Not much going on. The Sockeye Salmon run had over 1.5 million fish go up the Kenai River but now has dropped to a dribble. The Coho Salmon have not shown up yet.
Last night we tried a new local restaurant our RV neighbors were raving about. They had tried the steaks but we thought we would stay with our "healthy" trend and go with the seafood. Big mistake!
Abby had the deep fried Pacific Cod and I had the grilled Ling Cod. We never knew fish could be "tough" to eat!
We should have known when we walked in the joint. It is located in an old, grounded fishing boat and has a total of 4 tables. The indoor/outdoor dinning room shares space with a commercial freezer loaded with fish. Don't think they will make it.
Tuesday we will move to Seward where we will be staying at the Seward Military Resort. It is close to downtown and is available to active duty and retired military personnel. It has a hotel and restaurant along with a RV camp. We will be spending 6 nights there unless the fishing demands us to stay longer. Won't take much demand!
The Seward Coho Salmon Derby will be going on while we are there. There are over $100,000 in prizes.
Seward is a neat and patriotic town. In May they offer military personnel heavily discounted lodging and fishing charters. They have a special "combat fishing" tournament the last week of May. Thanks Seward!
There is no wifi at the resort so we will be hanging out at Starbucks in the local Safeway store for our internet needs.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood
Mr. Rogers would have been happy as today the weather was just superb! Clear skies, calm winds and a high of 64.
We drove 40 miles south to the town of Homer, home of the Time Bandit of "Deadliest Catch" fame.
As luck would have it, a parking spot was available in front of the Time Bandit store on the Homer Spit.
The Hilstrand's grandfather built this hotel and restaurant.Notice the artwork above the sign.
We walked all through the stores and around the waterfront.
Abby found this not so recently caught King Salmon on display.
I found this T-shirt that perfectly describes Abby's "combat fishing" philosophy.
This weekend there are 2 days of "minus tides" so people are arriving to go clam digging on the local beaches for Razor Clams. Every parking spot is full.
The harbor is chock a block full of boats of all sizes and varieties.
Overseeing all of this activity was this Bald Eagle sitting on a tall light structure.
While Abby was shopping I prowled around some back streets and alleys and came across this interesting RV. There was a picture posted in the window that showed what it looked like after a fire (totaled) and what it looks like inside today. Got to hand it to Alaskans, they use every resource.
The view from the waterfront is stunning. The Homer Spit is a natural narrow strip of land that extends several miles (almost halfway across) into the Kachemak Bay.
We ate fresh Halibut for lunch and I tried a local Alaskan brew that I can neither spell or pronounce other than "great".
All in all a great day to enjoy the scenery and weather. I'm headed to the Ninilchik river tonight to see if the high tide has brought any Coho (silver) Salmon into the stream. It still doesn't get very dark and sunset isn't until 10:45. I'm also going to get up early and hit the river tomorrow morning as there is another high tide at 3:36 A.M.
UPDATE: The unit that sends the GPS and notification emails and texts is malfunctioning and sending erroneous SOS's to the International Rescue Center. A new one is being sent to me in Seward next week so until then, there will not be any more notifications sent. If you want to see what's going on, just check the blog manually.
Sorry!
We drove 40 miles south to the town of Homer, home of the Time Bandit of "Deadliest Catch" fame.
As luck would have it, a parking spot was available in front of the Time Bandit store on the Homer Spit.
The Hilstrand's grandfather built this hotel and restaurant.Notice the artwork above the sign.
We walked all through the stores and around the waterfront.
Abby found this not so recently caught King Salmon on display.
I found this T-shirt that perfectly describes Abby's "combat fishing" philosophy.
This weekend there are 2 days of "minus tides" so people are arriving to go clam digging on the local beaches for Razor Clams. Every parking spot is full.
The harbor is chock a block full of boats of all sizes and varieties.
Overseeing all of this activity was this Bald Eagle sitting on a tall light structure.
While Abby was shopping I prowled around some back streets and alleys and came across this interesting RV. There was a picture posted in the window that showed what it looked like after a fire (totaled) and what it looks like inside today. Got to hand it to Alaskans, they use every resource.
The view from the waterfront is stunning. The Homer Spit is a natural narrow strip of land that extends several miles (almost halfway across) into the Kachemak Bay.
We ate fresh Halibut for lunch and I tried a local Alaskan brew that I can neither spell or pronounce other than "great".
All in all a great day to enjoy the scenery and weather. I'm headed to the Ninilchik river tonight to see if the high tide has brought any Coho (silver) Salmon into the stream. It still doesn't get very dark and sunset isn't until 10:45. I'm also going to get up early and hit the river tomorrow morning as there is another high tide at 3:36 A.M.
UPDATE: The unit that sends the GPS and notification emails and texts is malfunctioning and sending erroneous SOS's to the International Rescue Center. A new one is being sent to me in Seward next week so until then, there will not be any more notifications sent. If you want to see what's going on, just check the blog manually.
Sorry!
Fishing is still great, catching was more of a challenge
Absolutely fantastic weather today! We both got sun burned.
Abby and I spent almost 6 hours on the Kenai River fishing. The migrating fish count is down, but now that we know the river pretty well we still had dozens of strikes.
This run of fish are bigger than last week's and as a result we lost several to severed lines. We lost several due to the "combat fishing" conditions. There were a lot of "first time" fisherman who didn't have a clue as to what they were doing. Many times they would wade in between Abby and I (despite our pleas) and then they would snag our lines (a couple of times when we had fish on) and it would take a long time to resolve. Not to mention it caused us to lose our fish!
Despite the problems we were able to land 6 large Sockeye's and they are now (minus half of one we ate for dinner) residing in our freezer.
For those that are keeping track, Abby stayed dry today. The count is now Abby 4, Kenai River 2. If only the Astro's were this good!
