Clover Pass Resort Blog

Frank Murdock wasn't the only 90 year-old to find some great fishing at Clover Pass Resort this summer. Tom Makizuru (left) landed this catch before lunch with fishing partner Ron Matsuzaki (right) during the second week of September. Both of these guys fish with a group from Honolulu that has been making an annual trip to Clover Pass for more than 20 years.

Hello Tonja,
Finally! Finally, all the little chores are done . . . chores that heaped up after we returned from a thoroughly enjoyable Silver salmon week-long trip to your Clover Pass Resort!
You, Tonja, gave us good service while we went fishing for the Big Ones. Your cooks, Susan & Al, were exquisite in providing me, especially, with my vegetarian meals; Katie, your nice office lady, was helpful in every way.
Both of us would like to thank all of you for a wonderful vacation!
Best regards to all of you - and don't work too hard.
Frank & Brigitte - Salt Lake City, UT


NOTE: Frank turned 90 this year! He fished his first trip to Clover Pass Resort back in the mid-1970s and has been back numerous times since. See you next year, Frank!

Another successful silver salmon run cemented Clover Pass Resort as the place to be in September when fall coho runs make their way through Behm Canal and right past Clover Pass Resort on their way back to spawning streams in Southern Southeast Alaska. Local fisheries biologists predict large amounts of fish are still on their way, meaning that coho fishing will likely continue to be good after the doors have shut on our 2009 season.

This year continued the positive trend we have seen in recent years where early coho runs that begin in July continue to build as the summer progresses, never really letting up before the large runs find their way to our waters in late August/early September. July and August coho tend to me smaller (around 5-7 lbs) than the September fish which usually average 10-11 lbs. However, September provides opportunities for big coho as well, particularly later in the month as more males make their ways towards the rivers to fertilize eggs left by the females. Not uncommon are coho ranging in the high teens, with some truly beautiful fish breaking the 20 lb mark almost every year!


Fishing for silvers is an absolute blast, which is why Clover Pass Resort's busiest time of the year is September. Not only do our guests look forward to enjoying the phenomenal fishing, they also look forward to their annual trip as an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends, some of whom they only see during this special annual outing! The smiles on their faces and the fish in their boxes tells me that they were able to accomplish both!

Russell Thomas
General Manager

Although the resort has been open since mid-May, we generally consider our first fishing package guests of the season to be our "official" opening. This year Chris and Patrick from Ballston Lake, New York traveled more than 3,500 miles to Ketchikan to get things started. The two joined Pixie Elmose, visiting Ketchikan from Montana, and headed out onto the ocean with long-time Clover Pass Resort skipper Jerry Engelman. The group spent three days hunting kings, silvers, pinks, and halibut. Their final day was the icing on the cake -- three chrome-bright kings, each in the upper twenty pound class!

Here's to the start of what promises to be another great and exciting season at Clover Pass and to tight lines and calm seas....

Russell
Clover Pass Resort General Manager

For my first trip to Alaska, I am still pretty speechless when describing my adventure. It was awesome! I was with a big group and knew most of the guys in the party, but some life long experiences were had and some new friendships formed.

The staff and all of the people at Clover Pass made it a special event in my life. I always wanted to go to Alaska and have been hearing about it for 20 years. Now I know why my friends go every year. Everything was first rate.

Oh, by the way, we are having fresh caught Silver Salmon for dinner tonight! I can't wait. Our trip home was perfect. Thanks again to Tonya, Becky, Russell, Mishel, Marie, the dock people, Jeremy, and every one who contributes to a once in a lifetime experience.

Kindest regards,
Mike

I just got back from taking some customers from California on a short two day trip up there. It was my first time as well, but it will not be my last! We had the best weather, and the staff there treated everyone like family!

We had 20 people in our group and everyone caught some big fish. The biggest was a 180lb halibut and a 13 lb Silver. The food was great, the dock crew was great and the resort was great! I am looking forward to taking my family there someday!

Harley Mayes
Riverside, CA.

