Perfection

Yup, that's the kind of week I had, it was perfect. You see that guy there talking with MP well he's one of my favorites on the entire planet. 25 years ago Jim Bennett hired me to guide Signal Communications goodwill event called ' SigFish' and we've been together ever since. SigFish was a sort of coming of age deal for me as it was always great pay and it let me know that I was a top guide on the Kenai River. Through SigFish I met so many people who fish with me yet, we've become friends. Tom Riette, Deb Germano, Charlie Carpenter, Mark McIntire.....the list goes on.

Jim hired me to take his kids Jimmer and Kathleen with grandson Seth out on a perfectly sunny morning. Seth there is quite an 11 year old. This kid can flat fish....he pulls the anchor, he nets the fish ( well, usually ) he's not afraid of bait or blood and well....we just had a great time, and I mean a great time . Here's ol Seth with a slimey and using a trick he learned from  me to help heighten your senses late in the day if you get a little sleepy and already used your coffee up.

It was one of a couple trips I did this week where the fishing was more important than the fish. I like that. Ol Seth learned how easily slimey can escape from a net and we let a couple go and still showed up at Mile 14 with a respectable catch. Thanks for coming you guys ....

I've been trying not to run in the fog, in fact I won't but one morning Jim Hazzlewood and his buddy Ron showed up way early and the fog hadn't even started. There really wasn't anything else to do but meander down river up and anchor up in the pitch black of night. I know it's happened before, I guess I just don't remember but I couldn't see the rod go off but even with my poor hearing I could hear a fish splashing and jumping behind the boat. We came off anchor and got this guy then patiently looked for the anchor bouy....pretty exciting. And then the fog set in and a couple hours later it was gorgeous as it lifted. Perfect.

With the season winding down the guys are doing exactly what I'm doing....relaxing. I took this pic of Eric Loomis as they trolled by the other day. I 'm thinking I'll print an 8 x 10 and drop it off, that's how I got an office full of interesting things myself.

Tom Nelson booked me and he was so excited that the crew showed up early. This day I decided not to risk it and I pulled over 1/4 mile below the house and sat out of the traffic lane figuring to fish until the fog cleared and then go to the good spots....well, guess what ? Mucho pescado right where we were. Here's Gena with the first of her entire life and the crew pic at days end, Mile 14 , Kenai River Alaska.

My old friend Nate Morton drove down with his eastern cousins. Pretty darn civilized. We start at 9:00 a.m. and finish up for cocktail hour. Nate is a guy I could spend hours with so someday when I'm retired and so is he we're gonna do just that. We scratched out a few fish but I think they were only the excuse, the reason, the vehicle to look, wonder, visit, advise and remember...to slow down, to....well you know. Here's Nate and his wife Mary flanking Wayne and Cindy.

During this perfect week we caught not one but two Red salmon like this one......mmmmmm, strange. I can't figure out if it's a super late one, a really really early one or ???? But I did check the  ADF+G sockeye sonar numbers for the day we caught it so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to hook one, 38,000 over the sonar on  Sept. 10th , not bad.

I gotta give the person I love the most a big atta boy. Her garden was the best ever. We had a bumper crop of the best raspberries, she grew apples, the normal tomato's and cukes but the coolest thing was this Cantaloupe. It had the lines, it had the bumps, it had the color , it had the smell, it had the taste,  it was.....just a bit smaller than usual. Kinda cute huh ?