Disclaimer: Many fish were killed during the compilation of this journal. Note to others: At no time were any daily limits or possession limits exceeded during this trip. All fish caught were processed, vacuum-packed and frozen by the start of my next fishing session. My fish go in the freezer immediately. All fish kept and retained were legally hooked in the mouth. I don't keep snags and I don't let others keep them if I see it happen. Admittedly, I do foul-hook fish on occasion, but that's sockeye fishing. But I release all foul-hooked fish. So, go complain and accuse somebody else...maybe a Frenchy or a German somewhere...

KENAIDREAMS.COM

Tues 7-3

Day 1. Got up at 5:30am this morning to get ready. Got in late last night from flight from PDX, so I’m on a short sleep cycle already. Now it’s time to head out again to ANC on another long flight. As I write, I’m currently descending into Seattle, with a view of the Cascades out my window.

Weds 7-4

Spent the night at Wayne Manor up on the hillside in Anchorage. Went out shopping this morning for supplies for the cabin. Loaded up the truck this morning. The back is completely full – futon, gear bins, water jugs, coolers, etc. Showered and then had breakfast with Wayne and Abigail. Helped Wayne to try and start the green F-150. Never did get it going while I was there. Finally, said my good-byes, hopped into the truck, and headed down to the cabin. Stopped in Kasilof at the MH storage and popped the battery in the MH and fired up the engine. Good sign that it started up right away. Called Bob D. and asked him for a ride back to the MH storage place so that I could move the rig over to the property. After getting my ride, I took the MH up to Soldotna to fill it with water, oil change, and to get groceries. Then headed back to the cabin. Spent some time assembling the futon couch – for my first futon sleep session in the cabin.

Thurs 7-5

Up at 9am. Looks like rain today. Decided against running to town today – no need to go for a few days. Sorted out most of my bins of gear. Prepped my backpack for the upcoming halibut trip. Burned some cardboard boxes once the weather started drizzling a bit. I always like to have a bit of a drizzle when I need to have a big fire. Anyways, I made a nice fire, moved some rocks around and built up the fire pit. Read my book a lot during various breaks in the action. Generally easy day today.

Fri 7-6

Got up early for the halibut charter. As I got ready to leave I had a key/padlock failure with my driveway chain that cost me 10 minutes. Had to drive a little bit faster to get to Homer on time. Went out on the Born Free with Captain Marvin and deckhands Natalie and Chelsea. We fished the middle of the inlet today, lined up with Augustine and Iliamna. I sucked hard. Caught a dogfish, a grey cod, and a skate before pulling up some chicken ‘butts. Two small ones today for me. Weather was great today – sunny, totally flat calm seas. I think I saw only 1 whitecap all day long. Saw a bunch of otters, but no whales today. Hit Coal Pt after the trip – with a whopping 12lbs of meat. Ouch. Got me an illegal passing ticket from the State trooper on my drive home. Later at home, I stopped by Jerry’s and scored some points by helping him unload his truck full of gear. Rumor is Stewart has met a lady and will be moving into town this year. Checked the sonar counts – so far only 3k days are going on at the river. No reason to break out the fishing gear yet. Save the arm for a few days. My left elbow (bursitis) is still twinging a bit anyways.

Sat 7-7

Slept in again until 9:30am. Headed into town today. Checked out the fishing hole. There are a few rigs parked in the lot, but not too many yet. Hope it stays that way, but I know it won’t. There were four folks down fishing, but no sign of any catching going on yet. The river is still fairly low – lots of gravel showing along the banks. All the walkways have been rebuilt – and restored after the nasty ice flood from winter. Took a shower, went to Fred Meyers and got a microwave, shelf, and coat-rack. Filled up the shower bags with water. Next, need to start on moving and sawing up the various woodpiles around the property.

Ended up moving lots of wood today. Rocks, too. Got about 15% of the woodpile moved away from the cabin today. Ever since the Caribou hills fire started, I’ve had a paranoia about having that pile of wood so close to the cabin. There are quite a few downed trees around the property this year, due to the high winds of the winter storms. Need to get those picked up and cut up, too. There are many dangerous spots in the yard right now.

It has been very windy today. I’m still pondering a fishing trip, but with the low sonar counts – there is not enough of a chance to catch one to really interest this broken down body of mine. I’m trying to have a better discipline this year, so that I will still be in good shape during the peak of the run. Can’t throw all of my pitches during spring training this year. I’ve decided that if the river counts are low on Monday, I’ll probably take the pickup to town to have it worked on.

Saw 2 moose on the way to Homer Friday morning. Have seen a total of 3 eagles so far. Richard aka "Frenchie" came by with three of his paintings today to show me. He thinks he has them sold. He told me how our local neighbor (name withheld) is trying to build a road through part of his property, illegally, in order to establish access to a parcel of land that they want to flip for a profit.

Worked outside until 10:30pm this evening. Needed a shower, but the shower bag didn’t heat up much today. I need to try and manage them better.

Sun 7-8

Up at 9:15am this morning. Turned on the heater to get the chill out of the cabin. Had some misty rain overnight – ground is quite wet. Started out the day by building a ramshackle coffee table. Noticed my skillsaw is struggling...needs a new blade? Started another cardboard fueled campfire this morning. Had to work hard to get it going since the cardboard had gotten a little damp overnight. Finally had to gather up some paper towels to use as an igniter. Made toquitos for lunch. Moved wood for awhile. The pile is about 40% moved away from the cabin now. There is a big horsefly that constantly circles me while I’m working outside. Need to eliminate him. Jerry yelled at me to come over and help him move his gear around. I was only sorta helpful this time. I didn’t try too hard – needed to send him a message. Going to BBQ some steak this evening. The afternoon turned out sunny today. Moved the shower bags around early this morning to gather sunlight – but they’ve still yet to heat up very much. Checked sonar count – Kenai up to 5k today – not many, but more than yesterday.

Mon 7-9

Up early today at 7am. Made some breakfast then had to hit the outhouse two times with the runs. Got dressed and grabbed a muffin and headed to town. Stopped for a nice hot shower. Headed over to Midas. Made an appointment for Tuesday at 8am – instead of waiting around in line all morning. Went over to Fred Meyers again and spent money. Got some food and a new padlock set. Bought gas. Went over and watched people fishing at the river. Half a dozen folks fishing today. One guy actually had a couple on while I was watching, and someone else was actually cleaning a fish. That’s a good sign. Went down and looked at Marvin’s hole. It appears to be ruined. The flood has moved out all of the surrounding gravel and left it full of mushy clay all around. Need a shovel to fix that up. I went down and fished for an hour without any action at all. Saw one guy down near the corner land one. I finally moved down to the #1 hole for awhile. In the next 30 minutes I lost 2 mouth-hook wiggle-ons that I failed to get a good hook-set on. Then I fouled another off. A few minutes later, I lost another good fish. A few more fish were caught up and down the bank. Finally, I hooked a bit of a dinky and landed him. Well, I won’t be skunked for the year anyways. I was 1 for 5 at that point. Got 2 more fish-ons and lost another good mouth hook. Landed and released a decent dolly v. Later, I landed a second fish for the day and called it quits. It was a real nice buck, too. Large fishy! Ended up fishing about three hours and went 2 for 9. Not bad considering there aren’t many fish in the river – just got lucky on my timing today and hit a little spurt coming through.

