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Wild rivers keep this couple coming back to the Last Frontier
Photo by Mayo Lykes
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Big Fish, Big Fish, and more Big Fish. Add lumbering wildlife, mountains that march unending to the horizon, tongue-twisting names, and limpid rivers—not to mention toothsome shore lunches—and you have described in a nutshell a fishing trip to Alaska.
My husband, Mayo, and I get out often on the Teton, the South Fork, and the Henry’s Fork. But in between floats on these neighborhood rivers, we have snuck back to Alaska five times. Each time, we’ve returned to Bristol Bay Lodge (BBL), scenically set along the shores of Lake Aleknagik in the Wood-Tikchik State Park, the nation’s largest state park. BBL is a place that lets you experience the backcountry of this wilderness state in relative comfort, using its reliable fleet of Beaver float planes, comfortable cabins, and rustic outcamps.
Why do we keep returning to Alaska? Mostly, Big Fish. When we first visited BBL in 1996, we arrived at the modest lodge to see a photograph on the wall of a kid holding a giant king salmon. The fish was so big, it was literally an armload for the boy. “Oh, man!” I told Mayo, “I want to catch a fish so big I have to hold it in my arms!”
Flash forward to the next day, when I did the very thing. Measuring forty-two inches long and twenty-four inches in girth, the king came to be known at the lodge as the “two by four.” The picture of me with the slimy monster in my arms, knees kinked under the strain, is still one of my life favorites. Need I mention that I was hooked?
Now that we have been to BBL several times, I have to admit that there are some attractions other than Big Fish. One is the great people you meet. The lodge enjoys a deep pool of returning fishermen and, to a person, their enthusiasm is infectious. This past summer, we spent the week with two brothers from “Beantown.” Armed with deep Massachusetts accents, they had returned for eleven years and clearly loved every minute and every fish. Our evenings were full of stories and jokes, tall tales and big laughs. One brother is a mail carrier, and has walked the same route for decades. He claims that he can’t afford a wife or even girlfriend because he spends all his disposable income on Alaska. Alaska is his mistress.
