Transylvania

Its been as foggy here at Mile 14 as an old Dracula movie. An ocean layer moved in about 10 days ago and every day starts with pea soup dense fog, so thick you can't see the other side of the river. But lucky for me I have a few spots real close and we only run a few minutes but I still have a person setting close to me with a dry towel to clean my glasses. I guess its part of being in my fifties that I'm treating the fog with its due respect, I've gone this long without an accident on the river and we're keeping it that way.

This 1st pic of my friend Les Day will attest to the fog, its thick.
Years ago Les was selling 'Phantom Screens' at the home show and we bought one. (its the coolest product, a screen door that just pulls out of the wall, no real door) We got to talking and realized that we were friends right off the bat. As a young guy Les was diagnosed with Prostrate cancer and now he has dedicated himself to Prostate awareness and prevention. He has a lot of heart and he won't be a guy who wonders if he's done any good on his way to the hereafter. He's also pretty good at catching ol slimey.


One day last week I had the chance to get my friend Ben Ellis and our girls out fishing. Of course MP has to do things 'her own way' and Susie is just as independent and as I wasn't working I decided to just let things go and see what happens. The next series of pics is what I learned about how to net a salmon, it seems that the girls can add a flair to it that I've been lacking for years. The first trick is of course to get one on the hook, with MP's moe-joe thats a done deal. Then you let the fish splash around next to the boat for 5 minutes with your thumb locking up the line on the reel. Then I found out that you don't have to dip under the fish like I've done for years. You can also wield the net like a tennis racket and just swat at him from the top and if you miss, no worries, he's been on so long now he's quit flopping around making it soooo much easier. So once he's in the net and aboard its simple, just throw the rod down and hit him a good one with the bat and high fives all around. And thats how I learned thats there more than one way to net a fish. I've actually been thinking that we can add a new element to the excitement on my guided trips by changing things up a bit, we'll see.


I had the opportunity to meet these young guys from Hazen North Dakota. Adam Brayko and his buddies Jeff and Riley came to Kotzebue to hunt caribou and the darn things had not migrated right yet and they got skunked, as you can see that wasn't a problem for silver fishing on the Kenai river. These guys are Border guards and they are as outdoorsy as anybody I ever met. We had a great time. They stayed in a motor home they rented for a fall rate of $125.00 per day .If any of you are looking for a great deal, a quiet time of year and great fishing, its hard to beat the way these guys did it. That catch of theirs, nine silver weighed 115 pounds at the processors, not bad if you're a meat hunter.