ABOVE: Jacob Lemon and his daughter, Oaklynn, in front of a 165 pound halibut one of his clients of Jake's Saltwater Adventures, caught while doing a fishing derby in Homer, Alaska. Submitted photo.

FAIRMONT–Fairmont native Jacob Lemon just set out on his third year of leading fishing charters in Alaska through his business, Jake’s Saltwater Adventures. He’ll remain there through the busy season and return to Fairmont in October.

A 2012 graduate of Fairmont High School, Lemon next went to Iowa Lakes Community College where he got his commercial pilots license.

“Flying is a passion of mine. I always wanted to fly and didn’t really think it was within my reach but Iowa Lakes made it affordable and it was doable,” Lemon said.

However, after obtaining his license he ended up working for Kahler Automation for about five years. After getting let go, Lemon considered pursuing another one of his passions: fishing.

“It was a blessing in disguise. I thought about what I would do next and I didn’t really have any Alaska flying time so I couldn’t get a job doing that. The next thing was to buy a boat and start a charter,” Lemon said. “I always wanted to get to Alaska somehow and this was a way.”

He had first gone to Alaska in 2016 with his parents, sister, and now-wife. They ended up going back every year for four years and his family even ended up buying a boat.

“A lot of people thought it was crazy to buy a boat and keep it up here but back in Minnesota people have a boat and use it maybe 20 days a year,” Lemon said.

The boat was kept in Homer, Alaska, which is about five hours from Anchorage, Alaska, a well-known hub. It’s where Lemon keeps his two boats today, too.

“Buying a boat was a big investment. It was a bit of a gamble. I bought it in Washington and trailered it up here. My back up plan if it didn’t work out was to sell the boat because I got it at a good price,” he explained.

However, luckily for him, his business took off and now three years after starting he has two 30 foot boats.

His dad, Mark, runs the second boat and his cousin is a deck hand and a local kid is a second deck hand.

While there’s fishing year-round, he said the high season for tourists is about four months long. They take out trips of about four to six people each time. While many are tourists, they take out some Alaska natives, too.

“We’re catching halibut and rock fish and also salmon when they’re here,” he said.

They mostly fish on Cook Inlet and part of the Gulf of Alaska on the Pacific Ocean. He typically takes out a group every day if not two groups a day.

“As long as the weather’s good, we’re pretty well going fishing,” he said. “It’s going better than I could have imagined.”

People who go out fishing with him can sometimes get 20 to 50 pounds of meat. He said the processors will give them a Styrofoam box to take on the plane ride home and when the fish is frozen it will last for two days in the box.

In addition to taking out fishing charters, new this year with Jake’s Saltwater Adventures is bear viewing trips by boat.

“It’s a trial run. We’ll see how it goes,” he said.

A five or so year goal of his is to get a plane that will be used for bear viewing trips by air in the future.

It’s not just bear they see, either.

“It’s a beautiful place. The fishing is good but the sightseeing is unreal, too. We see sea otters everyday and sea lions most of the time and whales about 50 percent of the time,” Lemon said.

They also see moose nearly on a daily basis.

“It’s like driving around Fairmont and seeing deer. Moose are in town,” he said.

Since starting his business he said they have had a decent amount of people from the Fairmont area, including some of his friends, come visit, but not a whole lot.

“A lot of people think that Alaska is out of their reach and it doesn’t have to be. It’s more expensive but it’s not out of your reach,” he said.

In the summer months Lemon said there is a direct six hour flight out of Minneapolis to Anchorage.

While he enjoys being out in Alaska, there’s something special about coming home, too.

“You get used to being back in Minnesota. I like seeing the cornfields and going pheasant hunting. Every place has their unique beauty,” Lemon said.

Whether or not he and his family will relocate to Alaska permanently is on the table, but not something that will happen in the near future. His wife and daughter will visit for about a month over the summer this year.

Lemon urges anyone with interest in Alaska and especially fishing to reach out to him. More information can be found on his website, jakessaltwateradventures.com.