Touchdown

I've always thought that when you seem like the days fly by to fast it's because you're stuck in routines and in order to make time go slower you need to change your routines...well, this last 10 days has felt like 2 months to me. First off the Trip on the Kennicott was a long ways from the Love Boat. It was foggy / rainy / cold the entire way but gorgeous in a stark Alaskan way.

If everything in Alaska worked as good as it's Marine Highway system the State would be doing a lot better than it is. They are on time, had a protocol for the virus that seemed to work....but at the same time the service is about work and efficiency and for entertainment you better think ahead of you're using the Alaska State Ferry system. The covid policy was basically stay in your state room, wear a mask when out and stay away from people so....after about three days that room started to feel like the State Penitentiary. With no cell service I had not brought movies for the computer like I should have so it was reading and card game - Scrabble Marathons. MP and I have long talked of getting a motorhome, one of those cool roadtrek conversion vans and after being in a Ships cabin for 5 days we realized we're going to have to rethink that plan.

The ferry is all about work....this guy loaded in Whittier and got off in Cordova, I had no idea you could carry so much with a pick-up truck.

Today is my 67th birthday....yikes. I guess I might be feeling it, my ribs are better from falling out of the bunk bed but my backs sore again from working on the house. So today we're taking a day off and are going to get at the fishing program. I'm just now getting in the groove and will post pics of Hamilton Montana and our new place on planet earth real soon, So far MP and I feel good in spite of it all being a little stressful which is kinda crazy ....for the first time in my life I have absolute nothing to stress over but by jimminy I still seem to find a way.....I gotta stop that and I will. Fish / Hamilton / music next time.....We love you all.

First of firsts

I've had a lot of that lately... Right now I'm writing from Juneau where we're stuck on the boat because of the condition of our planet.  It's raining,  in fact it's been raining since we got to east side of the Whittier tunnel.  I was using my phone as a mobile hot spot but with just one bar on my phone it won't do it and it especially won't do pics so I'm using my tablet to blog for the first time.  I've learned lot about Marine highway travel... Like be careful with the bunk bed ladder,  I'm not hurt anything like I was when I did the Carl Wallenda in Mazatlan climbing down the rocks to grab a stupid fish but my ribs are pretty darn sore from bouncing off the couch,  good thing it's padded,  those rocks at Playa Escondido werent.

I really do have some great pics but they'll have to wait until I get connectivity so instead I'll do one of my favorite things.... A list, of a  few firsts. 

1. Who'd have guessed you can catch herring on bare hook ? Actually a series of small hooks tied with the loop knot.  And these ain't your Cook inlet OK nasty bait herring but beautiful great silver guys about5inches long and I bet they'd be great deep fried. 

2. My first line up of vehicles loading was different in a typically Alaskan way.  2 1969 Ford broncos,  one semi rusted out and the other entirely rusted out.  The laters  clutch was out and they engaged granny low with the starter when they had to.  And the there was the woman and her son with broken leg who were driving a mahindra off road vehicle loaded to the max and had a pretty hung exterior door tied to the roll bar to keep the rain off. 

3. Our first restaurant meal in five months was just fantastic.  A window seat on the Kennicott and Prince William sound with only a few other diners and great clam chowder and ceaser salad... We talked about us instead of business and that night I slept an entire 8 house for the first time in I don't know how long.

4. Artichoke - jalapeno -cheese dip

5. And oh... The first time I haven't fished the world famous in July for 44 years.... And y'all know what?  I'm OK with that.... Moving forward. 

This blog entry was a first for sure.  Finger typing just doesn't work for me.  A part of the creative process for me is the keyboard,  I learned typing in school and it just helps me create.  So,  I'll do pics and real typing on the next mmmmmmm....rainy stop,  Ketchikan.  Hope all my Alaska friends are getting their fish. 

Yahtzee

I guess the pic below makes it official . And it kinda looks like the new owner has a different vision for the place so I guess that's coooool. You can't blame anybody for wanting to have privacy or do whatever they want with what they own....it's just a sad end to an era that had to come. So many people have so many memories from this special place on the planet earth but ya know what they say...nobody can take that away.

So we signed on the dotted line and I have to tell you it wasn't as hard to do as I thought it might be, Then we went right back to work and then celebrated spiritually with our old friend Loren Stewart.  When we bought the place Nikki apologized for having to leave some stuff, like us the job was overwhelming.  So one of the things we found in the house was this collectors bottle of Jim Beam Whiskey....Loren being Scottish of course was a good single malt guy so I guess he just never got around to opening this beauty. He had it for 20 years and we had it for 25 so we toasted him and Nikki, ourselves and the Kenai River with 45 year old Jim...and ya know there must be something to that ageing deal because even though I never drink whiskey it was pretty darn smooth.

