Limits

This week was defined by limits.....we caught many limits of silvers and on several occasions met our limit of rain. On Weds I did a fundraiser trip for our friends at the Kenai Watershed Forum, from this picture of Mike you can see just how wet it was. The guys from Utah arrived with nice Gore Tex rain gear but to me it was definitely a vinyl rain gear day. We started as usual at O dark thirty and it took until 11:30 or so to catch our limit, so we fished about 4 and 1/2 hours....when we broke up for the day the guys said they really enjoyed the first two hours.

We also had our limit of seals, they're everywhere. The Kenai has the last salmon to come into the Cook Inlet basin so every savy seal in South Central  Alaska is right here this time of the year. When they are around it effects the bite, the silvers ares spooked and swimming fast. We frequently see them with fish in there mouths and yesterday I saw one try and take a fish off an anglers hook. In other parts of the world the local fisheries managers might be wondering about their impact on the overall silver run. But not here, those guys are way to busy tracking radio tagged salmon and refilling the coffee pot...So I figure we have at any given time 50 to 100 seals in the lower river X maybe 5 silvers a day for dinner = maybe an average of 350 fish a day @ 30 days =10,500 dead cohoes which should = a little notice by the Dept of Fish and Game...HELLO guys....Kenai River Calling....

One morning as it was getting light I was struck by the beauty enough to take this picture. I guess its kind of the human condition that we get used to just about everything so I try to stay conscience of that and reaffirm my love for this deal every so often. This morning the tide was up and the water just weirdly  flat, there was just a slight misty fog laying on the water and the mountain was just peaking over the trees illuminated with a hint of alpenglow ....gorgeous....

I have a rule....I never tell people what to do or not do and I never get to finicky with the gear, after all this stuff may cost a lot but they're only tools to be used for harvesting salmon. BUT, this deal here is an illustration of what NOT to do with your guides fishing rods. Believe it or not, and it tested my limits, I didn't say a word about it, I just retrieved the anchor line myself after we let go for the next fish.  Its also an illustration of why I'm a Lamiglass guy, these rods are ultra tuff. I think the Loomis brand is the most popular here but 30 years ago my first expensive rod was a Lamiglass and...well....you know how I am about loyalty. They work for me and I work for them, buy Lamiglass, its the best.

Here at Mile 14 we've kind of raised up those two young eagles that I always report on. They've become a fixture around here and we finally have them eating at the table, how refined.  But, we're still working on their table manners because after this deal is done you don't really want to sit down and have a hot dog at that table, its a little gross. But theres still plenty of season left and I figure theres  time for training before they have to leave for a winter at the dump.

OK, OK, here's a dead fish picture. My friends Jay and Lesley Gammel with two cohoes that were caught virtually at the same time. It rained the entire morning and when Les caught our last fish to limit out at 10:00 I was a pretty darn happy fishing guide. We went to the house and cleaned the fish, I cleaned and gassed the boat, took off 5 layers of polar fleece and hung them up to dry. Then I sat on the recliner feeling the warmth of the house while still wearing my merleti smart wool long johns and fell instantly asleep, I call it 'old guide syndrome'....Hope you guys all have as good a week as I'm gonna...