It really is....but , I'm adjusting . My friends on the Kenai have suffered through King Salmon closures of course and this fall they waited for the usually dependable Silver run to develop and then suffered through the slowest fishing that run has ever delivered....so....where am I going with this ? Well, I have no right to weeny whine about my own empty fish box. It's been humbling . The fishing report says cow bells down 30 ft with lead core line . So I get the color coded lead core . I get line counter reels . I get down riggers . I got 30 sets of cowbells . I got as many hard baits as Capital Sports and .....nadda . The other day a guy watched me put the Minnow VI on the trailer and he said " wow , you're good at that " . I replied " yup it's the only part of it I'm good at ". OK Jeff, remember your mantra ' The joy is is in the pursuit ' ! And oh, that Pike you see there is 3 fishing trips worth . And you wonder why my blog is late ?So I caught this Jumbo unit with a 6 inch blade on a Gerber Knife... We're not sure what the hell it is but you gotta admit ol #003 is still a High Liner . We're still living off the ' the fat of the land ' just lacking a bit of white flakey protein with tarter sauce. As we say in the business, how about this load.I caught these gorgeous Montana scenes yesterday on a Panasonic Lumix DC Vario water and shock proof camera. Tom has been itching to go hunting and of course I don't hunt big game as I have a personal code that came from killing soooo many gorgeous fish through the years that now I don't kill anything that has eye lashes. So we went Grouse hunting on a mountain he knows outside of Wolf Creek Montana home of the legendary Oasis Bar. For the first time in my recent life we did serious mountain climbing in that old white Chevy of mine and man oh man....drop that baby into granny low and she'll climb a telephone pole. I was kinda proud of my 26 year old truck. We saw one Blue Grouse that we jumped with the truck and it flew down a 45 degree hill into a tree and we made the adult decision to let that guy win. It was steep and a long way down and Tom's a year older than me.....heheheAbout a week ago me and MPeasy went to Garnet Ghost town, this is not a place you get to by accident.
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
It's all foreign to me...fishing for life
Saturday, August 31, 2024
The world's Greatest Salmon
Well....It went from an emergency to a ' stock of concern ' to a total closure and then to this...
only 6,630 Kenai Kings over the sonar by the time the counts stopped being published by the ADF+G on August 20th. The counts used to end when the sport harvest stopped on July 31, then it would stop when the commercial harvest end on August 15, then it was decided that every fish counted so why not let the sonar run until August 31....well, there's no fish...if you don't like the numbers just quit counting I guess but it doesn't take away from the fact that people need and deserve the information, they need to know how bad the situation is. The black line represents this year , the worst run in History, maybe not even enough fish to sustain the run. the other climbing lines represent the last few years and the flat red line represents the desired sonar counts and the very top line represents the good ol days.
And now the one that everyone is gonna role up their eyes and moan over. The Homer Winter King Derby . Somewhere somebody somehow r ADF+G came to the conclusion that these immature King Salmon are not local fish and mostly of Canadian origen. I could go on and on about this but I'll save you all from that and make it simple...This doesn't pass the ' common sense test ' ... The Homer Chamber of Commerce loves this event as well as the winter fishery in general. STOP IT, you're contributing to the demise of the greatest salmon ever in the world .
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Fair enough
Driving has been the thing that aggravates my neck the most so finally feeling better and coming off double secret probation there's only one thing to do....road trip . On Friday we hustled on up the Montana State Fair in Great Falls . MP and me had one of our very first dates to the same Fair in 1975 and we have fond memories of walking the midway and eating corn on the cob while checking out the latest huge farm equipment and what they help produce. Well, nothing stays the same does it ? Today's version of the State Fair is just one thing....$$$$$$...that's right , it's one big fund raiser for the gypo Food trucks and the people reselling Mexican trinkets , and in most cases the people on the selling circuit aren't even from Montana . So we wandered, I appreciate the military recruiters and the political volunteers, thanks for making some of the fair normal to those two groups. We had deep fried Cheese curds, ten dollar milk shake with sprinkles and Mp got a huge smoked turkey leg for our picnic. It was really hot at 1:00 so I was needing a nice cold Pacifico and we couldn't find the beer tent.....mmmm....so, we went to the information booth and find out they don't sell beer until 4:00 . Are you kidding me ? You've all heard me write of my astonishment at the beer culture in my new sate so this twist was kinda unexpected. I tell the gal at the info booth that we live in a State where beer brewing and consumption is in the High School curriculum and it's hard to believe ya gotta wait 3 more hours for a beer....she said " I know ".