Headed back home. Unloaded the truck and worked inside the cabin for awhile. There was a quick 15 minute downpour awhile ago, lots of water coming down. It has lightened up since then.

I like my little racket-like bug zapper. I feel like Emperor Palpatine – making those bugs explode with blue force lightning.

Tues 7-10

Up at 6am. Headed to town early. Took shower & did laundry. Dropped the rig off at Midas. Spent about $200 on maintenance and repairs. Went back and finished laundry. After, I went to McD’s for lunch. Then went to the fishing hole. Started in about 11am. It was sprinkling a bit when I got there. Only 2 folks on the river when I got there, and they left soon after. I tickled a fish on my 5^th cast at the #1 hole. That was all the action I had in 2 hours of casting.

Back at the cabin I took a much needed nap. Started up a fire around 4pm. It got rained out a 4:20pm. Dad called and sounded excited about going fishing soon. Saw Stewart’s cabin advertised in the local real estate magazine. He listed it at $70k. Good luck. I wonder what my place is worth then?

Went back up to fish some more in the evening. Saw Marvin’s car in the lot. Stopped and talked with Chim for awhile on the trailhead. Went down and talked with Marvin awhile. His brother Jerry was with him. Jerry somehow caught 2 while us “masters” got nothing. Go figure. I left soon after when Marvin left. Went home, but while driving home, I was thinking about returning for an early am session. What happened to that fishing discipline of just a few days ago? Another case of fish fever this year?

Weds 7-11

Set the alarm for 4:20am. Got up at 9:15am though. At least part of me has some sense. Bunny called this morning – and that’s what actually woke me up that early. Decided to make a day trip to the fishing hole in the MH. Loaded up and arrived around 12:30pm. Went and fished awhile. Went 0 for 3. Went back to the rig and took a powernap. Back to the river for an evening session 7-9:30pm. Absolute nothingness all evening. Skunksville for the 11^th. Ouch.

Joe-Dad came down tonight. Later, he showed up at the evening fishing session and watched me do nothing for awhile.

Decided to overnight at the fishing hole. I want another fish before going home.

Got a call from Wayne – Richard’s girlfriend passed away this evening. Very sad news.

Thurs 7-12

Joe is headed out on a halibut trip today.

I went down fishing in the morning. Spent 3 hours without even a hookup.

Joe’s trip was successful – 44lbs of halibut and a nice 25lb king. Awesomeness.

Fri 7-13

Up early and at the river at 5am. It’s starting to get to that point in the month when the fish should be appearing. I fished for 3 hours with only 2 hookups. And that made me the champ of the morning. Fish are definitely late again this year. Only four people fishing on July 13^th and no fish? Ouch. Man, Rod and Luke and Dad are coming soon, and I don’t have many fish to brag about yet.

Sat 7-14

I predict fish will be in today. Up early again. Had some cereal for breakfast – maybe that change will change my fishing luck. Saw a record 6 moose on the way to the fishing hole. Joe drove behind me a few minutes and said he saw 7. I guess 1 ran out in front of him that I didn’t see. Got down to the river and headed to the #1 hole. Nearby were a couple of guys already fishing. As I make my way into the water they ask me a silly question, “Is it slow?”  I laugh to myself and respond sarcastically, “I don’t know, you’re the one’s who are fishing here…”

Around 5:30am I switch spots with Joe and on my 2^nd cast I get a self-hooker on the flyrod. It took line a couple of times and stayed tucked into the current – holding fast for a long time. I finally brought it in and turned its head – and Joe scooped it up for me. Good hook, buried deep in its jaw. After that we never saw anymore action up or down the beach. We retired back to the cabin after that for naps and generally loafed around the rest of the afternoon.

After loafing during the afternoon, I got fired up to go fishing again. Convinced Joe to head back for another session around 6pm. But once again we got nothing.

Waited at the hole for Wayne to show up. He made it in after 9pm. We did another short session without success before heading back to the cabin for cribbage and sleep.

Sun 7-15

Up about 5am. Got ready to go fishing. Had a nice sunrise this morning – made it hard to see driving in though. Got to the river and started at the rockhole. Hooked one in about 15 minutes but it was a foulball. Moved around and hooked one at the #1 hole just as Wayne and Joe showed up. After that we collectively got nothing. Wayne and Joe are currently bad luck. Later we headed over to King Salmon Inn for breakfast. Joe has finally decided he can’t stand Sal’s anymore. Can’t blame him, they’ve gone from bad to awful. Back to the cabin for naps. Sunny and hot today. Shower bag is actually getting warm.

Mon 7-16

Still getting up early – hoping for fish. They have to arrive sometime – and soon. Hit the water at 5am. Quit at 8am. Not a thing. No hookups. Buttkus. Went and got gas. Filled up the water jugs. Went for a shower. Went and bought a small electric chain saw. Went back to the fishing hole and watched for a bit. Still nothing happening. Headed back to the cabin. After a nap I got up and started chainsawing. Cut up a couple of my downed trees and hauled them to the woodpile. Joe helped me for awhile. Sunny and hot again today. Worked up a good manly sweat. The weatherstation had it at 74 today. The cabin remained much cooler inside – until I began leaving the door open in the afternoon. The evenings still cool off quickly though and I find that I need the heater first thing in the morning to get the chill off.

Tues 7-17

I need to catch fish early and often this morning as Rodney is coming to town this evening. The fish better come soon. I got up at 4am. Joe Dad was already gone on another halibut trip. I had a muffin then a visit to the outhouse before I left. Hit the river at 5am. There were maybe 6 folks on the water at that point. I went down to the #1 hole and fished next to a Korean lady. Nobody got nothing for a long time. Most folks began to leave. I moved down to my corner hole. Still nothing. A Jessie-Faye type lady came down and fished below me. Finally, out of the blue, after many prayers had been said, I got a stealthy self-hooker on. No one around me even noticed I had a fish-on until I back it to the gravel. Then it began to thrash about and made another dash for the water. I had to fight him all over again, before he gave up his life to become a table fillet for me. Flyrod scores again. Medium hen, nothing too special, but at least I finally scored again. Fifteen minutes later I hooked another that took off downstream. He was foul and I pulled him off quickly. Thirty minutes after that I had another good self-hooker that I put on the bank. He was a good Kenai buck. Finally, another multi-fish day. Thank you Lord.

Fished awhile longer with more comments and observations from the galley now. That’s always a problem with the #1 hole. But it also felt good to the ego to be the one guy with an actual stringer of fish behind him. More ego points regained. Later I hooked another good fish, but he managed some good moves on me and found his way to freedom. Ended up going 2 for 4 today. Headed to the other end of the beach to clean so that I could clean without comments from the gallery.

Back to the cabin for awhile to process and cleanup. Got gas and groceries today, too. Rod comes in tonight, so it is time to head back to Anchorage.