But not all is lost ....if any of you get nostalgic I'd bet ya my old friend Keith would let you visit his place and tell Boat Launch stories for the modest price of a 12 pack of Kokanee. Thank's Keith for offering to keep the place a part of the Kenai.

That Big Eddy Jetty sign I built for Loren in 1983 as part of my use fee. It was crazy. I seemed to lose some customers in that day and my working theory is that when I told people to meet me at Big Eddy Jetty they turned down Big Eddy Road where a 100 guides are headquartered and my customers just disappeared from my calendar.....

I was overwhelmed a a week ago wondering if we'd ever get the basement cleaned out...Well we did and my back feels like it . But I think we're actually ahead of schedule and if it weren't for this covid virus we'd be on easy street. For the Alaska Ferry system they want a 72 hour pre check in negative test and no lab in the state ( which are both State labs ) will guarantee a 72 hour return....mmm.....so, we'll see. We did take a break from packing and road tripped to Kasilof to see how the fishing is going. We happened upon Jacque Kosto the Head Ranger here and had a nice visit about the past and the future of this place. Really nice,  he thanked me for my volunteerism and meant it....AND then we got to  witness a guy hook and land a jumbo which was hooked perfectly in the upper lip and then released it to spawn while showing his son how to handle it, so cool !

So we're feeling good...the other day as I worked up my sweat from hand trucking the basement MP said something to me really important. I was hurting ( sciatica ) and she was finding objects of the past and sometime getting a little emotional and we had country music blaring as we stopped to chat a bit about the stress of moving  she hugged me and said " do realize we haven't had a fight in months ? " ....Love ya baby. So, with that story here's my song of the week.

Hope you return to Blog Mile 14....I'll write as long as you read ! But maybe more sporadically until we land.

Road Trip

So what did Otter and the boys at Delta Tau Chi do when things got a little weird and they were on double secret probation ???? Road Trip !  And that's what me and MPeasy are fixing to do, another grand adventure in the life of retired fish guide #003 and soon to be roving pescador.

Owning Stewart's Landing has just gotten to be overwhelming for us. We have at least 30 or 40 beetle killed trees that need to be taken care of and we've been married to the place for the last 30 years. We've not done anything in the summer but work, work, work,....so, we've sold the place. You know me, I'm a 100 % guy so when we discussed all the options the answers were obvious, we just need a clean break and move on to the next chapter.

This place is absolutely beautiful and people who come here will say " how in the world can you leave that place  ?"  But they only see the splashing salmon and the Bald Eagles circling.  They don't see all the responsibility it takes and dealing with an empty house every winter while we snowbird. So, we're down to 2 homes now, muy bueno.

 So, in true Jethronian fashion just this morning as we talked about the difficulty of traveling through Canada in the Covid era MP mentioned a friend knew somebody who had taken the ferry from Whittier to Bellingham WA. I checked the schedule and it was meant to be...a sailing on the same day we have to leave the house at Mile 14. So on July 6th we'll be on the Kennicott with a guitar and a smile headed for a new life.  Then  as soon as it's safe to travel we'll be getting around looking for the next adventure. For all of you Washington and Oregon people we're going there first so when you see that old white truck in your drive way , don't shoot. MP is so excited to get back to her family in Montana so we're going to give that a good try and if it turns out we feel like we've made a mistake , well that's easy to fix....we'll find another place or even move to Alaska.

So it's adios, maybe you all felt the vibe from that song last blog entry....So to all my guide friends from the 1980's I want to thank all of you for inviting me into your fraternity, you know I never made varsity in my life until I met you. For all of you fishing guides that used our spot and I know so well, I wish you all the most success and hope for a bright future for all of you, this is a wonderful lifestyle and I'm with you all the way. The people of Soldotna don't need to look far to see how great their community is....just look at the kids, great place to raise children, thank you. And for all of you along the way, my customers / friends we'll be seeing you, leave the light on please.  We love you all.

As for Mile 14....if you'll bare with me I'm going to evolve this into a fishing and learning blog as I explore the new stuff I'm so excited for. If I had to guess I'll bet I go after Montana trout fishing just like I went after Kenai salmon...full speed. While we're packing I'm to busy to blog, we've got a ton of stuff to do...no , 10 tons actually so I'll take a bit of a writing break but will post as much as I can, when I can...and it'll be fun. I'll definitely blog the trip south on the Alaska Marine Highway.  I hope you come along !

