Alaska bound!!!

[Ring King]

I just recieved the message confirming that the Coast Guard is sending me to Alaska for the next three years. This will be my last duck season in S. Louisiana for a while. I'm going to be living in the small fishing village of Cordova Alaska. There are 2500 people that live there and it's only accesible by boat or float plane. Valdez Alaska is the closest "big" city and it's a 6 hour ferry ride to get there. Anchorage is the closest airport where a commercial flight can be caught and it's a mere 150 miles from Cordova. Small town living is an understatement here.

On the good side is the fact that the fishing is phenominal!! Halibut, salmon, rainbow trout, and dolly varden can be caught most of the year here. Big game hunting opportunities are all around with moose, bear (grizzly and black), dahl sheep, mountain goat, wolves, and sitka black tailed deer making up the majority of the game. Squirrel, rabbit, and ptarmigan are the main small game species found in the area.

Now what am I really going for you ask? Cordova Alaska was my #1 pick on my dream sheet. This was mainly due to the 14-16 million waterfowl that migrate through the area each fall. Every species you can imagine are there along with some you probably couldn't imagine.

"The water-fowling season in Cordova is among the most liberal in this hemisphere. The bag limit for puddle ducks is typically 8 a day, with no sex restrictions. Canvasbacks are the only exception, and only 1 per day is allowed in the bag. Sea ducks are available, though restricted to two of each species or a total of 4-8 per day in addition to the puddle duck limit. Bag limit for geese is 2 brant, 3 light (snow), and 4 dark (honker and white-front) a day, plus 2 sand hill cranes per day. There is also an 8 snipe limit per day. Waterfowl season starts September first, and runs the full 107 days (to mid-December) allowed by international treaty. Cordova is one of the few hunting destinations where one can expect to fill a limit of birds each and every day of the season."

So who's ready to go on an out of state trip to come visit me next year?

[pig snatcher]

WOW, sounds like you might have a good time up there.

[DIRTYDUCK]

Well damn Matt!!!! I can't belive you even had to ask that last question! You know Me and Woodie Whacker will be there as soon as you invite us UP. The guy that was in the boat with Woodie Whacker at hte poker run is headed up to his Aunt's house in the Kenai (sp?) area in two weeks to scout out the logistics for us to make a fishing trip up next year.
Congrats on the assignment but I thought you were hoping for California?

[dunnojak]

Lucky Bastage! Better find you a little(or big might be better) Eskimo girl to keep you warm at nite! Brrrrrrr....

[Ring King]

I'm taking my little cajun princess with me. I got to have somebody that knows how to cook a good cajun meal to keep me happy.

Ya'll are more than welcome to come up David. I'm selling my Xpress again and buying a "BIG" four wheeler to take with me, and as soon as I sell my mud boat I'm gonna order a new one to take up there as well. I can't wait.

I figured I'd rather live in Alaska than go to California and live in the city of San Fran. I love northern California like you wouldn't believe, but I had some serious reservations about living in the big city again after being here in New Orleans.

[Ring King]

Oh yeah, and by the way it's $550 round trip airfare from Charleston to Anchorage if you book two months in advance. From there you would have to take a float plane to Cordova, or I could drive to pick you up if you don't mind a 19 hour ferry ride back to my place!

And you'd be surprised about the climate there. Cordova averages only 32 inches of snow a year. They get 15-35 degrees avg. in the winter and 55-65 degrees avg. in the summer. It's a rain forest environment with an average annual precipitation of 180 inches including the 3 feet of snow.

[ccleroy]

You'll like it.....the only thing you'll have to get used to is the 23 hours of daylight during the summer.....Went up there for 4 months when I was 17 and had a blast...caught salmon, halibut, trout and grayling.....watch out for those big grizzlies.....Before long RK will be posting back on all the eskimo snatch he's racked up on up there..... [img]graemlins/a-bird57.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/dance.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/eatout.gif[/img]

[Low Country Sandlapper]

You are one lucky mofo, Ring King! Truly, you have hit the jackpot. I'd love to join you for some west, WEST coast whackage.

[HuntinCosta]

i wanna go

[HARV]

Have a blast,you'll be trading that mudmotor for a snowmobile,ice fishing,worrying about the beers freezin out in the truck..... [img]graemlins/drinky.gif[/img]

[Lab]

He might not have too much time to hunt up there. He might be appearing on the DEADLYEST CATCH saving someone next season. Also be prepared to pay through the nose to reach him by plane. The smaller the planes, the higher the costs. As I remember, float planes are more expensive than the plances using tires. I bet a one way flight will cost around $300-$500, but if you split it with several friends it is not too bad.... I believe the Moose hunting in that area is concidered GREAT. Have a fun time and send lots of pictures for us all to see......