Weds 7-18

Picked Rodney up at 1:45am. Before that I had a quick nap at Wayne’s house. Also improved to +2 in cribbage, beating Wayne a few times. Rod’s bags took a long time to arrive, but once we got them we headed out. Very dark out now – saw a few moose along the highway as we headed to Carrs. We stopped at Carrs – Rod got his license and some snacks, then we hit the road and made for the fishing hole. Rod managed to stay away almost 2 hours – about the time we hit Cooper Landing. Then he was out. We made the fishing hole at about 6am. We moved into the #1 hole as a large group of Koreans gave up. Got nothing again. Anyways, Rod needed the casting practice. So we quit after a couple hours and headed to the cabin, after stopping for groceries. Took Rod for a tour of the property. Took a nap. Got up and had a brush fire. Joe and I sawed up brush near the back of the motorhome – though Rod remained oblivious to our noise as he was in a deep sleep. Still no fish in the river. Sonar counts remained locked in at 5k. Last year was slow and late, but this year is awful – I’m already ten fish behind last year’s pace.

Thurs 7-19

Well, based on our total river intel x our cumulative IQ factor, Rod and I calculate that we should hit the Kasilof in the morning instead of the Kenai. So we head up to fish the boat launch area. We hike up and get on the water at 5am. We find great spots and great conditions. The mosquitos find breakfast. I end up with a couple real itchy spots on my head and neck. We hunker down in our hoody’s and try to avoid the bite. Finally, we move to a better gravel area that gives us a rest from the bugs. We had really good drifts. I hook up with a dolly v for awhile. Also land a small stickleback. Rod lands a small jack king that he sends back. Anyways – 2.5 hours and no reds. Stumped by the Kasilof. We go back to the cabin at 8am for snacks before heading off for the Kenai. We head to the fishing hole and see many fish on the bank – multiple fish on the bank, too. But, the number of people fishing is ridiculous so we decide to hop over to the Don Jose hole instead. We go fish lefty over there for awhile, without much luck. We see an occasional fish on nearby, but we notice that the opposite bank seems to be slaughtering them. So Rod and I decide to go try out super secret reserve hole #1 today. We get there and find some decent spots. There were twice the number of people as vehicles in the lot. What is everybody bringing a buddy with them to fish? Anyways, we get decent spots and start hooking up. For whatever reason there are a few folks around us who believe in keeping snagged fish. We try to discourage it, but to no avail. Luckily, those folks are gone soon after. I must not have had my cell phone with me or I would have been making a call this morning. After a few hours fishing, I have three nice fish on the bank – two of them really large bucks. As I clean my third fish, Rod finally lands his third. So with that, we both are limited and we head out. We make the rounds in town before going home to process. Then it is naptime.

Fri 7-20

Up early again this morning. Down to the river soon thereafter. Took up positions in the slot above the #1 hole. There were quite a few fish in the shallows before sunup. Got first fish at twilight, however Rodney couldn’t see to net it and it eventually popped off while I attempted to horse it to the bank. Later, I mouthed a good hen and a good buck for a 2-0 lead. Then I got into the Dollies. After sunup, I struggled and couldn’t touch a fish. Rodney got hot. He scored one, then another, for a 2-2 tie. Finally, he lands #3 for the comeback victory. Under the pain of hand and loss of mental focus I go another hour before quitting with my measly 2 fish. We cut ‘em up and headed for the showers. The line at the showers was way too long, so we stinky dudes went home instead. Went back and processed then took naps. Wayne and his family arrived at 3pm and decided to go for an evening fishing session. He was talking about heading to the college hole but instead went elsewhere. He fished without success today.

Sat 7-21

Stayed up late last night beating Rodney at cribbage. He is already at -4 and going down quickly. I am mentally exhausted when I finally hit the bed at midnight. Alarm goes off early at 3am. The alarm was ignored by both of us. The alarm goes off a few more times before we finally motivate around 4:15am. I know I have to move soon, as Dad’s flight into Kenai arrives shortly.

We head up to the fishing hole. I drop Rodney off and wish him luck while I head over to go get Dad. Dad arrives on time, but his rod tube takes an extra 45 minutes to appear. I take Dad over to the fishing hole and go check on Rodney. He’s got 0 fish and even less enthusiasm – and is ready to call it a day already. So, we pull out and drop Dad off for some shopping while we head to the showers.

Back at the cabin we get Dad’s stuff moved around and his tent setup. We break for some breakfast – when the Wayne family appears out from the back of the camper after a full night’s sleep. They decide to go fishing at about 1pm. We wish them luck and tell them we’ll see them in a few hours – we’re now waiting for Dr. Luke to make his way down to the property.

Luke shows up at 3pm and immediately we get him primed to go fishing. The 4 of us head up in Luke’s rental car. We arrive and the four of us slowly mix in with Wayne’s group – firmly establishing a good section of the beach under our control. We share spots and move around each other at will without fear of losing our spots to competitors. That definitely makes things easier. Early in our session, Luke lands a decent keeper. Marie already had 2 when we got there, and is spending most of her time watching over Abigail. Joe got on fire and started hooking up quite frequently. He got 2 fish landed in a hurry. I borrowed his spot for a few casts and landed 2 fish on consecutive casts at one point. The flyrod seems dialed in today. Luke went downriver and climbed the submerged log and fished the swirling pool for awhile. We wondered if we would be watching him float down the river at one point. By the end of the session it was Rod 2, Wayne 1, Joe – the champ had 3, Marie had 2, Dad took a zero, Luke had 1, and I ended with 2. Not bad, pretty good success all around. Luke and I left with Dad to go get dinner, while Rodney stayed behind to keep trying for a third, while Wayne’s group was cleaning.

Back at the cabin, we began to process, while I relayed to the others my plan for an early 3am session in the morning. Later it was time for sleep for me, but Rod, Luke, and Joe stayed up and nipped from the bottle while building a nice campfire.

Sun 7-22

Woke up at 2:30am and begin rousting my troops. Worked up a good early poop to make life easier, too. Departed at 3:10am. Luke was with me. Rod went with Wayne . Dad needed sleep and said he’d come up later in Luke’s rental car. On his way out, Wayne managed to drive his truck right through the middle of the fire pit – which required some repair (firepit) later in the day. We got the #1 hole stretch uncontested this morning. Walking down the path I could even hear a few fish being caught which was a good sign. The fish were steadily trickling in this morning, though I wasn’t having much luck. Luke put 2 in the net before sunup, though. I finally found my drift and put two on the bank right after sunup to pull even with Luke. One was a fat hen, the other a slim buck. Rod and Wayne were down fishing in deeper water – they were hooking and losing at a high rate. Luke and I weren’t hooking as many, but we each had fish on the stringer. At about 5:30am I move down a few steps to find an even better drift. I get a nice ping…ping….schloop….Fish #3 is soon on the bank. Rod netted him up for me. I’m the morning champ. Luke finishes up soon after me. Dad finally arrives and takes over our spot, but struggles. Rod and Wayne seem to have fish on all the time, but not many make it to the bank. As I go to clean, I see that they only have one keeper a piece. Luke starts cleaning on the nearby table and I hike upriver to clean on another table. After I finish my three and come back down, Luke is still working on his second fish. I yard all of my stuff up to the rig and return to help coach and net for Dad. He finally gets in the groove when a good surge of fish come through later in the morning. I net one for Dad. Then while I’m busy doing something else, I see Rodney beat one off for Dad and lose it. I come back and net Dad’s 2^nd and 3^rd fish for him. Dad’s third fish seems to be the big buck of the day so far. Rodney finally finishes up with his three fish. Wayne limits out (3) soon after, but as proxy-boy, he keeps fishing, hoping that his wife and Dad will show up soon. Unbeknownst to him – they are still sleeping comfortably in the camper back at the property. Rod and I head back to the cabin to process and wake-up Joe and Marie, while Dad and Luke head into town for some needed shopping. Rod and I process and build a fire. Dad and Luke arrive later and begin their processing, as well. After – it is finally naptime – one of my favorite and most needed parts of the day. Wayne’s group gets back a few hours later – everyone with their limits – including six for proxy-boy. The Waynes head out for Anchorage before I can get myself up from my deep sleep to say good-bye.

