Huntsville “Boys” Visit the Last Frontier

HUNTSVILLE - Huntsville residents Bill Beckmeyer and grandson Alex Breland kicked off their summer by fulfilling a longtime dream. The pair -- who "do everything together" -- added a new adventure to their resume - a week-long fishing trip in Soldatna, Alaska.

Beckmeyer and Breland - dubbed "the boys" by Breland's mother, Cara Watts - live next door to one another in Huntsville and love spending time together. Their favorite pastimes are hunting and fishing. When asked their favorite hunting spots, Beckmeyer grinned and said, "We're not gonna tell you," though they did narrow it down to the Blue Mountains and Wenaha area.

Bill's wife, Vicky, gave the trip as a Christmas gift. It included airfare, lodging in an "amazing" cabin and several fishing excursions. "The guides provided everything right down to the poles and waders," said Beckmeyer. "It was the best Christmas present we ever got." Breland nodded in agreement.

The pair spent the bulk of their time in Soldatna, a city with a population of just over 4,000 on the Kenai Peninsula. Breland likened it to Dayton, "but with more stores and fast food establishments." Their cabin was five miles from town, yet remote enough that they woke up to find a moose and two babies just outside their kitchen window one morning.

The duo alternated their time between fishing and sightseeing. Their first day salmon fishing on the Kasilof River was somewhat of a bust with only one catch. It was a different story on their second try, however. "The salmon were really running and we had our limit [three fish each] by 8 a.m.," said Beckmeyer.

Breland said it was a "little weird to get used to" it being light all the time. "It would be light at 10 p.m. and light again when we got up to get ready to fish at 3:30 a.m.," said Beckmeyer. "We were so tired though, that we'd just pull the shades and go to sleep."

Later in the week, they drove 40 miles south of Soldatna to Cook's Inlet where a guide who took them 17 miles out in the ocean to fish halibut. Neither man got seasick but they said some fellow fishermen were "popping Dramamine like crazy."

They were allowed two fish each - one "small" fish under 29" and one over. Both men caught their larger fish early on in the trip, but spent the majority of the day on the boat, while the other fishermen caught theirs. Beckmeyer and Breland opted to call it good with just the one large catch each. "Once you catch a big one, you don't want to go smaller," said Breland.

When asked if it was hard to reel them in Beckmeyer simply shook his head and said, "Oh my gosh!"

"It took about 15 - 20 minutes to reel them in," said Breland. "When they run you just have to let them go."

The fish were filleted, flash frozen and packed in Kasilaf, then shipped back home to Huntsville. They sent a total of 66 lbs. of filleted fish home, half halibut and half salmon. "The fish is really good. We enjoyed some halibut the first day we got home," said Beckmeyer.

When they weren't fishing, the pair spent their time sightseeing. Beckmeyer said it was sunny on fishing days and rainy on sightseeing days, which worked just fine for them. They put 3,000 miles on their rented Dodge Dart and saw the Iliamna and Redoubt volcanoes, some "pretty cool" glaciers, and visited the cities of Homer and Anchorage.

Wildlife was abundant. They spied some Dall Sheep and "millions" of Bald Eagles. Road signs along the highway noted how many moose were hit and killed in an area this year; they saw one with a tally of 194. The "wildlife" they could have done without were the mosquitoes, which "were absolutely everywhere."

The duo also encountered an unexpected number of 'celebrities'. Basketball NBA 14-time All Star Karl Malone was their neighbor, though they never actually saw him. They did see the crew of TV's The Deadliest Catch standing on a porch in Homer and saw Otto Kilcher from Discovery Channel's Alaska: The Last Frontier, eating lunch at McDonalds.

Both men would like to return to Alaska in the future. Breland hopes to be prepared with a nicer camera to better capture the sights and wildlife. Beckmeyer wants to go on a "flyout - where they fly over and drop you in a boat where you can salmon fish away from people. They don't like to leave people on the bank because of all the bears."

Until then, "the boys" will be enjoying good fish and great memories.