Alask Canada Trip Log- FISH ON!

Day 44 (Kenai River, Alaska) thru Day 60 (Kenai River, Alaska)
The Summer Adventures of Steve & Sharon Russell; Part 6

July 16, 2008; Wed.(Day 44) – The Red’s are here the Red’s are HERE!
0645 hours & Stephen is out the door with friend Harold Howell to hit the Kenai River. The activity had slowed dramatically from the previous evening & Harold & wife Ruthann reluctantly left Troy’s Campground late morning with a promise to visit and steelhead with us in September.

25,000 Reds were noted coming through the sonic point last night which means they’ll be hitting the Kenai tonight. Excitement abounds in the campground in spite of the really awfully rainy & cold weather – low 50’s. (It almost feels as if its going to snow however know that’s not possible). I found 4 GREAT salmon & halibut recipes today so carefully typed them into the computer and look forward to trying the recipes on fresh salmon.

Minnesota Steve & my Stephen went fishing around 1700 hours as I was making dinner. They called & said they were catching so the pups and I walked down to the river. We watched Stephen catch his 3rd Red and then walk over to wait in line at the fish fillet station. Meanwhile Minnesota Steve finally caught his first Red, needed a net person, & I went in . . . wet wading in 48F water to help him for the next two hours land fish and re-tackle. He didn’t realize that I wasn’t wearing hip waders until he’d caught his last fish and was flabbergasted . . . and very appreciative. Tired; pups, Stephen & I walked back to the campsite toting his 30 pounds of fillets. What a great way to begin the Kenai River Red Run! Weather was mostly cloudy with intermittent rain showers all day long & cold/damp @ 52F.

July 17, 2008; Thursday (Day 45); Sharon’s Catches Her Limit!
It poured all night long – hard! And most of the day as well. The morning was spent shopping w/friends and buying hip waders so no more wet wading for me! The guys headed off to fish shortly after noon while the pups and I did phone work, and then hiked down to the river about 1530 hours.

Navy Ron had his limit, Stephen had 2 so Ron handed me his rod & volunteered to watch the pooches. I had just 3 casts when I caught a huge female! Minnesota Steve netted for me, Stephen caught his 3rd, filleted his 3 and my 1; then pooches & Steve’s x 2 drove back to the campsite. I immediately caught a 2nd Red; a huge male. Stephen fortunately came back within an hour after squaring away the pooches, cleaned my 2nd Red & as he was ready to call me off the river, I caught my 3rd! Sooooo, the next 1 ½ hours was spent prepping and sealing the 12 packages of monster fillets! What an outstanding day (in spite of the cold rainy 50F weather)!

July 18, 2008; Friday (Day 46)
This morning for about an hour we were able to see clear skies over Mt. Redoubt – which clouded in before I could capture it on camera. The weather in general is cold & rainy but not as torrentially raining as it was yesterday. I rode my bike into town today for email purposes.
Lessons Learned: When emailing at a wifi site and your outgoing doesn’t send, the reason is usually not because you’ve sent an individual email to too many folks but because the broadband on the wifi site isn’t sufficient.

Stephen & Steve meanwhile headed to the Kenai around 1400 hours. They quit fishing at 1930 hours with Stephen having caught his limit and Steve catching 2. I made 3 trips back & forth to the river so this was definitely an exercise day for me! The pups made one of these trips – it’s their favorite place and so many folks get a kick out of their intentness in watching the fisherpersons . . . and wanting to participate. The weather was rainy and cold most of the day – finally clearing up again in the evening. The high for the day was 58F. Glad I have warm clothes with me!

July 19, 2008; Saturday (Day 47)
Relaxation is the order of the day – no fishing. The netters were out so that has kept the Red’s from getting into the River. Stephen helped new neighbor Giorgio (from Italy) learn to rig & fish & fillet. Against all odds this newcomer got his limit so in return for all the hours of instruction & assist, he & Cindy are making dinner for all of us tomorrow. I rode my bike into town twice, to buy a couple of ‘fishing’ items. After dinner the Russell family walked down to the River where we met several folks from Spokane and watched the fishing (no catching). The sun had finally come out late afternoon and the sun felt great! Mt. Redoubt was basking in the evening sun – picture opportunity! Scattered showers, bright sun, and high of 58.


