Life on the river
I was out of town the last couple of days on business. It was a fast trip down to one of our branches on the
I am no exception but this was a working trip with an overnight stay calling on clients in the area. I had debated for several days before leaving whether I should pack a duffle bag with my waders, fishing pole, and some gear to grab a quick trip down on the river.
The hotel I would stay is on the river so it would be easy enough to walk down the hill a bit before bed and fish. There is still plenty of sunlight this time of year so it would be easy enough to find some time after work.
Then the reality sets in for me. If I do catch fish (a good probability) I would need to clean and filet them but I cannot carry a knife on the airplane. I would need to process and flash freeze them so they would not go bad. This could be done with local fish processors but not an easy task before I caught the flight back home. I also would need a cooler that I did not bring down on the plane to keep the fish frozen. Oh well it seems another fishing possibility goes by.
I finished my day and headed over to some friends that have property on the river that they are building a cabin this summer. He is one of my clients as well but is spending the first part of the summer getting his cabin framed in and a roof on it before winter sets in again.
It was good to see everyone and meet some of their family in town to help with the working going on. We had a nice BBQ and later in the evening (9:00 pm) decided to go fishing for a bit. My earlier thoughts quickly went flashing in my mind but the chance to go after a king salmon was impossible to pass up. A 20 to possibly over 80 pound fish is motivation to put in a few hours on the river in search of a big catch. I decided I would worry about the other things after I had caught something.
It was great being on the water even late in the day as the sun was kinda high above the horizon still and was reflected in the water while we were fishing. Along the banks in many places were people fishing for the second run of red salmon which were just starting their journey up the river to the spawning grounds. It was nice talking while we were back trolling the many different holes in search of kings.
We were working the river without much other boat traffic unlike the madness of weekends with many boats in the water. One of the few boats we did see was a ranger who worked his way next to us to check our licenses, safety equipment, and to check if we had any fish and if so what size. He was pretty “matter-of-fact” with us looking for any reason to write a citation but since we had everything and in proper order finally spoke a little chit-chat and was on his way.
As the evening progressed and midnight neared the sun was dropping slowly towards the horizon. It is a nice time of day and one of my favorites. The river can be a magical place and usually this river has some incredible sights to see. First there was a bald eagle swooping overhead working his way to catch a fish for his supper or for one of it’s young. Always a beautiful thing to see but the reality of this magnificent bird in its natural habitat is just a scavenger most of the time. Locals look upon them at times as pests for the way they go after the fish carcasses on the beach. Not very pretty to watch but is interesting in the cycle of life that goes on here in
As the light dimmed after the sun set but still quite light outside I saw an owl being attacked by ravens. This was on the river in a tree along the banks. It was an awesome sight!! The owl didn't give a ‘hoot’ (pun intended) about the ravens. The ravens had a simple strategy. One would stand in front of the owl trying to distract it while the other pulled at its wings. I just wished I had brought my digital camera along on the trip; I could have posted pictures of the owl turning its head at an impossible 280 degrees. It was wild to see it with your eyes and not in a movie or on television.
My office colleague says its bad luck to see an owl. Hah!! I guess it is just lucky to see a "wise old owl" in the wild any day. Owls are so beautiful and usually are hardly seen during daytime. It was in that twilight time of day but still the watchful eye had another opportunity to see nature up close and personal.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, our few hours on the river were fun and the fellowship talking and hanging out was nice. We did not catch anything this time but there will be others. We stopped by another friend’s house up river who was out on his fish table next to the river cleaning and filleting two – twenty five pound kings that he and his buddy had caught just before we arrived.
Another great day, “Living the Dream”!
It was about 1:30 am when I returned to my room back in town and headed for some much needed rest.
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