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2006 Soap Box Archives Alaska 06/26/06 I had been to our big beautiful 50th state on three different occasions always to work and always in winter. I’d heard the stories about the great fishing and the endless wilderness and this year I decided to take the time off and make the trip to check it out for myself. Hazel and myself boarded a plane and headed for the land of the midnight sun to try our hand at some world class fishing and after renting a car in Anchorage we headed out down the Kenai Peninsula and some of the most beautiful and pristine country you’ll ever lay eyes on. We checked into our room at Great Alaska Adventure Lodge, which is situated on the confluence of the Moose and Kenai river in an area where you can get some serious fishing done. We got up at 4:15 the next morning, had breakfast and met our fishing guide Jeremy who took Hazel and me to the Kenai River for our first day of going after the king salmon. The morning was slow but about 12:30 when I tied into a 48 inch fifty pound king salmon I found out what fishing in Alaska is all about. There’s no wonder they call them kings because they put up a battle royal. The next day it was a drive down to Seward and a trip thirty plus miles out into the blue Pacific to drag the big halibut out of two hundred feet of water and hook into a bunch of feisty sea bass. One of the beauties of Alaska is that there is world incredible fresh water fishing and incredible salt-water fishing within a few miles of each other. Alaska is, as their license plates declare, the last frontier, a place where you can see whales, sea lions, moose, beaver, eagles, glaciers, snow capped mountains and rushing rivers all in the course of the same day. The people are friendly and the fishing guides strenuously follow the rules set down by the Alaskan fish and game commision, rules designed to protect the environment and to make sure there will be good fishing there for a long time. The next day my trip was completely made when Hazel caught a thirty-five pound king salmon. We had both caught the biggest fish we’d ever caught and found out what a wonderful place Alaska really is. The people are friendly and helpful, the country is beautiful and wild and the sights you see exist only in Alaska. There are only a little over 600,000 people in the whole state and half of them live in Anchorage. The winters are cold and dark and the snow falls in bushels. The land is harsh and demanding and it takes a special type of person to be a year round resident. They’re a hardy bunch. I want to thank the good people of Alaska for sharing their beautiful state with Hazel and myself. God willing you’ll be seeing us again. Pray for our troops. What do you think? God Bless America Charlie
Daniels
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