Monday July 26

A Day Fit for a King

What do you know…still raining.

Headed back to Hope for more fishing. Like I said yesterday, the river in Hope empties into the sea. The actual spot where it empties has these incredible tides. The tide rises and falls one foot every 20 minutes and it is crazy. The total length of the tide line is around 27 feet. Standing in the same spot one part of the day you can’t see the end of the river, 6 hours later your knee deep in the ocean. It’s best to fish the rising tide so I killed time waiting for it I watched another Meryl Streep film called “Doubt”. It was a good one. Around 5pm the tide turned, I threw my waders on and went at it. I caught a ton more pinks or “humpies” as the locals say.

So at one point I’m standing in the river up to my knees, I look to one side and I can’t believe what I see. It looked like a giant red log. It was a king salmon, the largest type of all the salmon. I was probably way out matched with the size rod I was using, but, like my friend Mark used to do, I made the cast and figured I'd worry about problems as they came up. I hooked it immediately. It felt heavy. Like a giant log it swam slowly to the other side of the river and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I battled it a while across the width of the river and finally it started to come to me. I managed to get it close enough to shore that a guy down stream grabbed it by the tail and yanked it onto the gravel. The thing was insane. The salmon was old, spawned out and was probably going to die one of these days just like salmon do. If it were fresh from the sea, pre spawn, I probably never would have landed it. Anyway you look at it, I had just caught the king. My first ever. It looked insane, black and red all over, nasty looking, with huge teeth. I could not believe my luck. I had just caught a king salmon on a 9wt fly rod.

The rest of the day people kept coming up to me asking if I was the guy that caught the king salmon. One woman shrieked when she saw it come ashore…..she later asked me, “What was that thing?” It was a monster and knowing it was alive and that it was still alive in this little stream was pretty surprising to most people.

It was time to regroup back in Anchorage. Drove the 2 hours and stopped at the only restaurant still open, Popeye’s, for some chicken.

Hope was wonderful. Misty mountains and mysterious fish……

Sunday July 25

The rain beat down all night and was still pouring when I lifted my lids in the morning. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

When I woke around 10 I decided to head back to the fair in town and cash in on free hot dog and drink day for lunch.

Did a little scouting of possible put in’s and take out’s for my planned float of the Kenai. In the end, I decided to bag the idea. As it turns out, the Kenai would not be the desolate nature filled day I thought it would be. There were a ton of people fishing along the banks and a ton more people floating the river with guides. Time to hit the road.

My next stop was the little village of Hope. I’d heard that it was an idyllic little Alaskan village with some great fishing. When I arrived, I found it to be just that. Hope is at the end of Resurrection Creek where it empties into this giant bay called Turnagain Arm. The city of Anchorage is across the bay only about 20 miles away, but the road to get there is about 120 miles as it circles the bay.

Scouting the river I noticed that there were a ton of kids fishing……and they were having a ball, despite the rain. They were soaked, muddy, and slipping all over the place….and they were reeling in salmon. This one group of three kept their dad busy untangling lines etc. One of the kids had neoprene waders on with no shoes. His feet had zero traction in the mud and he was slipping around like crazy. His hair was soaked and his face was covered with mud. The three of them were having blast reeling in salmon, slipping around, falling down, fooling around, and making fun of each other. I wasn’t going to fish but the scene looked fun. People’s spirits were high and it inspired me to get out the rod and fish. I caught a bunch more humpies and called it a day. I have discovered that the combat style of fishing can be an extremely good time. While not so crowded, the crowd in Hope was pretty comical. Some people haven’t the slightest clue how to fish while others are experts. But…everyone gets along together, helps each other out and makes it fun. It’s like a social event or party. The atmosphere was filled with fish, mud, children, and laughter. It was one of my favorite moments on the trip so far.

I met this guy who's goal was to tell me his life story. He told me his first wife met her high school sweetheart at her 25^th high school reunion and never came home. His took his next girlfriend on a romantic getaway in Banff where she dumped him. I asked him which kids were his and he says, “The black ones.” He, at about age 60, adopted these 2 kids from a mom who was hooked on meth and basically gave them up. They were out there battling the fish and the weather like the rest of the kids. At one point I hook this fish that seems big, and if not big seemed pretty fiesty, not like the humpies everyone else was catching. I reel it in and the guy informs me that I’ve just caught the first silver salmon in my life. Pretty cool. (2 days later I show the picture of the fish to some guys in a fly shop. They say it's not a silver salmon. So I still am in search of the first silver.)

Drove 5 minutes out of Hope to camp for the night and ended up with at most scenic sleeping place so far on the trip. I was on the water, with nothing but the sea in front and snow capped mountains beyond and behind me……..in the rain.

Saturday July 24

I’m killing time.

