Other Random Decent or Wacky Photos

Saturday July 10

Got a phone message from Gerry. He said he was headed back to Anchorage but that he’d caught his limit of silvers and also seen a few king salmon in the Klutina River. So, of course, I had to check it out.

Sweated bullets on the 80 degree 2 mile walk out to the mouth where the Klutina enters the Copper River. 5 hours later shivered on the rainy 54 degree walk back to the truck. After what seemed to be a thousand casts, I managed to sort of semi hook about 6, fight one hard and lose it, and yes, land one monster 7 pounder. Being a complete salmon rookie, I think it was a silver.

Went into this shop that housed a guide service to buy some split shot before I left for fishing and listened to a guide talk to a guy and his kid who he was about to shuttle upstream in his jet boat and take fishing. On the way back from my fishing I noticed the kid and his dad standing by at the filet table as the guide was cleaning more than a few fish. $225 for a half day trip……it gets me wondering......but I’ve always been more of a DIY guy.

Back to the riverside parking lot I slept in last night to blog the last few days. Writing the blog is not a big deal, but with no internet connection I can’t post it……hence the gaps in blog postings. After blogging I actually turned on the generator and watched a few DVD’s I brought with me…..a nice change of pace.

There were 2 dumpsters in the rest area…..empty when I got there, full when I left. The locals piled them high. Not sure if that’s what they were meant for.

Remember, click on the pics for a larger view.

Friday July 9

Back to Silver Lake. It was too good last night. Floating in the tube for over 5 hours, I managed to catch many large rainbows 3 over 20 inches…… and one, the biggest rainbow trout of my life, taped out at a whopping 25 inches. It was insane. I’d troll this full sinking line and about half of my backing and dredge these monsters from the depths. One time I had so much line out that I needed binoculars to see the fish jumping on the other end of the line.

I also had an unusual encounter with a loon, the thing swam about 5 circles around me underwater, surfaced, made the call of the wild like you’d hear in the movies (you know the one), go back underwater, and circle 5 more times. Like, I could see the thing flapping it’s wings blasting around me. It was, well, kinda weird. It was a spectacular day of fishing. Huge trout, nice sunshine, snow capped giants all around…..and zero other people. Another trip highlight for sure.

Paid the all time trip high for gas, $3.95/gal, ouch, but only $4 for a shower....it’s been 6 days since my last.

I was pretty tired and decided to call it a day around 7pm, gourmet pasta with butter and cheese by the river and bed early.