This was suppose to be the highlight of our trip, and in one way it was, but in the other; it was far from it.
We arrived at Chena Lakes at 10pm excited, ready to do some fishing and see the magnificent Northern Lights. After stumbling our way out on to the ice we finally found our shack in the dark (there were 6-10 shacks on the ice and luckily we went to the left first and not to the right) upon opening the door we realized, this was a 'party boat' style ice fishing operation. Inside the shanty were 16 ice fishing holes, 1 potbelly wood burning stove, and solid wood benches to sit on. We were greeted by the guide and given our tackle and brief instruction. In the next 5 hours everyone in the shack would catch a total of 3 fish, with a group of 4 on the other end of the shack leaving a few minutes early as they had came the night before and also caught nothing. I would not recommend coming to fish at night, but rather going in the daylight hours with a private guide or smaller group. 16 people in one shanty on a heavily fished public lake at night is not a recipe for success.
However, the northern lights view was fantastic that night! With Chena Lake being so close to North Pole/Fairbanks, there is some light pollution you will inevitably notice with the naked eye and with long exposure photos. Chena Lake is also a very busy area, and cars were driving on and off the ice causing difficulty taking long exposure pictures and disrupting viewing pleasure.
Overall, I would not recommend. Go fishing in the during the daylight hours and view the lights at night, but not both at night.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Jan 2024
My fishing cabins are the only ones on the lake with electric. We state in our arrival instruction email, "we'll leave the light on for you". We do turn the outside light off after guests arrive to not hinder aurora viewing. We also provide the cabin number which is displayed in 2 foot letters on the outside of the cabin. The parking area is 50 yards from the fishing cabins.
Our typical group size for our aurora ice fishing trips is 5 people. We do have 16 fishing holes in the cabin, but have never booked 16 people. We book a maximum of 12 people. Guests can book 10 seats for a private trip.
Every lake in Alaska with stocked fish is open to the public by law. We practice sustainable fishing methods-keeping 1 fish per person and returning the rest. This ensures there is plenty of fish for folks to catch.
We did have a few days of slow fishing. I promptly moved the cabins to a spot where the fish were more active and our catch rates have increased significantly.
Typically our spot is extremely quiet at night. An illegal tour operator brought people to the lake for aurora viewing. This problem has been dealt with.