It's always something

 And I thought Alaska was a place with a lot going on....maybe it's just coincidence but this Montana deal is full of it, dynamic lightning storms that always result in a fire that's treated as routine in these parts. Then there's the accompanying toad strangler as Geno would say, if you've ever wondered what a one and a half inches of rain looks like in 15 minutes here's a  short video. Now in Mexico we've seen some serious rain but not like this and in Alaska the rain just pitter paters around but lasts for days....and I mean days.

In fact as I type this morning the world famous is experiencing another flood watch. The Snow River Glacier dumped ( the Jokulhaup )\which is does routinely and with another 5 days of rain in the forecast the Kenai River is sure to reach at least minimum flood stage. Now in Soldotna I've dealt with that many a time, I've worn raingear for 27 days in a row, I've had it rain so long that I never had to wash the boat for 3 weeks....but I ain't never had it run in the house like here in the Big Smokey Sky country.

And how does that work....well, just the other morning me and MPeasy were driving up the hill to our house when a red pick up with flashing lights passed us and Mp said " guy sure is in a hurry " . And I said  " yup he sure is. looky there ".

That was just the start of the show. Turns out our house was the perfect place to watch from. it is literally only about 5 blocks away right up into our mountain view. Here's a look see without tele.

So for me it was kinda the Helena version of watching Yellowstone being filmed over in Ham Bone. I got on my bike and humped the hill for a closer look. I was impressed with the industry of fire fighting. We easily had 30 trucks and another 20 police blocking traffic as well as two helicopters and a four engine jet that brought the red stuff that put the final touches to the 18 acre fire which nobody knows how it started.  

Now how do I say it...mmmmm.....well I've known a few firemen in my life and I've never met one that don't drive a new pick up truck, ya know what I mean.  So I figure with all the watching, preparing , radio calling and nut scratching there had to be about 1.4 million in payroll hanging around.

But I gotta say , those guys are good and there was no doubt that fire was going out. The State Forestry people got in the air first and the guy driving that Huey pretty much put the fire out single handedly. He flew that thing like a piece of his body . He never hovered just kept moving and swinging the load so the water would disperse in a line . He made a trip from a local lake about every 7 minutes, it was like watching choreography.  He had the bucket on a short leash so it wouldn't swing much, watching a man and his trade is a beautiful thing.....thank you firefighters.

So, being a little stressed from all the natural disaster avoidance me and my running mate decide to hit the links and we drive back to our new favorite golf course in Elliston. We hit our first shots right to the edge of the Blackfoot River where MP notices that the chokecherries are ' gorgeous ' and perfectly ripe. So as we tee up for the next hole out comes a real Bear. Now this guy is about a 300 pounder as ol retired guide 003 has seen a few bears. He's acting like he owns the place because of course he does.  Now the left side of my brain said ' he's only a black bear ' and the 69 year old side of my brain said ' you need to quit doing stupid stuff all the time '....so we decided to not play through. we were the only people around and well it was time to make an adult decision. I left a note in the money box and Tom the owner invited us to another round on him. 

With the air quality index in the red and me being an asthma guy we got up Monday morning and decided to exit stage left. We found nice clean air at our new favorite casino, Northern Quest in Spokane where I won 20 bucks. Yup, we spend gas, food lodging and of course a few Pacifico's for twenty bucks..  But the highlight of the trip was Kootnei Falls in the very Northwest corner of Montana , very close to both Idaho and Canada.

What a gorgeous spot. You can feel and hear the power of the water. It's a mile and half hike to the suspension bridge which of course we had to walk. My only other experience with a swinging bridge is in Puerto Vallarta where they have everyday suspension bridges over the river that are rusty and  well, mexican. But they're only 15 feet above the water....now this baby is tall , long and sways pretty darn good. Perfect . 

And the views....man oh man....