I worked at Clover Pass Resort last summer and man it was the experience of a lifetime! Great views, great people, and a whole lot of fun to be had! Just the area in itself was breath taking! The managers at Clover Pass Resort picked out some of the most fun and energetic employees I have ever gotten to work with!
I didn't get to spend the whole summer working there as planned, but every minute was a new adventure! The guests were amazing and made the job that much more fun! If anyone ever wants the trip of a lifetime I would suggest heading out to Clover Pass Resort in Ketchikan Alaska! The Hospitality is unbeatable!

I have made some great friends and even met some old boyhood friends at Clover Pass Resort over the years that I have been fishing there. Other than the beautiful scenery and the great fishing, the thing I appreciate most is the owners and staff. My fishing trip at another lodge fell through at the last minute several years ago and the owners here got me a opening on very short notice and made sure I had a great time. I have been back every year since and will continue to fish at Clover Pass. I am already looking forward to coming back in 2008.

Donald Smith

What a dream vacation! We spent ten days in Ketchikan fishing practically non-stop. We spent several days on a guided boat and a few days on a self-guided skiff rented from Clover Pass Resort. We went in the first part of September and the fishing was amazing! We caught all sorts of different types of fish, and at times we were catching fish as fast as we could get our lines in the water!

Although we were not experienced salmon fishermen, we got some help from the employees at Clover Pass and we were able to rent all the gear that we needed to enable us to have a great time. We didn't have to travel far from the dock and we were catching lots of Pink and Silver salmon. The skiff was great for catching salmon!

We have been sharing all of our pictures and fish and only regret not staying longer. We are really looking forward to being able to go again next year.

Trevor Garn
Salt Lake City, Utah

Jamie,
I appreciate the e-mail about our catch. I will forward this to Jason so he knows what's happening. I also appreciate the effort you all make to make the trips we have made such a great time. When I got home this evening we looked at a slide show of all the fishing and pictures of your world we took on the trip. With the weather the way it was and the great help from all you folks there, it is always a trip to remember and one that will get shown around the world. I spend half my time working in Australia and listen to folks brag about the Great Barrier Reef and it's fishing. You have them beat hands down. Thanks again for making our vacation such a great time. I attached a picture of our catch one day, you see it all the time, but it was special to us. See ya. Paul and Kat

-- Kamas, Utah native Jamie Lambert works as the Boxing/Shipping Clerk for Clover Pass Resort --

Ketchikan's location, in the southern tip of the Alaskan panhandle, means it is a long ways away from most places. Other places in Alaska are well over 1,000 miles from our small little piece of paradise and we are 600 air miles from Seattle, the closest real "city" to Ketchikan. And the fact that this is such a small place, in such an obscure part of the country, makes the composition of our seasonal team seem even more incredible.

While I was in high school and college we recruited seasonal team members from the pool of people we knew and went to school with. After college, I tapped the friends of my siblings and then reached a little bit further into the family, hiring cousins, second cousins, friends of cousins, and the friends of my cousin’s friends. But now that the family and friends have grown up and moved on to other opportunities, we have had to rely heavily on referrals from past team members, want ads, and internet postings to recruit our summer help.

Our new recruiting program has opened our eyes to the fact that there are other obscure (and not so obscure) places like Ketchikan, full of hard-working people who are looking for a change of pace and a little adventure. Our team this year includes members from as far north as Naknek, Alaska to as far south as Albuquerque, New Mexico. California in the west to South Carolina in the east. Chicago, Wichita, Durham. Have you ever heard of Sopchoppy, Florida? I have now. We even have staff working on J-1 Student Work & Travel visas from Kyiv, Ukraine! The background that each of our team members brings to our organization has helped to make it a unique and exciting place for our guests to visit.

Which brings me to the point...

Four of our team, two from Lola, Montana and two from the Ukraine, out in one of our 14' skiffs fishing. A nibble, a bite, and the fight is on! After some effort and even more excitement, a large halibut is brought to the surface. Not knowing quite what to do with such a big fish they devised a plan to capture their prize catch. Get the fish in the boat and then figure out what to do with it! Part of the episode was caught on video and can be seen at
Halibut Landing
Their catch ended up being a 145# halibut!

