Fishing and Catching

Whew Hew! We went Sockeye Salmon fishing today on the Kenai River in Soldotna, Alaska.  What a great time but not so easy.

To start the day I have on my new hip waders, a baseball cap, and a rain coat. Very feminine. When I was purchasing the hip waders another woman in the store gave me a wink and said “just pretend they are leather!” Ok I feel the sexy coming on now.

We trudged down these muddy paths with fishing poles, nets, filet knives, and bags to put our catch in. Finally we make it to what we think will be our spot. But before we can get to the spot we have to cross another section of the river. This section is a bit deeper and I have hip waders on. They should be called thigh waders because there isn’t any hip covering going on.  I was trying so hard not to get water up past the waders. Nothing worse than a boot full of water that you have to wear all day. Well maybe one thing, a wet crotch. Can’t get the crotch of the pants wet. Yes I made a successful crossing. Now I am in the cold river, in the very swift current, all lined up with the other fisher people and learning to do the Kenai flip. This is where you let out a certain amount of fishing line, you draw back on your rod, and when the rod reaches a designated area, you pull your line back with the fingers of your left hand to shorten the line and recast the fly without ever reeling in your line. Because there are so many people in the river this technique was developed so everyone keeps in time and lines don’t get tangled as much. Well you flip and pull and flip and pull and then you snag one. It’s a fighter, pulling more line out, it jumps and turns. It goes to the left, then to the right. You are trying to reel him in and walk backward in the swift current, not fall or get your crotch wet, and land that baby either in a net or walk him up on shore. When you do it is the most exciting feeling. Yes I got the fish and my crotch was dry. A success!  I fought several more and lost them but in total today I caught my limit of three   and so did Tommy. Aren’t they beautiful? And they will be even more delicious. We get to do this all again tomorrow!