So Team X will be in Mazatlan October 25th.  I'll have pics of Day of the Dead celebration and I'd bet dollars to donuts a few slimey's . I'll get a couple Mile 14's out before but please come back...I'll get inspired by something more often I'm sure....😎

Look for weird and you will find it

 Once me and MPeasy found the elevation temperature trick we've been going up and over the divide routinely, it's always 10 degrees cooler. So we get our jugs filled up at the 4500 ft  point with nice fresh spring water and then we looky see.  I was looking for moving water to shoot another song video like the one at the end of this Mile 14 story and what do you think we stumbled upon ?

Elliston is small and the hometown of an old friend in Alaska. I've driven by it hundreds of times in my life and never stopped to looky see. Right next to the semi-world famous Blackfoot river is this golf course that nobody knows about. They actually call it a green course because what it is 3 or 4 acres of greens with no fairways, just greens and then three or four tee boxes with different angles to hit from. What a great idea. Here's apic of the club house and then the course from about the 3/4 extent of the distance.

So the Pro's from Dover are ready to tee off. I take the first shot and it's maybe 70 yards. Having not golfed for a while I tell MP I'm gonna hit a 9 iron and take some off of it....well, that baby was about as good a wedge/9 iron shot I've ever seen and flew straight over the green and across the river at the irrigation pump....this  'green course ' has no rough, just forest, river and rocks and snakes. 

So MP Chili Dips her first shot and then devises the perfect strategy for this hidden gem we've found, keep it on the ground so she putts and putts and gets a five to my snowman.....mmmmm.....here's pics of a couple fine tuned athletes.

So after that first hole I had to get to doing what I like to do in most all things in life....win. I got the giggles twice , once when my shot was way to hard but the role was stopped by a water hose that gave me a huge assist.... I finished with a 47 and MP with a 54...and we're going again real soon and I expect to lower my score to 45 or so now that I know the course. I lost 4 balls and had a horse fly draw blood. Great day.

Elliston has maybe 25 houses and one Bar.  We stopped for a couple Rainers to go which is kinda unique to Montana. I've always thought that Mazatlan runs on beer but this State of Montana can give them a run for their money. They might not have the beer iced and will bag with more ice if you want like Mexico but they do have the very largest selection of craft beers at the ' Man Store ' that I've ever seen....There are at least 7 breweries in Helena. SO, where was I going with this ???? oh....we got the road cokes and then took one of those short cuts home that I'm good at finding.  Yup, the road up and over Mullan pass was gorgeous but the torrential rains we've had made the road almost unpassable. One stretch of road to a whistle stop called Austin took us one hour to go six miles. But damn, it's gorgeous although a little hard on MP's new car. I reminded her it's an S.U.V. and we were just doing a little of that sport stuff.

Fishing ? yup, Tom and I got to Hauser Damn right at sun up. I had two rods set up for a slip sinker deal and a Gamakatsu # 2 octopus hook for the worm needle that Glenn taught me. So I taught Tom and after changing weight for just the right life like drift to go with our life like threaded worm we were on fire...We caught 20 trout in about an hour that were all 2 to 3 pounds. We could have filled up the smoker but as we had a nice little hike to the place we just released promising ourselves that next time we'll have a back pack with a cooler for fillets. I like the catch and release fishing of course but sometimes when the fishing is really good it gets little weird so we bid adios on that adventure .

As were hiking out Tom told me had fished in Montana his whole life and never caught one fish right after another like this morning....I  replied " of course you haven't, you've never had a guide before "

I've been working on Hobo Jim songs...it makes me feel good and I know he'd like having his memory kept alive that way. If any of you like this kind of story book music you can get all his music at Amazon.com...His wife, his family and friends would appreciate it .. This song is kinda close to my heart, Alaska salmon fisheries are changing like all things in life. The once famous catches of Kenai Kings are gone and fishing closures are hoping to protect the left overs...In the day I fished 90 trips a season, my last year I worked 38...I feel for everybody....Love and miss ya Jim . 😎❤

Walleye School and another Alaska list

 Ya know when I was a kid with an old wood boat and more courage than brains I don't really remember learning a new fishery as a difficult thing to do....you just went out and did it. Well this Wally deal, learning the fine arts of catching the best consumables in the state is kinda humbling me. But I've learned a lot, I got me the harnesses you need and all the right electronics and bait. We spent a couple days camping at the Lake with our friends Bob and Dana and I had a few breakthroughs, and yup, I finally caught a couple that were a bit bigger . I caught two like this.

