What would Otter do ?

Road trip....that was his solution when they found out  that Dean Wormer had put them on 'double secret probation'. I ain't Otter but I guess I do have a bit of a leadership role around here so I told the boys at the launch that if they closed the river to King fishing we'd have us a boat launch party and I'd sing for the masses, its always cheered me up so why wouldn't it work for them. So friday night that's exactly what we did, and I have to tell you....it made me feel waaaaaay better. I mean who wouldn't be cheered up by good companions, a beautiful setting, warm weather and a home spun rendition of ' Cheaper to Keep Her'.

And as often happens when I drag out that old black guitar I made a new musical friend. Meet my new lead guitarist 'big fish Rich' . I had talked to him years ago when he wanted to get started in the guide business and I decided not to put on another boat...but if he'd told me he had some John Prine in his line up, well who knows.

Just because we're out of the game here with King salmon don't think the river is void of salmon, actually just the opposite. The sockeye salmon have arrived in force. As I write this we have 1/2 million over the sonar and most likely another 400,000 or so harvested in the 'personal use dip net fishery' which was designed to put meat on Alaskans, tables....well its certainly doing that. It feels like the entire city of Anchorage is here either dip netting or sportfishing for those poor reds. If I were a salmon I'd take the road, its just not safe out there.

 Those guys off in the distance are your varsity level dip netters. Its low tide at the mouth of this ol river and they're a good 3/4 to a mile from safety.  So even though they could get stuck in the mud or washed out to sea with our huge tides that run like a river....by jiminy they'll get to the fish first.

So everywhere I go theres piles of sockeys like this, the abundance of the fish is stunning and it begs the question....how come we have so many of one kind and not enough of the other kind ? mmmmmm....thats a tough one and at some point in time we're gonna have to get to the answer but in the mean time lets not pass up all this opportunity, right?...

So as cool as the abundance of fish is the people chasing them is part of what I notice, you know me, I'm a people person. The guy towing this ultra cool camper and I had a nice talk, his buddy is a full blown Alaska artist and the world is his easel, the guy told me that if you think the outside is cool, ya oughta see the inside, of course I'm thinking black lights and the whole shcmeer..... Then theres the guys who pulled up on their bikes today, MP thought she heard thunder but it was just another bunch of sockeye salmon chasers. They'd flown into Anchorage and rented the bikes and were off to harvest some salmon. When I asked where the fishing rods were one guy says " hey it Alaska, I'm just gonna wade in and paw em up on the bank like an old grizzly bear"...And by the looks of these guys I wouldn't bet against them.

But my very all time favorite red salmon pick I took just a couple hours ago on my bike ride, right before the toad strangler hit and sent me peddling for home. I was riding the river walk and the red bite was a frenzy, this little gal was helping her dad with the fish and as you can see, she ain't afraid of a little blood and slime that goes with the Alaskan way of life.

A little farther down the boardwalk I came across this scene. The wife was not fishing but just netting and then putting the fish in a cooler for her husband. You don't see much culture along the river during the red run so I snapped a pic and we had a good laugh. I told her husband he better hurry up on catching that limit because the next thing is the L.L. Bean mail order catalog, might add a little expense to those red salmon.

So that's a bit of a run down on 'red run 2012'. Woody used to tell me that he could feel the Peninsula sinking under the weight of motor homes, I'm almost there. It's just exciting and everyone , everywhere talks red salmon. I hope that businesses in town get a bump and not every business is suffering like us or the east side set netters who have only fished once this year. The reds are bright a spot, a gift, an amazing Alaskan phenomena.......but.....if you ever get so many that you can't get your boat off the beach, well, you've probably got enough eh?