OK....that's enough water

I remember an old Bill Cosby skit that goes like this.....God- " Noah I want you to build an Ark". Noah- " right lord, what's an Ark ? " God- " and Noah I want the Ark to be 20 cubits by 40 cubits". Noah- " right lord, what's a cubit ? ".  God- " and Noah when you have the Ark done that is 20 cubits by 40 cubits I want you to take it to the Sahara Ocean". Noah- " right lord, but don't you mean the Sahara Desert ?".....God- "wait until you see it tomorrow". ........

Well, that's the way I've been feeling here. It's been flat raining and we have a river that the experts call ' bank full '. We're just short of a full blown flood. And it's weird, although not perfect the ol Kenai has kept it's color and the Silver run seems strong so all week we went fishing...and catching. We had limit and near limit catches everyday but not without earning them. Here's the USGS graph, the little triangles are the historical flow and the next line up from the blue is food stage.

The boating has not been for the faint of heart.  With the river running twice it's normal speed things happen fast and it takes a certain situational awareness that comes with experience. I think a lot of the younger guys see all the boats still fishing and that gives them a false feeling of security... Here's a pic of a young guide I don't know. He threw his bouy out coming off anchor and was so focused on landing the fish that he didn't see the log float up on him. The fish got tangled in the log, so then the net got tangled in the log and he eventually motored safely away with neither the fish or the net....me Nate and Nate chuckled a bit but it really wasn't too funny.

 

I met Gayle Waltrip and her husband John back in 2000. John who has now passed flew 30 missions as a bombardier on  B-17 in WW 2.  Knowing I was a military history buff John sent me his war journal and it's one of my prized posessions . Here's Gayle and daughter Julie and husband Mark. We sat through the rain but had a great day...any time you get a hug at the end of a fishing trip you know you're doing it good.  The day they fished the river was really flushing logs so we all made sure our life jackets were on.

If they taught you how to pose a salmon is guide school Nate Morton could be the instructor. Just the old grab the gills thing is fine but when you get them just right, a little off center and still quivering it's beautiful thing. I got to fish with Nate Sr. and him as well as cousins Henry and Will for two days. Fishing with friends for my very favorite salmon with my very favorite technique ( the bobber) is about as good as it gets for an old fishing guide. And knowing that we are a little salmon deprived they even donated several silvers to us....thanks guys....I love ya.

This fish here that Joey caught yesterday was the fight of the year and why the Coho has earned a reputation as Alaska's best sport fish pound for pound. He hooked it 2 feet from the boat on a bobber and it immediately ran under the boat and jumped 3 feet high in the middle of the slough. We started the motor (ALWAYS start before ) and came off the hook...as we raced down river this fish jumped and ran at least six more times taking a good five minutes to land. One of the guys had his phone on video and if I get it mailed to me I'll amend  this post with it.....aaaamazzzzzing...fish, boy howdy.

So it looks like the near flood has crested and we actually have one of those little sun looking icons in our forecast....I'm looking forward to a great week of fishing so I hope you all come back to Mile 14 where ' fishin is the mission'...Here's a pic of my friend Keith to wrap this week up. And a pic of me and Jim Smaggalla doing a fist bump. I like this pic because as you know for me it's not just about the fish....it's the chase, the excitement, the surprise....the mystery of sport fishing.