If I don't go fishing soon I might go a little goofy

I always told MP that some year before we're done with this program we were going to shut down the launch and enjoy this special place at Mile 14 all to ourselves....well, I didn't figure it would be May and June 2014, courtesy of the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game. Normally a few boats would be out and some rumors would be flying, that I miss, but I have to tell you that when Keith and I went downriver the other day on a salvage run there was something really cool at work on the Kenai River. It was just us and the animals, that's all. This soon to calve out moose gave us a good look.

And the run at Eagle rock might just be my favorite place on the entire planet earth. The stretch of river right here has delivered a special life to me. I've caught hundreds, make that thousands of silvers and Kings here, I've found anchors and lures, I've watched baby eagles learn to fly and seen brown bears scavenging for salmon. I've seen moose and caribou swim the river and coyotes, many coyotes. I love this place.

 

Just around the corner we see something bright yellow, low and behold something I've never found before, a nice new soccer ball. Keith shot this pic of me after I locked the hubs in to get through the mud and retrieve it . I as saying " WILSON, WILSON....I found you......WILSON ....don't ever run off again like that Wilson"...

And there lots of seals, lots. So I got to wondering, just how many salmon were around that they would be feeding on....they don't come to this river for a haircut. I  think because ADF+G forecast a weak May and June run we should have started with a catch and release fishery. It hurts nothing and supplies one of the three tools they use to estimate run strength, the creel census. They also use the sonar which we all know barely works if at all and then they run a test net boat in the lower river where they catch and ...guess what ?....release the salmon. These three things in concert have always been used to estimate the run size. Now we're doing it with two and why???? politics...that's all. plain old stupid self serving politics on the part of influential groups and a small side order of stupidity  thrown in as well..... So let me re cap. ADF+G feels it OK to catch and release with a net and who knows what that mortality rate is but not OK with hook and line when we have science to prove that there is so little mortality it is of ' scientific insignificance . All I can do is quote my old friend Randy Berg when at an ADF+G meeting one time said " hell of a way to run a railroad".

How many ADF+G employees does it take to rip a brand new prop off a brand new motor??? Just three, that's all.

And then I spotted it. A big fat weathered leather ( that kinda sings doesn't it) wallet. I open it up and the credit cards are a doctor from Florida, it's huge and he has more plastic than I've ever seen in a wallet. My hair stands on end and I tell Keith....we're in the money. But, on further revue no fun tickets in the wallet. Only credit and airline cards, Lotto receipts and a drivers license....now what kind of  guy runs around without at least a C note tucked away for emergencies. So it's a mystery, did someone rip him off and lift the green then toss the wallet ?  Was he broke from being a compulsive Lotto player ? Did he have a fish on when he fell in the river and lost the wallet ?  If so was it a big fish ? And did he land it ?....my mind was racing. I found  the Doctors mailing address so I sent snail mail to him to find out the answers to this mystery. Here's a pic of our haul for the day. The wallet is in the middle of 2 anchors, a fishing rod with a nice level wind reel, a really cool pair of split ring pliers, a soccer ball, many lures, a fillet knife in it's sheath, sunglasses and a piece of aluminum that I have no idea what it is...another mystery.

This guy was parked at Freddies today, he had just driven up the Alcan. You don't see that everyday around here....so I'm figuring maybe this guy is hooked up with one of the 84 reality TV shows that we are supporting here in Alaska. mmmmmmmmm.....them dawgs are riding in style....I guess it's that season in our great state....let's have some fun.