Yup, King Salmon

That guy right there is about a 24 pounder and the 1st of it's kind for us in guide boat #003 at Mile 14 of the world famous Kenai River for the 2016 season We actually went to catch and release fishing a week ago as we now have a clear picture that there's more fish than in recent years but.... this river is about as fickle as a Cheerleader I once dated, the early warm weather had the river rapidly rising and was so cloudy that even with increased numbers it would be difficult to hook up. So we waited until today and walla, my friends Ruth and Ray landed 3and had at least 5 bites that fell off due to barb- less syndrome or the old salmon bite lethargy syndrome or maybe just the plane old bad luck little bitty bite, who know's ,it's fishing .

Our local Radio Shack has a close out sale and I bought the weather proof Lumix camera I've been wanting so it was no wonder that I woke up to rain, fog and sleet this morning. It's kind of like poetry, being prepared for the weather almost seems to make it happen. This pic here taken after our first release at about 7 a.m. shows you the feel of the river , kinda pretty in a fisherman's way. As you can see, only the tough and dedicated are out....

As hard as it was for me to believe Ruth said they had been in Alaska for 10 days and still hadn't seen a moose so I had my antennae up. We ran into a couple down at Beaver Creek for her but the best one was right here below my house where we got the bonus of a single calf. I told them that I didn't know what they were thinking about my King Salmon prowess but ya gotta agree...I'm a moose finding wizard.

It was getting onto closing time and we're just mildly hypothermic when we miss not one but two good pull downs in a row, spin and glo's. So I kinda had the flash back to the days when even if we were allowed bait we'd fish a wiggle wart and they'd bite them hard. So I grabbed a lighter rod and put the old  ' green pirate' on and it wasn't 5 minutes and Ray was fighting this fish. Excellent.

Here's a pic of those two at the boat launch. They are absolutely great. We had a lot in common with travel and fishing. They're the kind of couple that show's their love... I like that. So thanks you guy's for helping me get this started, I have to tell you, I had a great day. A wonderful day and if I seemed excited to be out there fishing, well, I was.

So until they allow us to whack em and stack we're releasing all the fish after a old slimey cardio session. If some of you who might want to go fishing would really like to keep and eat fish this is about the best I can do right now, I'll have a nice big package for ya. and oh, that's fresh.

On a side not, me and MP went to the new Kenai River Brewery. Ya gotta get there. The place is really cool, the beer is excellent and the staff is fun and efficient.  Right outside they have the Blue Moon Burger vendor that makes a pile of pa pa's to die for and only 3 bucks. They intend to have food of their own soon so I got a good pic of the chef in training. She don't say much.

And if any of my readers here at Mile 14 are really missing the song of the week deal just add a request in the remarks....but then maybe you're really not missing that in which case PLEASE don't leave a remark, I can take a hint.