Ketchi . . . . . What?

North to Alaska. . . .

The men of the Loud Clan took a trip into the wilds of Alaska recently. Grandpa Loud, Mike, Josh, Zack and Drake all journeyed up to Ketchikan to do a little fishing. We arrived on Sunday and spent the day in the city (hardly a big city with a population of only 8,500 in 2010). We had a great day walking around the "Salmon Capital of the World" and up the river located in the center of town. The salmon were jumping like crazy and we all were ready to get out on the water and do a little fishing.

This is a short video of the fish jumping in the river inlet in Ketchikan.

The next morning we went over to Pacific Airways and got on a float plane

(a Beaver)

and then it was out to the "Silver King Lodge".

Our lodge was located on an small island out in the inland passage and is the only building on the island.

Another short video of our float plane ride to the Silver King Lodge.

We were all assigned our own boat that would seat 2 to 3 people.

The boats were totally outfitted with all the fishing gear necessary and once we got checked into our rooms we were all out on the ocean for a little fishing. As a disclaimer, a couple of years ago Justin (Des's husband) and Mike took a trip to the same lodge and had a somewhat disappointing trip, ending up with Justin catching 1 salmon and Mike only 3 -- for the whole week! That being said they both had a terrific time and were excited about coming back up. Justin and his family also came up for the week.

The week started ok, Mike caught 3 salmon the first day equaling the entire last trips haul in just the first day. Josh and Zack also caught a few the first day, but after that the fishing started to go down hill. The next few days got hot and dry and we went from catching salmon to catching sharks. Now you may be saying "Wow, sharks! That's cool!" Well stop right there. The first one was pretty novel, but then it lost its luster. These sharks have a much tougher skin than a salmon and are nearly impossible to get the hook out once they are on your line. They also have a nasty habit of rolling and getting wrapped up in the line (and net if your not careful). Grandpa Loud had a real knack for catching sharks and managed to catch nothing but sharks for a couple of days, he wasn't exactly a happy camper.

After that the fishing picked up and the sharks moved on. Mike limited out with 12 salmon on one day and everyone else was catching fish as well.

Drake finally started catching fish a little later in the week than everyone else, but after he caught his first one

(this nice silver)

while trying to untangle a shark from the net. After that there was no stopping him and he caught some pretty nice fish!

We were catching Silvers, Pinks and a few Chums. And by the end of the week we all took home about 400 lbs of salmon fillets!Not all of them were huge, and as it turns out Josh has a knack for catching bait!
The only problem we really ran into was when Mike and Josh had a little "engine malfunction" and ran aground with their boat on the way back to the lodge. It could have been much worse - think outboard motor flying thru the air as it was still running full speed with the blades much to close to soft human flesh. And then having to recover the same engine from the water where it sank. Unbelievably the engine was up and running again with in 30 minutes of getting it back to the dock.

The dock hands were amazing. As soon as you would return to the dock they would meet your boat, off load your fish and have it filleted, cleaned, packed and frozen before it had a chance to get warm! The food was great too, with no shortage of things to eat anytime you might be hungry.

The lodge had some wild deer that were so used to people and not being hunted they would come right up to you and want to be fed.

We also did a little hiking up the Naha river trail and took in some spectacular scenery along the way. The trail reminded us of the greenery of Scottish Highlands with mosses and ferns everywhere. It should be green with an average annual rainfall of 152 inches (thats right, over 12 1/2 feet) of rain every year. That's alot of water when you consider Utah averages around 15 inches per year. Things grow everywhere here, If it doesn't move for a little while something will begin to grow.

The trip was awesome and very scenic, we all enjoyed getting away after getting ready for Kirsten's wedding the week prior and couldn't of had a better time than spending time together as a family and enjoying a little of the great outdoors!

We all left as we came loading up on our floatplanes for a short flight back to Ketchikan and then a flight down to Seattle and onto Utah, California and Nevada. It was a great trip and we all had some wonderful memories of spending time in the "Salmon Capitol of the World"!