The rest of us hang out for the evening. Rod stays up way too late singing whiskey inspired songs around the campfire. Despite my pleas for him to get some sleep – since we need to leave early tomorrow for a Homer halibut trip – Rod continues his howling at the moon until about 2am.

Anyways, today was a good day on the river. Actually had a 45k count come through finally. I love the Kenai. With the peak starting to hit now, I expect some good fishing days for the next 7-10 days.

Mon 7-23

Early a.m. awakening for the halibut trip today. Except for Rodney that is. He is unresponsive to my calls and my shaking him – trying to roust him from his whiskey induced coma. We need to leave by 4:30am, and at 4:25am he is still passed out asleep despite my best attempts. Finally, as we feign driving off, he gets up and stumbles around looking for his gear. He shows up at the car with sandals and no rain jacket, and not much in the way of warm clothes either. That may be a problem since it appears to be a cold rainy day today. Luckily, we have an Indy driver named Luke at the wheel, and he covers the distance to Homer in record time.

We board the Born Free with Capt Chris and deckhand Andrea. I've fished with Andrea a few times in previous years when she was working for Capt Matt Gaut. Born Free fishes 14 people, but only has seating for about 10 inside. A few ride outside, a couple others head below and sleep on the bunks. We head out to Eliz. Island and fish in that general area. The initial drop is pretty slow. An occasional fish here and there. I get a 30lb and throw him back – big mistake – and also a violation of my normal halibut protocol. Our second spot takes us another 6 miles away, but it takes the captain a good half hour of circling his spot before we are setup and ready to fish again. The tide is pretty dead at this point. Nothing happening, so the captain pulls up and resets again. After 20 minutes of dead time – Mr. Dufus reels in a 150lb behemoth. Nice big fatty ‘butt. We move a third time and end up at the chicken hole in order to fill out everyone’s limits.

Overall, fishing was kinda tough in the nasty weather, it wasn’t much fun to be buffeted with high winds and rain all the time. The only good part was the relatively easy current we had today – made the fishing slightly easier. Our small group ended up splitting about 75 pounds of meat when all was said and done – slightly below average. At least no cods or dogfish today. I slept most of the trip back to port – at least I tried to – nodded on and off most of the way. Hit the showers after we did Coal Pt. Back at the cabin Rod and I made food, while Dad and Luke decided on an evening red session. At night, Rod, Luke, and I hung out around the campfire into the late hours. Rod did another late whiskey fire song session.

Tues 7-24

Today. Finally caught up on the journal again. Rallied the troops early – got Rod and Luke to the river at 3:45am. A few folks there already. Definitely a rain jacket day today. Got down into our favorite stretch. Luke got a keeper in the early morning that I was able to net for him, though, I could barely see it in the twilight. Rod and I struggled for awhile. An Asian lady and old dude came down and went below us into the deep water and got their limits fairly quickly. Others moving down into the deep water did well, too. The fishing was spotty for me most of the morning. I hooked all of my fish in the shallows today even though others were doing well in the deep. My best fishing came after I chased Luke off of his hotspot. That’s when I finally got into a good zone. Rod struggled all morning long, and his flies kept “popping off” – or so he put it. Thus Rod earned his new nickname – he is the great Russian "Rodney-Poppoff" now. Luke finally got a second fish, and then I got my third fish soon after. Soon after, Rod got onto the board as I netted a fish for him. Once he scored, his sphincter loosened about three notches and he began to enjoy himself again. The soaking rains continued all morning. Dad finally made it down and got into the act. He struggled for awhile at first. As Luke got bored and I got anxious to call it a morning and head out, Dad started to get going. Eventually the score was me 3, and the rest of the gang 2 a piece. Dad got his 2^nd while the rest of us were upriver at the filet table.

Rod and I headed off for groceries and coho flies, while Dad and Luke ran around town for various reasons. Eventually, they stopped at the river again to get their last fish of the morning before they headed back home. Rod and I got back to the cabin and processed and started setting out all of our wet gear in an effort to get things dried out. We finally got to sleep in the afternoon. Luke and Dad made it back at some point, but carefully didn’t bother our sleep time. Around 6:30pm we got up and helped them process their day’s catch.

The evening was more pleasant than the morning, though the evening sprinkles returned, but that was okay as it allowed for a nice big fire. The river is definitely on the rise now – and seems to have come up about six inches in the last couple of days.

We are on target for another early am session tomorrow, and we are predicting good fishing since the nets are out of the water again today. I’m still looking for that big pulse of fish associated with the 200 and 150 OTF readings from a few days ago. I’m expecting (hoping) the limit to go to 6-fish anytime now.

Weds 7-25

Dad opened the MH door at 3am and yelled to me that it was raining out, and we’re we still going to go? His question gave me wiggle room to resist getting up – and I requested an additional 30 minute snooze period. Six hours later we finally decided to get up. Apparently at some point Dad and Luke pulled out and went fishing while Rod and I were still in our coma. Guess that’s the benefit of having multiple vehicles at our disposal. However, on their return, they still had zero fish between the two of them. Apparently, they can’t fish without the company of the sockeye master. So, later, Rod and I went back out with them. We went separately again, and Luke and Dad had a 45 minute lead on us when we got there. Dad was hot the whole time we were there – but he couldn’t land a fish to save his life. We kept chided him about giving us his spot – he was wasting it etc. – but to Dad’s credit he wouldn’t budge. Can’t blame him. He stood fast and got his three fish first. Dad was champ. Rod and I picked up a fish a piece at our spots, and after Dad limited, I grabbed his spot and started to hook up. Rod and I raced to three, but Rod got his before I got mine. Finally, it got down to Luke, who still was sitting at a big zero for the day. He had sucked all morning, and now he was sucking all evening, too. The rest of us cleaned our catch, and got ready to leave – but Luke was determined to stay behind and get his fish. As we begin to hit the trail, Luke finally hooks one and gets it in with the help of a Rodney net job. The fish are surging pretty well as the three victors head out back to the cabin. Luke shows up a couple of hours later with his three fish – telling the story of how he refused to quit – then had a sockeye drift fishing epiphany – where he finally figured out the physics of how the sockeye drift works. The master’s teaching finally sunk in. Anyways, he caught two big bucks that he was really proud of. Back at camp, we had a fire and some bbq salmon for dinner. Dad was the fishing champ tonight – and really happy. He was all talk the whole evening.

Thurs 7-26

We get on the water at 4am. The #1 hole is pretty crowded and so is up above. Rod and I move up to Marvin’s rock. Dad and Luke go down into the deep water. Fishing was very spotty for a long time. I really began to lose confidence in Marvin’s hole, and eventually Rod and I head down below to try to find a fresh drift. Luke has a decent drift in the deep water and gets his three fish by 7am. I convince him to go clean his fish – as he wants me to go with him today down to Homer for a half day ‘butt charter. Rod scores one by the time Luke is ready to go. We all decide to go out for breakfast. Then Luke and I head down to Homer, while Dad and Rod go back to the river for some more fishing. Rod catches his next two very quickly at this point, and is waiting around for Dad to do some scoring. As Luke and I get to Homer, we see a paper in the paper-stand that says the limit has been raised to six fish. I call Dad on the cell phone and report to him the new limits. Rod gets back to fishing immediately, and starts catching the rest of his six fish.

