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ZBL Improvements
We purchased a Magnatrac (a small bulldozer & loader) which we used to build roads from the beach to cabins. In addition, a 4-wheel drive Honda ATV and cart to haul guests’ luggage makes it easier. In May, we started building a three bedroom with three-bathroom house for completion in 1999. Andy built a new aluminum “landing craft” boat. The front opens down for easy entry and exit. Dawn is pleased with her meat slicer. Wallpaper, carpet, new curtains and lamps make the dining hall bedrooms nicer. Satellite telephone allows us email access at remote Zachar Bay.
Zachar Bay Lodge, Inc.
PO Box 2609
Kodiak AK 99615
800-693-2333
fax: 907-486-4690
zbay@ptialaska.net
http://come.to/zbay
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Glen met Brooke Dagnan on email. She came and helped this summer and we are proud to announce their engagment.
Kyle is in Hawaii at the University at Hilo. Marty and Linda visited New York and Switzerland in late September, then came back to ZB until January with Andy. Kyle and Brooke left in August, so Dave Hahn (Jim’s brother) came to help as a guide. We hired “Bobby” Pancipanci, an excellent worker. Dawn took care of the kitchen and did all the cooking and baking and grew our fresh vegetables in the greenhouse and garden. Jim guided fishermen and wildlife viewers. Jim and Dawn are visiting Florida and Washington for December.
Beware: Bear Breaks in Again!
On December 16, after Jim and Dawn returned from vacation, Jim saw signs of a bear. They were on alert and heard the bear break into the dining hall kitchen window. Jim banged on the wall and scared the bear out, right away, so it wasn’t able to do too much damage. We are installing electric shock wires around the kitchen-side where all three previous break-ins have occurred and hope this prevents further break-ins.
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Zachar Bay Wildlife Viewing 1998 by Glen Eaton
 Greetings to all who flew with Glen this past summer or who were guided by him. Wildlife viewing was successful for this past summer and I believe everyone glimpsed the main reason for traveling to Kodiak... the worlds largest carnivore, the Kodiak Brown Bear. I believe most people have been to a zoo, but the only way to experience wildlife is to see it in its native habitat. To witness a Brown Bear in its natural state is an incredible experience for the adventurous and lucky few. As most of you that traveled to Zachar Bay realized the Kodiak Bear is not dangerous if viewed with respect and at a safe distance. (Unless you happen to have a stringer of red salmon near a hungry sow with cubs...as Andy, Sabo Party and I discovered).
For you early summer visitors to Zachar Bay we flew over high mountain tops to view bear tracks in the snow as the bears come out of hibernation. It’s actually correct to call it Torpor because bears are not true hibernators, yet if you want to keep it simple in a discussion just call it winter sleeping. We then landed at Frazer Lake to do some wildlife viewing. Wildlife viewing is definitely not for the impatient type, as some of you that had to wait for the bears to show up can attest. As I tell all, the bears can show up anywhere, anytime as there are 3000 that call Kodiak home. Some days you would think that they have all disappeared, but I will never believe that until one day I see a bear buying a ticket off the island at Kodiak’s Airport. It might be when they see the big stuffed bear in the airport that they decide against that.
In June most of the Kodiak bears are vegetarian, not because they want to be, just that nature is only serving fresh salad in June.
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Instead of watching bears catch salmon we see them eating fresh grass. After we land on Frazer Lake we walk up the trail then start scanning the mountain with binoculars and a spotting scope. One visit we saw 6 bears, 1 female with 2 cubs, another sow with 3 cubs and a solo young bear that I have seen in the past few years. The bears gave us a good show, the sow with 3 cubs accidentally lost one of her cubs behind a bush, and the cub didn't appreciate being left behind. It soon caught up to its mom. This cub seems to have a bad habit of being left behind as I saw this happen quite a few times over the summer. The solo bear which I named "ED" a few years back did some down hill tumbling and rolling, it’s a lot easier than walking down Kodiak’s steeps mountains and probably fun too. It takes a good eye to spot bears on mountains in June and I was lucky to have guided so many "eagle eye" guests to help me. It’s a rewarding experience to find a bear camouflaged on a mountain side, congratulations to the many talented Zachar Bay guests that achieved this!
