fish - Forage - harvest
Chrome Chasers offers an authentic, immersive adventure that combines fishing with Alaska’s wild beauty and culinary appeal.
the fishing
Diverse and High-Quality Fishing Opportunities
Guests have access to a variety of fish species bin both freshwater and saltwater such as king salmon, silver salmon, halibut, trout, cod, and rockfish.
Maximize your experience by using different fishing techniques such as fly fishing or deep[sea fishing to maximize your Alaskan experience and to harvest a variety of delicious fish to take home.
At Chrome Chasers, you will fish the streams of remote islands around Wrangell Island with fly rods or conventional tackle. The fish species you will be able to catch can include silver salmon, sockeye salmon, pink salmon, chum salmon, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and dolly varden. Chrome Chasers also fish the inland passages for silver salmon, king salmon, halibut, ling cod, and other bottom fish.
Foraging
Guided Foraging Adventures
Exploring and learning about the wild edible and nonedible plants and fungi in Alaska
Foraging with a knowledgeable guide add depth to the experience allowing guests to learn and enjoy the landscape in a hands-on way.
Mushroom and berry foraging opportunities are available up every stream we fish each day. The species of mushrooms and berries changes throughout August and into September. Guests are welcome to put down their rods and scan the nearby trees, downed logs, and forest floor for wild edible mushrooms. The most common species we find include golden chanterelles, yellow foot chanterelles, hedgehog mushrooms, chicken of the woods, king boletes, shaggy manes, and occasionally black trumpets.
Harvesting
Sustainable, “Catch-and-Cook” Culinary Experience
Guests are offered the ability to harvest, prepare, and enjoy freshly caught fish and foraged ingredients as part of meals at the lodge.
Clients value a sustainable, hands-on approach where they can actively participate in meal preparation, adding authenticity and satisfaction to the dining experience.
Each day, guests and guides pull Dungeness crab and shrimp pots from the ocean floor to bring delicious seafood to the nightly dinners. During low tide, there is an opportunity to go to the beach and dig for butter clams and cockles. Blueberry and huckleberry bushes line the streams and the berries can be found in abundance in the forest near the Lodge. The tart berries are delicious on ice cream or in pancakes for breakfast.
Alaskan Immersion Program
Alaskan Immersion Program
the importance of knowing where your food comes from
Become a provider for yourself and your family. We have a passion for harvesting wild food and want to share this experience with you.
the process of wild sustainability
Catch and harvest your food and turn it into something truly delicious and unique. This is a privilege that some people do not understand today. There is much more an animal, fungi, or plant has to offer than a caloric value. A different kind of appreciation comes with being a part of your harvesting and preparing your food every step of the way. It is through food that we connect to our primal instincts to hunt and gather. This is a unique experience to share with good friends and your family.
Fish and Forage
Each day anglers take the big boat, Chromagnum, to fish a variety of streams on the islands around Wrangell for silver salmon, sockeye salmon, pink salmon, chum salmon, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and dolly varden. Fly fishing and conventional tackle are both available. While fishing along the streams, anglers have the opportunity also to forage for mushrooms to bring to the table at the lodge. Along with the stream fishing, we will be ocean fishing for king salmon, silver salmon, halibut, and other bottom fish, regulations permitting. Guests will be able to set pots for shrimp and Dungeness crab to provide fresh seafood for the evening meals. Other activities can include digging for clams at low tide and picking berries. Back at the lodge, your Captain, Rick (who also owns a Wild Game Chef business in Montana) will prepare the fish and foraged food for the meal. Guests are welcome to enjoy appetizers and cocktails while the meal is prepared or get more involved with the preparation and learn the best ways of breaking down the harvest and preparing the meals.
Chrome Chasers offers either a fishing-focused experience or a fishing foraging, cooking, and preserving experience. The group can spend more time on either fishing or the combination of fishing and harvesting, preparing and preserving. Rick built a large smokehouse where salmon, halibut, and clams can be smoked. Chrome Chasers can pressure fish and clams. We use a large chamber vacuum sealer to vacuum seal most of the unused seafood and freeze it. What is not consumed at meals will be either smoked and canned or sealed and frozen for guests to take home at the end of their week's stay.
Chrome Chasers takes 4 individual anglers or up to 3 couples for up to a total of 6 guests per week. There are 4 guest bedrooms, each with a queen bed. The fishing foraging trip is great for husbands and wives or a group couples vacation. A guy's or gal’s trip is also easy but we only have 4 separate bedrooms. One of the rooms has an additional twin bed and we can take up to 5 singles as long as 2 individuals don't mind sharing a room. We are happy to accommodate 4, 5 or 6 individuals each week. There are 2 guides and the group can be split up by having either 2 or 3 anglers per guide.
If you come as a single, you will have your room with a closet and queen bed. There are 3 full bathrooms and one half bath in the house that are shared by everyone.
The harvest is usually excellent for spot prawns during August and September. The commercial crab season opens in June. The Dungeness crab pots don't pull as many crab in the late summer and fall because the commercial fishermen have been out all summer harvesting crab. We still harvest some Dungeness crab, but it is not as plentiful as it is during the spring steelhead season. Fresh seafood is incorporated into every dinner and some breakfasts. King salmon fishing is open in the late summer and fall season and king salmon is our favorite!