The Ultimate salmon rod

In 1985 I upgraded to my first big guide boat, which my friends called the million dollar boat after I fished it for twenty years. I bought it from a part time guide and pretty randy character by the name of Skip Hoskins. It cost me about as much as a new motor for it would now. But this Alumaweld was state of the art equipment and as Skip worked for the phone company and could it afford it he had way better rods and reels in his guide line up that I did.....so....when we sealed the deal at the Maverick club on Friday evening I insisted he sweeten the deal with a couple of those Lamiglas Rods I knew he had. When I took delivery he had of course forgotten about the rods but after some haggling which included me letting him keep the Jack Daniels bottle I found in the boat I took possession of two pretty well used G1000 Lamiglas Kenai Killer rods. One of them I cut the trigger off of and use to fish the surf and the other is still in my daily line up 30 years later.

It's been an incredible rod and has caught literally hundreds and hundreds of King Salmon, who knows how many really. ( I have never broken a Lamiglas Rod on a fish ) ... ( of course I have 'tail gated' a few of them)  . It's the stoutest of the Lamiglas Kenai series at 9 ft. and rated for up to 3 ounce lures and 40 pound line, this baby is stiff. I tell people it was a cue stick before I put eyes on it. Lately the trend for pulling those huge Kwikfish lures has been to go with long ( 11' ) rods with a fast action but you know me, always different. Nobody that knows the Kenai will tell you Jeff King doesn't know how to pull plugs and I think this baby's stiffness is what makes the magic. It seems when I use the limper rods it kind of kills the seductive action of the plug. Through the years I've trolled up next to people and when the see the throbbing action of the rod they say " wow that rods really working"...here's a pic of the butt to show you how well used the Killer is, totally rounded off from being pulled out of the rod holder for 30 years.

I've seen this rod resting on the gunwale of the boat with a 60 pound king on the line. I've seen people hold it up high and the rod perform a ninety degree bend. But this picture here of an old fishing friend Jim Fregilias I will never forget. It was in the late 80's and we were trolling the pasture when the tide came in and killed the current. In those days we usually just went up river but we were just learning the advantages of doing the dead troll so we unsnapped the divers and put a 4 ounce sinker on to drag the bottom. We had caught a few fish this way and it was a different bite so I suggested Jim hold the rod and strike him hard....and hard it was, when he swang on that fish I could hear my Lami actually creaking, a kind of grinding sound on the hook set. We landed this fish and I inspected the rod, no worries but to this day I've never heard a rod groan like that. How's about the Alumaweld sticker on the console eh?

Now I have a couple entire line up's of Lamiglas rods but back in those days I only had a few as they cost $200.00 ....here's pic of the Killer at work, I'm certain it's the same rod. Fish on, floating the high bank at the sonar counter.

Here's pic of my girl friend Libby with a gorgeous King she caught on the Killer. I would always make sure customers like Libby got the advantage of the Kenai Killers. With these heavy fish you eventually really need to be strong enough to lift that weight to the net and with the added length and stiffness the rod when loaded does a lot of the work all by itself.  Libby is a friend of Bill and Sally Brooks who have been with me since the 80's. Sally and Bill were with me when I had my medical emergency a few years back...I miss you guys...

In the last few years I've broken two Okuma brand surf rods, they just don't seem to be made for the kind of use that Team X demands.  I've broken a Berkely brand caster and a couple Okuma brand spinning rods so....for Mexico I see a Lamiglas Ron Arra signature in my future...And oh one more thing about the brand. A few years back I bought several blue Lamiglas spinning rods for gifts in Mexico and was a bit disappointed when I unloaded them there and realised they were made in China.  Well the guys I gave them to are hard fishing for sure and they're still being used today. My friend Alejandro considers it his favorite rod and has caught everything that swims the surf on it. So when I related that story to the guys at the tackle store where I buy them they responded , " well Jeff, it's that same graphite formula as the old Kenai series G1000 ".  Made in Woodland Washington, USA.

