Here at Mile 14 we've taken fish and made it a lifestyle. Of course we're known for catching them but we spend quite a bit of energy talking fish, eating fish, dreaming fish, sometimes we even argue over fish ....but you only need tour the grounds here at what I lovingly call ' Rancho Deluxe' to see we believe in the moe-joe, we want people to notice that it's a 100 % deal around here. We've got all makes and sizes, with stories of there own.
I read once where there is a town in Minnesota that has a 2 story high statue of a Walleye. Well we're not quite in their league when it comes to the fish homage but we're close. This guy is a 6 footer that greets everybody as they drive down the hill to salmon central. Our friend John Iverson built him for us a few years back when he volunteered to make a fish hanging station....that thing was really something and fits right in with my 'what's worth doing is worth over doing ' credo. Ol Sammy there just reassures our guests that they found the right place.
Years ago in the dead of winter I was hit up for a hundred bucks by a guy I new that was down on his luck and doing wood carvings. Well, when I gave him the C note and suggested rather than a loan maybe he could give me a carving I found out why he was down on his luck....that HAS to be the ugliest fish ever created. But, he's got personality. This guy hangs by our front door and announces to people, ' take your coat off and stay a while, I'll tell ya about that time I caught the 170 pound halibut in a 16' foot boat'.
But before ya'all come on in maybe ya oughta take a peak through that front door glass and make sure your fishing guide ain't taking a nap on that leather recliner, he works hard and needs that extra ' daytime ' sleep.
Out back where we autopsy the fish I have created a bit of a shrine to this place and what we do. I have piles and piles of jetsam , flotsam and even a quite bit of plane old junk that I've fished out of the river in the last 35 years or so. My fishing hanging station has the dashboard from a 1985 Ford Mustang that went into the river up on Keystone Drive but my favorite part is that palm tree you see there with all the props on it. I teleported that tree home from Mexico one year as I really wanted a touch of my other favorite place to anchor my very favorite place. And of course in the back we have one of my oldest fish....ol smiley.
And I thought it was very nice of the Guide Association to help me out with part of my project. They're always trying to get exposure and do the right things in the community so when I fished that sign out of the river I knew where it had to go...right next to all that other useful stuff.
After I took that picture the salmon run really started to peak. I looked over at my bait refrigerator
( which is taped shut for the winter so nobody will throw the door open and regurgitate themselves) I noticed a couple fish right there. That sign shows I'm official and ADF+G even depicted their entire early run escapement goal...how cool.
Sometimes our parking lot is chuck full of people and I was wondering how I could help people find me....well, what's better than a dead fish ? So I did the cutting and someone I love did the painting and now we have this beauty on my prep shed where I keep all the highly top secret lures, scents and a bottle collection of all the fine wines and champaign that we've enjoyed while using the other feature of the shed, the sauna.
One of my oldest and best friends, Chick Kishbaugh had the same problem and needed people to be able to find him so he had the same brilliant idea. Now his fish was a genuine piece of art work when he built it back at the start of his guide career, 1955... His fish has lived here at Mile 14 right next to my fish for about 10 years or so and both me and my fish were a little saddened when he announced his retirement this spring...I'll say this, Chick was a hell of a lot better guide than a maintenance man so don't let the condition give you a bad impression.
And when it comes to moe-joe whats better that a fish with a message ?
Don't get the impression that all our fish here at Mile 14 are fake...ahhhh....I mean replicas. We got plenty of live ones and especially ex-alive ones. This time of year the ol Kenai has this aroma that is all it's own and on Humpy years it's like walking into an Abercrombie + Fitch store....but a little different. And this pic is why. Where else in the world can find fish on a stick....gorgeous.
So I guess what I meant to be blogging is that when people get to Mile 14 we want them to know they're in the right place. Right from the get go when they arrive at our front gate we send them some
moe-joe and it's free of course.....but hey, don't forget to put your 10 bucks parking fee in the box , OK ?
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