ALASKA Trip Report - Last Frontier of the Last Frontier

[Daniel Davala]

As many of you know, John Bilotta and I recently organized and hosted a small group trip to a very remote Salmon camp on the Alaska Peninsula.  Yantarni Salmon Camp is owned and operated by Crystal Creek Lodge whom I fished with last year which is how I learned about it. 

 

From King Salmon, AK, it takes a breathtaking 125 mile bush flight over part of the Aleutian range and down the Pacific Coast just to reach the location.  Angling pressure is non-existent, and the wildlife refuge status renders it off limits for commercial fleets as well, so the fish are in a truly wild and unmolested environment. 

 

Our target species and focus of the trip were Silver (Coho) Salmon fresh from the salt.  The run is later here than in other parts of Alaska, and this adds several more weeks of feeding time at sea resulting in some of the largest Cohos on the planet.  Add this to the fact that we fished within 2 miles from the ocean at all times, and what you have are some very fresh, very large, and very hot fish! 

 

On the trip with John and I were Alan, Charlie, Adam, Brian, and Chet.  Our guides were Aaron (a.k.a. Chinker), and Carl.  Jason was our camp cook and host, and Earl the Salmon chasing dog was our cherished friend and campsite entertainment. 

 

While the fish and the fishing were truly spectacular as one might expect, it is the setting that was absolutely stunning!  To fish with that kind of a backdrop in a far corner of the world is difficult to imagine, and even more difficult to forget.  The pictures only begin to capture a glimpse of the beauty and grandeur which were our constant companions. 

 

I feel blessed beyond measure to have experienced such a special place, and to have done so with some wonderful friends both new and old.  John and I are getting our dates blocked off for a return trip next year, so anyone interested in joining us should get a hold of he or I directly.  We expect to make this an annual journey for many years to come. 

 

Hope you don't mind a ton of pictures!  Adam got some awe-inspiring panoramas too, so I hope he hops on at some point and shares a few as well.

 

Dan Davala

 

P.S.  Ironically, the group leaving the camp when we arrived were some of our friends from the Fly Fishing Film Tour who were on location shooting a short piece about this unique camp and experience.  Hopefully as a result, we'll all get to see a well produced video short about Yantarni Salmon Camp at next years tour.  I can't wait to see it again myself! 

[Charlie Church]

Wow...img_4982 is incredible. Not a good thing to look at in the middle of a work week.

Glad the trip was a blast!

[TurbineBlade]

Agreed -- that's pretty awesome Dan!  

Gene

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Looks like an amazing trip! I'm incredibly jealous!

On Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 1:33 PM, Daniel Davala <daniel...@gmail.com> wrote:

Miles, I suspect tongue in cheek?  I hope so.  No money, no prices, no date, etc.  Nothing for sale.  The camp has a narrow window of time and we are blocking space, that's it.  If anyone took it otherwise, my apologies. 

Dan Davala

On Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 1:28 PM, Miles <m...@oppidi.net> wrote:

Hi Dan,

 

As you know, our rules on the TPFR FORUM HOME PAGE are pretty clear, "BUYING, SELLING, OR TRADING ON THIS FORUM IS PROHIBITED, as are commercial links of any kind."  It is implied that spots on the trip next year are not free, but rather for sale. We all appreciate your sharing the results of this year's trip with club members, but there is a commercial subtext with respect to next year's trip that rubs up against the forum rules. ;-)

thanks,

 

Miles

! 

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/2deac6d8-a20f-4c2d-910e-4681cea8d2f2%40googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/CAEKpoJcxPEC4C5-Nf7ON3rAnPrsc0VsDzYp%2BHhQBdiUud3tD5w%40mail.gmail.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Scott Stankus]

Dan, great photos - thanks for sharing! It looks like it was an amazing trip. 

I especially the photos of you and John with your double - IMG_5032 and IMG_5035

Well deserved....

--

http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/CAEKpoJesU5%3D1RWstEMmwAWEWUC3r1Qfrx%2BSKFTy5KgxtrqbwHQ%40mail.gmail.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--

================================================

"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't"

[Steve]

Well it looks miserable anyway... I want to go.  Great pics and look forward to hearing the offline stories. 

On Sep 24, 2013, at 1:33 PM, Daniel Davala <daniel...@gmail.com> wrote:

Miles, I suspect tongue in cheek?  I hope so.  No money, no prices, no date, etc.  Nothing for sale.  The camp has a narrow window of time and we are blocking space, that's it.  If anyone took it otherwise, my apologies. 

Dan Davala

On Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 1:28 PM, Miles <m...@oppidi.net> wrote:

Hi Dan,

 

As you know, our rules on the TPFR FORUM HOME PAGE are pretty clear, "BUYING, SELLING, OR TRADING ON THIS FORUM IS PROHIBITED, as are commercial links of any kind."  It is implied that spots on the trip next year are not free, but rather for sale. We all appreciate your sharing the results of this year's trip with club members, but there is a commercial subtext with respect to next year's trip that rubs up against the forum rules. ;-)

thanks,

 

Miles

! 

--

http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/2deac6d8-a20f-4c2d-910e-4681cea8d2f2%40googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--

http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/CAEKpoJcxPEC4C5-Nf7ON3rAnPrsc0VsDzYp%2BHhQBdiUud3tD5w%40mail.gmail.com.

[Daniel Davala]

Whoops, I realized I didn't get any pictures of Chet on the initial post (sorry Chet) so here's a few more!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/CAONredjXEjPLVba6VTSQf6ko9aoTay%3DAWhqxqMxeWBnu-Q1X1w%40mail.gmail.com.

[namfos]

Wowser! 

I'm going to start buying Powerball tickets.

Mark

[michael.d...@gmail.com]

How did I miss that... I really want to do such a trip as that.. I will pay more attention to you plans in the future Dan. Next time you do this, and I hope that is sometime this year or in the Spring, I would like to go. If there are other similar trips anywhere planed by anyone, I would like  to know about them... Great pics, this is the fly fishing experience I am craving...  Mike

[Smallies&Shad]

Congrats gentlemen!!!  Those are some hog fish. Great job planting the TPFR flag.