Bob....thanks for your insight into Alaska fishing. All of my trips to Alaska have been expensive adventures with customers...My reference to the Kenai should have mentioned that running any boat on the Kenai takes real expertise. I was so panicked trying to stay out of everyone's way and stay off the gravel bars that I couldn't help the three novices sitting behind me whining about everything from how I was driving too slow or too fast to how they couldn't contact the bottom...With over 20 years experience skippering in the salt I was a babe in the woods on the Kenai....it was almost pathetic.

I am 100% in favor of guided fishing....especially on unfamiliar big water like the Kenai or Kasilof. I really love the helicopter fly in fishing out of Deep Creek across Cook Inlet to the volcano side for solitude, bears and tons of fish...no people either. Problem with that is that I don't hang around with the billionaires who built the place anymore and can't affford that lifestyle.

In Washington all of my steelheading experiences have been with good guides. Drift boat fishing is my favorite as it is so peaceful compared to the ruckus a sled causes. I hope to get out this winter with an expert who can teach this novice how to fish for steelhead. I recently got a couple of Dave Vedder's books and will read both during the holidays...then I will seek out a river to practice on.

A good guide is essential in my book whether it be on the Kenai or the Sky....