Don’t leave your pals behind. Alaska is a grand playground, especially when you share your fishing with kids.
By: Greg Thomas, Photography by: Greg Thomas, Fly Rod and Reel
Many of us travel far to tackle the great flyrod species, such as tarpon, permit, steelhead, Atlantic salmon and big brook trout, but fewer take on the true test of our angling resources, that being how to travel, fish and remain sane with young kids in tow.
I faced that challenge last June when I packed up my girls and headed to Alaska for 14 days on the Kenai Peninsula, following a road system that visits the quaint towns of Nikiski, Kenai, Clam Gulch, Homer and Seward.
The Kenai is a kids’ wonderland, with wildlife viewing available around almost every turn, including glimpses of humpback and orca whales, grizzly and black bears, long-legged moose, sea lions, bald eagles and, for the observant and slightly lucky ones, wolves. But I wasn’t on the Kenai just to see wildlife—I wanted to catch king salmon on my Spey rod and to get the girls hooked into some red salmon.