(Adam) Tonight on KSL Outdoors, we are back in Alaska for our Pybus Point Lodge adventure.
(Brandon) bears over my shoulder, glaciers in the background, this is crazy, but cool. It’s like a dream but it’s real. (laughs)
(Adam) the thrills the spills, the big halibut that didn’t get away. I’m Adam Eakle and KSL Outdoors, starts right now.
( Scott Jorgensen, Owner Pybus Point Lodge) “We’d like to welcome everybody out to Pybus Point, for those that have been with us before welcome back, for those of you who are new, welcome to one of the most beautiful places in all of southeast Alaska.”
Welcome back to the second part of our Alaskan adventure. You know remote, wild places, whether they are in Utah or in Alaska have always held a special place in my heart and Pybus Point Lodge is such a place. Located on Admiralty Island, this 100 mile long island is a gem of old-growth rain forest with towering snow capped peaks on the northern part of the Alaskan panhandle’s Inside Passage and Pybus Point lodge is the only commercial operation on the island.
(Scott Jorgensen, Pybus Point Lodge) “The intimate setting that we’ve been able to preserve here at Pybus Point Lodge, goes hand in hand with the fact that we are surrounded by National Monument, so this area is extremely pristine. So we do our best to try and keep it pristine by limiting the number of people that we bring here.”
(high fives) wow, biggest fish of the trip! Nice job Brandon.
My friends and I had so much fun.
(Whale blows) (adam) there he goes.
Saw so many magnificent creatures.
(jeff Bringhurst, Sandy) look at that! (laughs) that’s not bad is it.
And caught so many fish, we just had to show you more.
Today we are headed out with 21 year old skipper Casey Shaw.
(Captain Casey Shaw, Pybus Point Lodge Fishing Guide) “This is your break. When you open this up you want to make sure you have ahold of this spool. Then you just drop it down.”
Don’t let his age fool you, Casey grew up on Admiralty Island with his family. He’s the best and most experienced fisherman I’ve met up in Alaska and today he’s trying to get us on some Chinook salmon.
(Adam to Jeff) what’s going on over here? (jeff Bringhurst, Sandy) zip, zip, zip, there goes the drag. (nats drag) he keeps running.
It’s August and usually this time of year there are very few kings caught. But Casey knew of a point where we might find a few. We are only allowed one king apiece and it has to be over 28 inches.
(Adam) come on we need bigger than 28. (jeff) I can’t even move him. this is bigger than 28.
(Casey nets fish) Pull up a little bit, there we go, pretty fish. (casey) yeah that should be 28 inches. (adam laugh) get the stamp out.
(jeff) 28 and a half. (casey) yup. (jeff) 28 and 1/8th, that’s all it has to be. we’ll keep it.
(Clint Eastman, Goal Zero) (adam to clint) have you ever caught a king? (clint) never. (adam) we’ll you’ve got one on now. (clint) I’m going to try right now.
(Adam) do they have pretty soft mouths casey? (Casey) the kings are a lot harder, the pinks have soft mouths, coho are medium but the kinds have a really hard mouth.
(Casey) Pull up. (net fish) (adam) Nice that is definitely a 30 inch fish! (casey) yup. woo hoo, that’s a good one.
(Adam) that’s Alaska baby! (clint) yeah it is.
Jeff and Clint’s kings were the only two of the trip, but hard fighting silvers definitely took up the slack.
Phsycotic! (net silver) nice triple. controlled choas.
We each ended up with a limit of silvers two days in a row and a limit of pinks, just for the fun of it.
(Line Screaming out) (adam) he’s going back to the bottom…(groan) my back hates this fish.
and every day we all caught our halibut. Some a little bigger than others.
(Adam grunts) (jeff) do you want me to stay on you or the fish when you get it? (adam) go to the fish when it comes up, because I’m going to pass out! (grunt and laughs) (casey) I hope it’s over the 45 inch limit, you are making it look big. (adam) he feels like he’s big.
(casey) here he comes, woo, woo, woo, go slow, hold on! Hold on!
To keep a halibut while on a guided fishing trip, the fish must be out of the slot of 45 to 68 inches. This big hen is my biggest to date.
(Casey) About 60 inches. Good fish, thanks sir. too bad he’s got to go back and he’s got to go make some babies and I need some Ibuprofen.
A big catch is very common here at Pybus, each day after fishing.
The guides fillet and package all the meat to be flash frozen for the trip home.
(Scott Jorgenson, Pybus Point Lodge) Alaska is a great big place and there is pros and cons to everywhere you go in Alaska. We are not as easy to get to. We are not as inexpensive as some of the other places are, but what you get to experience by getting off the beaten path and going where other people don’t go, can make or break that trip for you. and that’s what gives us the variety that we have to offer out here.”
(Michael Eltzroth, Utah Fisherman) “It was an absolute incredible day. That’s the most fish I’ve ever caught in a single day. Ever! It was crazy. Yeah day one and we’ve still got five days left. (laughs)
Coming up on KSL Outdoors.
(Adam) dude look at that, you’ve got a brown bear over your shoulder. (jeff) How cool is that man. I’ve died and gone to heaven.
We introduce you to a little salmon on the fly as we fish along side giant brown bears, but first let’s check out tonight’s Burt Brothers quiz question.
(Scott) welcome to Pybus Point, this is our first night dinner.
Welcome back to Pybus Point Lodge. After fishing all day on the ocean, everyone would gather around the dinner table to tell tall tales of the days events. It’s a family atmosphere that gives everyone a chance to learn a bit more about our fellow fishermen. My friends and I would eat as fast as possible.
