To fish or not to fish....

...that is the question. 


Well here I am trying to decide whether to go fishing or not.  It just seems insane to leave given the weather conditions.  Not so much for the fishing but for the drive.  Decent amounts of snow all over including Anchorage.  If this was the dead of winter and I was going ice fishing, I wouldn't even think twice about it.  But the first few weeks of snowfall, people aren't used to the conditions and many have yet to change over to snow tires.  No matter how careful I may be, you have to watch out for the other drivers.  And not to sound too arrogant, I don't trust them at all!

So I hate to admit defeat but it's just not worth it.  Time to clean the garage and shovel the driveway.  Hopefully it just makes me hungrier to go again...wait scratch that, one of the major reason I wanted to go was to burn off the excess calories I ate while in Texas.    Maybe I will go look at ice augers.....

So the decision process went as follows:

The marine weather looks marginal.....

Kenai River flows near cooper landing is still very high but snow river is finished dumping into the lake. So MAYBE it's fishable....

I hear there is four inches of ice on smaller lakes up north and this site tells me ice is forming on Big Lake though I wouldn't recommend trying that yet!!  http://www.flatlake.com/  A great page to check Big Lake conditions.

So I thought I'd try Whittier or Seward today.  Just some exploring with no real hopes of catching fish.

So I loaded the yak inside the garage, my daughter wakes up and says "have you looked outside?" Uhhh...No, why?...ACK!  Maybe I should have looked first!!!!



The internet sure is handy!  So I thought I'd check other sources.  Here's what I am looking at:



 Russian River Ferry 7:45am

 
Portage Turn off 7:45am


 Whittier Tunnel Staging area 7:45am


 Whittier Access road 7:45am



Uhhh..No, I don't think so.  BUMMER!!!!!

And this is why I am glad I didn't go.  I would have still been on the water but I would have been stuck behind this.  People really need to be careful!  They call it the highway of death in the Summer...winter....well you'd think people would be more careful.  Seems like EVERY weekend there is one.  Glad no fatalities....

http://www.adn.com/2011/11/06/2157639/crash-closes-seward-highway.html

Crash closes Seward Highway at Mile 107
By LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 6th, 2011 04:18 PM
Last Modified: November 6th, 2011 04:21 PM
Alaska State Troopers say the Seward Highway is closed in both directions around Mile 107, south of Beluga Point, after a head-on crash involving a Mercedes car and a pickup truck. A man who was driving the Mercedes was trapped inside and a male passenger in the truck was injured. The woman driving the truck was out and talking, troopers said.

Troopers got a report of the crash at 3:09 p.m. and are working the scene, said Beth Ipsen, trooper spokeswoman. The wrecked vehicles were still in the road around 4 p.m.

The crash occurred near a highway pullout popular for viewing Dall sheep.

Troopers say drivers can check for updates at the state's 511 Web site. Go to http://511.alaska.gov/alaska511/mappingcomponent. Click on the red exclamation point.

   Kardinal_84,
 You made a good call not to go on such a lousy day.I always hated to drive that stretch of road....way too many idiots that don't even pay attention to themselves,much less other traffic.Catching any fish is not worth risking your life.
  Today ,down here in Raymond it got up to 53.There was a little frost on the trucks this morning ...but nothing like those DOT photo's around Portage.That part of Alaska I do not miss at all.
  Be safe out there.....

That looks like the weather we had over here in eastern oregon..... it shut down my fishing as well