July is the famed time to view wildlife in Alaska. At Frazer Fish pass the salmon are becoming packed in the river like cars stuck in rush hour traffic jam. The bears know this is the time to visit the river and descend on the salmon buffet waiting for them. The viewing at this time was good to excellent, as times we saw up to 12 bears in one day..some of you count the ones we saw from the air and the number goes way beyond that. Some of you saw bears closer than the average human would ever like to dare without there being bars between them and us. As with every wild animal respect your distance and they most likely will respect you. There were some very LARGE Kodiaks at Frazer Fish Pass this summer some male bears that would likely go 9 or 10 feet in length and weigh over 1200lbs(750 kg). When the big bears came to fish the other smaller bears went somewhere else. One large bear sat in front of the fish ladder catching fish as they tried to make their way up. Many of you took excellent photos and videos of bears, yet a real feeling can be felt when the camera is down and you are staring at a creature that man has been impressed by for thousands of years.
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Fishing by Marty
-Halibut Fishing-
Stuart Dainton caught the season’s first halibut on May 20. Martin Johnson returned for his seventh visit, catching a 47 pound halibut the 8th of June. Sid Foster and Tom Fowler returned for their fourth visit. Tom as usual caught numerous halibut while Sid caught the largest at 50 pounds. Nils Holzer and Jan Rauschling from Germany caught our largest halibut at 110 pounds.
The guests that caught halibut over 50 pounds:
Helmut Meilner 78#
Sherman Taylor 65#
Richard Mavis 71#
Larry Hemphill 71#
Richard Bourque 85#
Nancy Hummer 83#
Stephanie Dirk 55#
Walter Clarke 55 #
Mark Kroskine 52#
Pam Schmeiser 85#
Jason Horner 60#
Al Schmeiser 60#
Sean Gill 100 #
Tim Littleton 70#
Lois Maimon 65#
Christen Fluckinger 81#
Gerhard Zenk 100#
Fritz Fluckinger 71#
Will Krebs 80#
Don Hunter 62#
Jerry Kimball 61#
Johnny Elliott 71#
Steve Lillis 71#.
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International Halibut Commission Tagging Program
In 1998, a halibut-tagging program was initiated by Zachar Bay Lodge, Inc. Over 100 halibut were tagged and released by our guests. The date, length, depth and released location were recorded. We did not catch any of our tagged halibut.
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King Salmon
We again fished the Karluk River for King salmon catching many over 20 pounds, the largest one 35 pounds.
Silver Salmon
The Zachar River had an excellent silver run with our fishermen catching many over 12 lbs. The largest was 16 lb. caught by Juan Barriento Patino was by trolling.
Wet Weather Prevails
Summer 1998 was very rainy and cool with little sun. Here are some guests that were weather delayed in Kodiak and some at Zachar Bay. In July, Laura Curtis and Shane Swartz (CO) were delayed. Even so, for their brief stay, they enjoyed seeing fox, bear and they tagged halibut. Ernst Bentele, Walter Scholer, and Oswald Fitzler (Germany) came for king salmon fishing and were one day late. They had been fishing in Alaska for many previous years. Jim Benear from Oregon teamed up with Jasper Sweete (NC) for fishing and were one day late arriving. From Texas, Joe, Kay Sleeth and daughter Ashley were delayed but flew their one day to Frazer to view bears. Kodiak weather is for the most part unpredictable and part of the experience and reason that the wilderness is still as it is. We try to tell our guests before they come that it may or may not be a problem. Even though there is nothing to do but wait, we hope that after our guests return home that they remember all aspects and include any delays as part of the adventure.
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Visitors
Some Returning Visitors:
Martin Johnson, Norm & Aida Elliott (NM), Johnny Elliot (IL), Mike Griffin (OH), Joe & Jay Kennan (MA), Phil and Lesley Gretton (England), Don Hunter (PA) & Bob List (NM), John Littleton (MI), Tim Dick (UT) grp., Terry Sabo (AZ) grp., and Henning Gleim (Germany). We appreciate them returning and they also became friends.
Some June Guests:
Carl Wells(OH) & Randy Brounrigg came for halibut fishing. Birgit Getting (Canada) and her parents Josef & Marianne Graupensberger (Germany) were thrilled with bear viewing and Kodiak’s beauty. Sue & Brad Fishalow (FL) viewed wildlife and Sue fished a little. Sue enjoys reading, so she and Dawn dicussed books and she has sent Dawn many books. Hans-Helmut Rohring (Germany) came June 15 as did Manfred & Sela Sommer.
