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 Boundary Waters Quetico Forum Trip Reports Trip Report - Alaska's Innoko River - Summer 2018 Reply
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| Previous Messages: | |
| Author | Message Text |
| mjmkjun |
01/18/2019 06:36PM quote, "...one Hell of an adventure!" Indeed! |
| flynn |
01/15/2019 10:31AM What an epic trip. Sooo many big fish! Thanks for sharing. |
| LindenTree |
01/13/2019 03:32PM Ohio, Nice report, I just read it. I lived in Ak for three years on the Kenai Peninsula and worked for the Kenai National wildlife Refuge. There is a USFWS cabin on the inoko NWR, my co-worker went there to cut back the brush around it, he was enthralled with the Pike fishing there. Yep, the Alaska summer sun will beat you up, suncreen was a must for me. I also have an Ally canoe and I can attest that they are a bear to set up, but rock solid. The area around Matanuska Glacier is some of the prettiest Alaska has to offer. Its best to not even menton hand guns to custums, they can get pretty ornery about them. They will try to trip you up, if they even know you own one in the states. I lived on this Lake in the first pic, Skilak Lake. Second pic is a close up of Matanuska Glacier Thanks for sharing, Linden  
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| Ohiopikeman |
12/04/2018 09:22PM Ozarkpaddler, I’ve never done any good with a “Red eyed Wiggler,” but then I’ve never spent much time working one. After your endorsement, I may have to dust-off one of these things and give it another try. Joe, When I interviewed for the position with my current employer, vacation time was a major negotiation topic; my manager was very aware that spending time with my family during school summer vacations was a priority for me. Before speaking with my manager, I approached my peers and direct reports about my potential trip to see if they would be OK with covering for me if I spent the next year training them with everything that they would need to know. Fortunately I work with a good team and they were all on board with the idea. With my youngest son graduating from high school and staring off at college in the fall, this summer was the last “sure chance” that we would have to take this kind of Alaskan adventure. With summer classes, internships, and jobs, then years of two weeks of annual vacation after graduation for my son, I saw this as a now or possibly never kind of opportunity and that is how I explained it to my manager a little over a year in advance of the trip. After hearing my vacation request and my plan to cover my absence, my boss gave me the green light to schedule the trip. I did work many extra hours ahead of the trip to leave open projects in good shape, and then worked another boatload of hours for a good month or so after the trip to make sure everything was back on track. It was important to assure that department commitments were met such that my manager would not regret the decision to let me take this trip. |
| SaganagaJoe |
11/28/2018 08:24PM How did your job give you such much time off? |
| OneMatch |
11/27/2018 09:45PM I can't decide which I like better - the pic of the rainbow or the pic of the pizza! That is an amazing looking pair of pizzas! So glad you went to Pipestone. It's an incredible place and now I want to go back there thanks to this report. Thanks for the read. |
| ozarkpaddler |
11/24/2018 01:04AM What, no "Red eyed Wigglers?" My all-time favorite northern lure? |
| Ohiopikeman |
11/21/2018 04:35PM Tom, The water in the Innoko has basically no visibility. As you leave the river and go up into the sloughs, the further back you go the more the water will clear up. We pretty much stuck to getting our drinking water from the main river rather than risking getting it from the back-water areas out of concern for beaver fever. In most of the slough mouths that we fished there was some visibility in the 6" to maybe 12" range.... enough you could see your lure flash on a sunny day. We never did sleep four in the camper. There were only three nights in Anchorage when all four of us were together. For these three nights, I slept in the Expedition and let my brother take my usual spot of a sleeping mat right at the base of the bed. The two boys shared the bed. This was plenty cozy, but worked just fine for the trip. As for gear, we did not use anything that would qualify as ultralight; the boys and my brother were all spooled with 30 lb Powerpro, Shimano spinning reels, and medium to medium-heavy rods 6.5 ft or 7 ft. Most of the time I was throwing the Top Raider and using my 7 ft MH rod with an Abu Garcia Revo Toro HS spooled with 80 lb Powerpro. I really enjoyed seeing the pike smash this big topwater lure over and over again! The Daredevle spoon was my 2nd choice lure. Below are pictures of lures that probably account for 90% of the fish caught. By far the Williams Wabler was the weapon of choice for the boys and my brother.  
