worth it if successful. (CRACKERJACK CHARTERS)

REELS I would recommend that you use a reel

that holds a minimum of 350 yards of line and has a smooth drag for the 16to 22-pound lines. We use lever-drag Penn Torque 10 two-speeds, perfect for lighter lines. These reels have a very sensitive drag and are the choice of experienced world-record seekers.

For the business end of the tackle, I like to run the maximum length of double line and leader allowed by IGFA rules. For lines testing up to and including 22-pound test, you are permitted a 15-foot section of double line.

A Bimini twist is the perfect knot (animatedknots.com ), and I will use the maximum length of leader allowed, which is 15 feet for lines up to and including 22 pounds. I prefer a 60-pound ďŹ&#x201A;uorocarbon leader and using an improved Albright knot.

I like adding a quality ball-bearing swivel to the leader and attach a 2to 6-ounce crescent weight, leaving a 36-inch length to tie the hook to. For hooks, consider a thin-wire 9/0 octopus-style Owner hook. I opt to set the

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drag at 30 percent of the line’s breaking strength.

You now have your tackle, your drag is set and you’re ready to go find some halibut.

WHERE TO FISH In order to have a fighting chance of pulling a big halibut up on light tackle you have to find halibut in certain conditions.

There are areas all over Alaska that meet the basic criteria for catching halibut on light tackle. It is much easier to try catching smaller chicken-size halibut on light tackle first to get the hang of the technique before tangling with a barndoor.

Shallow water is critical! It is very difficult to bring a big halibut up from 300 feet of water on light line. The idea is to fight the halibut with slow yet steady pressure that will allow the fish to swim up towards the surface.

In deeper water, halibut almost always come up with their mouth open

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and laying straight up and down. Catching a giant halibut on light tackle can be much more easily accomplished in waters less than 120 feet deep, although last year one of my clients did muscle a 147-pounder up from 225 feet of water on 22-pound test. It was a battle!

If your drag is properly set there are two ways the fish can break your light line. One is dragging the line across the rocks; the other is by the tail of the fish beating against your line. Following your fish with the boat is the best way to avoid both of these problems.

THE BATTLE There is little that can match the excitement of feeling a big halibut take your bait and double your light rod over. Once the line starts pulling off your reel, feel free to set the hook several times. The stretch of the monafilament line and the size of the hook require persistence to get a hook set.

Once you have your fish hooked up, relax. This is going to take a very long

time. If you get too excited and start lifting up and reeling down right away, every time you lift up more line will come out and you will be getting nowhere. Let the fish run and do not reel against the drag. Only reel in when you can gain line.

It’s not uncommon to fight a large halibut for an hour or more until the fish becomes exhausted and unable to keep swimming. When your fish comes to the surface, there is no time to waste. Have your crew get a gaff into the fish and slack your line slightly.

Any miscue in the process and you will have to start the battle all over again.

After landing your first big halibut on light tackle, I hope you will agree that it is a fun and rewarding experience. ASJ Editor’s note: The author is the owner and operator of Seward-based Crackerjack Sportfishing. For more information, call (800) 566-3912 or go to crackerjackcharters.com.

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OH CAPTAINS MY CAPTAINS

BY CHRISTINE CUNNINGHAM

M

y favorite ocean captains resemble football coaches.

They are full of the inspiring mangled quotes and near-heart-attack enthusiasm that make fishing about catching.

They can get away with saying things that can’t be said in the office because “80 percent of the people who die in the water don’t make it back.” It’s the authority of skill that makes everything these captains do and say a part of the salt.

It’s never been reassuring to me that a charter boat captain has a degree in seafaring or psychology. What reassures me in any leader, and a captain is surely a leader, is that when they say “get ready,” I get ready. I don’t always know exactly what they mean, but I’m sure instructions will follow.

We were fishing for halibut and noticed a ball of baitfish attracting gulls 100 yards off. “Better get down a salmon rod,” the captain said.

