This is our third summer in Alaska and we are finally getting our kayaks in the water! This is an incredible area! Swanson River is small and very peaceful. Just the right size & current for fishing in the kayaks! But that is not all, as you can see from the map above there are a kazillion lakes and smaller streams through out the area that are mostly connected. Most of the lakes have fish as well. The red line on the map indicates a 50 mile canoe trail . Some of these small lakes are only accessed from the canoe trail but some of them are also accessed by road and hiking trails. Mark isn't into the lake fishing much, but you can bet I will check as many out as I can!
It was great getting the kayaks back in the water!! It has been way to long!
We both hooked several fish, most were small trout and a couple of the silvers broke off or threw the hook. My first cast of the day I hooked a nice hen that pulled me aways down river. After I got it in the boat and removed the hook I just had to show off to Mark. I was holding it up (outside of the boat, duh!) hollering "Hahah first fish!!" Just as Mark turned to look, she did a massive tail wiggle that popped her right off my gripper and yup you guessed it, right back into the water!! Later in the day I also hooked a nice keeper trout. I did have a small net with me but it was buried under all the junk I had in the boat. Well needless to say I didn't use the net and the trout got away too.
Lessons learned?
A. Once you land a fish, DO NOT remove it from the boat until you are back on land.
B. Bragging will only lead to failure!
C. Landing a big trout requires a trout net!
We saw a variety of wildlife, most were familiar like Eagles & outers but some unexpected! One of the times that I was stopped tucked into the weeds, I heard a big splash right beside my kayak. As I turned to look I caught movement in the water between me & the shore. I was actually expecting to see a fish but what I saw surprised me! It looked like a very big rat, but rats don't swim underwater, (At least I didn't think they did?) When I got home I did some research the critter I saw was a Muskrat! This land is always surprising me!!
We spent a good 4 days fishing & kayaking the Swanson River. We both caught fish & the freezer is slowly filling up!
Monday Mark will be going back to the slope for work but I will continue to fish as long as I can. The nights are getting cold and fall is definitely making an appearance. In just a few short weeks all this will be frozen and covered with hoarfrost and the snow will not be far behind!
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