Alaska Fishing Trip

Portage Glacier (Begich Boggs Visitor Center)

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Attraction | "Learning center for the Portage Glacier and Chugach National Forest"

Portage Glacier Photo - Portage Glacier (Begich Boggs Visitor Center), Portage Glacier, Alaska

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The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is the visitor center for the Portage Glacier and the Chugach National Forest. It’s located at mile 5.5 of Portage Valley Road, just off the Seward Highway. Additionally, The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is also on the same road to the port town of Whittier, where Princess has major cruise ship terminus.The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is clearly marked and very obvious from the road, located right before the road goes into the Portage Lake tunnel. There is usually plenty of parking available, for both cars as well as longer vehicles like RV’s and buses. The Visitor Center itself is an odd futuristic looking concrete structure located on the hillside adjacent ...Read More

The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is the visitor center for the Portage Glacier and the Chugach National Forest. It’s located at mile 5.5 of Portage Valley Road, just off the Seward Highway. Additionally, The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is also on the same road to the port town of Whittier, where Princess has major cruise ship terminus.

The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is clearly marked and very obvious from the road, located right before the road goes into the Portage Lake tunnel. There is usually plenty of parking available, for both cars as well as longer vehicles like RV’s and buses. The Visitor Center itself is an odd futuristic looking concrete structure located on the hillside adjacent to Portage Lake. There are plenty of windows facing the lake, and at one time, directly facing Portage Glacier. Unfortunately due to the recession of Portage Glacier, the terminus of the glacier has retreated beyond the view of the Visitor Center.

The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is also the visitor’s center for the Chugach National Forest, so it’s filled with various displays about the wildlife and plants in the Chugach National Forest, from the lifecycles of salmon to bears to the different flowers in bloom. There are displays about Portage Glacier, as well as information about why glaciers appear blue, how glaciers change landscapes, and so forth.

Being dedicated the Begich Boggs Visitor Center, there are displays to former United States Representatives Nick Begich of Alaska and Hale Boggs of Louisiana, who both went missing and are presumably died in a plane crash in Alaska. The crash mobilized the largest search ever for a downed aircraft at the time. The search efforts utilized helicopters, airplanes, boats, and ground personnel, and even a spy plane to take photos of the landscape. The search effort even located another crashed aircraft that had been missing 17 years earlier! Unfortunately Representatives Begich and Boggs were never found.

There is a 20 minute movie about the Chugach National Forest that shows every half hour. Admission is $5, but if you have a National Park access pass, you can take up to 4 people, including yourself, for free. The movie theater is now in an area that was probably once an observation room when the glacier was visible years ago. The movie shown, "Retreat and Renewal," is a great short clip about the different seasons and the wildlife and plants, as well as the lives of the natives around the Chugach National Forest.

There are several different rooms with displays on wildlife, such as bears, moose, and the unofficial Alaska state bird, the mosquito. There are displays about how the natives live and hunt. There is a weather lab located in one of the display rooms, which tells about the different weather systems around the area and how the glaciers affect the climate. Going down the hallway to the weather lab, you enter a walkway with a curved, tunnel-like window all around you. It almost has the feeling of walking in some sort of weird space station.

There is a bookstore inside, with plenty of materials on activities in the Chugach National Forest, including things to do in and around Seward. There are also snacks available here too, and nice clean restrooms. You can go outside to the walkway along the side of Portage Lake and walk around. Oddly enough, the water level has risen in Portage Lake, submerging some of the lower portions of the walkway. I also spotted a metal cap to a GPS marker on one of the walkways for a Cadastral Survey. I asked the rangers inside about that, and it’s to survey the land, especially if the land moves. A little further down the road is a private boat service licensed by the US Forestry Department to take visitors across Portage Lake and up close to the glacier.

The Begich Boggs Visitor Center is a great place for both adults and kids to visit and learn a lot of things about the surrounding area, the plants, the animals, and just how nature works in general. It's fun, quite scenic and very tranquil here. It’s only a few miles off the Seward Highway, and usually a stop on the way to or from Whittier. It’s worth it to make a quick detour for a visit. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on August 26, 2013

Portage Glacier (Begich Boggs Visitor Center)
Mile 5.5 Portage Glacier Road
Portage Glacier, alaska
907-783-2326

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The Mermaid Cafe

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Restaurant | "Excellent local restaurant & bookstore."

