By Kent Danjanovich
Senior Editor

The Laughing Raven Lodge is nestled quaintly among the salmon berry bushes, ferns and beautiful Sitka spruce in the small fishing village of Port Alexander, Alaska, perched on the tip of Baranof Island.  This special part of Alaska truly has to be one of the most picturesque places in the world. The fishing isn’t too bad either!

Your trip to Laughing Raven starts with your flight to Sitka.  Because you will be most likely catch your float plane ride to Port Alexander early the next morning, your trip includes one night’s stay at one of the local hotels in Sitka, one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Alaska.  Many of the cruise ships that make their way throughout the inner passages of Alaska are regulars as their passengers disembark to stroll the streets and visit the many shops and restaurants of the area.  The island-dotted bay is always full of activity and believe me, your evening stay in Sitka is a great addition to your upcoming experience with Laughing Raven Lodge.

The next morning you will meet at Harris Air, located right next to the main terminal.  Weather permitting; you will board your floatplane by 7 a.m. for your flight to Port Alexander.  Now I feel that I must prepare you for this flight, since I assure you that it will be 30 to 40 minutes of the most beautiful scenery that you will ever experience anywhere in the world.  To me, Alaska has it all and this short flight will take your breath away.

The little town of Port Alexander, once a bustling city with as many as 2,000 residents in the early 20th century, now is home to under 100 full and part-timers.  The remnants of the past are apparent not only around the bay, but also throughout the many coves in the coastal areas that you will be traveling by.  Herring reduction plants that bustled in the 20’s and 30’s now are rusted piles of metal and wood, but they still add a subtle beauty to the lush coastal areas.  Port Alexander becomes the temporary home to a number of trollers and small long-liners at certain times of the year and three small lodges, each restricted to no more than eight guests at a time by town ordinance, share the shoreline with the locals.

The community has another very unique feature.  It is totally connected by a wooden boardwalk that winds its way along both sides of the bay.  The main paths are eight feet wide, with smaller paths leading to individual buildings.  After unloading your bags from the floatplane at the dock, Laughing Ravens’ staff will lead you up the ramp and through the “rain forest” surroundings, past the tiny post office, fire & rescue building, general store and local school (K – 12) to the main lodge.  Guest rooms are located in the main lodge and in a two-level cabin a short stroll away, overlooking another gorgeous, tidally influenced bay only a few yards away from your front window!

After a hearty breakfast, you next fill out your lunch request form, sign your fishing license and king tag, make a stop at the gear room for a rain suit and rubber boots, a quick stop at your room for anything else needed (especially your camera) and then you again make your way down the boardwalk to board either the 31 ft. Murrelet or the 29 ft. Molly O’ for your first day on the water.  Both boats are great fishing vessels, with plenty of room in the cabins and on the fishing decks.  Top of the line electronics and rods and reels that will help you land that big fish you have been waiting your whole life for are featured on each boat.

Now that we are on the water, we are just a few minutes away from dropping your line in search of just about any Alaskan species of fish that you can possibly think of; King, silver, pink and chum salmon, giant lingcod and yellow-eye, and massive halibut.  I think you get the picture.  You can request to fish for specific types or make the day a mixed bag if you like and Captain Ryan Martin will work his magic and put you on fish after fish.  On our trip in mid-July, we caught kings, plenty of silvers and pinks and a couple of chums on our first day.  Our next morning found us fishing the sheltered bays with calm waters as 8-10 foot swells hammered the outer coast.  After catching a few more salmon, we headed for one of Captain Ryan’s favorite lingcod spots and literally had a hook-up every time we let down our jigs.  One of the neatest things about fishing in the waters of Port Alexander is that you just never know what you might pull up from the bottom as big yellow eye and black rock bass also found their way to our fish box (unfortunately, lingcod season in this area closes on June 30th and opens back up on August 16th, but catch and release is permitted) with a couple of just-the-right-sized halibut as well.

Our next stop would be in search of more halibut, as our captain put out the anchor at about 200 feet and rigged us with a mix of circle-hook clad rods and lightweight jig rods as well, each with a piece of fresh bait to lure the big boys in.  The next hour produced six fish from 40 to 74 inches, with the biggest halibut estimated at over 215 pounds.  The restrictions for halibut in 2011 in southeast Alaska limit you to one fish per day under 37 inches, so we released all of the big ones and filled our box with a nice limit of perfect eaters.  At 5pm we headed back to the lodge, jumped in the shower and then headed to the main lodge for another wonderful meal.  Chef Ben always managed to treat us to another superb meal from the recipe book that Sue and Pete Mooney (owners of the lodge) have compiled over the past 18 years that they have been in business.

The next morning found us loading shrimp and crab pots onto the Murrelet and heading across the bay to drop them and let them soak for a day in hopes to fill them with some tasty morsels for our last night at Laughing Raven.  The rest of the day produced another great mixed bag of fish for the box, with Captain Ryan making quick work of the fillets when we got back to the dock and then the staff picking them up, transporting them to the process room and then cleaning, vacuum packing and freezing the fillets for our trip home.

Our last day on the water again found us braving the open waters around the outer perimeter.   We again managed to catch both silvers and kings early and then worked our way back to the sheltered bays and calm waters all along the inner coast hauling up our shrimp and crab pots.  It is required that the guests do the work of putting out and hauling in their catch, so each of us took our turn throwing the line over the hoist, coiling up the rope and lifting the pots over the side of the boat.  We managed to fill a bucket almost full of shrimp and our crab pots yielded half a dozen keepers as well.  We hurriedly made our way back to the lodge, ran our catch up to Chef Ben and he again worked his magic with a meal fit for a king!  My fellow guests at the lodge, Jack and Mary O’Neil, Dan and Sheila Mayberry and fellow Pro-Staffer Rick Rosenberg and myself ate until we couldn’t eat any more and then reminisced about our stay the rest of the night.

Our last morning, of course, found the skies cloudy and the fog quickly moving in on us.  Although you will normally exchange places with the new group of guests coming in on the 8am flight, this changeable part of southeast Alaska always lets you know who is boss.  We finally boarded our plane about 10am and took the inner route back to Sitka, another beautiful flight that made the delay well worth it to all of us.

I can’t say enough about the experience you are in for with Laughing Raven Lodge in tiny Port Alexander, Alaska.  Pete, Sue, Molly, Ryan and the rest of their staff are well seasoned in making your stay and overall experience a very special one indeed.  The quaint charm and tranquil setting are very unique and especially accommodating for couples and families looking for the perfect Alaskan adventure.  The Sportsman’s News is proud to welcome Laughing Raven Lodge into our Platinum Approved Outfitter family and we hope that you will give them a call next time you are looking for an Alaskan adventure that you won’t soon forget.  Give them a call at 800-768-7752 and visit them on our website or at http://www.portalexander.com.