My song this week....well, I wanted something relevant so went to the archives and dug out a Jimmy Buffet song. It's a little rough but if you get through the first verse it smooths out a bit.

Ouch....maybe a bit more than rough. oh well...😎

It's a boy

Yep, he left the world at 31 inches and somewhere around 16 or 18 pounds and for me it was one of the most exciting fish of my life.

If you remember last year on her birthday it took MP exactly 3 minutes into the first troll to catch a jumbo which we released. Well this one was the day after her birthday and bit after  a good 10 minutes into our first troll. We were where we always are, under the Cottonwoods above Eagle Rock with not a boat in sight. The bite was classic, the rod doing it's gentle flatfish thumping and it stops for a second and actually goes a bit slack as ol slimey stops the action and then the hook gets him and down it goes, fast and hard. Unlike some ladies MP muscles it out of the rod holder and with one good jerk the fight is on.

As she tires the fish I try to get one of those cool ' in the water shots ' where the fish is bright and glistening in the emerald glacier water but I guess I'm losing a step or so because this is as good as it got.

MP finally says " put that @#$&* camera away and net this fish " so I do and as soon as it's safely in the net the rod goes slack and the line flies  up loose...and the plug is still in the fish. mmmmmm.....a bit of a debate goes on about how that plug connector came to be open. The pescador says the snap was closed when she put the Flatfish on and it must of come open in the fight. Now I've netted just a few fish and have never seen that but hey, there's a first time for every thing.

It was just the right size. We have a new early run management plan that only counts the ' big fish ' which are the best spawners and allows us to keep Kings under 34 inches. Which we did . It's really ritualistic that first King of the year and of course they are the very best eating if you talk with salmon people. Caught commercially over at the Copper River Delta right now that fish is worth a couple hundred bucks, easy. We like to steak the first one and our meal was the boneless butt pieces simply fried in butter. We shared the rest with salmon loving friends and neighbors, the Alaska way.

 Ain't that a great shot ? I had a guy tell me one time as we were gutting fish " your gutting table has a better view than my hot tub "...

My song of the week is a Guy Clark song that was kinda the signature song of my friend Ben Ellis. When ever we played together he would sing this song and about a year ago the weirdest thing happened. Guy Clark who I think is one of the best song writers ever  died and Steve Earll came out with his tribute album ' Guy' and of course this song was on it and I thought I should work on it...well the weirdest thing happened, I realized I already new it and just didn't know. I started with an A chord because Guy usually used the key of A and then the lyrics just rolled off my tongue just from hearing Ben play it so many times years ago. It's the magic of music, the connectivity with the story.

For this one me and the audio dept. here at Mile 14 went down to the office to record it and I think it turned out just fine, maybe the best one I've done actually...

A buddy of mine texted me last night to remind I was a bit behind schedule on my blog posts and I looked and he was right....yikes, the time goes by and we can do better. I'll try to get one out every week because we're going to have an ultra exciting summer and I want to invite you all to share it with us, please don't give up on Mile 14 if you enjoy it....😎

Eagle Rock

Well I've been  putting some serious time in trying to get that first King Salmon of the season.  Sunday was the 35th anniversary of my friend Les Anderson's 97 1/4 pound world record catch and I've fished May 17th every year since.  It's not that I really expect some magic ju-ju on that day it's more about connectivity with the past, a way to keep it fresh. So, once again no salmon but me and MP and Bill Radke fished pretty hard. It's so strange there's nobody out fishing and I just don't get it. I'm pretty sure there is yet to be a King caught and we almost always have the rumor control rolling by now....and being  the only ones fishing it's kind of hard to decide it if there aren't any fish around or we're just having bad luck...I hope it's the later. Here's a pic of my favorite interception point looking both upriver and downriver on a really important day on the Kenai.

Through the years I've seen just about everything there is to see on top of Eagle Rock. Seagulls , ravens, logs , debris and even boats....but only one other time than Sunday have I ever seen an Eagle on Eagle Rock . He stood still just long enough for me to get the pic.

Years ago I had a photographer out who was doing a story for National Geographic about Alaska's Salmon dependent Eagles. He told me that someday this place would be as famous for the amount of Eagles as it is for the amount of salmon and I get his jist, right now in the lower river they are everywhere.  Yesterday on drift boat Monday Bill and I anchored in the middle of Fall-in-Hole and at one point counted 14 within view. It's so weird, the juveniles spend a lot of time on the ground and the adults are swooping and cackling as they work up to mating. It's also strange that when we do our walks along the river in Soldotna we see Eagles but nothing like here at Mile 14. If I had to guess I'd say that between Mile 14 and Beaver Creek ( 4 miles ) that there are 50 to 75 resident baldies, maybe even a hundred.