So we take the cooler which has Pacifico's and the Turkey Leg onto the Interstate 90 frontage road in search for the perfect picnic spot....and we found it . I took this pic after we started the car in Great Falls.We picnicked in ' Thunder and Lightfoot ' country . Simply gorgeous .Friday, August 2, 2024
The fix is in
Here's a pic of ol retired #003 after being wheeled back into the recovery room after my Radio Frequency Ablation ( rfa ) . Even though the Deep Vein Thrombosis I've dealt with lately was very serious this old age arthritic neck of mine was really interfering with my life style , me and MPeasy had coined our own clinical name for it ....3 hour neck...because that's about as long as I could do anything before the pain / tingling / numbness would send me to the recliner .
Well....to the rescue Dr.'s Anthony Russo and Steve Perry at the Billings Clinic in Bozeman Montana . When it became unbearable I went to a Helena Doctor who offered Cervical fusion surgery . I settled on Physical therapy and just hoped it would get better...it didn't. So then I went searching for the best care available and I found it. If I'm good at anything it's public relations so I ask people, sometimes strangers, I do research and then I am persistent and finally got the call that Dr. Russo would take me on as a patient . After looking at my MRI and x-rays that I had to rather forcibly retrieve from my first Dr. and talking with me about lifestyle and goals Dr. Russo said that yes, he could fix it with surgery but he suggested we try the less invasive RFA first....so O.K. ...off we go. When you seek counsel always accept it . This deal is not for the faint of heart. To make sure the ablation has a good chance of success they first do two Medial Branch Blocks which are kinda like a spinal pain block. They insert 4 needles into my neck at C3 through C6. These needles are flexible and they probe using imaging technology to find just the right nerve bundles. No anesthesia as you have to be awake to tell them if you feel anything that you shouldn't or if you lose any movement and then they inject lidocaine and it's simple, if the pain / tingling stops they know they're in the right spot. One of the reasons the procedure is bearable is because it happens fairly fast and Steve keeps you motivated by telling you how much longer you need to be still. I told the operating theatre the wisdom of Willy Nelson when he said ' the weight of an object is not as important as how long you have to hold on to it ' . Then several weeks after the 1st procedure they do it again to make absolutely sure they are in the right spot. On the follow up Steve asked me how it went and I told him that I was actually having fairly severe numbness and tingling when he did the procedure and it stopped immediately but I was disappointed in that it came back within and hour.....He said ' Perfect ' that's exactly what we want to see !So Tuesday was the day for the main event , the actual Ablation . They had kinda used up the surprise factor on me and I was having pretty good anxiety leading up to it , and for good reason. But this time they said I would get a mild sedative that would help the discomfort and still allow me to talk with them. It was described as ' like have two margaritas '....I told them I'm usually a 3 or 4 Margarita guy and they said har har but you're still only getting 2. So the procedure it kinda the same but longer and after probing and positioning they go from one needle to the next with the Radio Frequency which creates heat and kinda burns the nerve bundles. Kind of like a caughterize .Then they inject some cortisone to help you in the short term . Then they pull the needles out and ask you how you feel....I tell them I really liked the Tammy Wynette and George Jones music.
The Ablation needles are bigger than the block needles at 8 or 10 m.m. , 1/8 of an inch or so . On the first two procedures they have a needle in you and are prepared to do sedation if the patient can't handle the procedure and as uncomfortable as it is they said I was good to go for the whole show, some patients don't make the cut....I learned a lot about myself. MP said that I'd been very brave....well, I found out that bravery is what happens when you're in a situation with NO options.It's three days later now and the site of the injections is sore as hell....but...yesterday I had an entirely pain free day, the first in about 2 years. I can tell I'm better . I can tell this next season in Mexico I'll be able to do the things I love.....Thank You sooo much Dr's Russo and Perry....if ya ever need a stress relieving boat trip with the chance of catching a slimey, I'm your guy !
