Hoodoo Voodoo! A Fishing Adventure off the Farm!

One day a little hockey player woke up and said "I wanna go fishing!"  Seriously though both my boys have always loved fishing - not just liked it - LOVED fishing! As much or more than hockey even.  Reed has fished in the summer, winter, fall and spring.  He has tied flies, made spoons, and I have had a house full of fishing gear to go with the hockey and hunting gear for years and years. You get used to it and just work around it and - yes, once in a while throw a fit and demand one of the chairs in the living room be kept free of hunting, hockey and fishing gear!  Im sure Im not the only mom who has had this problem.  Pretty sure Colton Conners mom had the same problem too - at least!  Colton Conner is the owner of Drifterz Paradise Fishing Charters and he gave Reed his start in the fishing guiding arena.

Reed got his Merchant Mariners certificate at age 16  - it was a fun adventure because the Homeland security people thought I was trying to enlist my son in the Coast Guard underage!  Once we explained that he just wanted to fish they warmed up to us a little.

Inflatable "glass bottom" canoe and a great lake trout.

It really is a pretty long process to get those credentials and to do all the paperwork and classes to become a registered licensed guide in the State of Alaska - especially since he was not old enough to sign "grown up" paperwork at the time.

Fishing in Alaska is a treasure and a treat!  There is so much fishing to be had all over the place!  Multiple types of salmon, lots of trout, grayling, char, pike, to name a few and these are just some of the fresh water fish!  The oceans yield a plethora of fish as well.

Creek fishing with Uncle Adam - Not sure who the guide is in this shot since Uncle appears to be doing the work!

Yes!  Riley fishes as well. She is Reeds girlfriend and a good sport about fishing no matter what the weather.  I think she secretly loves fishing as much as he does!

Even in the rain!

Drifterz Paradise boat behind Reeds truck.

Fish on!

So this year has not been a great fishing year in the Mat Su Valley.  The King Salmon season was closed so Reed didn't have work for that month starting his season off.  Fortunately, he was busy with try outs for hockey that kept him busy, and his boss Colton Conner went out to guide at a place called "Hoodoo River Lodge".  Colton Conner is also a teacher at the high school so in the fall when Hoodoo called him back to guide for the final part of the season, he wasn't able to commit to that.  Instead he said "I got a guy"!  So Reed went off on a fishing adventure this time!

I always take a picture of Reedo before he begins each adventure.  He isn't a fan always of the picture taking, but he humors me for the sake of his own sanity (basically so I don't drive him crazy)!

Hoodoo is in the Bristol Bay Region of Alaska.  Remote and Beautiful.  Off the grid as well!  

Its fly in only there but surrounded by beauty and of course fish!  Hoodoo boasts 5 variety of salmon, as well as grayling, char, pike and trout.    Reed got to take some very famous people fishing (think Iron Chef), as well as some really nice regular people and caught fish left and right!

This little Mink wanted to hitch a ride with the fishing guides too.  Wildlife abounds at Hoodoo.  Reed had many bear encounters as well.  "No Mom!  I did NOT take pictures!  I was too busy making sure my client was safe!"  Yes!  I did ask!  My bad!

The "Braids" portion of the river with mountains in the background.  Unending beauty.

The Hoodoo is off grid enough that there isn't really any cell service and internet only works late at night (like 2:00 am).  Lights and other services are solar and generator driven so care is taken to not overuse resources.  He was only able to call or send pictures occasionally, and of course, didn't take any of himself.  The point here though is, with no internet or wifi, the only entertainment besides fish guide jokes are DVD movies and tying up new gear (fly tying)!

This is his "at home" fly tying gear and below his table set up.  The fish on the Hoodoo tear up the gear something fierce and the guides have to tie new or replace gear all the time.  Reed spends hours working to rebuild his inventory.

Below is a little something Reed called the "Pikeslayer" back in the day!

He replenished his stock after he got home at a shop called "Mossy's Fly Shop".   It's a really cool little store in Anchorage Alaska and has everything a fly fisher could dream up, including an owner who knows all the hot spots for fishing and what everyone is catching! 

Mom - STOP taking pictures of me shopping!  It's ridiculous!

So I just moved back a little so you could get the full effect of shopping in this great store!  I even found some really cool stuff in there.  You could embellish a lot of fun things with stuff in Mossy's!  Reed says it's not intended for "bedazzeling" things(teenage eye roll here), but I think I could really do some cools stuff with someone I know's coffee cup!  Oh wait!  The kids do that! Story for another blog.

The other thing that fishing guiding creates is lots of laundry!  I know I harp on the laundry all the time - but Reed actually did his own!

OMG - why is there so much laundry?  Because it's three weeks worth that you are trying to do in one load!  I did have to do some load ratio coaching here but he did the hardest part and didn't even make me fold!

We are still hearing things about his great adventure to the Hoodoo!

I am so happy that he had the courage to say "YES"!  Yes to the adventure.  Yes to going to a new place he's never been before.  Yes to working for people he has never even met before, and YES to all the goofy pictures mom wants to take!

I hope you have a grand adventure in your future and that you take lots of pictures!

Stay tuned for the next one!  Blessed be!