Alaska's Innoko River - Summer 2018
by Ohiopikeman
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
06/22/2018
Entry Point:
Other
Exit Point:
Other
Number of Days:
28
Group Size:
4
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (17 messages)
Day 13 of 28
Wednesday, July 04, 2018 - Moving to slough #3
We spend ½ day moving downstream to the next slough on the map. As was status quo for the Innoko, finding a descent campsite was a major problem. One thing that is vastly different about this area as compared to the BWCA is the complete absence of rocks; we went 12 days on the river and never saw so much as a single stone. There was mud everywhere! Our 3rd campsite looked much like the 1st two in that it was a low marshy area that was quite swampy, but it was the only flat ground around so we made it our home for the next several days. Similar to the previous two sites, the flat swampy ground was very popular with the geese as we found plenty of goose poop around camp which was pretty gross.
After setting up camp, we ventured out to try the fishing and experienced our 1st taste of the truly world-class pike fishing available in Alaska. The boys were tired and stayed in the tent while Steve and I went ¼ mile out into the bay and started fishing. After catching ½ dozen big pike, we paddled closer to the tent and started hollering about the big fish to the boys and told them to get their butts out here and start fishing. At first they thought we were just screwing around with them until they finally peeked out of the tent and saw us holding up a large pike. The boys had the canoe loaded up and were out in the bay with us in minutes.
We fished until probably midnight or so before calling it quits for the evening; midnight in Alaska is still plenty light outside. We ended up catching 28 pike over 10 lbs for the day and had a number of double and triple headers.
A heavy rain and windstorm rolled in during the night and pounded the tent pretty good. I was getting concerned because while we were 50 yards back from the waterline, we were less than 12” higher than the waterline. The idea of breaking camp to move to higher ground at 4:00 AM was not at all appealing, especially because there was no good place to camp on higher ground. Earlier we scouted a few places back in the wood, but all were loaded with 5’ tall grass and downed trees; not an ideal place to camp when in grizzly country as you could be 10’ away from a 500 lbs bear and never see it.
The advantage of camping on the flat marshy goose poop land was that we had a good 75 yards of open ground between us and the tree line such that we could see animals (and they could see us) from a long ways out such that nobody got surprised. The land was also ideal for setting up our 40 ft x 40 ft electric fence which we used to surround the tent as well as our canoes during the evening. With 6,000~7,000 Volts being transmitted to anything that touched the fence, we all slept a bit easier at night.
We spend ½ day moving downstream to the next slough on the map. As was status quo for the Innoko, finding a descent campsite was a major problem. One thing that is vastly different about this area as compared to the BWCA is the complete absence of rocks; we went 12 days on the river and never saw so much as a single stone. There was mud everywhere! Our 3rd campsite looked much like the 1st two in that it was a low marshy area that was quite swampy, but it was the only flat ground around so we made it our home for the next several days. Similar to the previous two sites, the flat swampy ground was very popular with the geese as we found plenty of goose poop around camp which was pretty gross.
After setting up camp, we ventured out to try the fishing and experienced our 1st taste of the truly world-class pike fishing available in Alaska. The boys were tired and stayed in the tent while Steve and I went ¼ mile out into the bay and started fishing. After catching ½ dozen big pike, we paddled closer to the tent and started hollering about the big fish to the boys and told them to get their butts out here and start fishing. At first they thought we were just screwing around with them until they finally peeked out of the tent and saw us holding up a large pike. The boys had the canoe loaded up and were out in the bay with us in minutes.
We fished until probably midnight or so before calling it quits for the evening; midnight in Alaska is still plenty light outside. We ended up catching 28 pike over 10 lbs for the day and had a number of double and triple headers.
A heavy rain and windstorm rolled in during the night and pounded the tent pretty good. I was getting concerned because while we were 50 yards back from the waterline, we were less than 12” higher than the waterline. The idea of breaking camp to move to higher ground at 4:00 AM was not at all appealing, especially because there was no good place to camp on higher ground. Earlier we scouted a few places back in the wood, but all were loaded with 5’ tall grass and downed trees; not an ideal place to camp when in grizzly country as you could be 10’ away from a 500 lbs bear and never see it.
The advantage of camping on the flat marshy goose poop land was that we had a good 75 yards of open ground between us and the tree line such that we could see animals (and they could see us) from a long ways out such that nobody got surprised. The land was also ideal for setting up our 40 ft x 40 ft electric fence which we used to surround the tent as well as our canoes during the evening. With 6,000~7,000 Volts being transmitted to anything that touched the fence, we all slept a bit easier at night.
Donate - BWCA.com