Friday, July 19, 2024
It's so hot I
saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walking. This morning at 5 a.m. it was seventy degrees , ten degrees higher than the daytime high in Soldotna Alaska. So you're wondering how the fishing went as what else would a guy be doing at 5 a.m. , right ? mmm..... well actually we close the house up after we completely open it up as early as we can in the morning, fan at the front door, all the windows open and then close drapes and windows about 8:30 and then its, 85 by 10:00. I know to most of you this is routine...I'm still learning.
So we got a lot to learn. For instance , in our joy of having an Apple tree that produces pounds of wonderful McIntosh juicy red apples we never dreamed it could carry so much fruit that it breaks . Yesterday we went out to find a huge branch bearing over maybe 100 pounds of fruit broken and bent over. Yikes ! So being that guy I sharpen the chainsaw and go to work . It was 10:30 and already 85 degrees....I get dizzy and kneel down before I would've fallen down and scared the crap out of MP and honestly, myself.... MP helps into the house and twenty minutes in front of the air conditioner and two Gatorades later I'm fine.....yup, we got a lot to learn.Tuesday, July 9, 2024
It's beautiful
here in Montana, that's for sure . We took the camper to MP's sisters place at Moose Lake for the 4th of July and I was impressed. Snow capped mountains, flowing water and Beaver ponds everywhere and....just a few citizens. Here's the view from the front of the house.
One of the things that I've found sooo boresome here in Montana is the way the locals treat and talk about non-residents, especially Californians ruining the State. They blame people like us for being responsible for the inflated property taxes. They blame Kevin Costner for attracting more people to the Montana lifestyle....yawn....ya know if the TV show Yellowstone can ruin your State maybe it deserves to be ruined. I mean my home state of Alaska endured way more TV exposure than Yellowstone and we survived the Brown family right down to Noah and Snowbird and the rest of those clowns . So where am I going with this you're wondering ? Well, on some level I kinda get it here in Montana.
Saturday, June 8, 2024
Walleye class
That's where we're at as I type this at 5:00 a.m. from Team X and Mile 14 southern bureau here in the Big Sky . I've been taking an on-line course from a fellow Team Xer in Minnesota . Kurt is sooo helpful and thanks to him I have the right gear, the right baits and a sounding board for all my many questions . BUT, the on water part of this learning process just wasn't translating until I met this guy . My readers know that if I'm good at anything on this trip around the sun it's people, I seem to meet just the right people at the right times....it's a kinda Forrest Gump approach to life . If someone were to ask what the biggest thing is in attaining a modest success in life is I'd tell them that's simple, it's people, relationships.
That guy right there is Don Poole. It was like a cosmic convergence to meet him . He's about my age, he's a musician, an aviator , expert pescador and just a cooool guy.....MP had to use the Banos so we ran the boat up to the launch after fishing for 3 hours with notta. As she walked back to the boat she chatted Don up and told him that the Walleyes in the Lake weren't aware of our presence . As I watched him comfortably launch his boat we chatted and he said ' follow me ' . A couple of the spots he stopped at I had seen people fishing and had noticed the structure on my machine but then he took us to a couple new places and instead of just saying this a good spot he went on tell me how to orient the boat to this structure for the best jig fishing. Now I'm a river / ocean guy and I'm always looking for current seams or deeper water that will hold fish but Don taught me to look for ' humps ' , shallow water that drops off to deeper water . I had been anchoring off to the side and throwing to the structure and he says anchor right on top of it and fish it as it rises....make sense ? So a little smaller bait and a with a little more confidence, walla , MP has the the first Wally of her life.So, now I'm all over watching my Garmin, stupid me I had been trolling with it off instead of looking for the right stuff. I paid a lot of lettuce for that Garmin 93sv with side scan and real scope etc...what the heck was thinking .