Each year we look forward to the first taste of fresh fish, a fish pulled right from the sea. The

best food on Earth, I might add. All winter long, we eat salmon, halibut, cod, and other Alaskan

seafood and meats out of our freezer. It is delicious and of course nutritious, but by spring, we

are eager for fresh seafood and to feel the tug of a fish at the end of our line.

And we’re lucky, because we live on Kachemak Bay, a 40-mile-long arm of the Gulf of Alaska

that scientists think might be one of the most biologically productive ecosystems in the world.

 

 

The Wonders of Kachemak Bay

Why is this region such an engine of marine life? It’s partially because nutrient-rich water

comes up from the seafloor and is mixed by currents and some of the largest tidal exchanges on the planet.

These nutrients fuel the growth of plankton, creating a veritable marine buffet that

supports diverse ocean life. This includes wild Pacific salmon and more than 120 other species of fish and 11

kinds of marine mammals including minke and humpback whales, sea otters, and

Steller’s sea lions.

 

For millennia, these marine resources have lured and sustained people along Kachemak Bay.

Alutiiq Sugpiaq and Dena’ina peoples gathered shellfish and fished from skin boats and from

shore. They shaped bones into fish hooks and honed rocks into fishing weights. Today, Native

peoples continue to harvest from these waters in remote villages around the bay.

 

 

Catch a Fish at Stillpoint Lodge

Also today, Kachemak Bay continues to provide for fishermen—and women—of all kinds, from

the novice to the avid, the recreational to the commercial. As a guest at Stillpoint Lodge, you

can try your hand at fishing in Alaska as well, no matter whether you’ve casted a thousand

times and can bait a hook or tie a fly with your eyes closed or have never held a fishing rod in

your life. Even if you’ve never fished, or you don’t enjoy eating fish, catching a fish can be a

singular lifetime thrill. The lodge works with professional fishing coaches who can guide you

through the experience and take care of the dirty work. But you can feel the yank at the end of

your line—the tug that means: fish on!

 

Stillpoint guests can fish by boat or shore…or even helicopter. In Kachemak Bay, you can cast or

troll for salmon, and fish with weighted hooks near the bottom for halibut and other deep

water species. The lodge works with experienced Alaskan helicopter pilots and guides who

know the secret fishing spots for silver salmon—the most athletic of the salmon species—for

late summer casting. And whether by boat, on shore, or from a secret lake only accessible by

helicopter, you might see whales, otters, seals, and bears with your rod in hand.

 

In Kachemak Bay, the fish at the end of your line is tangible evidence of the richness of these

waters. It’s proof of the bay’s healthy kelp forests, estuarine marshes, tidepools, and

submerged eelgrass meadows. These are places that grow, shelter, and feed fish. And once

you’ve hooked one, Stillpoint Lodge’s chefs can create mouthwatering sushi or cook up your

catch for the freshest seafood dinner you’ll ever eat. If you want to take home your trophy fish,

the team is happy to help get it packed and shipped for you.

 

To stand at the end of a fishing line on Kachemak Bay is to connect yourself to this beautiful

place, and to be tethered to the long line of people who have harvested from these stunning

waters, and who have likewise thrilled—whether days or millennia before—at the tug of a fish.

 

Written by Miranda Weiss
Author of Tide, Feather, Snow: A Life in Alaska
www.mirandaweiss.com