I really want to take my row pontoon boat down the Kenai River through Kenai National Park, but it keeps on raining………so I’m killing time.

It was “Progress Days” in Soldotna. The town comes alive for a big parade so I figure I’d stick around another day, check it out, and try the float tomorrow.

The parade was actually awesome. If your local business got a shiny new truck this was the time to show it off. I was impressed with the amount of stuff in the parade. It took at least an hour for it to pass me by. I parked my truck right next to the judges viewing stand so I could get the play by play from the announcer. So many great organizations were represented like food pantries, churches, special needs organizations, and a breast cancer float, even Pop Warner football players. There were, of course, a couple of oddities. The queen of the parade was a woman who was crowned because she’d lost the most weight. There was a local chapter of Corvette owners all driving their cars, ….and the weirdest sight of all, there was the state chapter of hot dog owners….hot dog as in the actual dog type. There were hundreds of them. They had to join the parade route somewhere in the middle. They couldn’t keep up because of their little legs.

They had a section in a local park on the banks of the Kenai set up with games and vendors and stuff. There was live music playing. Despite the rain showers it was pretty fun. The lengths they go to allow everyone to fish in the river are incredible. They had wheelchair ramps that zig-zagged back and forth for 100’s of yards giving truly everyone a legit chance to fish…..it was impressive.

Today, July 24, was also the first day that high school football teams are allowed to practice. With the harsh winters here, 3 regular season games are played in August, before school starts and the season ends early.

Hit the local car races at night…..10 bucks to get in. The place was a total dump. I did win a raffle though. The prize was half off a night at a local hotel. Even if it was half off, I still wasn’t paying anything at all to sleep. I tried to give it to the guy next to me but he was in the same boat as me. A little while later this guy and girl came up to me asking if I was trying to give the prize away, and could they have it. They’d driven from afar and were waiting to move into a home that wasn’t quite ready yet. They’d been sleeping in their car the last few nights and were pumped to get the gift certificate……they actually wanted to pay me for it, which I declined.

Ate another pizza and filled up the propane in the camper (been running the heat a lot lately.) Watched Meryl Streep in “It’s Complicated” before bed.

The new fun thing for the local teens to do is to blow thru the Wal-Mart or Fred Meyer’s parking lot at about 3am blasting their horns, waking up everyone sleeping in their campers. One time they even cranked some music and were dancing on the hoods of their cars. Well it happened again tonight….This time the cops showed up and they scattered. Eh whatever, it’s kind of funny….. If I was a teen stuck in central Alaska I’d probably be doing the same thing.

Friday July 23

With the Sockeye salmon checked off the list on the Kenai, we’ll try Homer again. A shower first, five bags of my new favorite popcorn “Alaskan Brand Theater Style”, a tank full of gas and I hit the road.

Homer is the end of the road in the south central part of Alaska. I thought it was pretty gross. It’s a great place to take another boat trip to see glaciers, puffins or whales but I wasn’t about to shell out for that experience again. Homer was basically a spit of land that sticks out into the Cook Inlet (ocean) surrounded by mountains. While naturally beautiful, the road down the spit was filled with the usual shops filled with trinkets and T-shirts. Not too classy.

Paid $25 for an “organic” pizza served by 2 chicks with seriously hairy pits……and moustaches. Ate it and watched a lone surfer brave the 40 degree water temps.

Homer was not worth the effort so I drove back north to Soldotna, back near the Kenai River. Watched half of the “Lovely Bones” on DVD and slept at the Fred Meyers…..with the 50 other RV’s that were already there. I think I’ve now “used” every stall in the men’s room in the Soldotna Fred Meyer’s, which is a lot grosser experience than you might think…..because all the guys in the other 50 RV’s have too.

Fred Meyer’s is a department store sort of like Wal-Mart. This particular store happens to be situated in the epicenter of the red salmon run on the Kenai River. The store is pristine at 6am and completely trashed by 10pm. People camping in the lot ransack the place. There’s this overlap of the three worlds……. they are; the million people fishing, the hundreds of people “living” in the parking lot, and the daily functions of the actual store. Those things scrambled together create some kind of scene…..in the bathrooms, in the fishing section, near the coolers, near the food. It is total chaos….and there are some sights to behold. On another note, the nearest Wal-Mart is just a little too far away from the action, far enough away to find its parking lot……deserted. For comparison, imagine if they allowed free camping at the Wal-Mart across the street from say…..the Daytona 500 during the week of the race…..you get the idea.

One more thing…..It’s been raining off and on for the last 5 days and it’s getting to me.

Friday July 23

Today marks a special day for someone who’s been, aside from my own parents, the most inspirational and influential person in my life. I’ll feel your happiness today, and enjoy it as much as I always do. I’m wishing you the very best wishes……the photo is of the state flower of Alaska, the Forget-Me-Not. As myliu tave mana draugas.

