Let me preface this by letting you all know that Bob Cusack wrote this piece, the entire piece. I didn't edit this just to make him live up to his reputation haha, this is really how he talks to me. He is a character and that's why we love him and that's also why you should fish with him. Check out www.cusacksalaskalodge.com for more info on Bob or contact him at bobcusack@aol.com or 907-571-1202 who knows he may have still have a couple spots open this season!
Lula and I both miss you characters this summer. I miss you two bum fucks. After these two I realize you two were geniuses. I don’t know how I could have thought you two were dumb fucks. Forgive me and please come back – you better know better than that!
I just dropped off two fishermen from Ohio – Tim and Adam Donohue (father and son). We had a great time with them this week – they enjoyed your secret fishing hole and caught 100 rainbows each. They did a lot of mousing and streamers. The week before, Nevin Cooley and Dave Cahill fished in the same spot. Each of them caught about 50 fish. Nevin pulled out 3 nice lake trout fishing a mouse, and Dave caught about 5 grayling out of a pool that was 5 feet below where he was wading. It was blowing 50 mph when I dropped Tim and Adam off. They will pass through 60-70 mph at 2000 feet on the climb out from Iliamna – might have to clean themselves on arrival in Anchorage. They were catching sockeye off the point when it was blowing 70 mph. Damn near blew them in the lake, but with a shot of scotch and a good cigar we had a blast.
Remember that slew where you and Kirk caught those big pike? Well one of my guides, Trevor, was exiting it into the main river when he spotted a big pike swimming with a 20 inch rainbow in his chops. He was guiding Lee and Mark Bellinger who are from PA. They came up with Nevin and Dave. Trevor has a great video of it, but I can’t send it due to the bandwidth. So when I get out of here I can email it to you. However, I will send a photo – no, it’s not as big as yours, but he did see several twice as big as the one with the rainbow. Anyway, Trevor slipped up behind this fish and threw him up on the bank. The rainbow was dropped in the process, but Trevor landed on the pike. I am sure it was a relative of the one you caught. Trevor said it was right outside the slew and there were a bunch of rainbows hitting dries. He never caught pike before and a week earlier he picked one up by the lip- he is learning.
Other than that things have been pretty much boring. Oh ya, remember that old Magnum Research 45/70 pistol you used to tote around? Well I was coming across the portage at 11:30pm. I ran into 3 bears – a sow with cubs. They were unusually close (20 yards) by the time I saw them. I didn’t feel like screwing around with them so I fired one round and it didn’t kick or make much noise. I gave them another shot and all seemed normal. They ran off. When I glanced down I saw that I blew off the entire 10 inch barrel. I know I am fast but not fast enough for the 2nd bullet to catch the 1st one. I guess the 1st one got stuck in the barrel. I am hoping to get another barrel put on it. I’ve been lucky lately.
My Son Adam and I just returned from fishing with Bob Cusack. One of the best trips of my life. This was a graduation trip celebration, the deal with my son was out of college in 4 years we go fising in Alaska. We picked Bob after doing a couple of months of research. What sealed it for us was talking to Bob on the phone, his 40+ years of experience kind of quietly comes through. It was obvious he knew his stuff. I don't know where to begin, the experience far exceeded our expectations. Both from a fishing experience and just being with Bob and his wife Lula. Every day fishing was great. We had a couple of days where we caught over 100 fish each on one of Bob's secret spots. Our weather was good except for one of the days where it was really blowing too much to fly or even go out in one of the little boats. Even on tht day where most guides would say its too cold or rough to fish Bob came up with a plan. We had a late breakfast and fortified our spirits and put on the life jackets. Bob took us out in his big enclosed boat and we took off after the Sockeye which were just starting to come in. As Bob said we damn near got blown off the sandbar in gale force winds but we brought home some fish. That day that should have by all rights been one of the crappiest ended up being our second most fun day thanks to Bob. As for our fly-in trips, I've been around a lot of pilots both private and commercial. I worked at an airport as a teenager flown some myself and have flown almost 2 Million miles commercially and charter for business. I'll just say I've never met a better instinctive pilot than Bob. Bob's wife Lula provided us with outstanding dinners each evening. Her culinarty skills and creativity made each meal something we really looked forward to. Bob cooks a pretty mean breakfast. I went up with the intent of losing some weight but I gained 5 pounds. Both Adam my son and I really enjoyed talking with Bob and Lula each night. For us it was like staying at a close friends home. We have been back home in Ohio for almost a week and I have to admit re-entery was tough, we both miss being up at Cusack's. As I have told my friends back home, my memory of the secret river was to be out fishing where there was no evidence of mankind all day catching so many fish my arm was tired. Looked up in the sky and saw three Bald Eagles flying over head at once. Bob thanks to you and Lula for a trip we will remember all our lives.
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