Day 12 - A fishing we will go

Monday, July 02, 2018
Cooper Landing, Alaska, United States
Day 12? Did someone say watch out for the bear?
So last night when I was renting the gear, I was advised against heading out to the falls on the 2 mile hike through the woods due to the high concentration of bear. It was better to go early in the morning. Not exactly sure what time the bears head to bed for the day, which I know they don’t really do, I headed down the trail. Now I’m not afraid of bears, but just as I’m not going into a lightning storm with a metal rod, I’m not ready to sneak up on a momma bear with cubs. So for the next 40 minutes I walked though the trail verbalizing my thoughts like a crazy person walking the streets of St Pete. Once I arrived at the falls, I took in the beauty of the scenery and headed to the river for the salmon. I walked the rocky shoreline staring into the water to see if I could see any salmon. The run is about over so now it is really just sight fishing. At the same time, you have to pay attention to what is going on all around you as a bear can appear any time. Proceeding downstream I get word a momma black bear and 2 cubs just crossed the river. The brush along the river in some places was as high as I am tall. Impossible to see anything leaking in the woods. Back to talking to myself. I wish I could say this is where I caught my limit of salmon, but having missed the run while in Nome, it is not. I hooked up on one which I lost on a rock and was antagonized by another that I just couldn’t seem to catch. They reds are not eating at this point in their journey to spawn, so it’s a snagging game where snagging is not legal??
Enjoying myself thoughoughly, but now needing to move one, I headed vaca ip the trail to the falls. This includes an area of 600 yards of subsistence fishing only by locals, and guess what? All the salmon were stacked up in this area I could not fish. How did they know? Heading further I encountered a women who told me she just saw, from a lookout point, a grizzly catch a salmon in the falls and head back into the woods. Ugh, I missed it. Knowing if I were a bear, and there was one salmon, there are more to catch, so I went to wait until another bear fishing opportunity appeared. Standing on the overlook staring at the falls, I realized in my haste to fish I missed seeing the salmon actually jumping up the waterfall to continue up stream. What a sight, seeing a 10 lbs plus fish launch itself out of the water. Then, while everyone looked on, I spotted it. A blond grizzly, heading down the side of the mountain across the river towards a clan pool in the river teaming with salmon. I said there it is, and the excitement ensued. For at least 15 minutes this beast of pure beauty and power pounced, swam, and dove after the frantic salmon. Frustrated, at the lack of success, he retreated back up the mountain disappearing in the woods. I was so happy. Having debated paying for a trip in one of the small planes to bear watch, I got to see what people pay hundreds of dollars to see. Alaska really is in the wild. Packing up and completely satisfied, again, you can’t plan these experiences, I headed to a small town of Whittier, most famous as a cruise ship port where people then board the Alaskan railroad as well as for their long tunnel through a huge mountain. Finding wonderful camp-sight outside of town with a view of Portage glacier, I camped for the night.

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2025-02-17

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