Later Rod and Dad go to the showers and Laundromat. Dad’s clothes in the dryer get “molested” by a German at one point, and gets Dad worked up into a confusion and fluster. This leads to Dad’s great quote that had Rod in tears for awhile – “Goddamn Germans, first they fuck you up in the river, then they fuck you up in the streets….we shoulda bombed their asses, too.”

Luke and I head out on our 12:30pm half day charter aboard the Jackpot. This boat fishes 24 folks. We befriend Indiana Grandpa and his grandson – whom I tangle with all of the time it seems. We run an hour and a half out to the middle of the inlet and let down. I catch numerous 15-pounders and lose my bait a lot to little tiny nibblers. The hole did give up one nice 70 pound fish – not to me though. Luke and I manage small chickens. One lady landed a skate. We managed a whopping 24 pounds of meat between us for the trip. Luke was okay with that, since the ticket for the charter was relatively cheap.

We headed back to the cabin and after a 45 minute break we head into town to catch Hobo Jim. The bar was full and we had to stand in the back for awhile, but then a table in front suddenly opened up and we had great seats. We ordered a pizza and drank down a couple pitchers of beers. The more he drank, the more Rodney sang along with Hobo, even though he’d never heard any of Hobo’s songs before. Later on the ride home, Rod told me he could sing along because he intuitively knew what the words of the songs were gonna be….uhm, right.

We got back to the cabin about midnight, and I made it clear that we wouldn’t be getting up early for an am fishing session tomorrow. I didn’t get any opposition from the troops on that announcement.

Fri 7-27

I slept ‘til 10:30am. Rod until noon. Dad about 11:30am. Luke got up late for his bear viewing trip. I heard him peel out of the lot about 8:30am, even though his trip was scheduled for 8am. It wasn’t a problem, as the heavy cloud and fog cancelled the bear trip flight. Instead, they went across the inlet to a lake and did some silver fishing – and a little bear viewing, too. Luke got 2 silvers at the lake – couldn’t remember the name of the lake – and got some pics of bears chasing the fish, too.

Later, Luke met up with us on the river during our evening fishing session.

After a few hours of milling about, the fearsome threesome got motivated and headed up to fish. We got some decent spots and started pulling in the fish quite easily. They were fairly shallow today…maybe 5-6feet out. Lots of big fish, too. I ended the session with 5 fish – by choice – as we’re nearly out of freezer space until Luke leaves. I had four big bucks and a fat hen. Dad stopped after his 4^th fish – again quitting early due to lack of freezer space. Hey, the both of us still have half the run to fish. Dad had 2 bigs, 2 dinks. Rod got his 6 fish – mostly bucks. Luke finally arrived late in the evening from his trip, but he brought us some Arby cheddar melts, so his arrival was a welcomed sight. He quickly got into fish and in no time had two big bellied bucks on his stringer. He followed that with 2 more nice bucks to round out his limit. We left while Luke was still cleaning his catch in the dark. We got back to the cabin and began to process the fish. Given the late hour, we only processed Rod’s fish, and then Luke’s when he showed up. Got to bed late –about 2:30am.

Sat 7-28

Slept in until about 9am. Then I got up and finished processing Dad's and my fish from last night. Rod made frenchy toast. We cleaned up the MH a bit, then I commenced at drilling Rodney at cribbage again. After a few wins and a good skunking I had Rodney down to -11. Luke packed up and headed back to town to catch his flight home – another successful Alaska adventure on the books. Rod and I went into town today and bought a smoker and some float tubes. Rod and I decided we wanted to try some lake action for some variety. After Rod’s gourmet salad, with homemade croutons (Dad had his own croutons that he wanted to use), salmon, mashed potatos, and veggies - Rod and I headed out for some float tube action. First, we drove up to Centennial Lake – but found it full of power boaters and water skiers. So, we tried little Roque Lake instead. We pulled in next to some Harleys at the tavern and proceeded to tube out into the lake. About 10 minutes in I caught a little 4-incher. Had another small one on a few minutes later. After paddling to the opposite weed line bank, I hooked up and brought in a fat 14-incher which I released. Nice fish. Had one more 10-incher on for awhile. Saw a beaver or nutria swimming around the lake, lots of ducks, and rise rings too. Great calm evening to be on the water. Tubes worked great. Caught all of the fish on a sonic rooster tail. Stayed up all night long tending the campfire when I got back to the property. We are meeting Wayne at the fishing hole in the early morning – and since it was close to time to get up anyways, we just stayed around the fire.

Sun 7-29

Today was the day champions are made. After tending the fire all night long, I noticed Dad’s light popping on about 2:45am. I guess it was a new day finally. Time to start prepping for fishing. I rousted Rodney, who was working on a 1.5 hour power nap and we started motivating. About 2:50 am I get a call from Wayne who was wondering where we were – “you’re late” he tells me. Minutes later we depart. At the fishing hole our two groups merge and spread-out, dominating a small stretch of beach. Wayne and Joe get into some good hot spots and start to school us. They had 18 fish (joe 6, proxy boy 12) on the bank while the three of us just had five between us. I was struggling to find a good drift in the ever rising river. It seems to be fishing “in between” for me right now. Finally, I got into Joe’s abandoned spot and get three quick self-hookers without much effort. After a lull in the action, I decided to retire with five fish for the day. The slow down in the action allowed me to remember just how sore my arm and hands had become. Rod got into Wayne’s vacated drift and started to put some meat on the bank, too. Both he and Dad finished the session with four fish each. After cleaning, Wayne and Joe headed off to eat, while I started cleaning fish. Brian showed up and netted Dad’s 4^th fish for him. Dad’s fourth came just as I was finishing up cleaning his third. After fishing, the three amigos headed to McD’s for an awful meal, then to the tackle store to get some more flies and weights. Back at the cabin, we went into process mode and then it was sleep time. In the evening we had a fire, and bbq salmon, potatos, salad, and veggies for dinner. Rod and I took a 2^nd float trip to Roque lake. I got two smalls on.

Mon 7-30

Rod’s last day of fishing today. He gets to be in charge today. He decided that we should sleep in until 4:30am. We head up to the river and get our usual spots. Things were a bit sluggish. The river has continued to rise, and the drifts are changing from day to day. Some idiot from “Hollywood ” stood down next to me and kept talking about how much he knew from his 24 years of experience fishing in Alaska …blah blah blah. It got so awful listening to this idiot talk, that I finally gave up my hole so I could go stand elsewhere. With the fishing slow, we retired at about 8am with the score me 2, Rod 1,and Dad 0.

Processed our meager catch at the cabin, and then started up the smoker. Took naps and then had lunch and played some cribbage. Rod is still at -11. At about 4:30pm Rod and I head to Watson lake on another float tube mission. Along the way, we recon the river and see that fishing is still mighty slow.

