The Cordova Area 2003

In September of 2003, I flew with my new Step-Brother, Steve Brunt to Cordova to meet my Cousin, Scott Cook and Friends from Idaho, Randy Francis, Kurt Zorn and Tyler Garn. Cordova is a small fishing community in Prince William Sound.  It is accessible only by Boat or Aircraft.

Three of the Idaho Boys are Tyler, Scott and Kurt.  These three toured the dirt road from Cordova to the Million Dollar Bridge (about 60 miles) along the Copper River. Cordova is surrounded by mountain peaks and glaciers.

A scenic view of the mountains looming above the Copper River Delta near the Merle K. "Mudhole" Smith Airport. The Copper River Delta is known throughout the World for the large concentration of Shorebirds that return every Spring.

At the end of the dirt road is an old railroad bridge that was built during the 1920s to provide access to the rich Copper Mines of McCarthy.  The bridge cost over $1 Million to build and was nick-named "The Million Dollar Bridge". This photo was taken from the Millon Dollar Bridge of the glacier that forced the building of the bridge.

The terminus of this glacier is at the Copper River.  The flowing water constantly erodes at the base of the glacier and causes huge chunks to calve off.  The waves created by these large pieces of ice can wash completely across the river.

This is not a small glacier.  This ice face is approximately 100 feet high.  The ice continually cracks and pops as it slowly flows off the mountain.

The Copper River is renowned for the Sockeye Salmon that return to the river to spawn.  These fish are marketed as the richest (highest fat content) Sockeye in the World. Tyler was able to get one of these late-run Sockeye to take a fly.  Here he shows the fish before releasing it back into the clear-water slough of the Copper River.

We ended up with a few more days in Cordova than originally planned.  I brought our trip to the Tsiu River a couple of days short when I struck a log taking off from the sand. We were able to fly out, but N2162Z had to be airlifted by Helicopter to Girdwood for repairs.

Though the fishing around Cordova did not compare to the superb results on the Tsiu, we were still able to find some Silvers in the area streams. Steve holds a large Buck that he caught near the Airport.

There were hundreds of Dolly Varden feeding on the eggs of the spawning Silver Salmon.  There were also a few Coastal Cutthroats (I didn't photograph these). A typical Dolly that I caught using a small Egg-Pattern.

These fish were not quite as bright as the Silvers we encountered on the Tsiu River, but there were enough to allow us to continue fishing when our trip had been cut short. This is Scott with another Silver Salmon.

Most of these Silver Salmon were too far into the spawn to be very palatable.  However, the guys were able to catch a few that were still quite bright.  These were taken back to Idaho for the freezer. Randy shows a fairly bright fish he caught on an Egg-Sucking Leech.