Son of a Gun

The other day my nephew asked me if I'd screwed up by parking guide boat #3 down at the boat launch where it would be 'safe' for the winter. Well Mitch...the answer is a big yes. Normally right now I'd be prepping for the season, I have a lot to do. A new wash down pump , wire my radio to an off switch so it doesn't turn itself on all the time when it rains, new seats...you get the idea. But as you can see from this mornings pic that without renting a Sikorski Sky Crane the old Minnow 4 is going to be right where I parked it for awhile. 

MP's been telling me that in the morning while its still frozen that the 3 feet of snow we still have is just like cement and you can easily walk on top of it.  She's right, this morning we walked all the way to Fall-in-hole and then up the swamp and over the bench back to the launch, a one hour walk. Its hard to believe that in less than a month I'll have a boat on that river...but its breaking, we came across these gorgeous mallards in an open lead and there was big ol eagle in a cottonwood getting a jump on the competition.

The next pic is the willow tree that I mentioned before. When we did our Stream bank Stabilization project in 1996 we planted the suggested Felt Leaf Willows in various places to help hold the new river bank. Well it turns out that Felt leaf willows are the absolute favorite of beavers and moose....all of them are long gone except these few that we protected with wire fencing because they protect the launch surface itself from erosion .  This poor guy is in about the same situation as the moose that ate him, theres a good chance he's history. But, he did have some pussy willows on him so we'll see, fingers crossed.

I always say that the best part of my job is the people so the coolest thing happened the other day. We got a call from our old friend Dr. Melvin Bagley who found me and fished with his family several times in the 1980's. He was on a cruise ship coming from Japan and invited us aboard for lunch when it landed in Seward on Wednesday, how cool.  So here's a pic of the Doc back in 1986 with the first King he caught, he showed up with that small rod you'll notice and was certain it would do the job...I had my doubts but always ready for a challenge we rigged it up and walla, a nice king. But I did kind of stand out of shatter distance while he fought it. The next pic then is us and the Doc as well as his personal assistant, a wonderful woman named May. Its 26 years since we met him.



The Crystal  Serenity is not your average cruise ship, this baby is ultra luxury. It basically cruises around the world and varies its routes from year to year and then breaks the trip up into segments so you go as far as you want or as short as you want. Mae and the Doc were on their 93rd day aboard. They had left LA and gone to Australia up into Malaysia and China, then Japan and Russia before crossing to Alaska, they even found time to take a couple days to visit May's family in the Philippines. Because the 'World Cruisers' like the Doc have so much time on board the ship has everything, and I mean everything including an educational component that recently hosted political pundits James Carville and Mary Matlin as well as General Hugh Shelton.  





 So we dined on King Crab that the boat stocked in Kodiak on the way, with a ratio of 450 cruisers and 500 staff the service is amazing...the waiters laughed when I told the doc it was a good thing I wore my best levi's. Then Mae toured the boat with us, well you can imagine, the health club has more machines than ours, the computer lab has apple products with 30 inch monitors etc.... But the coolest thing was even as I was impressed with the opulence and maybe a little intimidated,  the big news, the thing of interest for diners and the staff was.....us.  As the boat is registered in the carribean the staff is European and Asian, all with a wonderment about Alaska.  So as we're introduced around we hear, "oh, you live here"?  One woman told me that we had a "quaint little town". And the best one was a waiter named Harry who served me ice cream and could barely contain himself as he wanted to know about salmon. Well...ol Harry met the right guy.

Doc Bagley is an accomplished, bright and entertaining guy. He was the 1st optometrist in Henderson Nevada and made a few bucks in real estate. At the age of 87 he co-wrote a western novel and when we loaded up and went to the Sea Life Center he proved to be quite a naturalist and asked all the right questions. MP got to play with this  harbor seal who has trained himself to follow your hand movements through the glass...pretty cool. And Mae was astounded at the vivid color of the Puffins and this King Eider.

Being a guide I sometimes wonder what I've really done in the world....but its days like this that tell me I'm doing ok. When we have people like Mae and the Doc who want to spend time, want to learn about you and how its happened, that's a pretty cool deal. So if you want to read the Docs book called Son of a Gun  go to http://www.melvinbagley.com/ , I'm going to... So thanks a ton Doc and Mae, I hope we have a chance to fish again or maybe meet up in Las Vegas. Its folks like you that teach the rest of us to keep moving, no sense just laying around when theres a big ol world out there to see. Keep it up and may all your sunsets be just as gorgeous as this one that topped off a special day....right here at mile 14.