Heading on to the lake, we get there, and see only 1 RV parked in the lot. We gear up and get ready to go, just as three guys show up to go fishing as well. Rod and I try to cut the corner on the lake and walk out along a stinky bog to get in the water. Though a tough entrance, we finally get into the lake and paddle out past the weedline. We make a few casts, but continually we battle the wind, which keeps pushing us back into the weedline. We only fish an hour or two before I start to feel chilled in the water – and can’t take much more. So, without any luck, we head back in and head back to the cabin.

We have some bbq chicken, potatos, and cooked carrots for dinner and eat out next to the campfire. Rod turns in at midnight, and I follow him about an hour later. I tend the fire as it burns down into cool looking orange coals, which glow in the dark. However, at that point, I start to feel like bear bait and decide to go in and go to sleep.

Tues 7-31

Rod and I hatch an aggressive plan of waking up early and heading up to Ship Creek for Rod’s first ever mud bog silver salmon session. But that went by the wayside when the alarm beeped at 6:30 am and neither of us moved. I reset the alarm to 7am. It went off again and neither of us moved. Finally Rod got up to pee and said to blow off Ship Creek for more sleep. So, with an extra five hours in our schedule, we went back to sleep. When we got up, Rodney made us some frenchy toast. Then we began to clean, organize, and pack up Rodney. We played a couple games of cribbage – which Rodney won – in order to leave at -9, but with a 2 game win streak.

We headed north about 11:30am. We stopped and checked out Arc Lake on the way. Looks easily accessible. Only a couple burned out vehicles surrounding its shore. It is supposed to have silver salmon in it – have to figure out the best way to kill some of those. Stopped at the fishing hole and did a recon – the catch rate was slow but steady. Definitely not a slaughter though, so we didn’t feel too bad about missing out on a session today. The count was down to 21k yesterday, so looks like the peak has peaked. Pointed out a few more lakes to Rodney on the drive. Stopped at Hamilton's and weighed out Rodney’s fish boxes. Went up to the store and got traditional ice-cream sandwiches, too.

Back near town, we stopped and did the hike into Byron Glacier. Portage area was socked in with a misty fog – so at least the fish boxes were staying cool. The walk into the glacier was misty wet. Lighting was poor, but I got some good pics of Rod – this being his first hike in to see any of Alaska ’s many glaciers. He thought it was pretty cool, too. After that, we stopped at Bird Creek and watched folks fish for pinks and an occasional silver. The tide was incoming as we watched. At one point a huge slug of pinks came up the river – easily visible from above – for a five minute stretch nearly everyone had a fish-on going. Then the water continued to rise and fishermen started clouding the water by standing in it. Soon, we couldn’t see anything in the water. Rod and I headed back to the rig and by the time we drove over the bridge the water was all the way up to the grass line. Amazing how fast things change here. Drove straight to Wayne’s house and popped Rodney’s fish into my freezer to give them a couple hour freeze before his flight this evening. At Wayne’s we sat around and watched TV, took showers, and had some food. Wayne wasn’t there, however, he was actually flying back to Anchorage from somewhere. About 10:30pm he called from the airport and said it was a major clusterfuck down there, and maybe we should consider going early. So, with that, we went down and got Rod’s fish into his boxes, and got them taped up and ready to go. Off to the airport. I gave Rod $3 for a cart and an extra $20 for baggage fees and kicked him out the door. With that, Sir Rodney’s vacation was over and he was gone. Sob sob.

Went back to Wayne’s for a good night’s sleep.

Wed 8-1

If things are going well, Rod is onboard his plane, his fish are onboard, and he’s in mid-flight. Godspeed Rodney, you will be missed. Your enthusiasm and charm in pursuit of the mighty sockeye has set you apart as the heart and soul of the team. You will be missed. Your very presence here has doubled my courage to try new things. We’ve fished new holes, we’ve explored Johnson Lake Road, we bought float tubes, we fished 2 different lakes already. Awesome time dude!

Up at 9am. Took a nice hot shower and got ready to go. Got to the cabin about 2:30pm. Recon of the fishing hole showed that it was still pretty slow, but Dad was anxious to get out and do something after being at the property all by himself for the last day. So, we headed up in the afternoon and did a fishing session. Not much coming by today. I ended up with one, while Dad took a zero.

Thurs 8-2

With things being slow, we decided to sleep in and take our time today. I must be getting old or something. Anyways, we sleep until 5am (that’s 2.5 hours more than normal) and get our spots anyways. Not many fish again today, though. Landed and photographed a monster rainbow though. Went to Sal's for breakfast about 8am. Back to the property for a nap and then made a fire and burned up some of my brushpile. The drizzle started in again today.

Finger skin appears to be in okay shape given the time of year. One split tip on the left middle finger. Possible problem emerging on the left forefinger. Righthand appears fine so far.

Fri 8-3

It has rained all night long, but we get up at 3:06am anyways. As we awake, the rain stops. We don our rainjackets anyways, and hike down to the river. We grab the corner hole and the spot above that. In the dark, Dad starts to pop an occasional fish. Before I know it, he’s got three fish on the bank already and it’s still dark out. I forced my way into his hole a couple times but still got nothing. I moved up and down the river looking for a good drift – but got nothing. Finally, hooked a few – which I lost. Ended up with a single victim today. Dad however was the champion. He got five fish and a nice dolly in his most lopsided crushing victory over me ever. He was really pumped up and excited. I was just pissed off and moping.

Went back to the cabin and processed. Slept for 4-5hours. Got up and started to set out tools for our trim board project. Dad and I cut trim for the triangles in front and back, and baseboards for the floor. We used adhesive caulk and nails to attach the boards. The trim looks pretty cool, and will look great when it is finished, and when we get around to doing the windows.

Sat 8-4

Expecting the weekend to keep producing fish. Hoping anyways. I’d like to get a few more fish to top out the boxes before I go.

Got to the river at 3:30am. Some big fat dufus sitting in Dad’s hole when we arrive. Had a bucket, too. We setup in the slot above the #1 hole. In a 15 minute span in the dark I landed three nice fish. That was the big spurt of the morning. Not much else happened after that. We quit at 7am – me 3, Dad 0. We only saw three other fish caught all morning. Wet, misty morning today.

Went to Harry’s for breakfast. Went back home and slept. Got up and processed. Sawed up the woodpile for a bit. We had some BBQ steak and salmon for dinner. Got motivated to work on the trim project again. Split cribbage games with Dad. Called it a night at 9:30pm. Once again, all of our fishing hopes are on “tomorrow”.

Sun 8-5

Up at 2am to hit the outhouse. Even though I turned in early last night, I never really got to sleep. Anyways, got primed and ready for early am fishing again. We hit the water at about 3:20am. One other person on the beach somewhere – we didn’t see him, though.

Slid into the corner spot and I got two fish on the stringer pretty quickly. The first one was a huge purple buck. Dad caught up with 2 fish from his spot. Hmmm….a competitive race today. A good spurt came through, and I finished my 6^th fish at about 6am. Had a lot of hookups today. Went 6 for 30 overall. Dad pinged some more, but ended up with 2 fish.

Went into town for gas and showers. After the morning soaking rains, it felt good to stand in the hot misty shower for awhile. Went for food and then headed home to process our catch. In bed for a nap at about noon.

Slept until 4:30pm. Weather has changed to sunny now, but extremely windy. At least our clothes are getting a chance to dry out now. After lunch, we did more trim work. It’s basically done now – especially the sections requiring Wayne ’s tall ladder. Tomorrow we can finish up covering the ugly ceiling joints. Trim is good – covers up my sloppy work!