Keith being about as fish goofy as anybody I've ever met has walked me through a lot of the basics and introduced me to the Worm Blower. Never in my life would I imagine that someday I'd be stabbing a night crawler with a hypadermic  needle and giving him .75 pounds of air pressure to help him float., ya gotta have a nice floaty wiggler for the Lindy  Rig.....and then I met this guy.

I was lucky enough to camp right next to Glenn from " over the hump, in Pahrump "  Nevada, one hell of a guy....another great fisherman who had everybody awestruck with his killing power. After the warm up he dialed me in on the Night Crawler needling when you need just the right presentation. He says ya just can't have an old in active balled up do nothing worm.  Ya gotta thread him onto the line which does two thing's, it makes for a life like look and it hurts so bad the worm really squirms for a while.  So you know me, it was off to the worm threader store and bought one for me and  all my close friends, didn't have to spend much money.  Here's a pic to prove it really exists as I kinda doubted it myself for a while..

So if you acquaint this learning Wally's with any school I'd guess I'm in about 6th grade right now....just starting to grow hair ya know.  It's a weird problem to have but one of our biggest problems is the darn trout, they are everywhere. I'm here to tell ya these lakes are chuck full of them and we kinda wade through them to get at Wally. Yikes.....this one that Bob has is real typical.

The first night we slept in the camper our camping future was in doubt. That damn bed is so hard I couldn't stand up straight for three days . But we found a couple of comfort mats at Walmart in the pool floaty dept for 5 bucks a piece and walla another layer did the trick.....the problem though was that with the stock hard  cushion with an added inch of temperpedic topper along with the comfort mats that every time I sat up in bed to go in the middle of the night I knocked my melon pretty good into the ceiling......Here's our camp and MP and Broda Bob cooking breakfast....which just had to come during the best time to Wally fish.....mmmmmmm.

So I put a Kenai River Guides Association sticker on the ol Minnow 6 , I think I've got the liberty to advertise for my buddies as well as promote the overall sport. I got this outfitted for sure. Garmin plotter / finder and GPS. Cannon downriggers...man, that's a beautiful thing . Here she is at rest in front of our camp where we had to pay 5 bucks to use the dock. That Lady that ran a place called Stewart's Landing in Alaska would hit me for twenty bucks and bottle of chardonnay.

It's hot here. I've always thought there had to be a way to beat the heat and my plan worked.  Yesterday morning we spent a few hours watching MP's nieces and nephews display their  4-H projects, steers and pigs....the pigs are more fun, I liked the way they kinda cane em to get them to walk in front of the judges.....but I digress....By the time we were out of there it was 96 degrees. We love to picnic so we picked up Chinese from Panda Express then bought some Coors and headed up to the Continental Divide, 15 miles away. We went to the top of the top and as we climbed the temp fell and fell until we were lunching in 84 degree weather with this view.... I was kinda proud of myself .

And the Bass....well I'm a little ahead of 6th grade with them. I go to the pond most mornings. I get there right at sun up and though this is a busy Park I'm alone for the first two hours and usually catch 5 to 15 fish. I love it. It's quiet. I'm alone . I'm tricking new fish. It's good. Here's a sun up and of course ol slimey so ya know I ain't B.S.ing. 

Being the original ' what's worth doing is worth over doing ' guy you won't believe the garden we have. We've been picking these guys for two weeks now and can't keep up. We've had Zucchini fried, fritters , bread , salad.....I know we shouldn't let them get so big but at a certain stage they grow and amazing half a foot a day. So, any of you Helena peeps that read Mile 14 that might want squash just give a holler and I'll deliver, no kidding.

And in my rare but inciteful political action section of Mile 14 I  gotta post two pics with two statement's , you decide which goes with which...I don't know but I just read that Exxon reported a 17 Billion, yes billion in profits in the last quarter which amounts to $ 2,800.00 a second...and I don't think they're Democrats. And, I'm with them. 