Mermaid Cafe and Old Inlet Bookshop Photo - The Mermaid Cafe, Homer, Alaska

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We heard that the Mermaid Café was one of the top restaurants in Homer. We were famished from our halibut fishing trip, so we stopped by the Mermaid Café on the way home. The Mermaid Café is located just south of the Sterling Highway at Main Street (a block west of the Safeway.) The restaurant itself isn’t visible from the Sterling Highway, but has a sign you can see so you don’t miss it.The Mermaid Café building is a rustic looking wooden house, half wood siding, half log cabin. Under the same roof is the Old Inlet Bookshop. Both the restaurant and bookshop have separate entrances, but are connected by an interior hallway. The restaurant is rather small, and only seats 28. It was around 4...Read More

We heard that the Mermaid Café was one of the top restaurants in Homer. We were famished from our halibut fishing trip, so we stopped by the Mermaid Café on the way home. The Mermaid Café is located just south of the Sterling Highway at Main Street (a block west of the Safeway.) The restaurant itself isn’t visible from the Sterling Highway, but has a sign you can see so you don’t miss it.

The Mermaid Café building is a rustic looking wooden house, half wood siding, half log cabin. Under the same roof is the Old Inlet Bookshop. Both the restaurant and bookshop have separate entrances, but are connected by an interior hallway. The restaurant is rather small, and only seats 28. It was around 4pm, typically not a busy time for restaurants, but the Mermaid Cafe was packed, so we put our name in for the next table and wandered over to the bookshop. The bookshop is extremely packed, with an excellent collection of historical books about Alaska and the local area. We were easily entertained by browsing the historical photos of the area.

After a 30 minute wait that didn’t seem all that long, we were seated. The dining area is quite small, with 6-7 small tables. The dining area is quite open, with views of the beverage station and part of the kitchen. The lunch menu was still in effect and had sandwiches, soups, salads, pizzas, and tapas/small dishes. We spied a few other diners having pizza, and it looked quite good, so we ordered two pizzas, the Mermaid and the lamb pizza. To round things out, we ordered a sprouts and citrus salad and Ahi poki appetizer.

After a few minutes, our salad and appetizer arrived. The entrée sized sprouts and citrus salad are sprouts and cut mandarins over fresh mixed greens, crispy fried noodles, and tossed in a tangy soy/lime vinaigrette. The salad was surprisingly good and fresh. The Mermaid Café is part of the Alaskan Grown program where restaurants try to use locally grown products to support local vendors. Alaska has a short, but very robust growing season, resulting in the excellent ingredients in our salad. The Ahi poki tapas appetizer is made of pieces of fresh and seasoned Ahi with a Wakame sea salad and jasmine rice.

Our twelve inch pizzas arrived a few moments later, both cut into neat little squares. We had the Mermaid, which was made with San Marzano tomato sauce, organic pepperoni, locally grown mushrooms, eggplant pate, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella. The lamb pizza also has San Marzano tomato sauce, house made lamb sausage, large chunks of feta cheese, mushrooms, and an olive oil drizzle, and fresh herbs. Both of these pizzas were absolutely excellent, with hand made crusts that were baked perfectly. The ingredients were fresh and light, and the lamb wasn’t too gamey and spiced just right. We were quite happy with our choices.

Our total came out to $63 before tip. We were commenting to ourselves how good the food was when we noticed one of the waitresses started writing the dinner specials on the blackboard above the kitchen area. They had specials on fresh, locally caught halibut, rockfish, lingcod, salmon, as well as all sorts of other fish, in a variety of ways, curried, fried, baked, and pan seared. We were a little upset with ourselves for perhaps arriving too early for dinner service, but we’ll definitely be back to try out these items.
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on August 24, 2013

The Mermaid Cafe
3487 Main Street
Homer, Alaska 99603
9072357649

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Fresh Catch Cafe

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Restaurant | "Fresh Alaskan fare on the Homer Spit"

