The Crystal Creek Lodge Blog is a place of possibilities, where you can learn deeper insights into how to explore the tens of millions of acres of wild Alaska surrounding us. Whether you’re after fishing, wildlife, the perspective of history or simply feeling the awe of being in wide-open spaces, it’s all here. Enjoy the journey.
“More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost if you can conceive of such a combination.” –Wilbur Wright The DeHavilland Beaver The hard-working quintessential Alaska bush plane, the DeHavilland Beaver occupies a well-deserved seat of honor in the annals of aviation history –…
Read more »
As we are busy preparing the lodge for opening, a series of earthquakes has been shaking the Alaska Peninsula. We were woke last night to the lodge rolling and shaking to an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude, centered about 100 miles south of the lodge near the Yantarni Salmon Camp. The Peninsula is essentially a gigantic…
Read more »
Glenn and Sam H. from California fished together on the Kvichak River during a beautiful Bristol Bay day, July 4th. Together they watched thousands of Sockeye Salmon stream by the bank and they caught their limit of five apiece in a matter of a couple hours. Sam is holding his first fish of the day…
Read more »
The first King Salmon of the 2014 Crystal Creek Lodge season was caught today at the Nushagak River by William Oberholtzer, age 6. Guiding him was his dad, Alex Oberholtzer, pilot/guide and partner at Crystal Creek Lodge. The Nushagak run of Kings is ahead of schedule and the run is predicted to be strong! Kings…
Read more »
Two fish, caught from two rivers, two days apart. One, a 20-inch fish that lives it’s life year round in a stream far from a lake connection, turns pigmented, spotted, green and bright red from exposure to sunlight. The other, a 29-inch fish, remains chrome and without pigment from living it’s life year round in…
Read more »
The sea-run Dolly Varden are flooding into the Bristol Bay area rivers, following the salmon from the ocean to the spawning creeks. The Dollies are stacking the catch numbers substantially as our guests fish small streams. Shown is pilot/guide Alex holding a Dolly caught by guest Joe W. of Long Beach, CA. Joe just completed…
Read more »