One of the fish that Abby caught looked like it had been through a meat slicer. Turns out it was the result of a seal attack. I cut out the damaged portions and it was our main meal tonight. Speaking of cutting. During the filleting of the Salmon, I managed to "fillet my finger" so I am now sporting a bandage on my left index finger. In addition, I foolishly tried to stop a runaway salmon by applying pressure with my right index finger on the fly line. I now sport a matching bandage on this finger due to the line cutting and burning my finger. Glad I didn't bring my golf clubs. This hunting and gathering stuff is difficult!
We have new neighbors to the right of us. They live in California but they bought their RV from Superior RV on the feeder road just south of Woodlands Parkway. Small world.
For the first time in a long time, we didn't see a moose today.
Our freezer is about 90% full. As a result, we are suspending fishing operations until the Coho (silver) Salmon start their river migration. Hopefully this will occur before we leave next Tuesday for Seward. If not, we will be able to fish for Coho while spending the week in Seward.
Seward is a quaint little town whose motto is "a drinking village with a fishing problem". Sounds interesting!
Due to the cessation of fishing hostilities until the Coho arrive, we are driving to Homer tomorrow for a day of sightseeing and general goofing off.
In case you didn't see it, Kaileen Gaul wrote a very nice article in this week's Villager about our trip. It can be viewed at http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/woodlands/news/article_a05fce69-dbbd-54c2-9a05-7e7bb26ab65b.html. If the link doesn't work try http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/woodlands. Article is titled, "Couple mark territory along Alaska Highway". Thanks Kaileen, nicely done.
Late breaking news. It appears the device I use to notify folks of our GPS position is malfunctioning. It sent an erroneous "SOS" last night and Abby got a phone call from the International Rescue Center as did my brother in Florida. In case I can't this rectified and you still want notification of a new blog, put your email address in the "follow by email" block your email address. When the blog gets updated you will receive an email with the notification.
Abby and I spent almost 6 hours on the Kenai River fishing. The migrating fish count is down, but now that we know the river pretty well we still had dozens of strikes.
This run of fish are bigger than last week's and as a result we lost several to severed lines. We lost several due to the "combat fishing" conditions. There were a lot of "first time" fisherman who didn't have a clue as to what they were doing. Many times they would wade in between Abby and I (despite our pleas) and then they would snag our lines (a couple of times when we had fish on) and it would take a long time to resolve. Not to mention it caused us to lose our fish!
Despite the problems we were able to land 6 large Sockeye's and they are now (minus half of one we ate for dinner) residing in our freezer.
For those that are keeping track, Abby stayed dry today. The count is now Abby 4, Kenai River 2. If only the Astro's were this good!
One of the fish that Abby caught looked like it had been through a meat slicer. Turns out it was the result of a seal attack. I cut out the damaged portions and it was our main meal tonight. Speaking of cutting. During the filleting of the Salmon, I managed to "fillet my finger" so I am now sporting a bandage on my left index finger. In addition, I foolishly tried to stop a runaway salmon by applying pressure with my right index finger on the fly line. I now sport a matching bandage on this finger due to the line cutting and burning my finger. Glad I didn't bring my golf clubs. This hunting and gathering stuff is difficult!
We have new neighbors to the right of us. They live in California but they bought their RV from Superior RV on the feeder road just south of Woodlands Parkway. Small world.
For the first time in a long time, we didn't see a moose today.
Our freezer is about 90% full. As a result, we are suspending fishing operations until the Coho (silver) Salmon start their river migration. Hopefully this will occur before we leave next Tuesday for Seward. If not, we will be able to fish for Coho while spending the week in Seward.
Seward is a quaint little town whose motto is "a drinking village with a fishing problem". Sounds interesting!
Due to the cessation of fishing hostilities until the Coho arrive, we are driving to Homer tomorrow for a day of sightseeing and general goofing off.
In case you didn't see it, Kaileen Gaul wrote a very nice article in this week's Villager about our trip. It can be viewed at http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/woodlands/news/article_a05fce69-dbbd-54c2-9a05-7e7bb26ab65b.html. If the link doesn't work try http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/woodlands. Article is titled, "Couple mark territory along Alaska Highway". Thanks Kaileen, nicely done.
Late breaking news. It appears the device I use to notify folks of our GPS position is malfunctioning. It sent an erroneous "SOS" last night and Abby got a phone call from the International Rescue Center as did my brother in Florida. In case I can't this rectified and you still want notification of a new blog, put your email address in the "follow by email" block your email address. When the blog gets updated you will receive an email with the notification.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
More Rain
As anticipated there was more rain today. We drove to Soldotna and Kenai for some shopping.
We decided to get a large fish net so we don't have to depend on the kindness of fellow fishermen. We can also use it to "net" Abby should she go drifting away again.
Abby also has a new digital camera and a waterproof pouch (can't be too careful) that allows pictures to be taken while encased.
I checked with FEDEX in Kenai this afternoon and they have an interesting situation going on with the shipping of fish on their airline discount program. They won't guarantee your fish will leave their facility! They have only one flight a day and conceivably your box of fish could sit there and slowly thaw before it ever leaves. They instituted this policy yesterday as the shipments have sky rocketed due to the banner year of fishing. Think I'll wait until we are back in Anchorage again.
Speaking of frozen fish. It is amazing to see pallets of freezers for sale at the local shops. I talked to an Alaska F&G officer the other day and they believe the reason for the record setting season is due to the earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami. It wiped out the Japanese fishing fleet so the salmon are making it back to Alaska relatively unimpeded.
The Sockeye are still migrating in major numbers so Abby and I are headed back up to the Kenai tomorrow morning.
BTW, the high today was 62. I see my namesake might bring some relief to Texas this weekend. I'm doing all I can to help!
Here is the result of a local charter today. The fish hanging on the left is a Yellow Eye Rockfish (approximately 30 years old) the one in the center is a Halibut and the rest hanging up are Ling Cod. Ling's are really good eating but they had to motor 6 hours south of here to fish for them. The biggest Ling is going to be mounted. I would not want to see that bill!