Lab

[Sportin' Woodies]

been there matt.
saw tons of pintails, lesser canadas, and just about anything else.

i went in august.

[GobblerHntr]

Oh Man Your going to love the duck hunting there! Send pics of your Harlequin's!

[Claimer]

Sounds like you got the pick. I would wait 'till I got there to buy a boat. Some of the finest boats in the world come from alaska. That's a whole lot different kind of rough up there. Sounds like you are going to be in the crab fleet rescue. Your living a dream that's for sure. Good luck

[mdb1]

RK, was lucky enough to go there about 8 or 9 yrs ago. we flew from anchorage to cordova by commercial prop plane. cordova does have an airport. , though at the time it wasn't much(one not very large runway). if memory serves, the airport was on the coast and cordova was inland and on a harbor. the sight of all the commercial boats on the docks were impressive. one of the best pieces of fish i've ever had in my mouth came from a little restaurant overlooking the marina. halibut that i watched them bring up the dock. mmmmmmmmmmm

we coho fished on the Tsiu(sp) river wich was another plane ride down the coast. we took an eight seater with wheels that the pilot landed on a big sandbar. it was incredible. i remember one morning i caught 19 on the fly before breakfast.

it's a good thing that you are taking a woman with you, cuz cordova had some of the ugliest, hardest looking women i've seen.

i'm sure you've heard, but watch out for the weather. it is some kind of funky. beautful one day, blowing 70 knots the next. they get hurricane force winds all the time.

we did not duck hunt, but the delta we were in held a lot of ducks. we were there in sept. saw pins, mallards, gadwall, and widgeon along with many divers. the outfitter we fished with didn't guide duck trips at the time, but they told us if we'd like to bring our guns and some dekes that we could have at it. i really regret not doing just that. we could have murdered the ducks, and caught cohos the rest of the day.

anyhow, good luck with the move. it's beautiful, hard country. people live hard and work hard. i loved it up there.

mdb

[Catdaddy]

Take plenty of pictures RK.

[Ring King]

Thanks for the info mdb1!! It's nice to here that the place is something like what I imagine it. I've done plenty of internet searching on the area and it seems somewhat remote, but at the same time appears to be very doable. I love the outdoors and could live in a cabin there, but I don't think my girlfriend has quite that much outdoors spirit in her. She likes to rough it to an extent, but still likes the creature comforts that some type of civilization affords her.

I'll definitely be taking plenty of pictures. I'm looking to buy a new digital Canon Eos Rebel to take along on my journey. I figure with a few nice telephoto lenses I'll be able to keep myself busy when the fish aren't biting and the hunting seasons are out. I'll make sure to post em up as I get em. I bet a trail cam would produce some really interesting photos as well up there in the wild country!

[Sportin' Woodies]

there are a ton of hot women in fairbanks...in case of relationship malfunction

[mdb1]

if what you have in mind is a true remote fishing village, then cordova will be right up your alley. the econony revolves around fishing. there's no doubt about it.

what job do you do for the Coast Guard? i can only imagine that you guys have to revered in alaska. with the weather like it is there, i can only imagine that the fishermen get in trouble quite often. we had to leave our camp a day and a half early bc the outfitters told us that there was some weather coming in and if we didn't get out we were liable to be there several extra days. they left it up to us, and if i remember correctly, we had one guy that i really didn't know who decided to stay. he was stranded at camp for several days and missed his return flights back to sc. story was that the wind backed the water all the way up the river and into the camp. some of that crew went back a year or so later and said that it wasn't as good bc another outfitter had come in and built some cabins which made it a little more crowded.

anyways, when we were flying into camp, you could look down into the river and see literally tens of thousands of salmon swimming up the river. we absolutely killed the coho. i burned up a brand new shimano spinning reel(it totally locked up after a couple days), and i wore out the disc drag on my fly reel. if you can imagine cast after cast of fresh from the ocean 8 to knocking on twenty lb fish on light spinning and fly tackle, then that's what it was. i guess to describe it best would be to say that it was as good as i had dreamed it could possibly be, and i know that i'll probably never experience fishing like that again. it was truly a once in lifetime deal.

thanks for letting me share a little of my experience and good luck on your adventure.

mdb

[Ring King]

I do marine electronics for the Coast Guard. I'll be working on the 225' ocean going bouy tender named the Sycamore. It's stationed there in Alaska and is responsible for most all the navigational aids in Southeastern Alaska. It'll be alot of work, but the time off will be filled with hunting, fishing, and riding four wheelers. It's kinda funny that I'm so looking forward to going that I'm not real excited about duck season here in S. Louisiana this year. I'm more into getting everything together and ready to head north. I have to buy all new clothes and furniture (thanks to Katrina) before it's time to leave as well as getting some new guns together.