Homer Boardwalk Photo - Fresh Catch Cafe, Homer, Alaska

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Locals recommended we dine at the Fresh Catch Café on the Homer Spit, so we decided it give it a try. The Fresh Catch Café is located on the south side of the Homer Spit on one of the boardwalks, right next to Big Bear Halibut Charters. We first entered a lobby area with a deli counter, and were shown a table in the dining room behind.We were seated at a table in the middle of the dining room. The dining room has a gorgeous view of the south side of Kachemak Bay and the rocky beach below. For the middle of the afternoon, the Fresh Catch Café was still quite busy, a good sign. The lunch menu was still in effect, and there were also quite a few specials. The menu featured fresh seafood of a...Read More

Locals recommended we dine at the Fresh Catch Café on the Homer Spit, so we decided it give it a try. The Fresh Catch Café is located on the south side of the Homer Spit on one of the boardwalks, right next to Big Bear Halibut Charters. We first entered a lobby area with a deli counter, and were shown a table in the dining room behind.

We were seated at a table in the middle of the dining room. The dining room has a gorgeous view of the south side of Kachemak Bay and the rocky beach below. For the middle of the afternoon, the Fresh Catch Café was still quite busy, a good sign. The lunch menu was still in effect, and there were also quite a few specials. The menu featured fresh seafood of all sorts, including crab, halibut, cod, salmon, rockfish, as well as local meats such as reindeer and buffalo. Being as Homer is the self proclaimed "Halibut Capital of the World," we all chose halibut dishes. My friends chose the halibut fish and chips and I chose the halibut sandwich.

About 10 minutes later, our food arrived. The halibut fish and chips were three pieces of halibut breaded in Japanese Panko crumbs and nicely fried. It’s served with steak fries and plenty of tartar sauce. My halibut sandwich is basically two pieces of the same type of halibut breaded with Japanese Panko crumbs and fried, but on a nice, fresh bun. It’s served with plenty of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles, as well as steak fries. Basically the same halibut fish and chips entrée, but with a bun and veggies. I’m used to fish and chips usually being beer battered and fried, creating a somewhat heavier crust. The breading with the Japanese Panko crumbs made it feel a lot lighter, and the halibut’s freshness was excellent. The halibut really hit the spot.

My only regret is that we didn’t have the opportunity to stay and try the other fresh seafood dishes. I was a little disappointed that our entire group ordered halibut, as I wanted to try some of the cod and crab. Our total bill was $72 before tip for 4 lunch entrees and 4 drinks. It’s really not that pricey, considering it’s in Homer and tasted very fresh. The staff was very friendly and service was quick. When I’m in Homer again, I plan to dine at the Fresh Catch Café. I’m in a conundrum, as the Panko crusted halibut was so good I definitely want to eat it again, yet I’m also dying to try their other dishes.
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on August 22, 2013

Fresh Catch Cafe
4025 Homer Spit Rd
Homer, alaska 99603
907-235-2289

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Kenai River Salmon Fishing

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The Kenai Peninsula, especially around the Kenai River, is world famous for salmon fishing. Each summer, thousands upon thousands of anglers from all over the world descend upon the Kenai Peninsula to fish the Kenai River and its tributaries, in the hopes of catching salmon. That includes us.The Kenai River is easily reachable via the Sterling Highway. Cooper Landing, along the Sterling Highway, is one of the more popular places to get onto the river and start fishing. It’s where the Kenai River meets Kenai Lake. The banks of the river are deep with anglers fully engaged in "combat fishing." Combat fishing is where anglers crowd the banks of the river to fish, jockeying for position, somet...Read More

The Kenai Peninsula, especially around the Kenai River, is world famous for salmon fishing. Each summer, thousands upon thousands of anglers from all over the world descend upon the Kenai Peninsula to fish the Kenai River and its tributaries, in the hopes of catching salmon. That includes us.

The Kenai River is easily reachable via the Sterling Highway. Cooper Landing, along the Sterling Highway, is one of the more popular places to get onto the river and start fishing. It’s where the Kenai River meets Kenai Lake. The banks of the river are deep with anglers fully engaged in "combat fishing." Combat fishing is where anglers crowd the banks of the river to fish, jockeying for position, sometimes they are as close as 5-10 feet away from each other. Unfortunately, sometimes the combat becomes literal as the close proximities and hooks flying around create short tempers. But regardless, salmon fishing is usually a fun and relaxing activity. Just don't forget the fishing license, as the fish and game do check licenses. You can easily buy a license almost anywhere, convenience stores, lodges, supermarkets, some gas stations, etc.

