It's all foreign to me...fishing for life

 

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.....hehehe

About a week ago me and MPeasy went to Garnet Ghost town, this is not a place you get to by accident. 

This place is way up in the mountains on an 11 mile road that only goes there. Most of the town burned down years ago but what's left certainly shows you the life of the Gold Rushers .  It's amazing picturesque , in the bottom photo it would have been nice to get a pic of just how the town is but of course the Park Rangers hands their trucks parked everywhere. It's everywhere with those people, they treat the Park like it was theirs and not ours....

Well I wish I had a new song for you but I don't. So instead of that I have a video that I took 10 years ago on the road below our house.  It was this time of year almost to the day. The animals were in rut and weren't much interested in much else until one saw me. The video is only 35 seconds long so turn the volume up and watch it until the end and you'll see old guy move fast .  We're going to do some fall fishing so check back, I'll post on the first successful day, you might even hear me crowing like an old Banty rooster...

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.

I have some observations. And if any of you say to yourselves ' ol Jeff there ain't got a dog in the hunt '  or why's he always so critical ....well....I owe this everything and invested my entire adult life in it.....so here goes whether you like it or not. But first here's the one on my wall, my reminder , my talisman , my wonderful memories.

The first step in problem solving is to admit you have a problem.

When you're in a hole quit digging ! Does it really make sense to anybody that with ALL (or at least most ) of the local harvest fisheries closed to experiment with a new gear type ? A new commercial fishery . Yup, ADF+G gave permission to an influential commercial fisherman to experiment this year with a beach seine because the theory is King Salmon can be released from this type of gear....HOW ARE YOU GOING TO RELEASE SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T EXIST ....unless this beach seine can somehow create more salmon what in the hell are we doing ?

There is a management line that runs east and west across lower Cook Inlet. To the south King Harvest is allowed, to the north it's not.....well...the salmon can't see that line. 

Cook Inlet and Kodiak  salmon share an area that the young fish would / will transit on their way to feeding grounds. The Shelikof Strait is Trawled by factory boats from Seattle and worked with Seine nets for salmon by the Kodiak fleet. Here's the same graph info for Kodiak's Karluk River which has had robust King and Silver runs for decades. Unlike the Kenai the fish are enumerated by a weir where they are seen and counted by humans, there is no degree of doubt with accuracy as is sometimes a question with sonar enumeration....this year the Karluk King Salmon return is 75 fish....75 !

It's clearly code red . In one short year the Kenai run was cut in half and the Karluk run has disappeared . If this were to repeat in 2025 we might easily be beyond recovery, not sustainable and maybe even not enough fish for an egg take to save the genetics by hatchery. It's obviously to big for ADF+G to handle locally, there'e no shame in calling in the cavalry. Get everyone on board. use the Endangered Species Act. And until we get this sorted out stop ALL harvest, bycatch , directed fisheries etc....

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 . 

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 .

The next day found us at the Broadwater County Fair in Townsend that has one of our favorite golf courses and thrift store...they were having a bag sale, yahtzee . This County Fair is what they should be about, the people that live there, the way of life, what it takes. There was no entrance fee, the livestock and the produce were incredible. Unlike Helena or Great Falls these 4-H kids aren't the Dentist's kid who's mom feeds the pig . They're all part of the industry that they they and they only create.

The VFW had ice cream with Carmel sauce and m+m sprinkles for 3 bucks.  No carnival but the volunteers set up a home made playground for the youngest kids . They didn't have any guns to raffle off but they did have home made Corn Hole boards that said ' Farm Life on them. As we cruised the few building we walked right into the Pie eating contest and I hope this video turns out cuz we had a pretty good belly laugh going....

I don't think I've seen, thought of or heard of a pie  eating contest since I was a kid. That's pretty good stuff eh ?....A young 4- H'r told us the way about pigs. He told me about the art of showing them and how you try to keep your pig in front of the judge as much as possible . I asked him why he didn't just get a McDonald's cheeseburger and put it in your back pocket as I guessed that pig would follow you anywhere. He said that wasn't a bad idea but ol porky there might very well bite a whole in you pants.

Now MP didn't think it was to funny , she didn't like the pig excrement on her feet...should'nt have worn sandals baby . She wiped it all of . No harm no foul.

Me and Tom went fishing this morning. Lots of trout like this one here in Mooootana. Guess I should do another fish posing primer as a way of public service for any of you up and coming fishermen that would like to be famous....and ya, I know they're slimey and hard to hold before the release but it goes like this. Hold the fish in front of you as far as possible without pulling a muscle. If you keep your arms tucked in tight to your body the viewers might miss that you're ' long arming ' the photo . There's no shame in this, everybody does it . Have him cradled in one hand if possible. In a boat hold him over the net in case he slips out of your grip . Smile confidently, and an 0 face gets extra points . So it was fun today Tom, I'd give you a B on the pose and of course....and A on the fish.  

And the scenery , the chase, the fellowship and of course breakfast at Smiths in East Helena get an A+.

 

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 ! 
 

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.

