I'm heading to Anchorage from Aug 28 to Sep 4 for a dall sheep hunt with Bill Burwell. My hope is I'll have taken the ram in the first four or five days. I really don't want to sit on the mountain for the duration of the trip so I'd like to head back into town and find some things to do. Any recommendations?

bluefin,

Anchoage has some very comfy accommodations, great food and watering holes. There are some high end gun shops that will kill a few hours. Anchorage also has numerous art galeries and small museums. The Native Medical Center has an incredible display of native arts and crafts for sale. Do a search for Anchorage and you'll pull up a great variety of activities. You might also consider a short trip to Portage Glacier. I lived out in Dillingham for 22 years and everytime we hit Anchorage we always had a great time.

Have a ball and good luck with the sheep.

Mark

The Great Alaskan Bush.

Namibiahunter

Mark,
I did as you suggested and googled up Anchorage and fishing. My thought now is, if I have enough time, to rent a car and travel to Homer. Saw where you can do halibut fishing one day and then maybe give a try for rainbows or salmon on another. I've never fly fished before but could always give it a try. Scenery around there looks absolutely beautiful. Would make for one heck of a nice trip!
I did notice that most of the guides end their season around mid Sept. Does anyone know how the fishing for halibut and rainbows might be around the beginning of Sept? How about availablity of guides? Is that a slower or packed time for them?
Thanks again.

Bluefin,

I have not fished that time of year for Halibut, but you could contact Key-O's Guide Service out of Deep Creek(not too far out of Soldotna) they would know. I have fished for Halibut with them three different years and have always done well and had a good time. Their phone number is 800-478-5396.

Kirk

Bluefin... The scenery alone is well worth the drive to Homer...Going south along Turnagain Arm you can glass sheep and goats on one side of the highway, and then turn around and watch beluga whales just a few yards from the road on the other side..Beautiful trip...

Lots of halibut charters in Homer...I used Silver Fox and had good luck.. The fish are still biting, but the weather can begin to get a little snotty in September...Chances are if you have 2 or 3 days you can get out...

bluefin

Fall fishing in Alaska can be excellent but I have no personal knowledge of the fishing around Homer. I don't think you'll find crowd of people in early Sept. so if you do find a fishing trip you like you won't be elbow to elbow.

This young man is a fishing fanatic that fishes the Kenai river. Late season the rainbows can be very good there and the big crowds are gone. I've known him for years and he will give you your moneys worth. Please tell him I referred you. belknapguideservice@hotmail.com

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by bluefin:
Mark,
I did as you suggested and googled up Anchorage and fishing. My thought now is, if I have enough time, to rent a car and travel to Homer. Saw where you can do halibut fishing one day and then maybe give a try for rainbows or salmon on another. I've never fly fished before but could always give it a try. Scenery around there looks absolutely beautiful. Would make for one heck of a nice trip!
I did notice that most of the guides end their season around mid Sept. Does anyone know how the fishing for halibut and rainbows might be around the beginning of Sept? How about availablity of guides? Is that a slower or packed time for them?
Thanks again.

Just returned from King fishing in Homer today!!
All of sept. will be good for Silver Salmon & Halibut in the salt(Homer, Whitter, Seward & Cook Inlett out of deep creek)The Kenai River is excellent for Silvers & Rainbow in sept. also! Lots of guides,(that is when the guides get time to fish) few tourists in Sept

quote:

Originally posted by Pygmy:
Bluefin... The scenery alone is well worth the drive to Homer...Going south along Turnagain Arm you can glass sheep and goats on one side of the highway, and then turn around and watch beluga whales just a few yards from the road on the other side..Beautiful trip...

.

Don,t be driving and lookin at sheep ,you,ll get somebody killed ,,...
But if you pull well off the highway sometimes they will be right near the edge of the highway ....Kinda cool ......

mark - did you ever get beyond the bush country??

quote:

Originally posted by namibiahunter:
The Great Alaskan Bush.

Namibiahunter

Does this require a tag?

Was just wondering if the "Bird House" is still standing out towards Homer? Had lot's of fun in there.

If you're thinking of the Bird House that was around Girdwood, no, it burned down years ago. Went up pretty fast, must of been all those panties, bras, business cards and what not. Greg

quote:

Originally posted by Jon Beutler:

quote:

Originally posted by namibiahunter:
The Great Alaskan Bush.

Namibiahunter

Does this require a tag?

