And Now....

Pink Salmon, I took this pic on the gutting table right here at Mile 14 last night.

Normally a salmon at Mile 14 of the world famous is not news....But....this one is different. This one should not be here and if it should be here it's an entirely new phenomena . You see here on the Kenai our Pink salmon only return every other year, even number years, it's always been that way. Pinks are an interesting salmon as they are the only salmon that doesn't rear in the river, they go straight out to see and return in two years full grown. I certainly have seen a smattering of wayward Pinks, Steelhead and Chums that also aren't Kenai fish but this year in early July there are lots, and I mean lots of these fish being caught. So, whats the problem ? Well, Alaska Fisheries Managers for the benefit of the commercial fishing industry have for years allowed the release of more and more hatchery Pinks ( artificial ) into the ocean to return for sometimes as little as 5 cents a pound. This last Aquaculture season a new record was set on hatchery influence on the oceans, nearly 1 billion, yes billion , were released. Of course now we're in a state wide period of ' low abundance ' of King salmon as the experts at ADF+G say . Many people and common sense will tell you that theres only so much feed for salmon and the more numerous fake Pinks could be starving out our gorgeous King salmon. So they are taking over and with no place to go to spawn and there as so many of them they are showing up everywhere...and now here. So basically they've taken Kings place in the ocean and now they've done the same in our River...hell of a deal. It's so odd, I think I know of what I speak, not only is this the wrong year for Pinks but it's also way too early as on even years they come at the very end of July and into August. There's another problem...they are no doubt also being counted by the sonar as Sockeye salmon which inflates the counts and just simply screws up the science of in season fisheries management... Yikes, what else we got going on is hard to say but this should certainly be big news to our people at ADF+G.

MP's Subaru had to go to Anchorage for a shave and a haircut and I wasn't looking forward to it. The Swan Lake Fire just 27 miles from here is now at 100,000 acres. Here's how it looked at 6:00 a.m.

It really was a surgical strike. We dropped the car off at 8:30 and they had us on the road a little after noon. We were given a a new Subaru Outback to drive, I can't say enough about Continental Subaru in Anchorage Alaska, first class so much that it will make us awful brand loyal. But it did get a little weird in Anchorage....for us going to Costco is always a treat so we were there for the doors to open at ten. When we got there we were astounded do a line of easily 300 people waiting. It was a specific line for just the Air Conditioners that had arrived . They were letting each person by two and it was pandemonium , people were scalping them in the parking lot. I told MP that our current record heat spell would break and sure as heck it has...in fact today the river has crested and it might even rain soon....as we all know, nothing's forever. Here's how the area around Jean Lake looked on the way home, it was 86 degrees.

MP rolled the window down and the smell was amazing. The pictures we took of from the car don't do it justice but they have no stopping signs everywhere and gawking just ain't right in Jeff's world. When we got home the car had ash in all the door and hood cracks... them fire fighters are some tough people and we all owe them a big thank you...by ya a beer next time I see you Ally.

So with all this going on including a fire in interior Alaska that is bigger than all the fires in the lower 48 combined look who was at the 4th of July parade. Well played dud and we get your message, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

As guide # 003 is no longer for hire I had to recommend a friend for a King Charters to some wonderful customers / friends of  mine the Shepards and the Hangers. It was not the best day as the water is just now starting to clear and get normal... I hope you guys had a great day anyway and I wish I'd been at the launch to help with the fellowship part of  the adventure. Here's pic of them I took from the Minnow 4 , great people who know how to live.

By now you might be wondering about the fishing and maybe even getting to like my weekly ' he didn't catch a fish ' pic so I figure this week I'll cough up not one but two of them...and yes, we didn't catch a fish so hhhhhheeeerrrreeeee's Johnny... two pics you only see in Alaska, the last is the view as I slow trolled the tide only looking like I knew what I was doing.