Starting around early July through the end of July, king salmon make their run up the Kenai River. In late July to early August, the sockeye, or red salmon make their runs. Known for their distinctive red flesh, the red salmon are usually caught using flies, as lures nor bait attract them. Starting in August, the silver salmon make their runs. The silvers are known for being ferocious fighters. Not only can you fish for silvers along the Kenai and its tributaries, but they are also found along the edges of Resurrection Bay, near Seward. At around the same time as the silver salmon run, pink salmon also show up.

I’m very fortunate that my family keeps a cabin on the Kenai River near mile marker 44. Our cabin directly backs to the river, giving us direct access to wade out behind our cabin to fish. When we feel like fishing, we put on the hip boots or waders and wander into the Kenai River. Personally, I find that fishing in the morning hours before 11 AM and fishing after 8 PM seem to be the best hours. I’ve been told that the fish make themselves scare during the middle of the day, as during these hours, the fish are more visible in the water to natural predators, such as bears and eagles. I do find the morning and evening hours, I do catch more salmon. Most of my salmon were caught around 11 PM to 12:30 AM. Remember, this is Alaska in the summertime, and there’s still fairly abundant sunlight at this time.

One thing I really like about fishing is that it does immerse you in nature. There are always birds around, especially seagulls. Somewhere around our cabin, a bald eagle makes its home. There's also a baby bald eagle that poaches our fish every now and then. When we fish, we sometimes leave the fish we've caught sitting on the bank of the river until we come in and start to gut and clean them. One day, a baby bald eagle, came and stole one. It wasn't strong enough to fly away with the fish, so it ate part of it and flew off. The baby bald eagle's "hood" feathers hadn't turned into the signature white hood yet.

There are so many places to fish for salmon, the Kenai is the main river, there’s the Russian River, Funny River, Kasilof and Swanson Rivers. There are numerous fishing lodges and charters in the area, as well as in the town of Soldotna, where the Kenai flows through. People really do come from all over to fish here. While I was in Soldotna, I spoke with a group of guys from Germany that had been coming to fish the Kenai River for several years now.

There are plenty of ways to fish, the cheapest is to put on waders and enter at a public area, like Cooper Landing, where they combat fish. If you have a boat, you can launch out and fish from the boat or anchor near the sides of the river and hop out into the water to fish. If you have some money, you can do a fly in fishing trip. Either way, this is a fun activity, and a good way to connect with nature. It's very scenic on the Kenai, and there is a lot to see, from beautiful landscapes, to eagles and other wild creatures. There’s no guarantee you’ll catch anything, as its dependent on when the salmon runs come in. But if you do catch fish, it can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. Thousands upon thousands of people think so.
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on August 15, 2013

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Clam Gulch State Recreation Area

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Attraction | "Clam digging in Clam Gulch"

Sea anemones Photo - Clam Gulch State Recreation Area, Clam Gulch, Alaska

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Clam Gulch is a State Recreation Area famous for razor clam digging. To get there, take the Sterling Highway South from Soldotna to Clam Gulch Road, by mile marker 117.5. There is a parking area at the end of the road, about half a mile down from the Sterling Highway. You do have to pay $5 for daily parking. The parking lot has bathrooms, a campground, and a picnic area. It was a nice, warm, sunny day when we arrived at the Clam Gulch parking lot. Unfortunately for us, this meant that there were plenty of people there, and we had to circle around to find parking spaces. We found a nice space to park, got out our clamming gear and headed down a side walkway to the beach. Once off the path d...Read More

Clam Gulch is a State Recreation Area famous for razor clam digging. To get there, take the Sterling Highway South from Soldotna to Clam Gulch Road, by mile marker 117.5. There is a parking area at the end of the road, about half a mile down from the Sterling Highway. You do have to pay $5 for daily parking. The parking lot has bathrooms, a campground, and a picnic area.