July 20, 2008; Sunday (Day 48)
Phoned home & talked to Shari who has 4 wisdom teeth removed, a new boyfriend AND made the Univ. of Idaho Deans List! The sun is out but so is the wind. The 2 Steve’s have gone to purchase a smoker & then it’s off to fish. Unfortunately the dip netters (Alaskan Residents) are effectively keeping the Reds from moving upstream. They are catching lots! The weather continues to be rainy, cold, and cloudy with sun spots in the afternoon. Our high point was a wonderful dinner with hule hule (Hawaiian marinade – thanks Cindy!) used to fry fresh salmon. The 8 of us (Steve & Bonnie, Giorgio & Cindy & the Russells4) posed for pictures and howdied for hours. Great end to another fishless day.

July 21, 2008; Monday (Day 49)
Rain, rain, go away . . . come again some other day! Guess we could be the weatherfolks this summer in Alaska. Each day is the same, rain, clouds, cold, wind, mid 50’s for the high. Sigh. The net dippers are back working at their careers however the commercial fishermen are now throwing out their nets. The Red’s are running again but it wasn’t until late evening that Stephen & Steve began to catch anything. Not for lack of trying however since they went out 2 other times during the day. Finally struggling in at 0100 they each had 2 monster fish. AND I discovered that it actually became dark for a few minutes before the midnight sun rose again amidst the cloud cover.

July 22, 2008; Tuesday (Day 50)
Lots of camp chores were accomplished to include setting up the screened room. We decided to freeze the previous night’s salmon rather than begin the smoking & canning process. It was a major bicycling day for me again. I went to the University of Alaska Extension office to gather info on canning salmon and then went shopping. The entire afternoon I worried that I return back to camp prior to the imminent rain storm. I barely made it!

After warm soup for dinner (yes it raining buckets again), the 2 Steve’s headed to the Kenai River. As they both joked, it seems they are always catching their Red’s in the rain! And once again they did! Stephen phoned to let me know he’d limited at 3 & was helping others with the nets. Pups & I hunkered down, made salmon brine and then chatted up Stephen from 2300 to 0100 hours which is when he returned soaking & tired, but happy.

July 23, 2008; Wednesday; (Day 51)
Something new & different – continued buckets of rain. Our dinner group became a breakfast group this morning chowing down at Sal’s Café. The funny item is the history of this Klondike Cafés owner, Sally (whom hails from Lewiston, ID) and her Manager (whom transplanted from Walla Walla, WA) . . . so hometown folks continue to be found in this ‘Last Frontier’.

A purchase of a pressure canner required another trip to the Univ. of Alaska Extension office to calibrate the gauge & gather information on our new purchase as well as the nuances of salmon canning. Great, helpful folks. Stephen pulled the ‘Y’ bones from our 6 monster fillets & then it was to the refrigerator to marinate in the brine.
Lessons Learned: Using a good quality facial tweezers to pull the ‘Y’ bones
is effective & easier than using needle nose pliers.

The guys resolutely braved the rain once again at 1730 to head out and fish. I meanwhile chatted with a Texan gent who’d canned over 500 pints of fish in the last couple of weeks to gain some ‘local’ knowledge on the process! Bonnie, pups and I walked down to the river at 2100 to oversee the fishing. As the guys were calling it quits due to slow catching, Stephen caught a nice male. So at 2300 hours we were seal-a-mealing Red’s!

July 24, 2008; Thursday; (Day 52)
Stephen keeps asking if we got the number of the truck that hit him and today I really feel the same! The huge amount of rain continues unabated and for the 2nd day, the pups and I have had limited or no exercise. Sigh. We have however had a lot of activity! We smoked our fish with lots of adult supervision from EVERYONE since nothing besides rain was going on in the campground except the Russell’s smoking fish!

The huge winds soon came up and we decided there was no way we could keep a flame going for the pressure canner so that task would be relegated to the next day. We then had to dance around the screened room placing rocks, rolling up its netted sides, and finally deciding it needed to come down. We were rescued by Bonnie & Steve, heading off to town to eat at Fozzio’s (Greek/Italian/Mexican) and afterwards doing some other housekeeping chores. “Loretta” our server, is one of the fisherpersons we’ve seen on the river so that made the experience special as we also chatted about the fishing conditions in addition to eating a great meal.

The rain still coming down we got Stephen into his fishing gear and he and Jack headed to the River. Minnesota Steve and Bonnie meanwhile are stowing gear as they leave in the morning. Stephen brought home one and into the freezer it went.

