Trip to Homer, AK

Dolly Varden Trout (Salvelinus malma) at Russian River

We avoided traveling in summer 2020 due to the pandemic.  Taiga was really bummed because he was planning to go for Salmon fishing.  When we were deciding our vacation destination for the Independence Day weekend of 2021, Taiga was all set to go back to Klutina River for Sockeye (Red) Salmon, and Valdez for Pink Salmon, just like the trip we did in 2019 (link).  Salmon runs are different every year.  We checked various sources a couple days before the weekend, but salmons weren't running hot in Klutina nor Valdez.  So at the last minute, we changed the destination, and headed to Kenai peninsula.  I'm just writing down about the trip for this post before I forget.

We had a late start on Sunday, July 4, but we managed to drive to Byers Lake Campground.  The last time we stayed here, it was infested with mosquitoes, but it wasn't bad this year.  We grabbed sandwich materials for dinner on the canoe, and started to fish immediately.  The only fish we caught was juvenile Coho Salmons biting to a dry fly.  But it was good to fish for a while after a long drive.  We are not supposed to catch salmons in Byers Lake, so we quickly released them.  They have beautiful markings. We fished fairly late, and it was cool to see and hear loons on the quiet lake.

In the second day, we drove to Russian River, and camped in the Ferry parking lot (milepost 55). Monday, July 5th, was a holiday, so we were worried if there is any space to camp.  But in the overflow parking area, we were one of the only 3 campers.  The area is next to Sterling Highway, but it wasn't too noisy.  We got there late (7PM), but Taiga saw a person catching a salmon across the river, so he had to go fishing.  The last ferry is 11PM, so we had only a little bit of time.

This is one of the famous "combat fishing" sites in Alaska, and this was our first time here.  Even though it was around the holiday time, it wasn't too bad.  We fished various places along the river, but there were only a few spots where people were catching lots of fish.  These sites were crowded, though.  Most people use Russian River Flies or 'yarn flies' (a big hook with a 5cm piece of fat yarn tied onto the hook).  We are basically snagging them, so the color of the flies doesn't seem to matter.  The first fish which Taiga hooked was this Sculpin, a bit smaller than what he wanted to catch (Sockeye Salmon).

But he had a nice grin even though it was rainy.  I think that it is more difficult/challenging to catch this small sculpin than a salmon, and I'm amazed that he hooked this fish!

We didn't catch any Salmon after flipping the flies many times, and it became way too late for Taiga's bed time, so we started to walk back to the ferry.  But he saw a person catching a salmon, and decided to give another try.  Then he managed to catch two salmons (persistence pays off).  The first one ran into the main stream, and ran downstream, and pulled lots of line out.  So I helped a little bit, but after a while, he managed to land it! We had only 20Lb lines, so we couldn't tighten the drag too much; heavier line would be better for Russian River.  He got the second one all by himself, and I was impressed by how he handled the fish.  He was the only kid fishing, so other people were cheering him.  One guy, who was watching his fight, said that he also started to fish Russian River when he was 11 years old.  Since you don't have to cast much, and the shallow area is wadable by kids, it is a place where kids can catch salmons.  But there weren't any other kids fishing.  I wonder if they make a designated area for kids, it might be more accessible to kids instead of flipping flies right next to grown-ups.  Below, he was showing his two salmons while waiting for the ferry.

Day 3: We fished Russian River all day long in the light rain, and we didn't catch any salmon. But he hooked a giant Dolly Varden Trout (Salvelinus malma) and successfully landed it all by himself.  We have released it safely.

Day 4: We drove to Kasilof Beach (north side) in the morning.  We could park in the parking lot and camp for free.  But it was noisy; kids running around on ATVs till late night.  When we arrived there, it was about 2 hours to the high tide, so we quickly got ready and started to do dip-net.  Diana quickly caught a salmon in the shallow area where nobody was fishing.  Since it was her first time to catch (and I forgot to tell her what to do), she was battling with it in the middle of ocean and wasn't sure how to handle the fish.  Taiga was screaming her to bring the fish to the shore.  Taiga tried to dip-net by himself, too, but he didn't catch any for the first day.  In Russian River, he was soaked, too, but we assumed that it was because he slipped in the river.  After the high tide, nobody was catching anymore, so instead of standing in the cold water, we went back to the camper and ate dinner.  When we got back to the camper, we found out Taiga's wader was leaking, and he was completely soaked inside.... The water is cold, but he did not complain much.

