More fishing on the Kenai

Gary and Diana left last week but it didn't mean our fun had to end just yet. Scotty and his buddy Wyatt stayed an additional week. Jeff and I had to work a few nights so the boys stayed busy playing playstation and fishing in town at nights. But after 3 days of being stuck at home while we slept, we headed back down to Kenai and Soldotna for some more fishing and camping. I never though I would look forward to fishing so much. Although I'm not one that could stand along the river and fish for 10 hours straight like the boys, I still enjoy my time relaxing and driving around town.

Scotty fishing like some of the old men on the river...

Wyatt is use to working on the farm, so the whole 2 weeks he was here he was up super early. I kept harrassing him that in Alaska we sleep in!!! Well one morning while we were all sleeping at 7 am, Wyatt was outside carving a whacking stick to hit fish on the head. Well when the 2 boys saw his stick, they were super jealous and had to make their own. Well while Jeff was being careless with his brand new sharp knife I toook the dogs for a walk down to the river to watch the boys gut and filet the fish. Jeff starts yelling my name and then says "I need you to come stitch me up, I cut my finger" First off, yes I'm a nurse, second off I don't do stitches, third off if I did do stitches what did he expect me to use... fishing line? Silly guy. He definately needed stitches but I was lame and said I would just tend to it and watch it. So we steri-stiped the profusely bleeding wound and made him wear gloves when fishing.


So sad story... one of the days we went out the fishing was kinda slow. Jeff would hook one every 10-20 casts and was doing ok. I told Jeff I read on the fish and game website that if you leave them alive instead of hitting them on the head, then the blood keeps circulating and the meat stays fresh. Well He had caught these 2 huge ones, probably the biggest of all the fish caught that day, and he decided not to whack them on the head and just put them on a stringer. Well Jeff kept asking all the kids that walked by if they wanted to pet his fish... of course all the kids did, it was so cute to see Jeff show them off. Well he put them back in the water on their stringer and about 2 min goes by and I look down and the fish were gone... I look up stream and they were swimming away. I screamed to Jeff, he ran over and dove with his right arm but they were too slimmy to grab with his glove on... and so they got away. Poor fishes are stuck on a stinger trying to swim away. Jeff was all wet, clear down his waiters, and I got in trouble for telling him to keep them alive for fresher meat... no I will always suggest whacking them first :)

But at least I have proof that we caught 2 more than what we came home with... we were both so sad and didn't talk to each other for awhile



Netting the fish was the fun part... although at times it was almost harder than reeling them in... this day we were out fishing until midnight... which was ok until we had to gut and filet them and then shower... putting us in bed at 2:30 am. But so worth it!!!




I caught my second fish of the week... I don't have as much patience standing in the water, if I did I would've been right up with the boys reeling in 5-6 every day. But I'm proud of the 2 I caught overall. Plus, who would've taken all these pics if I just fished!!!

Jeff caught himself a nice Humpy. They sure are ugly looking after they spawn. We ended up throwing him back, but not after taking his pic

And Wyatt I think landed the BIGGEST FISH OF THE SEASON!!! He thought he had a snag and then when he reeled it in and was about ready to cast his line again, he realized his snag was actually a tiny little Ling Cod. It was so cute, even the boys thought so!!!

Our first days catch on the river... the second day was just as many, minus the 2 of Jeff's that swam away :)


Heading out of town we wanted to stop off at the Russian River and see a few bears. All week long people kept saying dont go to the Russian without a gun or bear spray... one guy even told Jeff he couldn't even fish cuz there were so many grizzlies around. Well grizzlies in Alaska aren't so bad... it's the black bears you need to be afraid of. As we were pulling into the campground to go park Jeff was in mid sentence saying "guys it won't be long before we..." and right then, I kid you not a beautiful grizzly walks out of the trees and crosses the road 30 feet in front of the truck and heads down the raven to the river. Unfortunately that was the only bear we saw :( We even walked up and down the river to try to find them, I think we were a little to upstream though cuz there were no fish in sight yet... I was a little scared since we had no spray OR gun to protect us so I was making sure I was being extra loud... and probably obnoxious, but I didn't wanna startle a bear and get attacked at the end of such a great 2 weeks.




So most people can't wait to get rid of their in-laws whenever they come to visit... but me, I can't wait to have them come back. After 2 weeks of people in our home, you would think I would be glad to have our space back and I don't have to cook for 3 boys :) but we both really miss having people around. The boys were so respectful of us sleeping and loved playing with our dogs. I can't wait to have them back up here next year