And of course what happens when it won't rain and it's 100 degrees for days on end ?????  This the plume as seen from the Southern bureau of MIle 14. But you know me, old lucky lucky lucky....the prevailing wind is to the east so for us on the west of the fires we only get all the smoke from other fires and the air quality index has hovered in the dark yellow at 80 to 90 .

So what to do....leave the apple tree clean up for another day. Pack a picnic . Go to flowing water. Get in  flowing water. Sing a song ......ahhhh things are more better already.

For my friends in Mazatlan I've been working on new songs while in doors from the heat. And of course I think of the rain in Alaska and well...just Alaska....which I miss along with my and Alaska's friend Hobo Jim Varsos. This song is one of his early ones. It really speaks to mine and his path through life . Of course I worked the cannery as a kid and had not been in one for 30 years when MP and I got invited to Kenai Packers year end party with entertainment by Hobo JIm . He played this song and to this day I can hear the rhythmic drumming of the conveyor belts, I can smell the heavy protein fish smell that I've lived with my whole life . The steamy hiss of the retorts when their pressure is released . The muffled sound and yelling to talk with your ear plugs in and the longing that goes with the work to be done and $$$$$ , in the fishing industry we call it ' making your season ' ....Thanks Jim, we all miss you .

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.

Moose Lake has this strange urban vibe. It's at the end of a dirt road but there's houses all around the lake. Typically the house started with an inexpensive log cabin which was ' added to ' until it becomes a luxury get away for...you guessed it....California . This is what you see a lot of.....and oh, they call them 'ranches ' when all they grow is dust .  

It was a wonderful weekend. Me and MPeasy canoed, I fished a bit....unsuccessfully....and we took a four wheeler trip up the mountain to an area that had burned in 2018. Mother nature is really something in this pic you can see all the trees that have reseeded themselves, when these guys get big it's going to be a jungle.

Here's a pic of our group lead by my brother-in-law Jim Weaver. I told him he looked absolutely ridiculous on that little Honda and he said to just wait until he gets the side car installed.

 We're in mourning for the Kenai River....The sonar stopped counting Early run King Salmon on June 30th and it is an absolute disaster. With absolutely no harvest at all it is the worst return ever. The problem got apparent and has been regulated (closed ) every year since 2013 which is now more than two complete life cycles for this once robust run of salmon. We're holding our breath in hopes that the second run doesn't mirror the first but they usually trend alike....I hope not . All the Kenai King salmon are wild salmon naturally spawned. The Cook Inlet Regional Planing Team years ago declared it a stock of genetic reserve. so, maybe it's time to introduce hatchery spawned fish and do egg takes from the few remaining Early run Kings before it becomes to late,

The two top lines illustrate the escapement goal range with 3,900 minimum . This year the run was 1/3 the desired minimum at only 1,365.....on June 20th the sonar only counted 12....the black line is 2024 and the other lines the previous 4 years that only one of mad e the very lowest goal.  It's horrible and I'm so very sorry for all my friends and neighbors ....and the fish . 

Today's high temp is forecast to be 98 and then the next few days we're gonna hit triple digits. It's a little hard to get used to when you've spent almost all your July's wearing Helly Hansens and Extra Tuff boats. But we keep the house closed up and with our ' Penguin' brand window unit it stays around 72 to 75 degrees.....no worries....at least we don't have smoke...

I hope ya'all come back....I'll try and write more and in the meantime lets all root for some excitement to write about....but only the good kind of course.....How's about a song ?

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 . 

So we fished within sharing distance and chatted . Don worked with a guy named Frank MIller who I also did so briefly in 1972 at the ASARCO smelter and who was a real influence in my maturing...did I ever tell ya I was a little slow on that part...but...pretty soon MP was ready to go, she had actually fished a new endurance record of fishing with me of 5 full hours. We pulled the hook and said good bye to a new friend.  So Don I gotta tell ya , you're one hell of a guy and a new Team X member with emmertis status with all the membership benefits that come along with it.... unsolicited advice , connections to hundreds, mmm, well dozens  of people like us in far away places to help you if you decide to fish perhaps the Lake of the Ozarks for example . Membership also comes with fish posing picture advice, free smiles, belly laughs and Pacifico beer, Team X fuel. And Don...thank you for being you . As we headed home to our first ever Walleye feed I snapped a few pics of the scenery, gorgeous. And yes , I know the joy is in the pursuit but it is kinda fun to actually catch something now and then .

So last week I wrote about the Quilts. Well, we still are wondering what if anything they could all mean....Maybe ' this house votes for fun ' maybe ' this house stands for love '....I don't know but we figure that if it's good enough for the Grain Co-operative in White Sulphur Spring Montana it's good enough for us . Here's a couple the artist in my life put together for us. The second one is our coat of arms, a few of the things that we are about. 

As I started to type an hour ago I took this pic from out the window. I always feel fresh in the morning and for me it's a huge part of fishing, up early, new day, new adventures, new start . I enjoy a good sunset of course but if I had to choose, I'm a sun up guy.