Camping at Kasilof Beach North parking lot.

 

We looked for creatures in the tide pool after dinner, but we didn't see too many.

Next day, we started dip-netting when the tide was lower, and tide was coming in.  We fished at the mouth of the river, and the slope is steeper than the beach area, so Taiga could dip-net without getting into the water. Taiga was one of two or three kids dip-netting around there. 

After one hour or so in the enjoyable afternoon, not too cold and not too windy, with the view of beautiful mountains across Cook Inlet, people around us started to catch fish, and one got into Taiga's net, too.  The bank is somewhat steep with slippery mud, 4' diameter net with one additional extension was pretty heavy, and he struggled to pull the fish up.  When he almost got the fish to the shore, the salmon managed to get out from the net....  He was disappointed, but excited at the same time.  He managed to land the next one, though, and this is his first Red Salmon he caught by dip-netting!  I'm guessing that this is a memorable moment for many Alaska-grown kids.

Taiga was standing at the edge of the water, and every couple minutes, he had to back up due to incoming tide.  It was an interesting experience to see how quickly the tide moves in.  After the high tide, the fishing slowed, so we went back to the camper.  We caught 2 salmons for the first day and 2 in the second day.  It wasn't a lot, but we didn't suffer too much, neither.  When we dip-netted Kenai Beach a couple years ago (link), it was cold and miserable and stayed in the water for long time (and caught only 1 fish).  The Kasilof Beach was much more enjoyable because we weren't so focused on catching more fish.  We went to the water, when people are catching fish, and we did other things when it was slow.  After we were done fishing, we weren't sure what we wanted to do, but we didn't want to stay in the noisy parking lot for another night.  So at the last minutes, we decided to go down to Homer to eat fresh oysters.

 When we got to Homer around 6PM, the restaurants were crowded, and we tried two restaurants and couldn't get in.  So we drove to the Spit, and went to Oyster Bar of Kachemak Shellfish Growers Co-op, where we know we get fresh oysters. Fortunately, there were only a few other groups eating there.  We started with a half dozen raw oysters, and a half dozen baked oysters.  

Taiga, with expensive taste, loved the fresh oysters, and he wanted to get another dozen.  The oysters are harvested in the previous day, so it is difficult to be fresher than this (unless you harvest by yourself). And the oysters farmed around here are special because the water temperature is low and they don't spend there energy for reproduction.  So we splurged a little bit. Sitting on the deck facing beautiful mountains across Kachemak Bay, we had luxurious time with amazing food and locally brewed Porter. On the way home, we  brought back two dozens of large oysters from the co-op. We probably should have bought smaller size oysters, which tasted better.

We stayed at Heritage RV Park, which is located right next to Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon (The Fishing Hole), Homer Spit.  It was expensive, but we enjoyed taking shower there.  This is a full hook-up RV park, so it was unexpectedly quiet (nobody ran generators). We can walk to the beach for tide-pooling, and we saw lots of creatures here (especially south-west side of the spur).  Also, the bike path along the spit was fun.

Padded Sculpin (Artedius fenestralis)

Crescent Gunnel (Pholis laeta), which Taiga found under a rock.

Port of Homer during the bike ride.

 

We fished around The Fishing Hole a little bit when the tide was high, but we didn't catch any.  There was a person who caught a King Salmon, though.

After dinner, we took 2 hour Wildlife and Sightseeing Tours on the Crusader with Captain Mike of Central Charters and Tours.  It was a bit rainy, but the cabin of the boat was comfortable.  We visited Gull Island at first.  We saw colonies of Common Murre, Black-legged Kittiwake, Tufted Puffin, and Pelagic Cormorant.