Thursday July 22

Got up and headed for the Kenai River.

The banks were lined on both sides with people fishing. Everyone was there. They have the fishing experience so dialed on the Kenai it’s ridiculous. There are paved parking lots at various spots along the river, paved walkways down to it, boardwalks alongside of it ,and fish cleaning stations at regular intervals. They make it so easy and user friendly to fish. It is completely part of the culture.

It’s just the thing to do for fun and it’s for everyone; a group of four middle aged women who

looked like they’d be going to the tennis club to play a doubles but they had rods instead of rackets, two teens on a date, little kids with their snoopy poles, groups of 10 drunken yahoos, old, young……there were all kinds.

I casted for a while, maybe an hour or so, slowly inching my way down to the spot where most people were catching fish. Once a person gets three fish they are done fishing and usually hit the road. So I was finally in the hot spot. Like everything in Alaska, the techniques used to take sockeye salmon are pretty unique. Six feet from the hook goes your weight. When you cast the weight must barely graze off the rocks on the bottom. As for the hook, you’d have best results with a bare one. However the rules say that you need to have some kind of lure, or fly , or something attached to the hook. Most people put a miniscule piece of yarn on the hook. It’s comical, because the yarn does nothing to help you catch fish, you simply need it to be in compliance with the rules.

So you sort of flip your line out there no more than 10 feet and let the whole shebang drift down with the current. When the line is directly below you (or in the knees of the guy immediately down stream from you), you sort of fling it from behind you back up stream again. The whole cycle takes maybe 8 seconds, so you’re basically flipping and flipping and flipping the thing….repeatedly all day long. The idea is that sockeye swim with their mouths open, the line between the hook and the weight or sinker sort of ends up in the crook of their mouth and slides ‘til the hook slides through and embeds in the side of their mouth. I know this seems crazy but there are so many fish in the river that after a while you do actually hook one. Better yet, if you are in a spot where the fish continuously pass, your odds go way up.

With a few pointers from a guy from Pittsburg I finally got one. The fought like the bejesus, and another guy netted it for me. I had another one on later on but he was hooked in the stomach, with the swift currents he was impossible to reel in. Eventually, after I smashed my finger in the spinning real handle, the hook broke in half and he was free to go.

I filleted the sockeye right at the very conveniently located fillet table, took it home, wrapped it in tinfoil tossed on some garlic and butter, cooked it right on my stove top, and ate it for dinner. It was…….delicious. I think I'm becoming Alaskan. Adding to the whole experience, there were two moose right near the truck when I got back after fishing.

Sorry for the hero shots of me with the fish. Also, check out the ball of line, lures, hooks, etc, that some guy fished up from the bottom of the Kenai River. Think many people fish there? After dinner caught up on the blog and called it a night.

Wednesday July 21

Wednesday July 21

Decided to head south to the sea side town of Homer. I never made it.

Saw a neat little Russian church in the town of Ninilchik. There are a few areas in Alaska where there are communities of Ruski's. It makes sense I guess with Russia so close by.

Stopped at a fly shop and, as usual, left with a mission and a map scribbled on a scrap of paper. It was another opportunity to catch a fish I have never caught, the dolly varden. I proceeded to cast in the Anchor River for about 5 hours and caught 3 dollies. They were fairly handsome for a fish, beautiful pink spots on their backs. Good enough……at least I caught one. It was a neat little stretch of river a quarter of a mile or so from the ocean at Cook Inlet. Across Cook Inlet were these giant snow capped mountains, one of which, Mt. Redoubt, is an active volcano, last erupting in 2009. They made for quite a background for the fishing.

Inspired by the fly shop owner’s enthusiasm, I decided to go back to the Kenai River and fish it tomorrow for Red salmon (also called Sockeye). Every type of fish one catches requires a specific set-up of fly, sinkers, line, etc. I got what I think I needed at Fred Meyers and slept in the parking lot ready for tomorrow.

Tuesday July 20

Shower!.....always a nice thing, $5 this time, even got a clean towel with it.

Money saving tip......If you're willing, buying your groceries at Wal-Mart will save you tons of money. The groceries in the photo are not mine in case you were wondering.

Believe it or not my shoulder and neck were still a little stiff so I tried to take it slow for one more day.

Ate lunch at these benches overlooking the place where the Kenai River empties into the ocean.

I finally bought a much needed blanket for the bed. It’s been in the 40’s every night and using blanket is cheaper than running the heat all night. Hit a sports bar type place called “Buckets”. Had some chicken fingers and pasta alfredo while watching the Sox lose to the A’s on NESN.

Here's the video on dip netting.