 Over the last two days all of my fingers have begun to dry and crack. Did a bag balm treatment overnight – doubt it can help at this point though.

Mon 8-6

Up at 2:30am. Noticed that Dad’s lights were not on yet – very curious for him. I milled about awhile – then went up and knocked on the door. He finally woke up and got ready. The skies were clear this morning – yay no rain! – the stars and moon were out over Soldotna as we drove towards the illuminating cloud layers. I drove a bit faster this morning to compensate for Dad’s extra sleep time. Again, one car when we got there, but didn’t see anyone on the river. Dad and I got our spots again. The first half hour was slow, but then I began to ping some fish. First fish was a dinky, but being the first fish of the day, he went on the stringer. My second was a huge purple buck again. Third fish was also a large buck. After going 3 for 6 in the dark, I swapped my hot spot with Dad. Five minutes later, I got #4 in Dad’s old spot. My fifth came minutes later. Dad finally hooked one on his spinning rod. I think he had broke off his leader on his flyrod, and couldn’t see to re-tie it in the dark. Anyways, I go out to net Dad’s fish and it snapped his rod in half down near the butt section. Dad was stunned for a second, but then went into scramble mode and he successfully hand landed his fish into the net for his first score of the morning. A little later, I got a good self-hooker in Dad’s spot for #6 – a big Kenai River hen. Dad struggled for a few hours more to no avail. While Dad kept trying, I yarded out 3+ bags of garbage from the riverbank. As I continued to watch Dad and Fred fish from above, I related my story of how I hooked a seagull on my last cast of the year last year. Not two minutes later Fred inadvertently hooks a seagull that mistakes his gob of orange yarn for some tossed salmon roe. Dad waded out and tried to plier the seagull off of Fred’s line. That’s where the fun began. That seagull starting pecking at Dad everytime he made a move. Eventually Dad came up with a solution and he sticks his needlenose pliers sideways into the seagulls beak/mouth like a tongue depressor. That disarms the critter and Dad is able to yank the hook free with his bare hands. Got some good pictures of that struggle. Hope they turn out, okay.

After fishing, we stopped to buy Dad a new spinning rod. I restocked my flies, too.

Back to the cabin to process. Then I had some pop-tarts and went to bed. Kept one fish out for dinner for the evening, too. No carpenter work today. Instead, I went back to work on sawing up my woodpile. Got sweaty and stalked by my favorite horsefly again. Took a shower bag shower – had to wash my stinky pits and butt.

Both Little Richard (Frenchy) and Big Richard (Sasquatch) stopped by today for visits.

Split crib games with Dad again.

Have probably more fish than I need at this point, from here on out, all fish will be going to my neighbors.

Had a campfire and burned up more of my brushpile again.

Tues 8-7

On the river at 3:20am. Only one person ahead of us today, and it happened to be dufus, who was standing between Dad and my spots. Dad and I fish the slot above the #1 hole instead. Well, I do anyways. Dad goes and tries to fish next to dufus – trying to force him into one of the two spots, instead of straddling both decent spots. It doesn’t work though. Anyways, as we get down into the river, dufus is landing a fish. On my 2^nd cast, I hook my first fish of the morning. Dad fumble-bumbles around with the net, ends up stepping on my fish, etc, and I lose that one. I go cold for awhile and end up 0 for 4 for the first couple hours. Dad moves up by me and I finally get another shot and land a huge buck to go 1 for 5. Next, I land a big purple buck for a second fish, and shortly thereafter, another purple buck becomes victim number three. I get a chrome big buck for my fourth fish. I had four big bucks today – and everyone was bigger than the one before it. I like that. Dad ended up with three fish – and got into a good zone after dufus had quit and moved for the morning. At one point in the morning, I moved down near the ramp and fished next to Crazy Bill. I noticed movement on the bank behind him. I tell him that I think I saw a bull moose on the bank behind him. As he turns around to see what is going on, a big bull moose jumps into the river close to him. Bill and I both move away and give the animal room. At first, the bull looks like he just wants to wade out into the water for a swim. Then he parades around for a moment before a cow jumps into the water and joins him. At this point I go for the camera – slowly. The moose couple wades into the deep water, taking a bath, and gulping down some drinks. They start to walk downstream a bit then they stop. Suddenly, the bull turns towards us and begins to snort. Bill and I both understand the message and make for safe ground. We holler out warnings upriver to the other fisherman as the two moose start to trot upriver towards us. Anyways, they run on by me and continue on the entire length of the beach – forcing every single fisherman to get out of their way. Then they run up the hillside out of sight. What an awesome Alaskan moment.

Anyways, it was a beautiful morning out on the Kenai today. The moon produced golden ripples in the water in the morning, then the sun came up and it was nice and warm out.

-dufus uses bucket technology

-dufus was champ today

-Crazy Bill is crazy

-Dad gets psyched out regarding his hole

-I lost a fish netting for Dad today, possibly my first bad net job of the year

-Overall, I went 4 for 25, Dad was about 3 for 18

-23k fish yesterday. Probably the same again today. The daily numbers kinda suck this year.

-Last year there were 12 days with 40k or more fish, this year only 5

Neighbor Dave came over tonight for a visit. First time we’ve seen him all year.

Weds 8-8

Wayne’s B-day today. Up at 2:30am. On the water about 3:20am. Dark out, but clear sky. There is a slice of moon out. Instead of white clouds over Soldotna this morning, there is a big dark blot. One person on the river when we got there, but it wasn’t dufus. Went down and got our favorite spots. No fish coming in early, however. Hit one finally as the sun was coming up. Old guy went down below me and stood out deep, cutting off my hole. He hit three fish out deeper. I finally hit fish when he moved back to the bank to take care of his fish. I moved up to the slot above the #1 hole and landed a buck. I had to heft him by hand up into the bushes. I went 1 for 6, Dad was 0 for 6. Dad gave Fred his card, shook his hand, and said his good-byes. I was cold all morning and looking forward to a hot shower. We quit about 7:15am.

Went for showers. Stopped at Rocky’s for breakfast. Good food, but slow service. Got some gifts and t-shirts. Went home and took naps. Got up and processed my fish. Began to breakdown the motorhome. Pumped out the water and took the rig into town to dump the septic. Did some shopping. Headed back to the property. Dad cooked some burgers while I worked on getting the MH ready for storage.

About 8pm we decided to swing by Bob and Chi’s but they were already gone north for their arctic caribou hunt. We went down and walked around Crooked Creek for awhile, then drove up to the Kasilof beach. We walked up to the mouth. Saw the beginning of a good sunset.

Thurs 8-9

Up at 8am this morning. Finally had a long good sleep. Nice day out today. Made some food and continued to organize the MH. Dad packed, and read his book. About 11am we took the MH over to the storage place – had a slow time of it as things were blocking my access. Finally Tom got that stuff moved and I parked the MH in storage for the winter.

Lined up a Silver charter for Sat 11^th with the Sports Den – supposed to be going with Mark Tudor again.