AND NOW...last Mile 14 I did ' Things I miss about Alaska. This edition...

Things I don't miss about Alaska

1. Living in Rain gear...

2. Fish politics....

3. Deet. ..we were in the Big Hole country last week and the locals thought the bugs were bad....na, nodda

4. those @#%& eagles screeching outside my bedroom window in the morning.

5. Humpies

6. October

7. ' free postage does not include Alaska and Hawaii '

8. Red eye flights

9. King Salmon shortages on going

10. Howard Woodford

 

On this Quest

 that was a pretty quick two years...You see, on this day two years ago me and MP off loaded from the Alaska Ferry Kennicott and next thing you know we were in an old white truck driving through Saturday morning traffic on the interstate being passed by Subaru after Subaru. I was a little freaked out. Then we hit Moootana and stopped for a selfie at a rest stop and it was 100 degrees. I was really freaked out. Then we got to Missoula and my truck made a huge puddle in the street....I was Ultra freaked out....it turned out to be the air conditioner's normal ice build up melting, mmmm...man did I have a lot to learn. I traded this view

For this view, sunrise from our house

I'm going to do one of my lists in a bit but first I want to tour the state. We've been everywhere and around here there's a lot of 'everywhere'....these were just the last few weeks when we ventured to central Montana to see Ackley Lake where they put Tiger Muskie in to eat all the suckers and now it's a Montana big fish secret place. 45 incher caught the week we were there. Here's our set up, pretty sweet eh ?  We're still working on the bed situation, although it makes a huge bed it's harder than a Mike Tyson left hook. 

Ackley Lake...to semi-quote Chick Kishbaugh " I fished for Muskies and they were unaware of it. But a gorgeous 3000 acre lake in the middle of....no where.

The closest town is Hobson which for a small one is really nice. I gotta buy mooo juice for my Danish in the morning and the it's just killing the lady at the little store....she's just got to finally ask where we're from. The right answer is anywhere besides California and we have a good laugh with her. I ask if typically a person can get one of the 17 camp sites on a week day and she tells me there is nothing ' typical ' about  Ackley Lake, or Hopson for that matter.  Even the Elevator is nice in Hobson

Then ya got Geraldine on the way north to the Big Mo. The vista's are incredible and when they built the mountains they decided to just stop half way up. Weird.

Here's pic of me and MPeasy in Fort Benton where they say Montana started...I don't know about that but the story they tell of ' Ol Shep ' who waited his whole life along the railroad tracks for his owner who had died to come back will bring a tear to your eye. Every town's got a claim to fame, I traded the World record King Salmon for Ol Shep......jeeez  Louise. That would be Ol Shep in the background.

You tell me....what does the Hotel at Boulder Hot Springs remind you of ?  I'll give you a hint. Red Rum , Red Rum , Red Rum, Red Rum....Still ain't got it ?  OK, another hint " here's Johnny".

ahhh, the OverLook....Don't quit reading I'm doing a list and then I'll finsih off another exciting chapter of Mile 14 with a song.

Things I miss about Alaska.

1. Sound Off :  KSRM's daily call in radio program.  The content is really drivel and of course the same people call in all the time, BUT, it can be entertaining and sometimes semi educational. AND when Bob Bird and Jesse  Borkman go to moralizing the world there's something strangely rewarding in saying " I can't listen to that #%&*! anymore " and then turning it off..

2. Salmon :  I know, I caught enough of them for a lifetime so it's not that part...I guess it's just the value of it, the culture of it....it was my whole life. I miss handling it, eating it, talking about it....all of it. Sure could use a fillet or two if anyone can help.

3. Trusty Hardware : The worlds largest selection of Qwikfish Lures is a beautiful thing... And man oh man I could use me some large spools of line and a couple 3 dollar head lamps...Oh, and some discounted P-Line Lazer Minnows....

4 : Hobo Jim.....Damn that broke all of our hearts.

5 : Watching MP flit around in her greenhouses in the morning with her robe on.

