Day 47 Seward

Wednesday July 19^th – day 47 – Kenai

I woke up early again today. 2:20 am.  Glad to report that if you want to see darkness, it can be found at 2:20 am in Kenai. Couldn’t go back to sleep, so I did some editing to the blog to clean up some errors, and make an edit requested by Erik (added picture of me (unknowingly) dragging a tree branch up the hiking trail in Juneau, day 27).

Travis and I rolled out at 4:20 am and were at the river by 4:45 am. To our surprise….. so were about a dozen other fishermen!  At 4:45 am!!!!  The fishing started slowly. Lots of casting, not much catching, but I managed to bring in 3 sockeye, one of which was really really big, but was snagged on the dorsal fin, and you have to release any salmon not caught in the mouth. I had lots of spectators with the fish, so back in the river he went. Still a great morning. Not too many breakoffs, and excellent orange/red meat on those sockeye.  Travis hooked a couple, but didn’t get them to the net.  

We loaded up the camper and headed south to Seward.  Saw another herd of Dall sheep on the Seward Highway.  Rained most of the day. Alaska is at peace in the rain. The mountains like it, the people hardly seem to notice, and the coastal areas hold clouds just ~500’ over the waterline.  The post cards you’ve seen of bay areas with clouds, snow, etc?  Very real. That’s where I’m at right now.  As a bonus….. Pop and Brek arrive tomorrow night. The campground is nothing glorious, but the scenery is just incredible.

There is a gravel beach half a mile south of camp, and I heard rumors that salmon could be caught from it.  I walked down there to scout it, and found three guys fishing.  They had two pinks and a dog (kinds of salmon) between them. All caught on spinners from the beach. Salmon, from the beach, next to my camp.   One of the fishermen (Ryan, from Oregon) was on a guided trip yesterday. I asked him who with, and it was with the same guy who we’re fishing with on Friday!  He said that the guide, deckhand and boat are all good.  Great news! 

While playing Spades tonight, we looked out the window and saw fishermen on the shore and fish jumping in the water.  It was about 9:00, but the kids and I grabbed our gear and headed out.  It was after 10:00 when we stopped fishing, and we had 3 salmon and a Dolly Varden on the stringer.  As a bonus a lady gave us her pink salmon because they're leaving tomorrow, and she didn't want to mess with it.  A great way to end the day!

The kids and I look forward to fishing the beach tomorrow. 

As I headed to bed tonight, it occurred to me that today, I caught 5 salmon.  3 sockeye, and 2 pinks. That’s a good day.