Stopped for lunch at Gwins. Had to sit at the bar though. Stopped at Hamiton's and weighed up boxes for Dad. He filled 2x50lb boxes, and I will throw together a third from my bag of stuff in the freezer at Wayne’s. Visited with Mark for a few minutes. Stopped at Turnagain Pass for a quick power nap. Next stop was at Bird Creek to watch folks try for pinks. We only watched for about 10 minutes as a huge storm that we had recently driven through was on its way. Got up to Wayne’s and watched the end of the M’s game. Took showers and got ready to take Dad to the airport. Dropped him off around 10pm. As I pulled out he called me – to tell me that he wasn’t on United, so he needed to go to the other terminal. So, I made a u-turn, went back and got him and drove him to the other terminal. Went back to Wayne’s for sleep.

Fri 8-10

Got a call from bunny at 8:30am which woke me up – she had to tell me she was in a car wreck - in her brother's car. Ouch. A lady hit her from behind - trying to pass her in a residential area while bunny was making a left turn. Luckily a witness called the police and the lady got a ticket for being stupid.

Went into town and got breakfast. Made the drive back down to the cabin. Tomorrow is the silver charter - kinda my annual end of the season event. Kenai had a good 24k day yesterday. Sorry to have missed that, but the last few days off have improved my finger skin situation tremendously.

Sat 8-11

Up at 4am. Silver charter leaves at 5:15am so I hit the road early in the morning --good thing to, as today is the first foggy day of the season. The fog is so thick, that I can barely drive 35mph on the highway all the way into town. I just couldn't see more than 10 yards in front of me. Really weird. At some points I had to roll my windows down to get a sense of where I was.

Anyways, got down to Poachers Cove and got aboard Mark's boat. Fishing with three other folks - Granny Dotty, Lynn, and Randy. They are from Lake Winnineckiguppiyucki in New Hampshire. Lynn and Randy are married and are in management for Wal-Mart. Anyways, they are friendly folks and it's good luck to have some ladies on board.

Well, as it turns out, the ladies kept all of the luck for themselves. Dotty had the first takedown, and just sat there and watched it while the rest of us screamed for her to grab her rod and set the hook. She did - but about 30 seconds too late. Of course, five minutes later she was rewarded with another take down that resulted in a nice silver in the boat - go figure. Next, Randy and I had a double - which resulted in two small dollies coming to the boat before being released. After a slow hour or so, we relocated down to mud island. It was Lynn's turn next to miss a good takedown. Of course, she followed that up by putting two big bucks in the boat. When Lynn was done, Dotty got another hit and landed her limit for the morning. Well, now that the ladies were finished catching, Randy and I switched places and went to fishing. However, time ran out on us soon thereafter, and we were headed back to the dock. Score that one ladies - 4, men 0.

Went directly to my sockeye hole and headed down to Wayne's hotspot and began to hook fish. I easily hooked about a dozen dollies and/or rainbows in my first hour of action. Finally got into some reds and had five or six on. I snapped my line off while trying to hoist a nice buck up into the bushes on the bank. My next one popped off right at the bank, as well. Looks like it's gonna be one of those days! Finally, though, my third hookup made it safely onto the bank and onto my stringer. My next hookup popped off my fly immediately as for some reason I had my drag cinched down too far - from the previous battle. Later, I landed a hen for my second fish of the afternoon. Eventually, I got a bit bored and tired of fishing and headed off to the cleaning table.

Went into town for gas and food. Headed back to the cabin for a good nap. Listened to the Mariner's game on the radio. It was a nice day out and I had warm enough water in the shower bag for a good afternoon shower. Went out and worked at sawing up the wood pile in the evening. Mosquitoes were extremely thick...got zapped on top of the head a few times - that's the probably with a thinning hairline.

Sun 8-12

No idea what the fish count is as the sonar line still has Friday's recording on it - however, I did see people catching reds in the lower river yesterday while on the silver charter, so I reasonably deduced that fish should be coming by my hole. Slept in 'til 9:30am this morning. Good long sleep.

I took awhile getting motivated, and it was 11am before I headed up to the motorhome to retrieve some aluminum foil for cooking purposes. However, as I drove up to the storage place, I saw the gates were closed so I just decided to drive on and head into town for a fishing session. I pulled into the lot and got dressed quickly in order to beat a group of 4 or 5 folks who were getting ready to head down the trail, as well. The river seemed very full today, especially for the 12th of August. Saw lots of fish on the bank and lots of folks cleaning - so the fish were definitely in. The only real opening was down below the #1 hole in the deepwater - so off I went. As I stepped out and made my first cast I instantly mouth-hooked a nice hen, which I landed. I hooked a few more over the next hour or so, but didn't feel like I was in the zone or in a hot spot, so I pulled out and cleaned my fish, and drove over to the Don Jose hole. I hooked a couple of fish there and finally banked a nice hen before retiring for the afternoon. Got back to the cabin at about 3pm.

Stopped by the MH storage on the way home this time and got some supplies I needed. Processed fish and then prepared a nice salmon dinner. Chain-sawed the woodpile again. Got at least 5 wheelbarrows full of wood moved and stacked. My 2nd fire wood pile is getting in good shape now. Took a shower after working up a good sweat.

Later, I made a campfire and burned more of my brushpile. It's good to get that fuel out of my yard. Went over to visit Jerry and Stewart in the evening. Gave them some of my left-over food and beverages that I won't be able to finish before I leave.

Mon 8-13

Slept until 10am this morning. Made cereal for breakfast. Went into town and took a proper shower. Did the cycle of gas and shopping. Went into Kenai on a Home Depot run - needed a couple sheets of plywood to cover up my firewood pile. Organized the cabin and shed for awhile. Adjusted the cabin foundation, too. Worked up another good sweat today as the temperature climbed up near 80 today. Had to take another camp shower today, despite taking a proper shower earlier this morning.

In the evening, I did a quick one hour float tubing at Roque Lake. Caught nothing this time. There were a ton of tiny biting flies out, too, that made for a not-so-fun trip.

Drove up to the Kasilof beach and watched the sunset in the evening. What an awesome sight God provides!

Tues 8-14

Slept in again until 10am this morning. Another cereal for breakfast morning. Went to town to do laundry and take shower. My razor is officially broken, so I had to go to Fred Meyers to replace it. Got Arby's for lunch then drove over to the fishing hole for a short session. Marvin and Bob were down at the river when I got there. Bob had a couple on the bank already. There was a Canadian lady down in Wayne's favorite spot - and she was slaying them - keeping tail-hooked and belly-hooked fish, too. Dufus with the bucket came down just as I was going to the corner spot. He beat me to it. He hooked a big fish early on and snapped his rod in half. He traded with his wife? and kept on fishing. I only fished an hour or so and pulled out when Bob and Marvin gave up. I never did have a hookup during the session.

Headed back home and made a run to the MH storage. Got some bins of stuff packed and stored. Headed back to the cabin and crashed. Weather has turned nasty and rain is on the way. Spent most of the evening on the futon reading my book.

Weds 8-15

Decided to bypass the fishing option today in lieu of more sleep. My body has completely wore down now and I know that means summer is about over. It is time to head home.

Did odd jobs around the property into the early afternoon. Made a final trip into town for final supplies and gas.

Headed back to the cabin and continued to work on the woodpile. Packed up the truck with tools and bins and got it ready for the trip back to Anchorage. Got the video camera out and video'd the property and cabin. About that time Mrs. Moose came out of the woods and walked around the neighborhood for a final visit.

Did more odd jobs around the property - just taking everything in. Headed up to the beach in the evening and watched the rain squall pass by.