Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Random Photos From My Time In Alaska

This is one of my favorite photos. This man is a real hero. He is USN Retired Captain Hank Smith. I met him at the Auto Hobby Shop one day. He was warm, friendly, always smiling and had a vitality for life unlike anyone else I had ever met. I befriended him. He visited the island a couple times a year. I invited him to take one of my 4 wheelers out to Saltery Creek with me to catch Silver Salmon. I gave him the trip of a lifetime.

Hank was a fighter pilot on active duty and was assigned to a carrier. In the early days, carrier launches weren't as safe as they are now. He has the distinction of being the first pilot to survive a failed launch and being run over by the carrier. I guess that goes a long way toward explaining his passion for life. I loved this old guy.

Waterfowl ID was a completely new game for me up there.

nice Saltery silvers

Great pictures!

My daughters have always loved fishing. Here they are doing some teamwork on some halibut. I may have gotten a little teary eyed when I dug these up.

Buoy 4?

I can't recall on this one. Is the shot to the south looking toward Cliffs Point?

might be. I always loved having great fishing only 5 or 10 minutes run. I could see buoy 4 from our house we built at Spruce Cape in 2007

Thank you, living in Alaska has always been my dream. It's a shame my wife doesn't share the same dream.

Very cool photos, PaulBarnard. What great memories you have. Thanks for sharing them.

Thanks for sharing Paul,

That’s a world away from Mississippi

I really do have to get back up there sometime soon. It's a calling to be sure. It's truly a special place.

Thanks Paul. I did 3 tours on Kodiak with the CG. I’ve been all the places you talked about and really do miss that place. A buddy caught a 270 lb. halibut out of one of those Whalers. We had to tow it back to the boat launch. It’s hard to leave the Rock without great stories to share. Thanks for sharing yours.

Mike

270 pounds is INSANE! When were you there? Aviation?

Paul,
Those are some great pictures, and I can tell are also great memories.

I was there from 80-82, 84-86, and 2006-2008. Retired out of there as an AMTC. Bob Yaw was the guy who caught the fish, right after I hooked one that broke my 120 lb. Dacron line. I shot that fish 8 times with a .22 to tame it down. On of my buddies was loading his .44 to shoot it but he was pretty hammered so I wouldn’t let him finish the job....

Nice. Scan them great memories.

Thanks Paul for sharing. Another place I'd like see someday.

They're not off limits now on the AKPEN. Starting last year you can take one per season.





Mine didn't either. She now wakes up miserable everyday with a drunk in L48, and I wake up generally happy except for bitching about the Aleutian weather pissing and blowing. But I only have 19 months of this nonsense left out here and I'm moving back up north.

or did he use negatives, or 'slides'