July 25, 2008; Friday; (Day 53)
Canning is the order of the morning! We did our first ever canning of salmon today and it was quite an experience. Thank heavens for the Univ of Alaska Extension Office and the help of our campmate friends! We reluctantly said goodbye to our new good friends . . . Minnesota Steve & wife Bonnie (Michel) of Walker, MN. at noon today. With promises to see each other in MN we waved them goodbye as they & their 5th Wheel headed south.

We heard from Jay & Mary. They saw Stephen’s Doc (Tom Fairchild) – now Jay’s as well – and are scheduled for a procedure at Deaconess Med. Ctr. on Aug 20th. We have recalculated our time here and will leave on or about Aug 5th in order to be home a couple of days prior to the procedure.

The good news weather-wise was the SUN! We are so tired of the rain, wind and cold. The temperatures actually struggled up to the low 60’s with the ever present rain clouds hovering. The late afternoon/evening fishing yielded nothing in the net although Stephen had a couple on and then off. The fish numbers are down so only 10K coming to the river mouth . . . and of course hitting all those dip netters, so not many Reds make it this far.

July 26, 2008; Saturday (Day 54)
This town really needs to have a conversation with Public Works and turn off all the water! It was parade day in Soldotna – very homey & sweet and held in the rain. I rode my bike into the Laundromat to do Stephen’s fishing clothes (he’d taken a tumble just before leaving the River the night before) & scored some Scott Guard for the hats. The back pack he purchased for me has been a great score for shopping/chores while bicycling. I’m glad that I was able to clean house yesterday and clear out the rocks/gravel since we’re back to rain buckets again. Our rain jackets have been a much used piece of clothing on this trip.

I walked Stephen up to the River for another non productive fish day. It should be comforting that no one else is catching either but its not. We’d rather have lots of folks catching fish. Stephen walked home early, disgusted with the low fish counts. The pillow talk is good however!

July 27, 2008; Sunday (Day 55)
Rain all day, low 50’s, wet, soggy, grey/gray, damp, cold, web feet, puddles, mud, depressing, cold, cloudy . . . well, you get the idea. And the fishing? Bah. . . Humbug! I really feel bad for the pooches as this directly affects the amount of exercise we’re willing to give them. Who wants to deal with hugely wet & muddy dog fur!!! So they live in hibernation mode until we get a few minutes between rain clouds which is when we dash outside for a quick walk. It’s then the ‘towel’ for a brisk dry & wipe before allowing them back into the camper.

We decided to ‘break camp’ so that we could so some things only possible with the camper . . . massive water intake, dumping, etc etc. While at the Fred Meyers (the RV Mecca in Soldotna) we ran into Bill & Vicki whom had left the Friends of Troy campsite earlier in the week. We reconnected with them and their visitors . . . so an hour or two of chores turned into 4 with all of our visiting!

Stephen & Jack decided to go fishing later in the evening . . . mostly expecting to practice fishing aerobics . . . and Stephen brought one home! This in spite of the VERY low numbers coming through!




July 28, 2008; Monday (Day 56)
Oh, something new and different . . . a rainy morning . . . and THEN the sun came out! We were very happy as we were smoking and canning fish today so the weather cooperating was a plus! I picked up a ‘rent a wreck’ . . . which I’d waited almost a week to get (the major companies were out until the 3rd week of August & at a cost of 2x the rent a wreck folks!). Stephen really needs to NOT be walking and I was tired of bicycling in the rain.

The other major event was our smoking and canning of salmon. Today we had enough salmon to do 16 pints . . . and in spite of me not putting enough water in the canner (causing a hurried trip to the Extension Office for guidance), all of the cans came out well. We then found that we were double booked for cocktails but fortunately not for dinner . . . dining with the military crowd. We took the pups in the ‘wreck’ and looked at the River . . . crowded with no one catching.

July 29, 2008; Tuesday (Day 57)
Don’t you love Ambien (a sleep aid)! I took one the night before and slept right through Stephen calling to me at 0430 “I love you Bear” and heading out the door to fish! What a good call on his part . . . as by 0800 he was calling to report that he had caught his limit of 3 and was waiting in line for the fillet table! Did I mention that the sun finally came out? And stayed!!

