A life's work

I'd never say that I was the best fishing guide on this Kenai River, we have some wonderful people here that are not only nice guys but can almost put fish on the line by magic. And I'm finally comfortable at just being 'really good' and my need to be the best isn't so important anymore...I guess that's maturity. BUT, when it comes to marine salvage on the Kenai River I don't think anybody would argue that I'm the best, after all, I pretty much invented it and if you get a nod for longevity I'm also the 'grand old man' of the game. And its pretty easy to have no peers when you might be the only one who really thinks that finding things in the river is a new important sport. I've always been that way, good at things that other people weren't, like Indian leg wrestling when I was in high school.

So that pic is my first double of the year. For fisherman there's nothing more exciting that having two on at once so you can imagine the hoot I let out when I found the 2nd anchor the other day. It would  have been easy to miss as it'd been on the bottom for a while and was sunk in pretty good and it was in a fast part of the river where the ripple from the current makes it hard to spot. But, using the methods I've developed over a lifetime of screwing off I hunted that baby down and made a pay day.....ahhhh Alaska. You know what I say " the river will deliver". And if you wonder why I'm a fitness fanatic, try carrying 2 twenty five pound anchors 1/2 mile back to the boat launch, ya gotta take this stuff serious, so I stay in shape.

Anything along the lines of stainless steel like these high quality pliers stand out like a 'huge golden oak' as Jimmy Buffet said. But still you have to know where to look, when to look and of course it helps if you live on the river and don't get bored easily.

This years salvage season is a bit unusual, like most things around here. Because spring is so late this year we have a new dimension for salvaging....looking under and around all that darn ice we still have . Just today I was going to run my planer board out as I worked ( well messing around really) at the launch but there were ice bergs floating by that would foul the lure. Here's what we're dealing with, me and ol Jet-dog, she's off to the right of the middle.

So next time you're here at Mile 14 or if you have the occasion to fish with me make sure you check out my museum of salvaged goodies. I've got the dashboard off a 1983 rented Ford Escort that a guy didn't set the parking brake on back in the day, I've got props and signs and....well.... a lot of really cool junk. I do believe it 's the largest inventory of Kenai River lost art in the world, yup, the entire world. You come have a look. But the anchors are different, they're worth moooo-la, I know its weird but my career won't be complete until I sell one back to somebody that lost it.

All the time me and JD jet-dog  are out salvaging alone in this strange sport I've invented...we're being watched. The guys across the river, State Parks out looking for the criminal element and this guy....who's sitting there thinking...'man that guy sure screws off a lot...but he's awful darn good at it'....

I know I promised you guys I'd put up a pic of the river in the same place every time so you'd see how the living thing that is our river changes...mmmmmm....well I got to thinking that you'd be about as bored with it as I am, already, so I have a new pic I took downriver today. Sorry, I just don't want to be in a picture rut.

That is beautiful, ain''t it?...Mile 14