So we could jump into one of the new skiffs the lodge offers and head to the back of the bays to join giant brown bears fishing for the thousands of salmon headed up stream.
(Scott) yeah besides the salt water fishing here at Pybus Point Lodge we have lots of fresh water opportunities. There are about six rivers or streams right here around the lodge within 10-15 minute ride by skiff, that we can access at any point in time. There is dolly varden, there is pink salmon streams as well as chum. The silvers run late in the year up the rivers that we operate on. for a fresh water enthusiast, it’s not the big rivers of the interior of Alaska, but the quality of the fishery is excellent for those that really want to get out on a fly rod and really learn what fly fishing can be about. We are talking 8 weight rods with salmon that run anywhere from 5-15 pounds when the silver start running. So it can be a lot of fun.
(Jeff Bringhurst, Sandy) a little different on a fly rod isn’t it? (jeff) oh little bit. (adam) look at that, you’ve got a brown bear over your shoulder. (jeff) how cool is that. I’ve died and gone to heaven. (adam) is that your first salmon on a fly? (jeff) yes, this is by far the biggest fish i’ve ever caught on a fly. (adam) keep your rod tip high. (jeff) I’m trying. (laughs)
There are literally thousands of pink and chum salmon running up this glacier fed river. Catching them is a riot, the hardest part is keeping an eye on your fish and the bears feeding just yards away.
(Alan Blackburn, KSL Sales) Those two brown bears ran away from us, but I think they are coming around the other side.
(Adam) Brown bears don’t scare you? (alan Blackburn) Petrify me! (laughs) 28:52 but not as bad standing in the boat. I worry more for you. (adam) no, I’m fine.
Admiralty Island is home to the highest concentration of brown bears in the world, with counts approaching nearly one and a half bears per square mile. On this small river alone, we spotted six bears.
(jeff laughing)
(shot of Brandon hooking up) (adam) “nice.”
(Jeff) awesome. (adam) what do you think? First night, big ol’ humpy on a fly. (jeff) man, what’s tomorrow going to bring.
(Jeff) look how ugly he is. (adam) oh he’s pretty.
GO PRO FILE 324 nats fish swimming away
(Brandon) We may not be taking these home, but this is the most fun I’ve had, this is awesome. This is great and the numbers are unreal. I don’t know if you can see without a polarized lens, but the numbers of fish is crazy. (adam) how many fish in that pod? (brandon) several thousands, not hundreds this is thousands and we’ve got everybody hooked up, this is amazing.
Amazing is a word you hear a lot when you come to Pybus Point Lodge and it’s not just the fishing that makes this a trip of a lifetime.
(file) did you get him? I got him. Sweet!
The Whales,
(Adam) He’s in the water, he’s fishing.
The Bears, the otters, it’s the whole package, including the scenery, the food and the people that have me coming back year after year.
(Alan Blackburn) This is absolutely one of the most pristine places in the world.
(Alan) I love that you are just away from everything there is no pressure from other commercial lodges or anything, this is as good as it gets.
(Scott Jorgensen, Pybus Point Lodge) To me it’s building the memories. This is where you come to build memories, It’s not just a fishing trip, it’s a trip to build memories. So, for families that want to come build memories that will last a lifetime here in Alaska, this is a great place to do it.
(Tag toss to Fish Tech) It has taken me three trips to Pybus to finally land a chum. I’ve had a bunch on, maybe 18, never actually caught one in the hand. Powerful fish right there, that’s why you come to Pybus. Look at that, big ol’ ugly chum, but he was worth the fight. Let’s send it back to Salt Lake now to the guys at Fish Tech for tonights Fish Report. woo.
(Adam and Clint Eastman, Goal Zero) Welcome back to Pybus Point Lodge, I’m Adam Eakle. Scott, C.J., and Jody, they really wanted more people to come up here and experience this beautiful place that they call home. So, they decided to build this beautiful fully furnished, thirty foot yurt and they wanted to make it eco-friendly, that is they wanted to make it green. So who better bring up and make it green than our buddies from Goal Zero. Clint, we’ve got our work cut out for us. (clint) yes we do. (adam) what are we going to do here? (clint) what we are going to do is outfit them with the right amount of solar that they need to keep all their devices running.
(Adam) so what do we have?
(clint) So we have our Yeti 1250 silent generator. This will collect energy from the sun and you’ll have a variety of ways to use the power whether it be through three AC outlets, three 12 volt DC outlets, a bunch of USB’s which your kids are going to love and then we outfitted with them with two tripod setups we call them, but basically two hundred and forty watts of solar to be able to give this enough charge to re-fuel it everyday.
(Scott) we’ll be able to power it, with heat with all the light you need, internet with all the amenities down south here in Alaska without doing any damage to the environment.
nats taking yeti into yurt
(clint) ok, so we’ve installed the yeti 1250 in the yurts.
(Clint) I would estimate that this medicine cabinet refrigerator will run at least two days off of the Yeti 1250 without solar, so the idea is to get enough solar to keep up with your power needs and that’s crucial when making a decision which type of system you need.
(Clint) so the other thing we added here at Pybus Point Lodge is miniature 1250, we call it the Yeti 150. It’s great for charging laptop devices down. Scott thought it would be good to add one of these to each one of his guest rooms. So when his guests come back to the room after a long day of fishing, they have their own lighting, they usually are having to charge their cell phones because they just drained it by all the photos they took of the fish they caught. You have an AC outlet, that’s good for up to 80 watts.
(Clint) we have a USB output for your i-pod or cell phone and two 12 volt outputs so you can plug in our 12 volt lighting systems which we have in each room as well.
(In cue…”cline we even brought….outcue. Utah Field Guide.
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