So now you're thinking he's talking Eagles because he can't catch a fish...mmmm....and you'd be right about that .

But oh....MP caught the Hooligan. That's another weird thing, when the hooligan hit the river so do the salmon, it's that food chain deal you hear about. I've caught King Salmon as early as May 3rd and to be here at May 19th and no Kings yet or even having not seen Kings rolling is kind of scary. One of the things we know is that if you graph a salmon run it makes a bell shaped curve and a large run starts to build the bell early and a small run builds the bell later. You often hear from salmon people that the run 'is late ' and sometimes it is and I really hope that is the case here now. But sometimes it's just a small run.....keep your fingers crossed for us.

I've been working on a new song and I didn't really think it was yet ' fit for human consumption ' as MP puts it when I'm satisfied but I recorded it last night and even with a flub up or two I kinda like it. Tonight I'll be back practicing in my usual environment...the garage. Every year as soon as it warms up I get moved out so MP can reclaim her dining room....Kinda funny, when I was a kid I'd hear " take that #$&* out to the garage " ....and now I'm a grown man with my own direction in my life and my own dreams and love of making home spun music, but it's still gotta be in the garage, like always 😎

2020

Ya know we're not even half way into the year 2020 and I have to tell ya, of all the years I've wandered the planet this is shaping up to be one of my least favorites . Today I watched highlight clips of a day old Pro Baseball game from Korea....yawn...the only good news is that having cut the cord finally I watched it for free on an OTA ( over the air ) channel. But that free thing can cost ya too, it's cost me my usually rosey view of the world and all the possible outcomes, the mystery of sports ya know, like the mystery of WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I WATCHING...and WHY  !!! jeez, I feel better now.

So on top of all that is this new world you might remember that record or near record snow fall that me and MPeasy came home to. Well, it's put the kibosh on one of my favorite things, the sport of Marine Salvage on the World Famous. I'll explain it as if I were an ADF+G  person doing a power point presentation at a River Board meeting..... Deep snow = lots of snow melt which = lots of water = high river level = deep water = water over you boots when salvaging and difficulty spotting treasure...and oh, that water is cold.  My first good foray down to Fall=in-hole I came back with the inside of my boats washed out. I told MP I had worn the wrong socks and my feet were wallowing around in my Extra Tuff boots and I thought I was getting blisters so I let some water in to cool my feet 😎. I don't know, maybe I'm like that ageing athlete and losing a step or two but I've been up and down the river. Yesterday we went to the run at Eagle rock which has always been ground zero for anchors, the holy grail of the marine salvager....notta...nothing...none. But I did find this hundred dollar rubber net so at least we're in the chips here at Mile 14 for the 2020 season.

But I did learn a valuable thing, don't gamble on the Golf Course with anybody from Kenai Riverbend Resort because it could be the guy who hit these balls across the river. Now the distance is impressive but the accuracy incredible,  they were all ' on the green ' . At one place I found four of them within a 10 foot circle of each other, impressive. I even told one of the owners that our crew here at Mile 14 would try and return a few of those balls but we just don't have ball strikers like that on this side of the river, we're fishermen, don't have time to be no 5 handicapper.  Naturally with the way things are going I wasn't surprised when the pic didn't turn out.

You see that red string looking deal at the bottom of the pic ? Well it's a tag that was put into a King Salmon by the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game. They like to track fish and map spawners and all kinds of things that leads to good management of this wonderful resource. Right on it it says Please return to ADF+G ( address P.O.  box Soldotna Alaska ) . So I figure I'll put it in the boat and return it when I see an ADF+G technician who would love to hear the story form me of where and how it was located and maybe even what it all might mean to a highly experienced and educated 37 year fishing guide 😎

So with our salvage season going the  way of the Seattle Mariners season me and MP just went fishing yesterday and it felt really good . Really good like in a comfort way, that might sound strange to you but that's really how I felt...of course that might have also come from a mini dose of hypothermia that most early spring trips create...but I don't think so...I was with two things I really love.

" Today we fished for King Salmon and they were unaware of it " Chic Kishbaugh 

Happy Mothers Day to all of you out there. My song of the week is for the favorite mother in my life right now...and honey, I'm still trying to be a better kid, I promise.