BackTo: Sonar Count Graph-July 2002/July2003
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Friday July 12th 7000 sockeye / 230,000total
Finally my sockeye season is about to begin. After nervously watching all of those daily sockeye counts steadily increase, I'm on my way to get a piece of the action. Over 200K sockeye have already passed the sonar count and I haven't even wetted a line yet. I must fish soon!! We're on our way via the red-eye flight. Within 24 hours there should be fish in the cooler - and stories to tell!!
Saturday July 13 8000 sockeye / 238,000total
Flight up was pretty good. No one sitting on the aisle seat so Bunny was able to stretch out and sleep. Once we got airborne we chased the sunset all the way to Anchorage. Still pretty bright above the cloud layer. We arrived 30 minutes early but we had to wait on the tarmac because there was no gate room. Joe and Wayne both met us at the airport. Wayne has a nice new white suburban that Marie usually drives. Back at Wayne's condo we crashed on the couch overnight for a short nap. Marie still working until late. Wayne already won first game of cribbage. Took my first "first" already this morning. Weather looks clear and cloudy but very nice overall. Temperature is in the 60-70’s and much more comfortable than at PDX: 90degrees. Can’t wait to get into the outdoors. Vacation is on! Time to catch some fishies.
Got the camper early at about 11am and was back at Wayne’s around noon starting to pack our gear. We got out around 2:30 or so and had to make some stops for groceries, gear, and goodies. Made a stop at Hamilton’s and dropped off our fish boxes. Made it to Soldotna and on the water by 6pm. Wayne and Joe pulled up as we were gearing up. They wanted to go eat at Sal’s first. Eating? I’m here to fish! Fishing was very slow this evening, although there was an occasional fish. Joe got a real quick 3 limit though. Within an hour he was done and walking up and down the bank teasing us as only he can do. I got 2 in the evening and started feeling pretty good. Bunny didn’t get any. Wayne had some on and lost them including 1 mouth-hooked fish that I missed a net job on. That of course became the rallying cry all night long by Joe. I was Wayne’s “brother” who couldn’t net at all. Don’t let Wayne’s “brother” net that fish. I caught my first fish at the log hole. I got my second by fishing closer to the submerged rock. I cast right over onto the rock and floated through the pocket immediately behind it. Eventually I mouth hooked a little guy. Wayne was very frustrated all night since he couldn’t catch one. He stayed out all night until we were one of the last groups on the beach. It was a "magical" night out though. Wayne kept casting while I did my walking the beach technique. I hooked 2 in the dark and finally caught my 3-limit at about 11:59pm. Wayne finally had to give up as a skunk. I met Bob on the trail that night as well. He fished near the fence and caught rainbows in the dark. In all I was 3 of 15 that night. Not too bad for a Saturday first fishing effort. Bunny was sad cuz she didn’t get any.
That night we laughed as Wayne and Joe had to pump up their bed and made squeaking sounds outside the window of other campers. Gonna get up at 4am tomorrow and hit it again. Wayne didn’t sound very positive about going. But I kept at him until he had no choice but to get up and get even.
Sunday July 14 10,000 sockeye / 248,000total
Woke Wayne up got ready. He set off the car alarm for about a minute trying to get out of the truck. Got to the river and had our choice of spots. Only competition was the Japanese team way up at the fence hole. Wayne and I settle on the #1 hole. At 5:15am I land a nice hen. And then nothing else for me. Wayne eventually ends up with some fish and a smile on his face. I get nothing more. One fish and then the Kenai pretty much dried up for me. Glory comes down to the river at about 9am and we decide to head for Sal’s to get food. We eat and then go shopping…T-shirt time. After that we go on another fishing expedition. There are a couple of spots for us around the log hole. There are a few spurts of fish that come by now and then, but chances for me were few and far between. Wayne finally works into the #1 hole and fishes really deep. He ends up releasing 3 more fish. For Wayne it would have been a 6-limit on a slow day which is very impressive since he was skunk-boy the night before. He is much more happy now. We quit at 4pm and take a break. Wayne and Joe have to leave to go to work tomorrow. I begin to cure some eggs and take a nap. My hand already hurts and I can feeling my gripping power starting to wear-in.