We decided to get a large fish net so we don't have to depend on the kindness of fellow fishermen. We can also use it to "net" Abby should she go drifting away again.
Abby also has a new digital camera and a waterproof pouch (can't be too careful) that allows pictures to be taken while encased.
I checked with FEDEX in Kenai this afternoon and they have an interesting situation going on with the shipping of fish on their airline discount program. They won't guarantee your fish will leave their facility! They have only one flight a day and conceivably your box of fish could sit there and slowly thaw before it ever leaves. They instituted this policy yesterday as the shipments have sky rocketed due to the banner year of fishing. Think I'll wait until we are back in Anchorage again.
Speaking of frozen fish. It is amazing to see pallets of freezers for sale at the local shops. I talked to an Alaska F&G officer the other day and they believe the reason for the record setting season is due to the earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami. It wiped out the Japanese fishing fleet so the salmon are making it back to Alaska relatively unimpeded.
The Sockeye are still migrating in major numbers so Abby and I are headed back up to the Kenai tomorrow morning.
BTW, the high today was 62. I see my namesake might bring some relief to Texas this weekend. I'm doing all I can to help!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Abby does it again!
Monday was a bust due to weather so we vegged. Ken and Debbie left for Homer to spend a few days down in Time Bandit (Deadliest Catch) country. I believe they are camping on the Homer Spit.
There was a major "fatality" accident yesterday just down road involving an 18 wheeler and a woman and her dog in a SUV. She rear ended the truck. Highway was closed for a couple of hours while they tried to extricate the occupants. The driver died as did her Labrador. Sad.
We drove up to the Kenai River this morning dodging Moose all the way. Got on the water about 10:30 and immediately started catching fresh run Sockeye's.
The crowds are still very heavy so "combat fishing" is still the rule. We waded upstream to a spot we know where salmon congregate and rest before continuing their migration (we are becoming natives).
We immediately realized we made a mistake. Ken had the net! It is extremely difficult to land a 10-15 pound salmon without one.
Abby lost a couple of salmon when I tried to help so of course it was MY FAULT!
Fortunately a couple of military vets from Homer were fishing nearby and when they found out I was retired Navy, they loaned us their net. As our fish count increased, I think they got tired of loaning us their net and they moved downstream. Luckily a dad and his young (11) son "Jake" took over their spot and they had a net.
Jake is a neat kid from Southern California. His dad wasn't hooking any fish and Abby and I were constantly battling fish. Jake became our "netman". Until today, he had never netted a fish and he was having a ball. Jake became quite proficient and was doing such a great job that at one point Abby wanted to help me land a fish I was fighting and I told her "Jake is my man". You should have seen the look on his face. His chest puffed out and a huge smile was plastered on his face as he netted my fish.
At one point, a fisherman decided to wade in the water between Abby and I. Bad decision! I'm sure you have read about the mama Grizzly Bear that mauled some kids this weekend near Anchorage because they got between her and her cub. You should have seen Abby. After about 20 minutes the guy was complaining Abby hooked him in his ass! She replied, "You're in our spot, maybe you should move". Remember it is "combat fishing". I'm convinced she snagged him on purpose as she is quite proficient with a fly rod. A few minutes later, his buddy shows up and she says to him, "I suppose you are going to fish here too?" They got the hint and left. Nothing like a woman scorned, or PISSED!
After 3 hours we had landed 8 salmon and decided to call it quits for the day. Our feet and legs were numb from the cold so walking was difficult. I was carrying our salmon and Abby was carrying our fly rods. As we were walking downstream to the exit ladder, Abby did it again. She fell in! This time someone helped her recover her footing so it was a non event. If she had dropped the fly rods, that would have been a different story.
Unfortunately Abby's camera was destroyed when she fell in the river the other day and I have misplaced mine so there are no new pictures. Do they make disposable digital cameras?
Back at the RV campground I filleted the salmon while Abby prepared the bags for vacuum sealing. I figure we have one more day of fishing before we have to start shipping home fish due to overcrowding in the freezer. Anybody who DOESN'T eat fish can contact me to be the recipient of an overnight FEDEX delivery of fish to be deposited in our freezer. Well maybe you could keep a couple of bags.
Rain is forecasted for tomorrow so we will decide tomorrow what we will be doing. Tonight we are eating fresh caught Sockeye Salmon with a couple of bottles of wine (it was a TOUGH day).
Chao!
There was a major "fatality" accident yesterday just down road involving an 18 wheeler and a woman and her dog in a SUV. She rear ended the truck. Highway was closed for a couple of hours while they tried to extricate the occupants. The driver died as did her Labrador. Sad.
We drove up to the Kenai River this morning dodging Moose all the way. Got on the water about 10:30 and immediately started catching fresh run Sockeye's.
The crowds are still very heavy so "combat fishing" is still the rule. We waded upstream to a spot we know where salmon congregate and rest before continuing their migration (we are becoming natives).
We immediately realized we made a mistake. Ken had the net! It is extremely difficult to land a 10-15 pound salmon without one.
Abby lost a couple of salmon when I tried to help so of course it was MY FAULT!
Fortunately a couple of military vets from Homer were fishing nearby and when they found out I was retired Navy, they loaned us their net. As our fish count increased, I think they got tired of loaning us their net and they moved downstream. Luckily a dad and his young (11) son "Jake" took over their spot and they had a net.
Jake is a neat kid from Southern California. His dad wasn't hooking any fish and Abby and I were constantly battling fish. Jake became our "netman". Until today, he had never netted a fish and he was having a ball. Jake became quite proficient and was doing such a great job that at one point Abby wanted to help me land a fish I was fighting and I told her "Jake is my man". You should have seen the look on his face. His chest puffed out and a huge smile was plastered on his face as he netted my fish.
