A long-awaited fishing trip

Gnarly Dan and I finally connected on a fishing trip out to Larsen Creek this past week. We’d been discussing making the trip for a couple of weeks but his work schedule and the on-again-off-again uncertainty of a possible closure because of poor returns kept moving the “go date” further back.

I had been wanting to make this trip to see the country and to experience some sockeye sport fishing here in the Valley. If you don’t know, Larsen Creek is about an eight-mile ATV run from the parking area at the end of Comstad Road, just outside Talkeetna. We drove for an hour-and-a-half pulling my six-wheeler from Big Lake to start the hour-and-a-quarter run by ATV out to Larsen Creek.

On our first cancelled date, I had travelled up into the area to see exactly how far and where the roads were. A family was just getting ready to make the trip when I arrived, so I had an opportunity to ask a few questions.

The fishing had been pretty good with everybody catching some reds on their first trip in a few days before. The ATV leg of the trip would take about an hour with the trail being wet, rutted, and slick with the muddy trail conditions. Most importantly, I saw where the trail jumped off from the parking area, so I knew where to go.

The big day arrived and I waited for Gnarly Dan to arrive at my house. Now, Gnarly Day is a very prompt person, usually arriving either early or right on time. When he became an hour late, I called to see what was up. He had run into a series of “snags” getting some things accomplished before trying to leave and things just kept getting worse. After he did get on the road, he ran into some long construction delays on the Parks Highway while driving to my Big Lake home.

We ended up being three-and-one-half- hours late getting started, but we were finally on our way. When we arrived in the parking area, there were a lot fewer vehicles parked that the first time I visited the spot. We loaded our gear into the six-wheeler and began the trek out the ATV trail.

That was the worst trail I have ever driven an ATV on in my life! The trail was twisty, heavily rutted in spots, covered with water in virtually every low area, rocky, and with several steep up and downhill sections. Numerous times we bottomed out on rocks hitting the heavy aftermarket skid plate I had installed on the machine shortly after buying it. You don’t know how many times I was thankful for that skid plate!

Even with all six wheels engaged with power, we still repeatedly slid sideways on the muddy trail trying to avoid ruts or rocks or tree roots. I managed to bump a tree with the right front wheel on the way out and hooked a chunk of tree root with the front right corner of the skid plate coming back. I told Gnarly I was in no hurry to try and drive that six-wheeler out that trail again anytime in the future.

Now, having said all that, the trail would probably be fun on a four-wheeler, especially if you enjoyed getting a little muddy in the process. It was a strain on this old operator trying to keep the six-wheeler upright and unstuck!

Once we got out there, the scenery was nice and the other folks already there were catching fish. Gnarly immediately got his gear rigged and in the water. I needed some time to “collect” my thoughts!

It took us between two-and-one-half and three hours just to get there. Gnarly actually fished maybe about three hours and we then made the return run. I sat out the afternoon since we already had about a dozen fish in the freezer at home. Besides, those sockeyes were showing a pretty good “blush” color.

Gnarly legally hooked two fish and released a dozen or more foul-hooked ones. He had maybe another half-dozen which managed to throw the hook before he could bring them in where I was using my landing net. For three hours of fishing, hooking up with nearly two dozen fish wasn’t bad!

When a new group showed up later in the afternoon, the husband asked me if I had limited out. I told him no – I was Gnarly Dan’s Uber driver for the trip. His wife thought that was clever!