2018 Guest SAFARI Camp Trip Report

02.24.19

The author, Joe, with a solid chum salmon in camp’s home waters.

Last summer, Jay Lindholm and I visited EPIC Angling & Adventure’s SAFARI camp on the Alaskan Peninsula. We were on the Pacific side of the peninsula at about the level of the western margin of Kodiak Island. There were a total of nine fishers in our group. Our trip was the last week of August and by luck, the tide schedule was perfect for our fishing.

Jay showing off a nice pink salmon.

The weather improved after our first day and was very conducive for our fishing. The silver salmon run had begun about a week before our arrival and was in full swing during our visit. We fished the estuary in front of camp in the mornings. Usually, the bite slowed between 1:00 and 3:00. We broke for lunch and a rest. Fishing would pick up again after dinner and evening fishing was again very good during the falling tide. But, one had to share the water with the bears (in the morning, they usually fished earlier than we and more inland). On a rotating basis, some of us would venture out with the guides to fish the rivers further inland. This is where we would catch many Dolly Varden as well as salmon.

Bears and bear tracks seen on a daily basis.

On our last two days, we took helicopter flyouts to the adjacent eastern and western valleys to fish their rivers. Our last day, we fished rivers that had not been fished all season. Most of the fish had never seen a fly! The fishing was tremendous. We caught silver, chum or pink salmon on about every third cast. Jay and I were the first in to these rivers and fishing was excellent near the landing site. We moved more inland to fish other streams and river branches as the new groups arrived. The other two groups stayed within 100 yards of the helipad because the fishing was superb.

The guides, camp and food were exceptional. As Jay and I reflected on our fishing success we affirmed that we were excellent skilled fishers. Then again, there were two fishers in our group who had not flyfished before and they were about as successful as we. Back to reality, we did confirm, that skills aside, this was the best week of fishing we had experienced in our lives. If you have the chance to visit EPIC, I urge you to do so. Put it on your bucket list!

– Joe Andrezik, Austin, TX

Nice silver caught on heli-fishing day.

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