At one point, a fisherman decided to wade in the water between Abby and I. Bad decision! I'm sure you have read about the mama Grizzly Bear that mauled some kids this weekend near Anchorage because they got between her and her cub. You should have seen Abby. After about 20 minutes the guy was complaining Abby hooked him in his ass! She replied, "You're in our spot, maybe you should move". Remember it is "combat fishing". I'm convinced she snagged him on purpose as she is quite proficient with a fly rod. A few minutes later, his buddy shows up and she says to him, "I suppose you are going to fish here too?" They got the hint and left. Nothing like a woman scorned, or PISSED!
After 3 hours we had landed 8 salmon and decided to call it quits for the day. Our feet and legs were numb from the cold so walking was difficult. I was carrying our salmon and Abby was carrying our fly rods. As we were walking downstream to the exit ladder, Abby did it again. She fell in! This time someone helped her recover her footing so it was a non event. If she had dropped the fly rods, that would have been a different story.
Unfortunately Abby's camera was destroyed when she fell in the river the other day and I have misplaced mine so there are no new pictures. Do they make disposable digital cameras?
Back at the RV campground I filleted the salmon while Abby prepared the bags for vacuum sealing. I figure we have one more day of fishing before we have to start shipping home fish due to overcrowding in the freezer. Anybody who DOESN'T eat fish can contact me to be the recipient of an overnight FEDEX delivery of fish to be deposited in our freezer. Well maybe you could keep a couple of bags.
Rain is forecasted for tomorrow so we will decide tomorrow what we will be doing. Tonight we are eating fresh caught Sockeye Salmon with a couple of bottles of wine (it was a TOUGH day).
Chao!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Perspective on Alaska
We have been in Alaska for almost a month. Several things come to light for us.
#1. Alaskan's are an extremely hard working and resilient people. They work multiple jobs to survive.
#2. Alaskan's are a very giving people (unless they are combat fishing for salmon as we saw with Abby's dunking).
#3. Alaskan's work very hard through the summer because when winter arrives, it's a bitch.
#4. We certainly can see why people come to Alaska. The state motto is "the last frontier". You can park along side the road and stay the night. You can park virtually anywhere and no one will bother you. No one is a stranger. You can start a conversation and instantly bond with people.
It is an incredible social metric.
I have been freezing my ass off and enjoying every minute.
The Discovery Channel series "The Most Dangerous Catch" is very accurate and at the same time very"inspiring".
More tomorrow.
#1. Alaskan's are an extremely hard working and resilient people. They work multiple jobs to survive.
#2. Alaskan's are a very giving people (unless they are combat fishing for salmon as we saw with Abby's dunking).
#3. Alaskan's work very hard through the summer because when winter arrives, it's a bitch.
#4. We certainly can see why people come to Alaska. The state motto is "the last frontier". You can park along side the road and stay the night. You can park virtually anywhere and no one will bother you. No one is a stranger. You can start a conversation and instantly bond with people.
It is an incredible social metric.
I have been freezing my ass off and enjoying every minute.
The Discovery Channel series "The Most Dangerous Catch" is very accurate and at the same time very"inspiring".
More tomorrow.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Rain Rain, Go away
Yesterday we went to Kenai for supplies at WalMart. Abby got a new fly rod so she is all set to resume her attack on anything salmon. I UPS'd my broken fly rod back to the manufacturer but it won't be repaired in time for any more Alaskan fishing.
On the way back to Ninilchik we saw this sign. Driving can be dangerous around here. I don't think they have updated the sign since last July 1st but 252 moose deaths in this stretch of road is a lot.
Last night after dinner we went fishing on the Ninilchik river. I had a blast catching and releasing trout on dry flies. Abby was fishing also but got moved out of her fishing spot by a cow moose and her calf. That got us to thinking. Does bear spray work on a moose? Do you identify yourself to a moose as a "human" like you are supposed to do with bears?
We left the campground this morning at 7 A.M. to go halibut fishing in the Cook Inlet. Eight of us boarded a pick-up truck with what would be best described as a "police paddy wagon" mounted on the back. I saw something very similar in Mexico 40 years ago but that is another story.
The Captain, "Buoy bottom Bob", introduced himself and gave us the safety briefing. Bob is a very personable guy and was fun to work with at sea but he does look like a Coast Guard sea buoy.
We drove down to the launch point at Deep Creek a couple of miles away towing the boat behind us. The truck is unhooked and the launching company hooks up a extremely rusted John Deer tractor and pushes us into the ocean. We motor out about 20 miles to the fishing grounds and anchor in 185 feet of water. The wind was light but the swells were such that we had to slow down and still got the crap beat out of us.
I caught the first fish of the day and immediately threw it back as I did the next 6 fish for being too small. Too small means less than 20 lbs. Abby did the same. Between us we caught over 20 halibut and cod in 3 hours. The cod is out of season so they were saved for bait.
Everybody caught their limit (can only keep 2 halibut). Luckily for me I caught the biggest and had bragging rights. Abby was impressive with her stamina. Captain BBB asked her after 2 hours if she wanted to stop fishing and she replied, "why? There has to be bigger fish out here". She was right.
We had 2 Army guys on board. Last night they attempted to drive from Anchorage to Ninilchik but had to camp beside the road due to 2 fatality auto accidents. Unfortunately a total of 4 people died last night on the highway.
The two Army guys apparently held their own party in their tent and paid the price today at sea. They were chumming for fish after about an hour on the water. Interesting guys. They fly UAV's on the battlefront when their units are in combat.
We also had 4 "Aussie farmers" on board. Thought we had "Crocodile Dundee's on board listening to their stories. Fortunately no one was named "Mick".
It rained while we were fishing but not too badly. Just enough to get wet.
We hit the beach at noon and got towed back to the campground. Below are some of today's pictures. Too busy catching fish to take pictures on the boat plus Abby's camera is toast after her session in the Kenai River.
A couple of pictures from 5 years ago show the "paddy wagon and the rusty tractors.
Captain "BBB" filleting halibut.