Terry Sabo returned to book the entire lodge for king salmon fishing and brought Richard Bourque, Mike Moore, Joseph Waters, Edward Rodriguiz, Sherman Taylor, Robert Morang, Richard Mavis, Ricardo Cruz, Patrick Reed, Jesse Yanez, Peter Hanson & son Pete, Larry Hemphill and Mark Olderog from Arizona. They caught 110 halibut in one day. Larry caught 2 large king salmon. Weather was windy and cool.
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Ruedi Turlewanger, Roland Winteler, Peter & Mario Sidler (Switz) came for fishing and also enjoyed playing pool. Ruedi caught a 35# king trolling in bay and Mario caught a 45# halibut.
Michael, Christine, Jane Fraser & Ken Holloway (England) came for wildlife viewing and we had wonderful conversations with them. They sent us a large UK flag to hang with our collection.
Some July Guests:
Bill & Isobel Macdonald (Scotland) came for wildlife viewing. Bill’s charisma was captivating and evening conversations interesting. Isobel’s luggage was lost before she got here. Richard & Molly Harshman (MD) came for a week of fishing. Molly & Isobel are teachers and had common interests even though from different countries. Kavin & Manfred Seibold (Germany) came July 19 as did Peter Gressley (Switz) for bear viewing. Jim Lewis (AL) came for fishing was relaxed and enjoyed all aspects of being in Kodiak. Ian Ford (Australia) videotaped and especially bears. Jack Hegnauer (switz) came 7/24 as did Hermann & Sigrid Stuettgen (Germany). Mary Cappotto & Bob Boyle (GA) came 7/25. Richard & Ginger Lang (NC) & nephew Zack Wilcox came for wildlife and fishing. They were so very nice and stayed up late to watch our firecracker display. They sent us a lovely hors-d’oeuvre pottery tray made in NC.
August Guests to mention a few:
Joe Ventline (OH) came fishing and plans to return for silvers in 1999. Dave Jones (Kodiak) came for sea fishing and brought his daughter & her friend. Brigitte & Dieter Kutschker (Germany) came for wildlife viewing. Beautiful weather prevailed for the day in Uyak for bear viewing from the boat. They also saw ADF&G research boat pull fish samples in nets.
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Werner & Walker Muller & Karl Schloissning, & Fritz Fluckiger with sons Christian and Reinhard came for silver fishing. Terry Hartsfield (CA) fished silvers. As did Gerhard Zenk & Kuetoslav Maedler (Germany). Their luggage was delayed from the airlines. John Silvernale & George Petrich (WA) came for fishing. John liked fresh water & George saltwater, which they both were able to do. Manfred Schmidt (Germany) stayed 12 days and had to change roome five times, so he got to try all our rooms! He brought us a cukoo clock and made us a gorgeous dried flower arrangement. Willy & Eva Kryda (Austria) came for wildlife viewing. Kirsten Schneider & Marianne Sandler from Arktis Reisen Schechle (Germany) came to visit and tried silver salmon fishing.
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September:
Sal Ignacolo & Paola Bernasconi celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary at ZB. They sent us nice photos of when they were here. They went out with Cecilia Wells & Ian Barr (England) to see the bears(Above Photo).
HG Fiedler (Germany) came for fishing with Henning Gleim. Gerhard Renner came with Richard & Michaela Funder (Austria) for silver fishing. Walter Schaden & Hannes Kaindleinsberger (Austria) fished for silvers also. Per Lund Johansen and Terje Pederson (Norway) came fly-fishing. Per plans to return in 1999. Tim Dick returns with his group Pat Shannon, Mark Vuckovich, Jerry Kimball, Randy Houston, Steve Lillis. The weather was NE, very windy. They were able to catch fish and found the wind exciting. (Our float dock and boat ramp was washed out during this storm).
Summary of Guests
About the same amount of guests came from USA as from the other combined countries. Most US guests came for fishing. About equal other-country guests came for fishing and wildlife viewing. Second most guests came from Germany, then Switzerland and UK (with equal numbers).
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