6 : The Arthur clan and all our  friends .

7 : Being Alaskan....I'll stop with that one but you know being an Alaskan ( and I guess I always will be ) has a certain shtick to it. It's being a bit different, a bit independent, a wanderer , a risk taker...an Alaskan.

Lately I've learned a lot about ageing, looked it right in the eye. I have new hearing aids, gonna be 69 years old in a few days. My friends are dying. But this song that Toby wrote for Clint is my mantra. Ken Smith told me he's felt that way for years, it's the only way...there's only one direction and that's forward . That's why I'm here typing as I gaze out at the Little Belt mountains on the two year anniversary of our exit and then entrance from one life to another. Just another refuge searching.

Ooooooop's, we're baaaaack !

 Well, I have to apologize, that's the longest I've ever gone in my years as lead writer at Mile 14 without a submission. I'd tell ya the dog ate my homework or that I had a baby and have been busy but....well, some of that is true. MP is in her 3rd week of knee replacement rehab. It's kind of a teamwork deal so it has been busy. This surgery has been like a miracle. We thought her first knee went really well but this one is incredible, she's off the cane now and real soon we'll be hiking and talking and holding hands just like always. It's good....And then Ernie drove over to fish and visit for a while and I learned a lot about time management and this new retired life of mine....I can still put em to sleep..

And fishing, well we've done a little for sure. Now this ain't the biggest Wally in the ocean but It's my first ever and without Ern showing me how to rig the bouncer to let the bait trail and to find them on the machine ( without just crowding next to the best boat on the Lake ) I'd say it's an achievement and the start to great things and dining. It looks to me like we're going to have to get busy. As good as the white meat looks on those Wally's we're gonna need 42 of them per meal.

I was in need of leadership and Keith gave me some good advice....he said it's like salmon fishing, if you can use bait do it because it's always better with bait. Although their brains are miniature it's not hard to tell real live squirming worms and leeches from plastic. So me and Ern go for a hike after a nights rain and the crawlers are every where, and free. Fish on, all kinds. And I learned you need to keep them healthy and fresh, ol slimey likes his wigglers wiggling .

Of course those are Big mouth Bass, I like that better than ' largemouth Bass ' . We also caught us a bunch of little panfish called Pumpkin seeds. People say they're excellent table fare and the volume equation is about 87 per meal....no worries.

That trout that Ern is holding was caught on the groceries as well. Mmmmm I began to notice as the week went on that after spending an entire social security check on crankbaits and plugs we ain't caught a fish on them lately...OK, it's the simplest of explanations - with all fishing you only catch them on what you're fishing with and where you're at. Great wisdom huh ?

And even Tom Beneventi can catch em when you got the right fresh wiggler in the right place. I didn't mean to infer that he's not a great fisherman, but you decide. How many fishermen do you know who's favorite lure is a Daredevil ( I didn't even know they still built them ) and when he casts the Daredevil it looks a bit like Bruce Jenner throwing the Shot Putt.

I hate to use up the ' we didn't catch any fish...but...) photo's but we are getting some incredible nature. Yup, the Deer will climb a mountain to drink and the Eagles here are to far from the dump to commute so they fish pretty darn good.

It's been rainy and on those days me and Ern just kinda ' get around' . I wanted to go to Toston on the Missouri where my Dad used to take me trout fishing. We would go to a place where there was a big round spring with crystal clear water and a bank lined with watercress. It was about 100 feet around and the outfall ran under the railroad tracks and then just a short distance into the river. We would see large trout that had found their way into the spring and were impossible to catch as the water was so clear that you just couldn't trick them. Well after a absence of 50 years it was difficult to find and was farther down the rutted road than I thought but we finally found it...the area is just gorgeous and the geology kind of unique.

So I tell Ern " yahoo we found it ".....there's sign...And the sign tells you about the 1995 ' Big Springs Spawning Channel Project " .....gawd...no big clear watered hole. Just a channel exactly one back hoe bucket wide that runs parallel to the river for fifty feet or so with a kind of oily looking swamp water effect. Ahhhhh, to improve on mother nature, genius. Oh and you can kind of tell by the sign and the over all use or lack of at the area that the project is just a stunning success, or not.  There ain't a sign in Montana safe , the shot gun hole is the best on this particular sign.