This halibut reflects how I have felt sometimes after a night of partying. Check out the eyes and the mouth. Both of us are sporting very tired arms from cranking 5 lb weights with 20 lb fish attached from 185 feet of water over 10 times each. It is even hard to lift a glass of wine but we are managing!
Tomorrow looks like a bust as we are having continuous rain which is supposed to continue through Monday.
On the way back to Ninilchik we saw this sign. Driving can be dangerous around here. I don't think they have updated the sign since last July 1st but 252 moose deaths in this stretch of road is a lot.
Last night after dinner we went fishing on the Ninilchik river. I had a blast catching and releasing trout on dry flies. Abby was fishing also but got moved out of her fishing spot by a cow moose and her calf. That got us to thinking. Does bear spray work on a moose? Do you identify yourself to a moose as a "human" like you are supposed to do with bears?
We left the campground this morning at 7 A.M. to go halibut fishing in the Cook Inlet. Eight of us boarded a pick-up truck with what would be best described as a "police paddy wagon" mounted on the back. I saw something very similar in Mexico 40 years ago but that is another story.
The Captain, "Buoy bottom Bob", introduced himself and gave us the safety briefing. Bob is a very personable guy and was fun to work with at sea but he does look like a Coast Guard sea buoy.
We drove down to the launch point at Deep Creek a couple of miles away towing the boat behind us. The truck is unhooked and the launching company hooks up a extremely rusted John Deer tractor and pushes us into the ocean. We motor out about 20 miles to the fishing grounds and anchor in 185 feet of water. The wind was light but the swells were such that we had to slow down and still got the crap beat out of us.
I caught the first fish of the day and immediately threw it back as I did the next 6 fish for being too small. Too small means less than 20 lbs. Abby did the same. Between us we caught over 20 halibut and cod in 3 hours. The cod is out of season so they were saved for bait.
Everybody caught their limit (can only keep 2 halibut). Luckily for me I caught the biggest and had bragging rights. Abby was impressive with her stamina. Captain BBB asked her after 2 hours if she wanted to stop fishing and she replied, "why? There has to be bigger fish out here". She was right.
We had 2 Army guys on board. Last night they attempted to drive from Anchorage to Ninilchik but had to camp beside the road due to 2 fatality auto accidents. Unfortunately a total of 4 people died last night on the highway.
The two Army guys apparently held their own party in their tent and paid the price today at sea. They were chumming for fish after about an hour on the water. Interesting guys. They fly UAV's on the battlefront when their units are in combat.
We also had 4 "Aussie farmers" on board. Thought we had "Crocodile Dundee's on board listening to their stories. Fortunately no one was named "Mick".
It rained while we were fishing but not too badly. Just enough to get wet.
We hit the beach at noon and got towed back to the campground. Below are some of today's pictures. Too busy catching fish to take pictures on the boat plus Abby's camera is toast after her session in the Kenai River.
A couple of pictures from 5 years ago show the "paddy wagon and the rusty tractors.
This halibut reflects how I have felt sometimes after a night of partying. Check out the eyes and the mouth. Both of us are sporting very tired arms from cranking 5 lb weights with 20 lb fish attached from 185 feet of water over 10 times each. It is even hard to lift a glass of wine but we are managing!
Tomorrow looks like a bust as we are having continuous rain which is supposed to continue through Monday.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Last night we had a steady gentle rain all night so this morning there were puddles everywhere.
Abby had a hair appointment at noon and I didn't feel like combat fishing today as it was threatening to rain all day. After I dropped Abby off for her appointment I did some admin work at the RV. After 3 hours and no call from Abby I decided to check out Deep Creek to see if any Silver Salmon were in the river. None.
Finally at 5 P.M. Abby was done. I questioned Abby as to why it took 5 hours to cut and color her hair. It turns out her hair dresser has multiple jobs. She tends bar at the local American Legion, works in a gift shop, works as a deck hand on charter boats, is a motorcycle mechanic and to top it off works with her dad as a plumber. I thought maybe she was getting paid by the hour but Abby said the price was set before the appointment.
We ate dinner at the local Pizza joint (didn't see her hair dresser). As we were walking out of the restaurant, the halibut charters were arriving.
As predicted, the halibut are getting larger with the smaller tides. The largest in this picture was exactly 100 lbs, the next was 70 lbs. We are looking forward to our Saturday charter. A couple of these beauties will finish filling up the freezer.
I dropped Abby off at the RV and I headed to the Ninilchik River for some fishing. Spent an hour on the river with not one human in sight and just the sounds of nature. I was in for a treat. King Salmon were migrating up the river in small schools and were really fun to watch as they negotiated the shallow parts of the river. These fish had been in the river long enough to turn a bright orange/red and would not be good eating. I was also fishing with a light weight fly rod. These guys were at least twice the size of the Sockeye Salmon we were catching and I had already lost one rod and I didn't need to lose another.
I went back and picked up Abby and we went down to the mouth of the Ninilchik where the commercial fleet was returning to off load their catch of Sockeye's.
These boats are lined up waiting to off load their catch.
This boat off loaded multiple bails like this one. Very similar to what you see on "Dangerous Catch".
These are the bins full of Salmon on ice waiting for transport to the wholesaler.
There were over 50 fishing boats trawling off shore within visual distance from the process facility.
Driving back to the RV we were treated to this scene just feet from the road along the river.
A cow moose and her calf were chomping peacefully and didn't seem to mind our presence. It is amazing to see how they totally denude the bushes. They are an efficient eating machine.
Tomorrow we are driving to Soldotna for grocery shopping and another fly rod for Abby.
Abby had a hair appointment at noon and I didn't feel like combat fishing today as it was threatening to rain all day. After I dropped Abby off for her appointment I did some admin work at the RV. After 3 hours and no call from Abby I decided to check out Deep Creek to see if any Silver Salmon were in the river. None.
Finally at 5 P.M. Abby was done. I questioned Abby as to why it took 5 hours to cut and color her hair. It turns out her hair dresser has multiple jobs. She tends bar at the local American Legion, works in a gift shop, works as a deck hand on charter boats, is a motorcycle mechanic and to top it off works with her dad as a plumber. I thought maybe she was getting paid by the hour but Abby said the price was set before the appointment.
