It's A Miracle !!!

Or is it....we've got a river full of fish, salmon kind of fish. To try and get the escapement numbers ADF+G has finally closed all Sockeye fishing, sport and commercial. Of course it's a huge disaster for all those who are after those fish....here's what the Centennial Park parking  lot looked like on July 30th when normally the banks would be lined with fishermen with American green folded up in their wallets.

So pardon the pun here but with everything closed there's a silver lining. The first day within minutes of our first attempt to catch a silver salmon on purpose Josh caught this guy in a pouring rain. The river is full of them like it was back when I was a kid when the silvers would be here when they wanted to come and not just after commercial season closes..and that date is coming soon.

And how's about Pink salmon in July ? I had an entire crew of ladies who after fishing for Kings to catch and release decided they'd take a batch of fresh pinks home for their husbands to smoke. I've seen pinks in July before of course but not like this year, it's happening.

I got to fish with a dad and daughter who ended up with 40 pounds of silvers. They are friends of my old buddy Marty Holloran and just like him they were amazing to spend time with. My early August schedule is usually kind of light as most people know the run builds towards the middle of August so I was tickled to spend time and get a couple bonus trips in with two wonderful people. Cassidy there is water Polo player in Santa Barbara and with her approach to life you hide and watch, she'll be playing for Stanford soon.

And her dad Damien is a guy who knows the tricky navigation of a life well lived....

So as I type this edition of Mile 14 across town at ADF+G headquarters the experts are busy cooking the books in hopes of getting the net guys out to fish soon before the d-day end of season comes and the fish are managed for somebody else, like us, finally. You see to get the 900,000 number they need for escapement they are busy counting every single pink, silver, sockeye, trout , shadow, ghost and what have you to be getting the 30,000 a day they're  reporting. Never mind that it's odd and almost impossible for those kind of sockeye numbers this late in the season and especially never mind that guys like me KNOW what 30,000 sockeyes a day looks like....and they AIN'T here you dummies. Her's a pic of one of their scientific equations they use to teach the new guys who didn't take cooking the books in college.

And in the ' Things you Never See ' department I came across this. Now I'm not being  hard on the Professionals that run our River because I've done a version of this myself AND I'll admit it was my fault. So I'm hoping this poor Park Ranger was rammed by another vehicle and lost the boat or it was a mechanical failure that could not be avoided. And to have this happen right in the middle of town on one of the busiest days of the year has to bother that poor Park Ranger. I feel bad for him, I really do...I know, boats are dangerous, things can happen, hope everyone is OK buddy.