Won't be Slowdotna for long

I don't know how many Walgreen's stores America needs but it looks to me like you don't get to be a city without one. I guess it's a sure sign that your town is coming of age. So here's a pic of ours scheduled to open this spring with another pharmacy and cheap canned goods, anybody want to bet they'll be selling dip nets too ?

On weekends we don't go to the gym, we get up early and walk in town when the traffic and exhaust smell is light, it's one of our favorite things. Last weekend we went by the new store that's located on the old Mullen Homestead right in the middle of town at the 'Y' . The property is planned for another mall type deal with restaurants and all the paving that goes with it so MP and I were heartened to see on the back side of the property some mitigation is being done, it looks to me like Soldotna wants to become that city that ' did it right' with common area's and wetlands protection. When I was a young guy here Soldotna Creek which runs through this property was full of salmon, King salmon, and I'm betting it will again someday.

So we walked along with expensive river front houses on our left and 'conserved' land on our right. We walk into a shaded forest lane with this cool foot bridge over the creek and leading to inter connect with the River Walk at the new Soldotna Creek Park. Pretty darn cool, all of this is in town but it doesn't feel like it, I'd call that character.

Pretty soon those stairways you see in the pic below will be lowered into the river so thousands of anglers can catch thousands of fish. But for now it's just me and Mpeasy quietly taking it all in early in the morning, early in the season. I love the way our town is fitting in with the river, it's my fondest hope that the creatures that come along with it get the same consideration, or more. We ran into one of our City Councilmen who was jogging and in a short conversation we all agreed that Soldotna was shaping up just fine...you can't stop progress so just use the energy to shape it into right.

As we walked we came across this sign at a legendary watering hole, one of the last survivors of it's kind here in Soldotna. I got a big kick out of it as many a year ago that just could have been me.

Many of you know my music so what I thought what I'd do is put up the roughness of a brand new song as I just start working it up, you know, semi-learned. I heard this Brooks and Dunn song on my Pandora at the gym the other day and now that I can hit more octaves I thought this is one I could   ' polish' up for Mexico.  I went and found the lyrics on the internet and then it takes a bit to assign chords to it, when I recorded this last night I had practiced it maybe 10 times and by the time I'm happy with it MP will be at 1500 listens.  I have the camera at lowest setting as Blogspot only gives so much memory away.....hope you like it, semi live. I love the verses but that chorus is going to take some work.

April showers bring.....

more showers. Or so it seems around here, right now we are getting a skiff of snow over most nights and people who don't migrate as we do are telling me it's the most snow we've had all winter.  As for me, I'm getting settled in and it's nice to be back around my gym, my guitars and of course the river out our back door.

As you might remember I worked hard to get close to my goal of 185 pounds before we got to Mazatlan. The closest I got was 187 but I still lost 15 pounds in 2 and 1/2 months, not bad....well, I get to MZT and I just have the feeling that the cerveza and papa's were taking a toll on my gut. I was happily surprised to get back and weigh in at an even 190 and have stayed there for a week and a half.  I do believe it was the extra cardio as not only do you burn the calories but I think it ramps up your metabolism for fat burn 24 / 7. My friend Mike and I who share the elliptical trainers daily agree that breaking a good sweat and getting your heart rate to around 125 for a guy my age is about right several times a week. I got a surprise call from an old friend In Redwood City California and in the conversation I learned he was fighting a weight issue and I hope I encouraged him....walking is great but I'm convinced that you need a good sweat hard cardio session maybe twice a week and then a regular cardio session every day. Here's a pic of me today after 45 minutes on the trainer set at level 10 for a fat burn of 700 calories. For me I hope to capitalize on my current momentum and maybe get down to that low body fat 175 pounds or so.....ya gotta have goals.

Of course I've been driven to the river several times. I have to tell you that it feels a little lonesome without the Jet -dog looking after me. Because she was always cruising the perimeter I really never worried about bears to much...but now I sing and talk to myself and do what they tell you to be bear wise. This is how fall-in-hole looked just the other day.