The pups and I got things going with another salmon batch in the smoker. This was followed by our canning stint with Stephen ‘on watch’ as the official keeper of the canner. Its amazing but this is a full time and critical job as one must ensure that the weight ‘jiggles’ the appropriate amount of times in a minute and the pressure doesn’t fall below 10 or rise about 15! Talk about watching a pot boil! Oh yes, the sun is STILL out!

I did have to make an ER run to the Extension Office as ‘we’; Stephen actually, discovered by deductive reasoning that I’d only put in 3 quarts of water vice 4 in the pressure cooker and we were half way through the cooking process! Fortunately I discovered that the real tragedy in lack of sufficient water would be to ruin your pressure canner and your product. We (I) lucked out! All 16 of our pints were fine AND sealed so it was a nice productive batch of smoked salmon for the larder! Hmmm, the sun is out and it’s in the low 60’s!!!! Did I mention the sun . . . .


July 30 2008; Wednesday (Day 58)
0330 hours comes awfully early . . . however the pups and I don’t miss a beat, other than to kiss Stephen goodbye and turn over and snooze for a couple or 3 more hours! Stephen caught his limit early and we were soon (along with Rick and Joyce) headed to Buckets for breakfast. This is the place that makes the wicked good French fries and halibut sandwiches for lunch. Breakfast is every bit, if not, more delicious!

Returning to camp brought once again the days activities of smoking and canning salmon. We seem to be coming quite ‘learned’ about this entire experience and folks are now coming to us for guidance! I managed to get in a bicycle ride while Stephen was doing his duty ‘watching the pot boil’, and even managed to have a paramedic from the Soldotna Fire Department help me wash some of the dirt and grime off of my Cannondale dirt bike! “Just happy to proved the service, Ma’am!”

The big news of the day is that this is the 2nd day in a row with sunshine, light breezes & mid-60 degree temperatures. I think I’m getting a sunburn!

July 31, 2008; Thursday (Day 59)
The sun came . . . and stayed all day long! Stephen once again caught his limit however he had to work a lot longer at it. Pretty tough when you’ve been up since 0330 hours! He rolled in at 1000 hours while I was smoking salmon. We taught Rick to smoke using our ‘Big Chief’ after our salmon came off the smoker. Another 8 pints completed today. Stephen is whipped and needs to sleep but so much activity during the day keeps his rests/naps to a minimum.

Jesse & I ran errands in the rent’a’wreck this afternoon, she feeling every bit the princess since it was girls afternoon out. The guys meanwhile, watched the salmon pot boil! I did some research on Medicare – guess my sweetie is eligible because of all the things ‘wrong’ with him. Just trying to make a good decision whether to switch from Tri-Care to Medicare early.

We are winding down our trip a bit early and I’m anxious to get home. We are both worried about the kids and Jay’s upcoming procedure. The entire camp knows of his medical issue & keeps the Russell family in prayer & thoughts which is comforting. Still wish we were home but will be soon.

August 1, 2008; Friday (Day 60)
Yahoo! Our last day of smoking and canning! We canned 16 pints so have just a smidgen over 6 cases! The sun cooperated and the wind was a bit of a challenge but our tarped/blanketed/tented canning area keeps the wind from burning out the flame on the propane burner and we can nicely. Stephen did catch his limit of fish this morning in the bright sunshine.

Pat Zortman & I ran some errands in the afternoon. Stephen and I did an initial teardown of the campsite after the canning/smoking was completed. The highlight was our blowout cocktail party that we threw at the last minute. We had 14 over with lots of hors’de’ouvres – an eclectic crowd but all had something or other in common so the party lasted 2 hours instead of the standard one hour. Dinner was at Zortman’s and we said goodbye as they pull out in the morning heading back to Anchor Point and their newly purchased property. We’ll leave Saturday or Sunday. We’re tired, anxious and ready to head home, although we’ve had a grand time.

Sidebars:
The Cottonwood trees are once again in full molt. Lots of allergies on the Kenai River! The clover flowers are very long stemmed and instead of being the traditional white – there are many that are a reddish/pink/purple. The wildflowers in general are stunning.
It’s certain to rain buckets every single Wednesday in the summer as that’s the designated day of Soldotna’s weekly Farmer’s/Flea Market.
Soldotna Watering Holes for RV’s.
1. Fred Meyers. Overnight for 3 days N/C; dump, potable water, trash.
2. Tesoro Gas Station. Potable water & trash.
3. Holiday Gas Station. Potable water, trash, dump station and car was with one oversize for RV’s.