After hearing about (or seeing) some of the wonderful things our team gets to experience while they are here for the summer I often wonder if six or seven months ago they had any thought that these experiences were anywhere in their near future. Whether it be getting a chance to ride in a floatplane, seeing wildlife including whales, bears, eagles, porpoise, sea lions, or seals, or landing a 145# prize catch from a skiff, these experiences have to be out-of-this-world for someone from Lola or Sopchoppy. I've lived here my whole life and still get blown away by all there is to see and do here.

Our season is more than half-way over and it won't be long before all of our team is packing up and moving on to other opportunities and places in the country. I'm hopeful that many of them will find their way back to Ketchikan and Clover Pass Resort for another summer of the unexpected and unbelievable!

Russell Thomas
Clover Pass Resort General Manager

The Ketchikan Daily News' Waterfront Headline today reads, "Cruise line promotes Alaska Seafood - Holland America Line to serve 1.3 million pounds this year; no farmed fish". It seems that over the years, even big business is realizing that you get what you pay for, and even in a growing price-conscious business world, quality still means something.

It hasn't been too long ago that Alaska's seafood market, particularly salmon, took a beating as cheaper farmed fish flooded the market. It isn't hard to understand why -- to most consumers, salmon was salmon, and when debating over the $3.99 per pound salmon or the $7.99 per pound salmon, frugality took the day.

But things have changed. Coupled with the advent of regional branding (Copper River Salmon, for example) and a lot of marketing on the part of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), consumers are now visiting their grocery stores understanding the difference between $3.99 and $7.99. ASMI has worked with grocery store chains, restaurants, vendors, and even in direct marketing efforts to consumers to increase awareness regarding farmed fish and to tout the health benefits of wild seafood. Just this last year Alaska Airlines unveiled its Salmon-Thirty-Salmon aircraft (Alaska Airlines' fleet is primarily 737 aircraft), a gigantic wild Alaskan king salmon painted from nose to tail. Done in conjunction with ASMI, the aircraft will help to promote wild Alaskan seafood products, as well as pay homage to the fishermen and women who use Alaska Airlines to ship their fresh seafood products all over the country.

With an ever growing consumer base and the continued suggestions from health officials regarding the inclusion of fish in our diets, the debate over farmed fish will likely be ongoing for some time. However, as more businesses pay a little bit more for quality products like wild seafood and see that decision ultimately improve their bottom line, many more businesses are likely to follow suit. And as consumers who patronize those businesses come to understand (and TASTE!) the difference between wild and farmed seafood, they'll come to demand wild products from the people with whom they do business.

"Dad! Dad! Hurry! I caught a huge one!" My five year-old son came to work with me today. Last week he and his older sister spent a couple of hours catching dock perch with a salmon leader wrapped around their hand. Today he had upgraded to a $10 Walmart pole and reel. His excitement moved me from my chair where I rummaged around the desk to find the camera. Even though I was sure that he had hooked into one of the small rockfish feeding on all of salmon and halibut carcasses we throw over the cleaning table, his grandparents would get a kick out of the picture.

As I made my way down the ramp to the dock I couldn't tell which was larger -- the smile on my son's face or the 4.5 lb pink salmon sitting on the dock! He was beaming as the dock crew and other passers-by congratulated him on his catch. It was impossible not to get excited just watching him take in the moment.

Once pictures were taken and the fish put on ice, he was anxious to get his hook back in the water. "I'm going to catch another one!" he exclaimed.

As I walked back up the ramp towards my office I thought about all of the people who travel long distances to sit in one of our boats and wet their line, hoping to catch a pink or a silver, maybe a halibut. And I thought about all of the times I have stood at the top of the ramp as people come in from a day's fishing and watched both young and old with the same smile my son had just had on his face -- happy to be away from the rat race, happy to be taking in such beautiful surroundings, and happy to have caught a few fish.

My summers are generally spent making sure other people are having a phenomenal vacation, leaving little time for personal fishing. But listening to the thundering feet approach my office door and hearing, "Dad! I caught a huge one!" makes me want to take a little more time to experience more moments like that. Not only did I get to experience the pride of my son's first "real" fish, but also caught a glimpse of the reason that so many of our guests keep coming back year after year to fish!

Russell Thomas
Clover Pass Resort General Manager