We ate dinner at the local Pizza joint (didn't see her hair dresser). As we were walking out of the restaurant, the halibut charters were arriving.
As predicted, the halibut are getting larger with the smaller tides. The largest in this picture was exactly 100 lbs, the next was 70 lbs. We are looking forward to our Saturday charter. A couple of these beauties will finish filling up the freezer.
I dropped Abby off at the RV and I headed to the Ninilchik River for some fishing. Spent an hour on the river with not one human in sight and just the sounds of nature. I was in for a treat. King Salmon were migrating up the river in small schools and were really fun to watch as they negotiated the shallow parts of the river. These fish had been in the river long enough to turn a bright orange/red and would not be good eating. I was also fishing with a light weight fly rod. These guys were at least twice the size of the Sockeye Salmon we were catching and I had already lost one rod and I didn't need to lose another.
I went back and picked up Abby and we went down to the mouth of the Ninilchik where the commercial fleet was returning to off load their catch of Sockeye's.
TThese boats are lined up waiting to off load their catch.
These are the bins full of Salmon on ice waiting for transport to the wholesaler.
There were over 50 fishing boats trawling off shore within visual distance from the process facility.
Driving back to the RV we were treated to this scene just feet from the road along the river.
Tomorrow we are driving to Soldotna for grocery shopping and another fly rod for Abby.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Abby's safe, salmon are not
This is day one of the "Abby falls in the river" watch. She stayed dry.
Five more salmon were caught today. Slow day. Freezer is 1/3 full.
The fish counts going by the sonar have dropped off from 231,000 on Sunday, to 87,000 today. The commercial fisherman are now allowed to gill net the fish at the mouth of the river. The Sockeye salmon run in our location is just about over. The next hot spot will be the Russian River about 80 miles north of here.
We are staying in Ninilchik hoping to go halibut fishing Saturday but now the weather forecast is showing 60% chance of puking (rain).
Silver Salmon run is anticipated to start August 1st but some locals think it will be sooner. Keeping our fingers crossed.
I forgot to include in yesterdays blog (too much wine, if there is such a thing) the story of Ken's encounter with a Seagull.
The first day he was at the Cook Inlet campground he went fishing along the shoreline. On his very first cast he caught a Seagull. Being a concerned member of the Audubon Society, Ken attempted to relieve the bird of his burden. It was a sight to behold. The bird was pecking at Ken continuously. He grabs the Seagull by the neck and the bird was kicking his ass! Both hands were covered in cuts by the time he was able to remove the hook.
Ken also wants to know if these cammo waders make his butt look big. You can email your answer to kena234@gmail.com.
Finally, this picture shows cats can be trained. These folks walk their cat on a leash!
Five more salmon were caught today. Slow day. Freezer is 1/3 full.
The fish counts going by the sonar have dropped off from 231,000 on Sunday, to 87,000 today. The commercial fisherman are now allowed to gill net the fish at the mouth of the river. The Sockeye salmon run in our location is just about over. The next hot spot will be the Russian River about 80 miles north of here.
We are staying in Ninilchik hoping to go halibut fishing Saturday but now the weather forecast is showing 60% chance of puking (rain).
Silver Salmon run is anticipated to start August 1st but some locals think it will be sooner. Keeping our fingers crossed.
I forgot to include in yesterdays blog (too much wine, if there is such a thing) the story of Ken's encounter with a Seagull.
The first day he was at the Cook Inlet campground he went fishing along the shoreline. On his very first cast he caught a Seagull. Being a concerned member of the Audubon Society, Ken attempted to relieve the bird of his burden. It was a sight to behold. The bird was pecking at Ken continuously. He grabs the Seagull by the neck and the bird was kicking his ass! Both hands were covered in cuts by the time he was able to remove the hook.
Ken also wants to know if these cammo waders make his butt look big. You can email your answer to kena234@gmail.com.
Finally, this picture shows cats can be trained. These folks walk their cat on a leash!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Fishing is great, the catching is better, and disaster was narrowly averted.
We spent the weekend in fishing spot discovery mode due to the lack of fish in the local rivers. Ken and I drove from Ninilchik to Soldotna, Sterling and over to the town of Kenai. We stopped near Kenai to watch the locals dip netting for salmon in the Kenai River.
Alaskan state law allows residents of Alaska to dip net for salmon during the month of July during the Sockeye Salmon run. The head of household is allowed to keep 25 with an additional 10 more per family member. These nets are about 5 feet in diameter attached to a handle anywhere from 6-15 long. They hold these nets in the river perpendicular to the rapid current and wait for a fish to swim into the net. Once a fish is in the net, they turn it down and drag it and the fish to shore and club them with a miniature baseball bat. Sometimes they get multiple fish in the nets so this is not a sport for the weak.
While we were watching the fishing, an Alaskan resident walked up and started telling us about how this is all accomplished. Imagine Grizzly Adams (remember the TV show?) with really greasy hair, equally greasy, long beard, chain smoking cigarettes and teeth that looked like they hadn’t seen a dentist in years, yet alone a toothbrush. If he ever wanted to have braces he would need to use a crow bar to close the gaps.
Ken asked him how they preserve the fish. They put 3 pounds of salt in 5 gallons of water. Bring to a boil then let cool. Put fish in brine and refrigerate. If you don’t have a refrigerator, use 5 pounds of salt. When you want some salmon, remove fillets, wash (thoroughly, my comment) and bake, broil or grill. Sounds yummy? We didn’t see any fish caught.
He also told us what the call people from Anchorage or Fairbanks, “anchors and bankers”. People from Anchorage are not real Alaskans, just tourists.
As reported earlier, I spent Saturday doing minor repairs on the RV and Abby sun bathed. Saturday afternoon an Alaskan family (real Alaskans not transplants) stopped at the fish cleaning tables and unloaded 65 Sockeye Salmon and took several hours to process them. They vacuum pack.
