Alaska’s Inside Passage: Fishing – and more – in Wrangell

Our InnerSea Discoveries cruise on the Wilderness Discoverer was more about outdoor activities than port stops. The ship’s Eastern Coves itinerary does stop in one town along the Inside Passage, the outdoor activity haven of Wrangell.

Unfortunately, InnerSea Discoveries told us that there weren’t any more spots on the Wrangell daytrip that we really wanted to do, a visit to the famed Anon Bear Observatory  (although we found out later that other cruise passengers without advance reservations were able to go – grr!) If you ever do end up in Wrangell, the bear trip is the one to take. I hope I can go back sometime to see it (I think I was one of the few people on the cruise who didn’t see a bear the entire trip).

Denied our bear viewing, we set out to explore the town. While Wrangell is mostly used as base to get further out into the wilderness – the Stikine River is not far – Petroglyph Beach State Historic Park is just a short walk from town.  The beach has the highest concentration of petroglyphs in Southeast Alaska and we found them easily.

We continued to enjoy temperate weather. In August, southeast Alaska feels a lot like the Pacific Northwest in the fall, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Sweatshirt and jeans weather, no humidity. Rain comes and goes, but on this day, we were lucky.

Like many of the smaller towns in the Alaska Inside Passage, Wrangell has a quirky charm. Many of the houses had fun decorations related to fishing, hunting or …..pirates.

We couldn’t leave Wrangell without doing one outdoor excursion. Don is a huge fishing fan, but I had never been. We decided that I needed to lose my fishing virginity.

The Wilderness Discoverer set us up with John Yeager of Alaska Charters & Adventures. We liked John right away: He writes about fishing on his blog and other publications, and has an active Twitter feed (@WrangellFishing). And his wife, Brenda Schwartz-Yeager, is an artist in town who makes paintings using old maps.

There were four of us from the ship who signed up to fish. I was the only fishing novice, but John took it in stride. We set out looking for coho salmon, which were running in August.

Little did I know that on these kind of charters, you don’t have to be much of an expert, as John set up all of the poles for us. We watched, and when one of the poles started to bend, we jumped up and John helped us reel it in.

When my pole started pulling, I jumped up. John showed me how to reel and helped me bring it in. It took a while, but I finally got my fish close enough for John to grab it with a net. You can see the result – the 12 pound coho above! To say I was thrilled is an understatement (although I was a little squicked out by the blood running down my arm. I didn’t know that fish bleed!)

Don’s fish wasn’t as impressive. But at least he caught something: the two other guys on the boat didn’t get anything. Which means I had the biggest catch of the day! Sadly, neither of  us were able to keep our fish. We donated them to the local senior center.

Spending the afternoon out in the Alaska waters felt peaceful. I think I see the appeal of fishing now: A couple of beers, some brilliant scenery, lively camaraderie and short bursts of exciting activity? Sign me up!

The only thing I didn’t like is that we ended up paying more by going through the ship, which charged us $200 per person for a four hour trip. If we would have gone directly through John, we could have done a full day – 8 hours – for $295 per person (2 person minimum). Just goes to prove that cruise excursions are a rip off, even if you’re on a smaller ship. You are ALWAYS better off booking them on your own.

I would love to go back to the Wrangell area again so we could visit the Bear Observatory, take a boat trip up the Stikine River, and try fishing again. Don wants to go in May, when the king salmon are running.

Tagged as: Alaska, Cruises, fishing, InnerSea Discoveries, Inside Passage