A tale of two rivers

 It's actually springtime on the Bitteroot River and as I see people towing the boats and the energy surrounding it I'm struck again how different just about everything on the two rivers I know is. You know I like lists so I'll put it into that kind of form or what I've noticed starting with this...

Favorite Tow vehicle on the Root: Toyota Tundra, new.

Favorite tow vehicle on the Kenai: Suburban , old.

Favorite Root boat : rubber or the Clackacraft head Hunter

Favorite Kenai Boat : Willie Predator.

Favorite Root rods : Sage, Winston

Favorite  Kenai rods : Lamiglass, Loomis

Favorite Root reels : Orvis , Abel

Favorite Kenai reels : Shimano, ABU Ambasedeur

Favorite Root bait : none

Favorite Kenai bait : salmon eggs

Favorite Root beer : Chardonnay

Favorite Kenai beer : Miller lite, if it's on sale

Favorite Root shore lunch : humus, celery,  berries and ahhh...Chardonnay

Favorite Kenai Shore lunch :  Pizza Boys delivery

Favorite Root donut : Sticky Buns

Favorite Kenai donut : Twinkies

Favorite Root Musician : Rihanna

Favorite Kenai Musician; Hobo Jim

Favorite Kenai Fish term : Hog

Favorite Root fish term  : nice little fella

Favorite Root attire : cargo shorts, Sims UV blocker ( with name ) 

Favorite Kenai attire : Grunden or Helly Hansen 

Favorite Root foot wear : Teva's or Keen's

Favorite Kenai foot wear : Extra Tuff's

mmmmmmm......and speaking of boats, I lucked out and found just what I wanted and what a value it is. Thank you to my new friends at Elephant Boys in Spokane . For about the same price as I sold my 23 year old guide boat with patches and welds and 3000 hours on the motor I got this beauty brand spanking new.

It's the biggest 16' boat I've ever seen. Wide at the chine and the sides are higher than my guide boat at 32 inches. It has beautiful lines and with a 10 degree V to the pad and a reverse chine it's gonna swim just fine. I wanted something lighter and easier to put on and off the trailer as well as go down the road well. I also wanted the tiller handle as I feel really safe with it and I should , I've run it for thousands of hours.

I started my guide career with Mercury and then went to Johnson ( OMC), then I had the Honda sponsorship and got fired and then moved onto Yamaha. So back to square one with Mercury I'm duly impressed. This motor has the innovation that Mercury is known for and the tiller handle is so ergonomically correct that it's amazing. This motor comes with the low idle troll feature as well as a heated handle...now that's a feature !  I suppose you can see that I just love boats. Years ago MP said she wished I spent more time making the house look nice...in Jeff's world parking this baby in the yard does exactly that !  To quote my old friend Shawn Whitmore when I asked him why he was routinely buying new  boats " I guess I'm just a little queer about boats ".

It's and RH brand boat which is now part of a company named Fish Rite that all salmon anglers are familiar with. I hope you keep an eye on Mile 14, fish pics to come.