The Great Alaska Bush Company!
I dont think I would tag anything there
Lots to look at
Pennicillin don't cure near what it used to

Hi all, down in Kenai, there was another one of those places, Kittens nest, purrin pussie or something like that,

Still that was 17 years ago.

Kenai has some great fishing, don´t miss out on it.

Best regards Chris

Might that be "Good Time Charlies" near Soldotna? Not that i've ever been in there but i've passed it many times....

Aug 28th to Sep 4th you may need all of those days and more to have a suitable weather window.

If you hit Anchorage on a Saturday make sure you visit the Downtown Market. Its free and over 300 vendors are selling Alaska stuff. Best (and most likely cheapest) place in the entire state to buy gifts for those back home).
Then rent a car and drive to Girdwood and have dinner here:
http://www.doublemuskyinn.com/

Or drop me a pm and I may go with ya and drive you down! Best steak I have ever eaten in my life.

quote:

Originally posted by tsturm:

quote:

Originally posted by Jon Beutler:

quote:

Originally posted by namibiahunter:
The Great Alaskan Bush.

Namibiahunter

Does this require a tag?

The Great Alaska Bush Company!
I dont think I would tag anything there
Lots to look at
Pennicillin don't cure near what it used to

This should be high on the list -- but approach with a "catch look and release" program and all will be OKYDOKY

quote:

Originally posted by M70Nut:
Might that be "Good Time Charlies" near Soldotna? Not that i've ever been in there but i've passed it many times....

Riiiiggghht, I´ll check at home to se if I still have the matchbook I got there, I was there youngest Swedish visitor, I was most velcome....

Ohhh how I miss Alaska..

/Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
If you hit Anchorage on a Saturday make sure you visit the Downtown Market. Its free and over 300 vendors are selling Alaska stuff. Best (and most likely cheapest) place in the entire state to buy gifts for those back home).
Then rent a car and drive to Girdwood and have dinner here:
http://www.doublemuskyinn.com/

Or drop me a pm and I may go with ya and drive you down! Best steak I have ever eaten in my life.

Double Musky has great food but if you want a damn good Iowa ribeye, try Chair 5 in Girdwood.

Check out the pawn shop there are pretty good prices on rifles.

Mooses Tooth Pizza, the pizza is good, the beer is much better.
Club Paris, the steaks are OK I just like the atmosphere.

quote:

Originally posted by greatnorth:
If you're thinking of the Bird House that was around Girdwood, no, it burned down years ago. Went up pretty fast, must of been all those panties, bras, business cards and what not. Greg

Damn, ya that was a fun little place, dirt floor n' all! It's been about 15 years or more since I was there.

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Best steak I have ever eaten in my life.

Was it the Pepper steak? I haven't been there yet. What is the price range?

That time of year it can be rough out of Homer you might want to go out of Whittier instead. Also a much shorter drive. Good fishing out of Whittier and not rough most of the time as it is part of the inside passage. The drive bteween Anchorage and there is good for watching sheep above the highway and Beluga whales in the arm. You can stop at the glacier out by the tunnel as well. In town the usual tourist shopping although there is a couple good fur places and native art out on Nothern Lights. Thee is an aviation museum over by the airport. You can watch the float planes come and go fo a few hours and have a couple alaskan ambers at the Millenium. Wild West guns out by the old highway worth a trip jut to see their work although very high priced. If you drive down to Homer havedinner out at the end of the spit, good food. Soldontna has good fishing both in the Kenai and the Kasilof and a day of fishing the river can be arranged very easily as well as a fly out if you are so inclined. the bush club is good for an evenings diversion if you are so inclined. Lots to do it just depends on what you want. If you head to Whittier or Girdwood ther is a small bakery sandwich shop place in Girdwood that has the best cinnamon buns on earth.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefin:
I'm heading to Anchorage from Aug 28 to Sep 4 for a dall sheep hunt with Bill Burwell. My hope is I'll have taken the ram in the first four or five days. I really don't want to sit on the mountain for the duration of the trip so I'd like to head back into town and find some things to do. Any recommendations?

Why would you be in such a hurry to leave the most beautiful part of this state in the mountains to go back into the city to do things you can do in any city. To each their own I guess, at least maybe you'll get your Dall ticket punched, but somehow I doubt you'll really get whats special about this place.

AKJD,

I have heard Anchorage is only an hour from Alaska.

