Fishin’ . . . Part 2

Continuing my post from last night it has been hard to get the song Fishin’ out of my mind all day today. There were a few flurries but warmer temperatures in the twenties so not a bad day unlike a few weeks ago.

Friday the 13^th had no bad incidents only the normal hustle and bustle that goes with a Friday. Too much to do, not enough time to get it done, and other things pulling me in many directions keeping me from the items I wanted to accomplish by weeks end.

I apologize for the size of the pictures as for some reason the scale is not bringing them down to the size I expected. I hope it is not a pain to look at them.

Last summer there were several trips doing all kinds of fishing which is pretty normal for me? My brother in law and me for the last several years embarks on a crazy 72 hour fishin’ marathon where we load up some food and first head out to a local river (Eklutna Tailrace) here in Anchorage after I get off of work. That’s place # 1 fishin’ for King salmon. We then leave there after midnight and drive about 3 hours down to Seward Alaska (#2) to catch a charter boat which leaves at 4 AM to fish for halibut, ling cod, and possibly early silver salmon. We are out on the charter for about 10 hours.

Whale breeching by the boat

We have the fish caught so far processed and frozen and head about an hour away to the Kenai River where we drift boat fish for king salmon (#3) until about two or three in the morning. Two hours of sleep and we are off to subsistence fish (dip net) for red salmon (#4). We will try to catch two tide changes over the next 14 hours and again process the fish before heading out to the confluence of the Kenai River and the Russian River to fish for more red or king salmon (#5).

We continue this for several hours until about 3 hours before I need to be back at work then we drive 2 hours back to Anchorage so I can shower and head to work.

It’s crazy . . . fun and with the almost 24 hours of sunlight it defies logic and reason to go at such a pace but it is a hoot. Several other people have joined us these last couple of years so there must be a few more crazy people out there. We endure the long dark winters so we can have fun adventures of all sorts during our summer season.

Here are a few more pictures that I hope you enjoy.

Fall Kenai Rainbow Fishin’ Trip

Kenai Dip netting

Mike, Demitri, and D. (Ice)

Climbing the falls

To fish finish this and to show you that we are a little like the old Alaskan joke about the men in Alaska which states: The Odds are good that the Goods are odd.

I think we may just be . . . this is my friend Lee who joins me for Saturday breakfast who spends part of his summer each year at “Bear Haven” a magical place where man and wild bears have come to accept each other while in the compound. Truly a unique experience where Grizzly and Black Bear mingle amongst each other . . . bear and cubs allow people up close and personal contact. I wrote about it in one of my earlier posts last year. BBC and Animal Planet have filmed there the last two summers and ABC did a Primetime story on Charlie.

Summer is just a little way ahead as we make our way into the light.

Ice