I cruised up the outside of our island to check on what the human activity at the new sonar site had done to the vegetation. It was something that I was worried about with this new program as we all hate to see more human footprint in the wilderness....I was happily surprised. It seems that ADF+G is getting this part right. There are no trails beat down or garbage lieing around as I feared. They put up temporary metal grating and it must be working so here's something they don't hear much from me...Kudo's to ADF+G for looking out after our habitat. BUT....I was a little dumb founded to see this paint ball on a tree right where the sonar sits. I ain't Inspector Closeau but I guess somebody figured it would help them relocate the same place over and over, pure science.

And of course I found my first treasure of the 2015 salvage season. With all the ice it's still hard to get to the good places but I found this half a twenty dollar fishing rod....I'd call that ten bucks, wouldn't you?

I'm going to take a chance with the next pic. I came across it several month backs but out of respect for all my Canadian friends as well as my own safety I decided to hold onto it until I was out of gun shot range....C'mon you guys, ya know I love ya and ya gotta admit that's pretty darn chuckly.

Re-Entry

When our spacecraft return from orbit they go through a communications blackout during part of the re entry process. It has something to do with the ozone layer and it's effects on man made objects...and well, I guess that's been me, I've been in a bit of  a communications blackout as I re enter life at Mile 14 Kenai River  Alaska. As cool as this place is , living right on the river  with Eagles out the window and ...well...just about anything unfortunately can become routine. So when I get home I take a special weekend to just stay home and absorb this place , look for the good and steady myself for what MP calls ' human consumption'. As you know , I'm far from anti social. In fact I love people and learning from them and visiting new places through them sharing their lives with me. Lots of that in Mazatlan and not so so much at Mile 14 in April 2015. So....I'll get adjusted just fine, it just takes a day or two.

We never get tired of the flight down from Anchorage. None of this ' flight 247 will be loading at gate C4'....nope. Our friends at Grant aviation have the pilot walk into the terminal and ask...." everybody ready " ?  On this flight we had a female pilot named Kirsten. Wow, what an All Alaskan Gal. She laughed all the way, she loaded the plane, she took our pics, she helped unload a semi blind guy so gingerly and the landing in Kenai....well we never felt it hit the ground. Here's a few pics of us and Kirsten.

When you jump up over Turnagin Arm at 2500 feet the place we live is stunning. Here's a pic of Point Possesion where  Captain Cook anchored for two days as a scribe copied his journal which was buried along with some coins and trinkets to authenticate it in case he never returned from the challenges of navigating Cook Inlet which he said was the most treacherous of all the places he sailed in the world. He had lost his best anchor north or today's Homer at Anchor Point and tenaciously fished for it which saved the Resolution during many groundings in upper Cook Inlet. Turnagin Arm was named just for that, he 'turned again' when it was apparent it was not the fabled Northwest Passage he was in search of.

Today Cook Inlet is sailed daily by modern transports and tankers. Onshore we have wilderness roads that traverse the first oil strikes in Alaska and Offshore we have upwards of a dozen drill rig platforms. On the east side is the community of Tyonek, accessible only by plane or boat and off to the left the community of Nikiski....But at 2500 feet you realise just how small mankind's footprint is and how here in this part of Alaska we humans still have a chance to ' do it right' .

We arrived at Mile 14 on Friday and the river was frozen. It was pretty darn quiet here and unusually warm. Well,  we slept like babies in the coolness of Alaska on that huge California King bed  that in itself was almost enough to get home for but we woke up to this...a running river.  I don't where they come from and how they know but instantly the river is full of birds. Ducks, Seagulls, Eagles and my favorite, Jay birds.

So I guess just like those ducks across the river from me I'm gonna hang out and wait for something good to float by, we need it and I'm  thinking it's on it's way. I know this river pretty good. Unlike the smart guys at ADF+G I learned it through life, through doing, through seeing, hearing and being a part of it.  So here's my prediction for all you local King salmon hounds...the early run will rebound nicely this year, just like last year....we'll go fishing so lets all just take a little bit better personal care of it this next go around eh?

