Once again Bristol Bay’s incredible salmon runs made a spectacular return with excellent numbers of sockeye, silvers, chum and notable kings in a few rivers. The sockeye run started a little late but made up for the delay with big numbers. According to Alaska Dept of Fish and Game, 56.5 million fish returned to Bristol Bay. The 2nd largest run in the last 20 years. Of those the Kvichak saw 3,163,404 fish, 2,041,824 went up the Alagnak and 1,899,972 in the Naknek. This resulted in spectacular trout fishing throughout the region. Our silver salmon return was way up from 2016 also and provided many excellent days. Our weather was pretty standard with rivers at a good level in the spring, dropping for a few weeks and coming up later in the season.
2017 saw a few notable changes at No See Um:
- We replaced N65223 with N67251 (read more about the Beavers). This was a nice upgrade in aircraft with 251 recently undergoing a complete rebuild and sitting on brand new floats.
- We built a new custom bar in the main guest lodge complete with two Alaskan craft brews on tap.
- Our wood fired sauna has always been very popular but not always easy to use. This year we converted it to a combination electric/#1 heating oil giving a much greater heat range and ease of use.
- We did a complete rework and upgrade on our water system with all new showers, toilets and supply system. This resulted in excellent pressure and temp even at maximum usage.
The crew was mostly a repeat of the year before, it was this experience level and continued dedication that made for one of the best seasons I can remember.
2017 marked my 25th year working at No See Um as a pilot/guide and 10 years at the helm. I’ve seen a lot of change in SW Alaska during that time, primarily ever increasing pressure on our rivers. One would expect to see a decline in fishing. While I have seen a few rivers suffer, many are producing more and bigger fish than they did 20 years ago. Education, catch and release laws, clean water and abundant food have mitigated much of the impact but we constantly struggle to keep things going in the right direction.
2018 is already shaping into an even better year. The big salmon return of 2017 means another incredible spring fishery with fat and numerous trout in all our rivers. This will be the third year in a row of good returns, last spring was better than the previous and I fully expect the next to be even better. Most of the staff will be back and we have added some excellent talent.
Thank you to everyone that visited us and we all look forward to seeing you again soon.
Sincerely,
John Holman