Depends on where you are hunting Sheep, especially if your going mid-season like you say, you might be doing alot of verticle walking for those 4-5 days. Opening day or the end of the season to me is best! Lot's of nice specimens in the "Bush Company" but all they want is your Ducket$, Save it for taxidermy. A quick day charter for Halibut and ling Cod won't run you that much, flash frozen and you have fresh fish to take home. I know its a drive but Valdez is worth it, and you can grab a charter on a days notice. Hope this helps....CK

If your trip is going to be that short, I would make sure the focus is on your hunt where it needs to be.....don't worry too much about what you'll do if you luck out early in the hunt. It may not be possible to return right away either....depending on where you are and what you had to do to get there.

For fishing halibut, I wouldn't recommend you plan on going farther than needed. Deep Creek (Ninilchik) is closer than Homer, and since the boats don't have to go as far out as from Homer (or especially Valdez) the charter may be as much as $100 cheaper, partly thanks to the high gas prices. Your trip may leave timed with the tides, sometimes at awkward times to make without staying there....

The drive to Homer is very pretty, as is the one to Valdez--but you may be pretty worn down--just don't cram so much in you fall asleep at the wheel!

Cheers,

Dan

That is why I suggested a day trip out of Whittier. The harbour master there can hook him up with whatever kind of charter he needs. There are some fast boats that can get fairly far out even on a single day charter. June can also hook him up with a condo for the night if needed. I also know people in Soldontna and Homer if he is so inclined. Personally I would stay in the bush but if he is coming back there are a lot of places to go. I forgot the name of the restaurant over by the days inn and the Harley shop, was it Gwennies? Good food and rreasonable priced. They dont know how to serve a small portion of anything. Plainer fare but good quaity and lots of it. The girls at the bush club are strictally mercenary as you would expect but are great to watch. I often sit back at the bar with an alaskan amber and have as much fun talking up the locals and watching the clients interact with the staff. Fun to watch them spend money like drunken sailors at the first port of call an believe me I know what that is like. A prior life of course. To really see how civilized anchorage is make a run to Fred Meyers. check out their firearm and fishing sections in the grocery store. I almost forgot the Indian meats guy out on the way to Whittier There will butcher you meat ond snmoke it, manke sausages,jerky etc even potted meat.. They also sell most anything they make out of the shop for whomever wants it This guy has several types of little smokies that are first rate I have never had them do my fish as it usuallu gets flasf frozen either in Whittier or Soldontna or homer just about every operation has walk in blast chillers, If you stay at any of the hotels ask up front about freezer space, They often have roonm available as well. Worst case you can store your boxes of meat in the blast chiller at the airoprt for a nominal fee. I get must of my fish vaccum packed but ususally get some canned as well. A drive to valdez is nice if you have the time but I have a feeling you are going to be beat and will most likey only have one or two days so you will need to start thinking what you really want to do and start making contacts. After Memorial day things start filling up fast.If you waant me to put you in contact with some let me know. Oh and so you know it is stricly gratis on my part. I have no buisness contracts with any of these people. They are just all good people who helped me get what I needed on numerous occasions so I pass that along to others. If you have something specific you want to do throw it out here as I am sure one of us can point you in the right direrction The time frame you are tlking about usually is faIRLY OPEN BUT THE PATTERNS CHANGE AS THE ECONOMY TANKS. People tend to stay cloer to home. My rule is before memorial day and after labour day easiest to access guides. However going throuh a local lodge or set up like Whittier you have a much better chance of hooking with what you want as the have enough guides to be pretty flexible. Just dont wait too long to make up your mind what you want to do, PM me if you want some names and places. If you have a computer do you have a program called skype? Great program to call back and forth computer to computer for free. There are fees if you want to call land or cell phones but cheap by comparison. Let me know if I can help you find what you want. Alot of locals helped me when I first went up so just trying to pass it on.

DITTO on The Great Alaska Bush Company!
Also pick up one of there great t-shirts.

You guys are hilarious! Here I am wanting to see some of the state's nature and your trying to convince me to explore Anc's 'inner' beauty. LOL

I've decided I really want to try the rainbow fishing. Halibut would be great but there's not 50 people I want to feed when I get back home. Also it sounds like a good many of the tourists will have headed out by the beginning of Sept. That will hopefully leave me with more options on guides and areas to fish. If you don't mind, there are several folks on this thread I'd like to email about getting some names of potential guides.

As far as not wanting to stay up in the mntns. I admit, it will be beautiful, but my A.D.D just won't allow it. Not if I've already taken my quarry. I've only been to Alaska once (Sitka) and it was in Nov. Nasty weather! But the people were quite colorful and a lot of fun to be with.

Thanks again for all the replies - even if some suggestions might have gotten me killed or disease ridden!!