Cha,cha, cha, changes

I've had a lot of that in my life lately.  Most of it has been age and resource related things that I just have no control over, it's the basic unfairness of life that guys that like things just the way they are can't keep them that way.  A big change of course will be our return to Mile 14 in a few days and I'm going back with the shortest hair I've had since I was in sixth grade. I really don't know how it happened but I think I like it, the change meister. I came home and a friend in the building said " I've never seen your hair so short"..... I replied "neither have I ".  So somewhere my mom has to be smiling now, she always hated my long hair and maybe that's why I always did it but I think it was just me always refusing to be normal.

I usually get it shaped about twice a year so went to Centro where all the business's work together. A block of hardware , a block of kitchen stuff and an entire block of hair cutters. We got drawn into the one with the leopard stripes and this gal went to work. For fifty peso it's about the most thorough cut you can imagine.....ear hairs, eye brows and I hadn't had a straight razor used to make side walls since I was an army brat.

So looking and feeling like a new man we went out to our favorite local spot for surf fishing. All year it's been dead at 4th point but I just love the isolation and the view of our city. This day we had huge comers on the beach and although we do it so routinely it really is quite dangerous as you need to get near the water for distance and then back up the steep beach for the next wave....always following the surf caster rule to not turn your back to the ocean. Here's a pic of the view and a pic of  Slah that kind of captures what we do.....

To give you little better feeling for it I shot this short video. On a day like this the sound of the surf is rock concert quality. We've fished at Dimas before that when the wave crashed down in front of you it throws the marble like rocks that the beach is made of and man they feel like they could break your leg....I'll bet it's happened.

We jumped the sabalo centro at 7 am for one of our favorite things, a long hike over the mountain back into town from the harbor and then through old town as it comes to life and finally breakfast at the mercado overlooking the town as it's finally up and running. This day we decided to hump the stairs to the old Mirador restaurant all 179 of them.

This handrail less skyway used to give MP the Willies but she's a season Mazatlateco now.

When we got back down to Olas Altas we came across a huge military ceremony, Benito Juarez day. My neighbors here in Mazatlan do pageantry about as good as I've ever seen so we took a spot and watched the event, very cool. We even knew some of the people there which added to it all. Security was at defecon 4 which we see from time to time, it left me wondering two things....why would anybody try and do something weird at this kind of event and if they did....well, they'd have to be some kind of brain dead dumb because the good guys were in force. How's about the size of that flag? Oh....the security guys don't like having pictures taken so it's kind of a stealth thing that didn't work so good but I assure you that humvee has a full loaded machine gun in the turret.

So the next time you hear from me I'll be over 5000 miles away from Mazatlan. I guess I'm feeling a little strange about things now in our lives with just so much spinning and spinning and.....But then I guess the human condition works like this, unfortunately even the coolest things in life can become routine and that's why guys like me gotta keep moving....to freshen them up as we navigate through life. I know MP's ready go and that's good enough for me. Kinda funny, I see her really happy when she arrives at her home in Mexico and then again when she arrives at her home in  Alaska...I guess that's the deal, and I'll take it.

saturday night live

With the busiest Mexican holiday season of the year just around the corner (semana santa) this place is starting to hop. For the next few weeks you combine the lead up to Easter with spring breakers from the USA and it party central in Mazatlan.....even more so than Carnaval, or Bike week or.....well we seem to have a lot of them, and that's just fine with me. I think some of my neighbors here who enjoy the more...ah....sedentary part of the Mexico experience are a little taken back, but not me. 40 years ago I'd be under one of those umbrellas instead of taking photos.

The video above was ' Pacifico Sunseta 2015'. I guess I should have known, Pacifico runs this town and I guess even the famous 'green flash sunsets' and after glow like we did this night. It's kinda like what I hear about Key West, sunset has become a happening.

But Saturday night at Mile 14,000 is way more than just a sunseta and a few cold cerveza, Next door at El Cid's beach Pavilion it's one of Sinaloa's favorite places to get married, anniversaried or just have a loud outdoor party with say .....ahhhhh....2000 of your best friends. Tonight's event was the marriage send off of a young couple, the music which is always good....and always loud is the signature sound of Sinaloa called Tambora, lots of horns that build and build and....well, it's just wonderful....but then again we don't live on that side of the building.