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| Driftless |
11/21/2018 09:20AM Wow! Awesome trip! |
| TomT |
11/19/2018 10:18PM Pretty epic trip report! All those big pike must have been a lot of fun. You guys caught some monsters. You mention you used ultralight tackle, can you give specifics and what lures you used? Also, you mention the mud. Was the visibility poor in the water? I'm glad you included all the driving days in your report. It seems like that was half the trip! I was hoping you took a pic of inside that trailer. I can't imagine the 4 of you sleeping in there. Were there bunks? And stopping at the YMCA's to work out was kind of surprising. I wouldn't have thought to do that but I guess you needed it with all the drive time. Thanks for going to the trouble of posting. It was quite a trip and just shows we can get it done if we have the right preparations. |
| ozarkpaddler |
11/19/2018 12:35PMOhiopikeman: "New Trip Report posted by Ohiopikeman "I would not recommend watching “BACKCOUNTRY” before you enter the Alaskan wilderness for 12 days." One of many humorous little excerpts! Enjoyed reading your trip report this morning. Wow, that was some adventure! But, as for me, when the float plane engine suddenly stopped, I do believe a sudden evacuation of bowel and bladder would have STARTED (LOL)? |
| Ohiopikeman |
11/18/2018 04:43PM The Innoko River trip was truly the “trip of a lifetime”. I had much help from our fellow BWCA.com members with trip research, preparation, and planning. Besides the extensive amount of practical canoe camping information available on the site (such as helping me to pick out the Garmin InReach for communications), the below members really helped me with this trip: Pulsarav – Sold me his used Ally canoe for a great price. The canoe worked great and he even had the poles color coded and taped for easier assembly (I copied this approach on the 2nd Ally I purchased). Overland - Provided loads of good information on Ally canoes and modifications to them such as custom made carrying yokes. He too has used his Ally for remote Alaskan river trips so his experience was perfect for what I had planned. Old_salt – Provided a ton on information about different areas for fishing in Alaska and also provided lots of tips about driving to Alaska from the mid-west. He helped me with looking over my outfitter plans and even tried to see if he could find a better option for getting me into the Innoko. Ozarkpaddler – Hooked me up with a very nice pair of ultralight canoe paddles; he even managed to get them shipped to me in time for my trip even though he was under pretty strict orders from the doctor to take it easy. The paddles worked awesome! Lindentree – Gave me a source in Canada where I could buy a new Ally if my hunt for a used one proved unsuccessful. He too is an Ally canoe owner with lots of experience in using pack canoes in Alaska. Robkesselring1 – Wrote a couple of great articles and published them in the Boundary Waters Journal; the timing of these articles was absolutely perfect for my planed summer 2018 trip to Alaska. Boundary Waters Journal, Summer 2017 “Planning a Far North Canoe Trip” Part I. Boundary Waters Journal Fall 2017 “Planning a Far North Canoe Trip” Part ll. Thanks again guys! Dave |
| yellowhorse |
11/17/2018 08:16PM Nice report. I lived in Anchorage for 7 years and drove the highway there and back. Brings back great memories. Thanks for sharing! |
| Northwoodsman |
11/17/2018 05:51PM That was one heck of a trip! Great report. Awesome photos. I can't imagine how tough it was pulling into the driveway at the end of the trip knowing that it is over. To me that's the hardest part of a trip. I'm glad it all came together for you and that your brother joined you. Thanks for posting. |
| boonie |
11/17/2018 02:55PM Glad you got to do this with your son, his friend, and your brother. Life gets busy and it's often hard to find time for a trip like this. You'll all remember it forever. I hope you have another one. |
| Wally13 |
11/17/2018 01:35PM Ohiopikeman, What a trip! Thanks for taking the time to post your Trip Report. Awesome pics too. |
| MiPatrick |
11/17/2018 07:04AM Sounds like one heck of a trip. Always love it when all the planning and work before the trip pays off big time |
| Ohiopikeman |
11/17/2018 12:02AM New Trip Report posted by Ohiopikeman Trip Name: Alaska's Innoko River - Summer 2018. Entry Point: Other Click Here to View Trip Report |
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