New Friends In An Old Haunt In Majestic Alaska By Kent Danjanovich
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outheast Alaska has a beauty that’s all its own, with coastal rainforests, icefields, Sika spruce and luscious growth interacting to create some of the most beautiful settings anywhere in the world. One of the Sportsman’s News team's favorite destinations is Juneau, the state’s capitol city. With a number of flights available every day of the week and cruise ships constantly entering and exiting its harbor, the city and surrounding areas are truly a traveler’s paradise. From sightseeing adventures of every type to some of the best fishing waters in the world, Juneau is definitely a must-see destination. Juneau is also the first leg of our trip when visiting one of our favorite fishing lodges in Alaska, Pybus Point Lodge. The lodge is situated on Admiralty Island, about a 40-minute float plane ride away. With its location set at the mouth of Cannery Cove, you will never find a more natural and spectacular setting anywhere, with thick growth, snow-capped peaks and calm waters combining to make a perfect home for wildlife of all kinds. Brown bear, Sitka deer and eagles can all be seen on a daily basis as well as whales, harbor seals, porpoises and sea lions. Scott and Jody Jorgensen have owned and operated the lodge for over a decade and have now welcomed Redmond Inc. as a new partner. And with that new partnership, some great renovations and additions have taken place. New cabins have been built
22 November 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS
The lodge is set at the mouth of picturesque Cannery Cove. They have eight ocean vessels and a handful of skiffs that keep guests busy with opportunities of all sorts. They even have their own floatplane for those wanting to do a little exploring to the islands’ secret hot spots. The lodge is open from the last week in May until about the third week in September. and new boats have arrived to even more enhance the already wonderful customer service throughout. More and more travelers to Alaska are looking for variety in their experience. Some areas can supply that and some simply can’t. Well, at Pybus Point Lodge, you can truly customize your trip to get the ultimate experience from your stay. Also, the lodge can accommodate up to 40 guests at a time, so groups of literally any size can find their place at Pybus Point. Our visit during the summer of 2019 gave us our first look at some of the new additions and renovations at the lodge. I was joined by cameraman, David Heath as well as one of our latest Pro Membership Sweepstakes winners, Parker McElveen and his son Trace. This would be Trace’s first visit to Alaska (but I don’t think it will be his last). After an over-night stay in Juneau, we met at Ward Air, situated next to the main airport terminal, at 7am. We quickly signed in and gave our luggage to the crew as they weighed everything in preparation for our float plane ride to the lodge. With surprisingly clear skies both in Juneau and at the lodge, we were in the air before 8am. The 40-minute flight took us along the coast of Admiralty Island. We were able to spot a couple of brown bears below us and seemingly endless waterspouts from whales as well throughout the flight. Soon we started losing altitude as our pilot made his final approach. Scott and his staff met us at the dock and they quickly welcomed us off of the plane and then unloaded our gear, with a half dozen guests, complete with a stack of fish