I exaggerate not when I tell you that no Saturday goes by without Fireworks. Torres down the beach has them after sunset to welcome the new R.C.I.ers and here.....well it's illegal to get married with out Fireworks, period. They always come from the lighthouse so we see them lit and all, many nights it's after sunset and then again as the party gains momentum around midnight.

Sunday morning was a little slow for me really. We went into the Gold Zone to have Eggs Benny and MP's favorite place and I only snapped three pics of things that jumped out at me....on a good day I could double that production, just a slow bite I guess, you'll have that....

I'm a little like this guy, transportation deprived. So I don't blame him, if it were me I'd be putting it on the bus and what a pic that would make eh?

The rehab project in the Gold Zone is almost complete, this pic doesn't do it justice. But the sidewalks are like art....shiney, interesting with foot prints and well, they may not be any bigger or safer but in Jeff's world they're ultra, doublea, gotta see again.......cooooooool.

I got nothin to say about that pic.....over and out.

a 5 peso shirt...and now I know why

What a smokin deal. MP got a 1000 peso genuine soccer shirt at a yard sale for only 5 peso. People in Mexico are passionate about their soccer and you see lots and lots of football shirts...just not this one and especially around here. Seems like when I try to fit in I just don't do it so well. Turns out that this shirt is team America, the most vilified team in Mexico. Round these parts people are all about Team Chivas and for good reason it seems. Chivas is an all Mexican Team and their rival Team America recruits from South America, Europe and yikes, sometimes even the USA. So when I got dressed up to go out for Sunday Marisco's with Slah, Maria and Ernesto well I got a lot of " what the hell are you wearing" from just about every Mexican friend I ran into.....and one point as we enjoyed our brunch a guy with a Chivas shirt was kinda eyeing me. I told Slah that he looked like he wanted to kick my a** ....Slah said,.." he does Jeff ".

Marisco's Fabiano was a special treat. We ran into an old friend from the Vidafel where we got our start in Mazatlan and the food was out of this world. Here's a pic of us and the  cameron, pulpo and calla cocktail that I had.....It's shrimp, octopus and scallop in a nice shrimp broth that is a bit like a bisque and of course I started with a crab tostado which Maria also had. MP had coconut shrimp and Ern the shrimp brocheta and Slah the seafood soup that looked sooooo good. Thanks buddy.

Just give me one more second to go through the culinary week before we get to the dead or soon to be dead fish pics. We were at the market and in the fish area I was drawn to a crowd of women buying at a particular stall. I had never seen this fish so I was curious and asked around, ya know it's my job in life to know and be all things fish....Well it turns out it's like Bacaloa which is a salted cod but of course cod are hard to come by and real expensive here in Sinaloa so the same thing is done with a variety of other fish. These looked like some type of snapper. The next pic is a typical display. Smoked marlin to the left and whole Corvina and fillets to the right....They are the best eating fish in the sea if you ask me.

So for the first time this year I went out on the boat for what was supposed to be an 'easy' day. My buddy Tony's son Matt was on his last day here and they wanted to just go look for fish and find what you find....which around here are usually knarly-rip ya up- wear ya out- Toro. There's nothing 'easy about it when you combine a massive Toro bite and a 30 year old doublea hard fishing guy from Jersey. At one point we had schools of them on the top after locating them with Rapala's and watching Matt cast the topwater and snap the hook into them was a thing of beauty. Here's a couple pics of me and Matt....new fishing friends.

Thank goodness we were using Tony's gear or I would have quit early for fear of ruining mine. These guys are pure power and each one takes 10 minutes. So after catching 20 or 25 on this 'easy' day Matt asked me " Jeff, have you caught enough Toro for one day ? ".... I said " Matt, I caught enough Toro for one day 3 hours ago"....

Here's a pic from Tres Isles, just a few kilometers from home....just gorgeous.

Here's a pic of our friends the Mercuro's as they headed for the Airport. Tony and Little Boy and MP's friend Connie, daughter Courtney and Matt. Varsity level friends....we love you guys.