Buy and Fish America

Do we honestly wish we could buy everything made in the good ole USA?  I once was attending a sport show in Massachusetts during an election year.  Bush junior was running for president.  For some ungodly reason, politics took over our conversation of fishing.  This fellow Tom, mentioned that Bush is outsourcing all our products made in America.  I stated to Tom a few facts….  He wore a hat titled NASA, made in China, his Levi pants made in China, his tennis shoes down to his BVDs made in China.  The fellow next to me was a game warden from Maine fully dressed in uniform.   Tom I said, “everything this guy is wearing is probably made out of the US except his weapon”.   The game warden chuckled and said, “Glock, made in Austria”.   “Tom, we are all outsourcing.  So what does this script have to do with overseas marketing?  Why not push fish America?   The good ole’ USA has some great options, especially during these troubled times for travel outside our country.

Alaska Fishing

Alaska is the most premier fishing destination in the US.  Alaska is almost the size of the continental US but has only 725,000 full time residents.  Alaskans offer the fishing experiences for just about anyone’s budget…non-guided fishing, camping, ocean trips, to rustic wilderness lodges….from pike to trout, arctic grayling abound, to the largest salmon runs in the world, halibut and more.  Alaska has so much to offer.

I’ve been a fishing guide in Alaska all my adult life and I’ve traveled the world fishing. To make a point, I can’t compare any cold water fishing destination world-wide to what Alaska has to offer.   With five major US airlines traveling to Alaska from the US, getting to Alaska is quite simple.  No exchange in currency or language barriers.   Alaska is modern with great hospitals and lots of aircraft to get you there incase you have a medical problem.

Getting Here

Alaska is so remote that most of the state is road-less and has no interconnecting road systems.   You can’t drive to but a handful of great fishing destinations.  Most fishing lodges have to be reached by aircraft in one fashion or another.  Cessna and Dehavillon Beavers on floats are the planes of choice, but our Talaheim Lodge was one of the first lodges in Alaska to offer fly out-daily by helicopters.

Why helicopters and not float planes?   Talaheim Lodge is located on a river with no access by float planes.  For the first twenty years I accessed our lodge by float plane, but the rivers are constantly changing and float plane access now is only available during higher waters. Twenty years ago I saw the future, I built a runway and now have safe landings and take-offs without relying on river changes.  Talaheim Lodge is surrounded by many rivers that too, have few landings possibilities by fixed winged aircraft…that’s where the helicopters come in play.  Within a 15-mile radius of our lodge we can access 100 miles of rarely fished waters.  Our anglers have a stretch of water to themselves each day.

Fish At Talaheim Lodge

Traveling to foreign countries is still questionable, hopefully not for too long, so why not support our US airlines and travel to US destinations, especially wild and remote Alaska; where bears, wolves, eagles, all fish and marine animals abound… waters are clean, glaciers are huge, and people still carve an existence out of the wilderness.  I am one of those people and I am currently booking trips to our Talaheim Lodge in 2021.  Come and be part of our great fishing adventure and share our dreams-come-true in our wilderness surroundings.

Hope to see you here in 2021.

Mark Miller, owner of www.talaheimlodge.com