It was a nice, warm, sunny day when we arrived at the Clam Gulch parking lot. Unfortunately for us, this meant that there were plenty of people there, and we had to circle around to find parking spaces. We found a nice space to park, got out our clamming gear and headed down a side walkway to the beach. Once off the path down from the parking lot, you’re walking mostly on sand, but there is a stretch of mud that makes it incredibly hard to walk. Use your bucket as a "third leg" in the mud.

Clamming gear usually means waders of some sort, a clam shovel or clam "gun" and a bucket. The clam gun is simply a tube you jam into the sand above a clam hole. Using suction, you pull out the entire core of sand what contains the clam and sift around what you pulled up until you find the clam. The shovel is a lot lighter to carry, and that’s what we had. Of course, always carry your valid Alaska fishing license with you.

When we got to the beach area, it was quite packed with people digging clams. Due to the sunny weather, and the very low tides, people had brought their entire families, including kids, and some had brought their dogs. This made it hard to find clam holes that people hadn’t already dug through. Clam Gulch is fairly picturesque. There are two large boulders sticking out of the sand that Clam Gulch is known for. On clear days, there are nice views across the Cook Inlet of ice and glacier covered Mt. Iliamna and Mt. Redoubt, both active volcanoes.

To be able to dig clams, you have to wait for low tide. There are tide books available online and where you buy the fishing license. I’d start digging an hour before low tide, and follow the tide out, then retreat a bit as it comes back in. Walk around on the beach near the water and look for the clam "show," which is a little hole in the sand the size of a drinking straw hole. That’s where the razor clam "breathes." Sometimes the shows get covered up with sand, and it looks like a little dimple. Once sighted, carefully approach the hole, as too many vibrations will alert the clam to dig deeper in order to flee.

They say to use the shovel to dig away from the clam. If you hit the clam with the shovel, you might break the shell, and these you must keep and count as part of your limit. They are still good to eat, but harder to clean. I usually dig beside the clam hole, in hopes of digging deeper than the clam, then using my hands to dig sideways to where the clam should be. I’ve seen people use the shovel to slowly skim away layers of sand from the surface. As they dig, they see if the show hole is still there. This seems to be a good way to keep from hitting the clams. Bear in mind that the sand is very loose, so this is nowhere near as strenuous as digging holes in your garden. The waterlogged beach sand eventually collapses in about 45 seconds to a minute, so there is a point of diminishing returns if you don’t get a clam right away.

Clam digging can be quite a fun activity, especially if you’re getting clams. I seemed to end up digging mostly empty holes. Out of maybe 100 holes dig, I only got 6 clams, including one that was not razor clam shaped. Overall, our catch was poor, as a group of 4, we only had 18 clams between us. With only 18 clams, we had fresh, homemade clam chowder, as you can mask the amount of clams with other ingredients.

I hear people say that Clam Gulch is way too crowded and dug up. Plus the parking fee and inconvenience of the longer walk make Ninilchik a better clamming destination, even though it’s 18 miles further down Sterling Highway. We usually clam dig in Ninilchik, but we simply wanted to try Clam Gulch as we hadn’t been there for over a decade. I think next time, we’ll go back to clamming in Ninilchik. There was an Alaska Department of Fish and Game report that clam counts were low on the east side of the Cook Inlet, where Clam Gulch and Ninilchik are located. I’m hoping the clam digging will be much better next year when we return.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on August 5, 2013

Clam Gulch State Recreation Area
Mile 117.5 Sterling Highway
Clam Gulch

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Alaska Coastal Marine

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Attraction | "Homer overnight double limit halibut fishing"

Halibut! Photo - Alaska Coastal Marine, Soldotna, Alaska

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We chose Alaska Costal Marine’s Double Limit Overnight Halibut trip out of Homer, mainly because it offered the most value, it was only slightly more than a day trip, but has the potential to catch double limit (limit is 2 per person per day, resetting at midnight.) We booked via telephone for a group of 4 and paid in advance. Each person costs $245 base price with a $15 fuel surcharge and tax, which came out to around $ 277-ish total per person.Included in the price is 2 days of fishing, a bunk (albeit small) to sleep in, coffee, fish filleting, and all bait and tackle. There is NO food available for purchase and only one microwave is available. The refrigerator is for crew use only, so ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on August 2, 2013

Alaska Coastal Marine
265 Kobuk Ct
Soldotna 99669
(907) 262-4359

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