Oooooop's , I told myself I'd quit being so critical of fisheries managers, I gotta relax that deal....but it's just sooo easy. Sorry Montana F.W.P. , ( fish wildlife and parks ) 

On the business side of Mile 14 : I'm flattered that so many people are entertained by my ramblings. I'm really sorry the blog languished a bit bit I WILL get 2 post's a month done . Ern is leaving in a couple days and me and MPeasy are going on a maiden voyage of our new Cab over camper. It should be blog worthy as we're either going to love camping or she'll go crazy in the close quarters with me and stab me with a butter knife while sleeping....guess we'll see.

By Catch

 Spring has been slow to come here in Moooontana. But finally we got us the storied non freezing nights and 60 to 70ish days so we just got done with our first two days of chasing. Every fishery has a rumor mill and I'm sure this one's alive and well, I'm just not connected to the coconut telegraph here like I have been in Mexico or  Alaska. I just gotta meet the right people, the guy that knows the guy that knows....So in my search for Wally's, the southern Halibut I have to rely on what Keith tells me and You Tube video's.  I start on a point, 12 to 16 ft. of water . I got live bait and the Berkley flicker shad as well as a Hot an Tot and Medium diver Chartreuse plug. We troll 3 minutes and one of the 4 rods goes off.  The fish is heavy and fights pretty good at first and then kinda lays down like I've been told the Wally will do. I'm excited, my first Wally .....turns into a trout,, but a nice one.

mmmm....it's on the chartreuse Wally plug so I cut out the Hot N Tot and put on another Wally plug. In another ten minutes MP has another but bigger trout to the boat. So, I change out once again and now I have all plugs out one of which has been hanging in my garage peg board for 25 years that a customer gave me because it said ' salmon on it. The third fish comes to that plug and I'm kinda dumbfounded, do you suppose these trout will eat anything ?

So having 3 or 4 to the boat and several misses in less than an hour guide # 003 decides to take my own advice that I offered to the young guys time and time again on the world famous " do what you do and always trust your own intuition "....So, next thing you know I'm salmon fishing again. MP and I decide to run just three rods ( in this place you're allowed 2 a person , I know that seems strange but what isn't around here ) and I'm pulling all salmon plugs, Hot Shots , Mag Lips , Tadpolly's and my best catcher turns out to be a gold Wiggle Wart just like the one I snipped off Herb Good's line at Stewart's Landing Boat Launch 40 years ago.  ( and that's another story ) . As the years went on we used them for trout when the beads and flesh flies weren't working so I shouldn't have been surprised. And lucky me, I got boxes full of them.

So eventually we get down to fishing just two rods and have many trout to the boat that are 3 pounds. Even on the world famous that would be a pretty good two hours of fishing. Of course we all know MP being the original mind wanderer is usually only good for a couple of hours so we're getting ready to call it quits and have a beer at the 19th hole. Here's another typical.

As I'm putting the gear away a boat pulls up kinda close and wants to talk, get a fishing a report. I tell them they gotta get closer because I left my earing aids at home. They've got a brand new boat and when I tell them I don't have the foggiest idea what I'm doing they say they don't either. But I report there seems to be a lot of fish around and they're only down about 10 feet and they love Alaska salmon lures. I offer to give them some but they say they got a Qwikfish or two and some Lazy Ikes. 

Being a little compulsive ( I like that description a lot better than using the word ' anal ' ) it takes me a bit to clean all the lures off and put them nicely away, dried off of course. Then I gotta lock the rods into the rod holders so they sweep back behind the boat and look cool when I run back. Just as I leave I look over and snap this pic with the telephoto....they catch a  nice trout and I watch them release it. I idle within ear shot and tell them I'll have the pics for sale in the lobby this evening.....they say " we'll see you then "......this is kinda fun.

And it's BEAUTIFUL