There were three captains on this boat – the actual captain and boat’s owner; a river guide, which is a kind of captain depending on his grit; and, the captain of a charter boat who was fishing on his day off. It was the charter boat captain who suggested we pet the salmon rod out.

Because it was a good idea and because he couldn’t stop captaining a boat despite whose boat it was, he seemed to be the captain of the captains. In my mind he was the captain.

I didn’t pay much attention as the downrigger was set up toward the back of the deck and line let down. We had been catching halibut, but it had been a slow morning. When the salmon rod went down, I went for it.

I don’t remember the sequence of where my halibut rod ended up or if I handed it off. What happened next was a 146 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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fight with a fish that was nothing like yarding one up from the bottom on 80-pound test. It wasn’t a king salmon, either. Nobody had to guess and everyone knew. It was a halibut.

“He’s over here!” The river guide pointed to where the fish broke the surface 20 yards behind the boat. The halibut had run on me three times. I held the rod just waiting for room to reel. “He’s 40 or 50,” the river guide had said when it started. “What’s your guestimate?” At the surface, the guess changed to 50 to 60 pounds. I held the rod upright as the halibut swayed on the surface. It had been 20 minutes, and my arm shook against the rod. Don’t run, I thought. When he let up I reeled. Don’t run.

“That’s a good one. You better get a harpoon on him.” The boat’s owner headed in the cabin for the gun.

“Harpoon ‘em first,” the guide shouted. “Screw the gun. There ain’t much hook on there, so harpoon him.”

There was never cheerleading from these three captains. No one was a spectator; all hands were on deck. They espoused worst-case scenarios and gave second-nature orders, and even though I couldn’t hear much of what was being said at the time, I remember the nature of it.

“There ain’t much of a hook on there, so keep the rod up. Get the harpoon ready. He’s probably 50 or better. Probably 60, hooked right in the kisser. Don’t throw the handle in this time. You gotta back up. You guys ready? Here he comes.

Hold your rod out to the side a little.”

The captain was closest and his voice was a more even tone. “He makes a jump with that thin leader he’s gonna be gone.”

“He’s got an 80-pound leader on there,” the boat owner said.

“I don’t know what’s on mine,” the guide said.

“Well it ain’t on yours, so it don’t matter.”

Prepare for impact, I thought.

I held the halibut and only worried

that it would run again, even though it wasn’t likely. I didn’t know if I could take another run.

“Now he’s gonna sway,” the captain said. “Now let him sway back the other way.” He harpooned the fish, and relief broke through me. “Nice and easy,” the captain said.

“He’s gonna go crazy now,” the guide said. The halibut thrashed in the water and my arms felt heavy and good. All I could do was watch now. Struck dumb, I was no help.

“OK, get your gun,” the captain said.

“Uh, hold on one second,” the second said.

The river guide recognized the lull as I did and looked to be chewing a nail.

“I’d do something but I’m hung up on the bottom. My line’s hung on the bottom so I can’t do nothing. Be careful with that thing now.”

A long stick was handed to the captain and a metallic boom sounded.

“Load it up again,” the captain said.

“You miss?” the guide said. “I don’t know how those things work. A regular pistol you need 3 inches of water. Gives ‘em more concussion.”

“With these you just hammer down on ‘em.”

The second shot seemed louder than the first; the halibut flattened and shook.

“That stunned him.”

My voice finally came back to me. The past 30 minutes I’d been struck mute and focused. Now I wanted to ask about the stick. My fishing partner asked if it was a .38. It was. The halibut was being pulled up over the edge by the captain, and he paused as the weighty fish rested on the gunnel.

“That’s probably a 60 or more, eh?” the guide guessed.

I just stared at the fish. I didn’t care if he was 50 or 60, but hoped he was 70 or more. The book said 100 by measurements, but the captain said he was about 80, and that’s what I’ll believe. ASJ