Common Murre

Sea Otter

Tufted Puffin

Tufted Puffin

Pelagic Cormorant

Then the boat radio reported Orca sightings close to the harbor of Homer.  Captain Mike drove the boat back to the area, and looked for it, but we couldn't find them. Then we went to see Halibut Cove.  Even though I'm highly susceptible to motion sickness, I didn't have any problems.  We had a great time.

Next morning, it was still drizzling, but we went to End of the Road Park (at the very tip of Homer Spit) for fishing. Low-tide is the good time to fish this area.  Fish processors dump their remains into this area, so this area attracts fish.  Most of the time, you catch Irish Lord or Flatfish, but I've heard that some people catch small halibuts from the shore.  We used squids as the bait, but frozen bait fish might be a better choice.  It was pretty cold, rainy and windy, so we didn't stay for a long time, but Taiga caught 2 Northern Pacific Sea Star (Asterias amurensis), and one Yellow Irish Lord (Hemilepidotus jordani).  

Yellow Irish Lord (Hemilepidotus jordani)

Northern Pacific Sea Star (Asterias amurensis)

Yellow Irish Lord seems to be ugly to American people, and not many people appear to eat them.  But in Japan, people eat them (Japanese name: Name-yokosuji-kajika, ナメヨコスジカジカ).  It is eaten as Sashimi (raw), Nabe (hot-pot/casserole), or Simmered fish in soy-sauce based broth.  Some of the related species are highly praised for Nabe in Japan.  We tried Kara-age (Japanese style deep-fry), but because the head was so big and the actual meat was so small, each of us got only two bites.  I would say that it has pretty good flavor (mild end) with good texture.

A family with two kids was fishing next to us.   Kids were probably around 4-7 years old and really into fishing, and they had good focus and patience.  It reminded me of Taiga when he was young.  The kid gave us two Northern Rock Sole (Lepidopsetta polyxystra), which they caught. Japanese name for this species is Shumushu-garei (シュムシュガレイ ).  It lives in Northern Japan, but I believe that most of them in Japanese fish markets were imported from Alaska, and they are affordable fish in Japan.

This species was recently split out from Rock Sole (Lepidopsetta bilineata) (Orr and Matarese, 2000). It is not easy to distinguish these two species, and in south central Alaska, both species can co-occur. Here is the key to distinguish them.

• Lepidopsetta polyxystra --- Total gill rakers on first arch typically ≥10, on upper part of first arch ≥3
• Lepidopsetta bilineata --- Total gill rakers on first arch typically ≤10, on upper part of first arch ≤3.
  

I didn't know about this difference in the gill morphology.  After I cooked them, I tossed the heads into our compost pile.  I had to dig-up the head to see the gill; lots of fly larvae were crawling there, and it was really stinky.   I almost vomited, but I managed to find the required part.

The gill rakers are the pointy part you can see under the gills.  There appears to be 11-12 rakers, so I could confirm this is Northern Rock Sole.

We made Kara-age (deep-fry) of this flat-fish, but it was too big for this cooking method.  I should have simmered in soy sauce based broth, which is a popular way to cook this species in Japan.  The meat has soft, delicate texture, and deep-frying of a larger fish didn't work well (it crumbled into pieces).  I would have gotten better results with gently simmering them (e.g. cook gently for 10-15 min in water : white wine : soy sauce : mirin : sugar = 4:2:2:1 and a little bit of ginger slices) after chopping up into 2" strips (with bone-in).

On the way back to Fairbanks, we stopped at Potter Marsh Wildlife Viewing Boardwalk in Anchorage, and Taiga thought this sign in the restroom was super funny.

To break the long drive back to home, we fished Byers Creek for 1 hour, but we didn't see any fish.

When we got home, we processed all of our fish, and Taiga did a great job processing them.

We enjoyed Ikuradon (Ikura on top of rice bowl):

Literature Cited:

• Orr, J. W., Matarese, A. C. 2000. Revision of the genus Lepidopsetta Gill, 1862 (Teleostei: Pleuronectidae) based on larval and adult morphology, with a description of a new species from the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. Fishery Bulletin. 98 (3): 539–82.