During the night the salmon had started their annual migration up the Kenai River. The Alaskan Fish and Game Department uses sonar to count the fish entering the river. Early Saturday 31,000 salmon entered the river. Famine one day, feast the other.
Sunday, Abby went to the local Methodist Church and Ken and Debbie went to Soldotna to fish the Kenai. After church Abby and I went fishing on the Ninilchik River and Deep Creek where we had seen the Pink (Humpy) Salmon the day before. The best I can say is we learned the 2 rivers for future reference for the Silver (Coho) Salmon run.
Ken, however, came back from the Kenai with his limit of 3 Sockeye. He said it was fantastic fishing.
Sockeye Salmon is hands down, the best tasting salmon. I can see why the locals look down their nose at the pinks.
The flesh is bright red and firm and very, very tasting. We put the fillets on the grill, joined with potatoes, coleslaw and wine, an enjoyable meal by far. The only thing that would make it better would be an accompanying sunset. I can’t stay awake until 11:30.
Monday we all drove to the Kenai River in the “yellow banana” (Abby’s jeep with the Kayak on top) for salmon fishing. The jeep earned its moniker during the trip north when on occasion we would split up. We were highly visible in parking lots and it made for easy navigation when leaving a store.
Ken, Abby and I headed down to the river for “combat fishing” and Debbie Kibitzed.
We had a great day and we each limited out for a total of nine. Abby had a ball.
Ken and I headed to the cleaning tables to fillet the days catch.
Then it was back to the RV to vacuum seal the fish before going in the freezer.
This is a 5 gallon bucket of salmon fillets.
Today we drove back to the same spot in the river for some more "combat fishing".
After a couple of hours we were approaching out limit when disaster almost struck.
Abby hooked the biggest Sockeye of the day just upstream from me. Ken was upstream of her and I was closest to the net. I grabbed the net and headed towards Abby and her fish. Just as I got there, Abby's fly rod (my favorite rod) snapped in two. I grabbed the line and managed to control the fish long enough to get it in the net. As soon as I got the hook out of the mouth of the fish, Abby slipped and fell into the river up to her head! Her fishing waders filled up and was dragging her down. The current is extremely fast and the river is deep just 3 feet from shore. Abby was being swept away in the current!
This picture shows the width of the river. At least 150 yards.
Some of you may recall the Yul Brynner movie "That others may live". It is a story about Air Force Search and Rescue. One scene there is a single hand reaching out of the water for help. That was Abby except her head was still visible and she simply said "help me". Luckily I was close enough to grab her by her wrist and managed to pull her into shallow water. She was soaking wet and shivering like a wet dog but otherwise ok.
In case you are wondering, Abby held onto the fly rod, and I held onto the fish.
We called it quits and walked back to the parking lot where Abby stripped out of her wet clothes and wrapped herself in blankets.
I thank God the events turned out positively. Interestingly, not one of the people fishing attempted to help. Sad commentary.
Saturday we will be going into the Cook Inlet and hopefully catching Halibut much larger than these that were caught today.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Now the catching is beginning
I spent the morning working on the RV. Replaced the leaking water pump assembly and to my surprise, there were no surprises! New pump works and no leaks.
Now with my ego boosted I decided to take on the problem of the propane system shutting off when ever it feels in the mood. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a RV service shop in Anchorage and they tried telling me I needed to replace a valve, run a new control line to the service bay, put in a new carbon monoxide detector and a couple of other things and the bill would be around $500. I didn't fall off the turnip truck last night.
I found the switch at the Fleetwood parts department for $4.01 plus shipping and they sent it here to the RV park in Ninilchik. Took about 15 minutes to replace the old switch and now no more intermittent propane!
With my ego really boosted I decided to reward myself with a little fishing in Deep Creek. The old saying "good things come in threes" is true. I caught a couple of "pink" or Humpy Salmon. They were schooling in a shallow area where I could "sight" cast to them. They are a lot of fun to catch as they will go on some long runs and after about 10 minutes I was able to land the first fish with the help of another fisherman. The place we were fishing has huge boulders lining the steep bank which makes moving around difficult so we each help each other land the fish.
I asked the guy that helped me what he did for a living and said he was a cop. He was there with 4 other cops. Answers the age old question of "where is a cop when you need one"? They are fishing!!
Unfortunately the "Humpy" Salmon are not a good eating fish if they have been in fresh water for longer than a day. These fish were starting to turn "pink" so they were released to finish their destiny.
Abby sun bathed most of the day back at the RV.
I checked the returning Halibut charter boats and they all limited out but still again, the fish are small at around 20 pounds.
There is an interesting situation this year regarding halibut. 40% of the small halibut caught have "mushy" meat and are unedible. Talked to a fish and game officer and he said it is because the food source for the small halibut has all but disappeared this year. The large halibut are eating so much, the small halibut are starving. Apparently the solution is to reduce the stocks of large halibut.
I believe we will be doing our best late next week to help reduce the size of the halibut ranks.
After dinner Abby and I will be going fishing.
Now with my ego boosted I decided to take on the problem of the propane system shutting off when ever it feels in the mood. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a RV service shop in Anchorage and they tried telling me I needed to replace a valve, run a new control line to the service bay, put in a new carbon monoxide detector and a couple of other things and the bill would be around $500. I didn't fall off the turnip truck last night.
I found the switch at the Fleetwood parts department for $4.01 plus shipping and they sent it here to the RV park in Ninilchik. Took about 15 minutes to replace the old switch and now no more intermittent propane!
With my ego really boosted I decided to reward myself with a little fishing in Deep Creek. The old saying "good things come in threes" is true. I caught a couple of "pink" or Humpy Salmon. They were schooling in a shallow area where I could "sight" cast to them. They are a lot of fun to catch as they will go on some long runs and after about 10 minutes I was able to land the first fish with the help of another fisherman. The place we were fishing has huge boulders lining the steep bank which makes moving around difficult so we each help each other land the fish.
