What kinda guy

climbs over around and through glare ice for 1/2 mile just to find a pair of pliers ? mmmmm, well, it's the earliest spring salvage season the Pro's from Dover here at Mile 14 have ever seen. I actually only fell down twice which was incredible as the last thing I heard when I left the house was " are you taking your ice grippers ? "

Normally I do the salvage by sea but as it's still so icy I'm shore bound. The boat has it's advantages both with no walking and the ever present need to be Bear aware, when they come out of hibernation they're kinda dumb and kinda hungry...But it was 50 degrees and I gotta go, that river is my life ya know....and walla, even though very little bank is exposed right there in front of me gleaming away like a huge golden oak was that unmistakable shine of stainless steel...my first ten bucks of the 2019 season.

Seeings as I'm the guy who invented the sport it's just right that I should draw first blood. Now some of the new salvage operations might find better stuff later on depending on their feel for the river's rhythms but...this minnie pile is the first I'd guess... It looks like I'll be able to launch and go ' feet wet' in just a few days which is astounding as in all my years I've only ran the river once in April and that was at the very end of it.

It's been  just gorgeous since we've been home and the most orderly ' break up ' I've ever seen. We finally are doing all our hikes that are snow free.... here's the river from the bridge when we hikes the Centennial loop Sunday morning.

The only drawback  is.... as pristine and clean as Alaska is, in our town right now the air quality is horrible. There must be a better way. They use soooo much salt and sand on the roads that the street sweepers work night and day. They even use the ones that don't catch the material and are only brushes that just move it from one place to another. Everywhere you look is sand and dirt, I'm especially fond of seeing these black snow mounds everywhere, it's uniquely Alaska me thinks.

I wear a micro fiber neck gator and routinely pull it up over my face this time of year. If I'm going to get my 10,000 steps a day and lose those 10 pounds of Pacifico/tamale tummy I picked up I gotta go, go, go. Here's part of  a new mural we came across on the side of my old Alma mater , the Maverick Club, I picked out the fish part don't ya know. ....Ultra cool you guys , thanks for helping Slowdotna have some character.

I always had a feeling that being a Pro Guide was easier to get into than get out of...in a lot of ways that's soooo true. I anguished over our decision to retire but feeling better now. The mechanics of letting go works you through the process, closing your web page, getting rid of guide gear...and then the most obvious part of my old identity, guide numbers 003 have gotta go. As my readers at Mile 14 know I'm often critical of the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game. Well, I found something they're really good at....stickers, yup those green and yellow ADF+G football stickers are tuff. So call this Pro Guide Tip # 17 - That bottle you see in the top of this photo is the ultimate solvent called  De-solv-it much better than the Goo Gone everyone has.

It's slow tedious work and there's no way to keep from scratching the ol Minnow 4 a bit. But with a about 7 hours of patience and a few beers as well as two re charges on your blue tooth speaker it's walla....your once again a normal citizen of the planet.

Of course I could have kept my name, maybe even my number for nostalgia sake but you know me, I'm a 100 % guy. When all is said and done my reputation is important to me and I don't want to look like the guy who will go right back to being a revenuer when the King fishery recovers. I'm gonna try to fit in, be anonymous and try to not look like those illegal guides that I've despised for years...we'll see how it goes, should be a story or two in it.

Just like that...done....😢