I asked the guy that helped me what he did for a living and said he was a cop. He was there with 4 other cops. Answers the age old question of "where is a cop when you need one"? They are fishing!!
Unfortunately the "Humpy" Salmon are not a good eating fish if they have been in fresh water for longer than a day. These fish were starting to turn "pink" so they were released to finish their destiny.
Abby sun bathed most of the day back at the RV.
I checked the returning Halibut charter boats and they all limited out but still again, the fish are small at around 20 pounds.
There is an interesting situation this year regarding halibut. 40% of the small halibut caught have "mushy" meat and are unedible. Talked to a fish and game officer and he said it is because the food source for the small halibut has all but disappeared this year. The large halibut are eating so much, the small halibut are starving. Apparently the solution is to reduce the stocks of large halibut.
I believe we will be doing our best late next week to help reduce the size of the halibut ranks.
After dinner Abby and I will be going fishing.
Friday, July 15, 2011
The fishing is fantastic. The catching is not!
We have wifi!!!!
We are enjoying our stay in Ninilchik overlooking the Cook Inlet. The weather has been good with the first couple of days chilly because of windy conditions.
The Cook Inlet has tides that are similar to the Bay of Fundy. This week the high tide has been 22 feet and low tide has been -4 feet. The negative tide has occurred in the mornings so there are hundreds of people digging for Razor Clams on the beach.
Ken and Debbie decided to go clam digging yesterday. They loaded up their ATV and drove down the beach for their first experience of chasing these quick little buggers down through 3 feet of mud.
The best way to describe it would be to compare it to Bill Murray in "Caddy Shack" where he is trying to out wit the gopher. Remember the scenes? He sneaks up on the gopher in hopes of surprising it before it can run away. Same process. You sneak up on their beady little air tube and dig as fast as you can while the clam is headed "south" through the mud and the muck as quick as he can. Abby and I tried our hands at this 5 years ago and I decided to "supervise" this time. Abby decided she wanted to dig for clams too.
Ken and Debbie were quite successful!
Debbie was having a ball.
They got 18 before they drove home for the cleaning and cooking.
While Abby and I were walking back to the car we came across a guy dumping these halibut carcasses on the beach for the waiting Bald Eagles and Sea Gulls. Nothing goes to waste. The Bald Eagles nest in the bluffs overlooking the beach where the fishing boats are put in and taken out every day. As the boats move ashore, they dump the fish carcasses on the beach as a form of "natural recycling". The number of Bald Eagles on the bluffs is amazing.
Speaking of fishing. There are lots of rivers and lakes to fish in the local area. The only problem is the salmon are in between runs and should be returning any day now. We are waiting a few days before we go halibut fishing as the best time to fish for them is at "slack" tide. That is when the tide goes from being an outgoing tide to an incoming tide or the opposite. Right now due to the large negative tides this week, the differential creates a vary large current with very short slack time. Next week the tides will be much different and in theory we can catch larger halibut.
Yesterday Ken and I fished in Deep Creek where we saw some Pink Salmon but were cut short because we ran into a cow Moose and her calf munching along the river bank. We identified ourselves as humans like they tell you in Denali NP and reversed course.
Today we drove all over the Kenai today looking for salmon in the rivers. There just a few stragglers in most of the streams. A local told us they are waiting for a good southern wind to get the Sockeye Salmon to start moving into the rivers. The King Salmon should be peaking some time next week in the Kasilof River. The Silver Salmon start their normal migration around August 1st.
In the mean time, Ansel Abby is taking more pictures of the flora and fauna plus the wild life.
We are enjoying our stay in Ninilchik overlooking the Cook Inlet. The weather has been good with the first couple of days chilly because of windy conditions.
Ken and Debbie decided to go clam digging yesterday. They loaded up their ATV and drove down the beach for their first experience of chasing these quick little buggers down through 3 feet of mud.
The best way to describe it would be to compare it to Bill Murray in "Caddy Shack" where he is trying to out wit the gopher. Remember the scenes? He sneaks up on the gopher in hopes of surprising it before it can run away. Same process. You sneak up on their beady little air tube and dig as fast as you can while the clam is headed "south" through the mud and the muck as quick as he can. Abby and I tried our hands at this 5 years ago and I decided to "supervise" this time. Abby decided she wanted to dig for clams too.
Ken and Debbie were quite successful!
Debbie was having a ball.
They got 18 before they drove home for the cleaning and cooking.
While Abby and I were walking back to the car we came across a guy dumping these halibut carcasses on the beach for the waiting Bald Eagles and Sea Gulls. Nothing goes to waste. The Bald Eagles nest in the bluffs overlooking the beach where the fishing boats are put in and taken out every day. As the boats move ashore, they dump the fish carcasses on the beach as a form of "natural recycling". The number of Bald Eagles on the bluffs is amazing.
Speaking of fishing. There are lots of rivers and lakes to fish in the local area. The only problem is the salmon are in between runs and should be returning any day now. We are waiting a few days before we go halibut fishing as the best time to fish for them is at "slack" tide. That is when the tide goes from being an outgoing tide to an incoming tide or the opposite. Right now due to the large negative tides this week, the differential creates a vary large current with very short slack time. Next week the tides will be much different and in theory we can catch larger halibut.
Yesterday Ken and I fished in Deep Creek where we saw some Pink Salmon but were cut short because we ran into a cow Moose and her calf munching along the river bank. We identified ourselves as humans like they tell you in Denali NP and reversed course.
Today we drove all over the Kenai today looking for salmon in the rivers. There just a few stragglers in most of the streams. A local told us they are waiting for a good southern wind to get the Sockeye Salmon to start moving into the rivers. The King Salmon should be peaking some time next week in the Kasilof River. The Silver Salmon start their normal migration around August 1st.
In the mean time, Ansel Abby is taking more pictures of the flora and fauna plus the wild life.
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