Bunny and I go fishing again at 7:30pm. Fishing was spotty again but some people got repeated hookups. I was not one of them. I fished near the #1 hole with bunny but couldn’t find much success. I did hook up almost immediately but it was foul. Then to make things worse Bunny cast over my line and tangles up. Didn’t catch anymore in that spot. The guy next to me (Leo) hooks one that stays 10-yds above me. The fat lady next to bunny starts yelling at me to get out of the way. I give her the your crazy shutup look. She keeps saying yowhoo mister he’s got on one…backup backup. Whatever! That lady was a doodoo brain. We began moving around to different holes. Below the log hole I fished at the downstream submerged rock. I walked right up and cast upstream over it so my line would suck down into the pocket behind the rock. After 3 or 4 casts I hook up just as I had planned. I have a good mouth hook and I baby the fish real nicely. Eventually the sockeye makes a great triple spin and throws the hook…argghhh! Struggled for awhile after that but finally hooked up again. Got my fish to the bank but he began a spastic spinning around and finally threw the hook at the last moment. Tarumbaness! So I was skunked hard for the evening shift. Bunny and I decided to call it an evening. I got to bed at about 11:30pm.
Monday July 15 24,000 sockeye / 273,000total
Hoping a new day and a new group of fish will come by. Got to the river and the Japanese group were already there again next to the fence hole. Those guys must be working the night-shift. I walked the bank for an hour or so and never hooked into anything. Slow! Fished until 7:30am and only saw 3 fish hooked all morning. This is the slowest day I’ve ever seen in mid-run. It’s almost like Rodney has shown up. Got cleaned up and took a powernap. Then we went for a shower and got minty fresh breath.
Went down at 3pm hoping to change my luck. Hardly anyone was still fishing. There were sure a lot of spots available. Guess everyone else had enough, too. Finally went up to the open fence hole and hooked a couple. Lost my line and fly a few times. Then from 5:30 to 6:30 I hooked into a series of about 15 fish and lost every one of them. Lost my whole leader a couple of times too. Tex-Dennis came and stood next to me telling me how many fish he’s hooked at the fence line. He’s not getting them today and is trying to angle into my spot all the time. After losing enough fish at that spot I decide to move down towards the log hole where I am more comfortable. When bunny finally comes down at 6:30 we move to the log hole. She all of a sudden does great and gets her 3-limit like it was no problem at all. 2 of her fish were landed unassisted on the bank. Good job Bunny! I also ended up with 3 fish but she beat me to the limit.
Tuesday July 16 38,000 sockeye / 311,000total
Pretty good fishing from the get go at the #1 hole, but I couldn’t touch anything. Apparently I am not good this year. A couple more people are getting up earlier too. Went to Coopers Landing and dropped off our meager stockpile of fish. Then we headed back and had dinner at Safeway. Gonna go fishing again at 5pm. Going poop now.
After my nap we got up at 6pm and got ready to fish. Bunny was ready for her evening session. Headed down to the log hole. It was very crowded. Bunny walked the beach while I squeezed in. I waited for a few moments then asked if I could get in just above the submerged rock downstream of the log. They let me in and on my first cast I immediately mouth-hook and land a nice one without even trying. I instantly become famous up and down the beach. Everyone thought that was really cool. After awhile I get in above Marvin's rock. Then Bunny came down and joined me. We fished a bit then I had Bunny switch places with me. Immediately I mouth hook a huge buck and finally land him. Then we switch places again and bunny starts going off. She starts hooking and hooking them as I get nothing in front of her. Then she lands one. Then she hooks more. Then she lands her second one. Wow! She foul hooks 2 more that take her all the way down the beach. She has to deal with it all on her own as I keep fishing. Then I make her change places again. Then she catches her third and limits out. She was the champ again. I suck, but was very proud. On her third fish she stole my mouth hook by casting over my line. Her line slid down knocked my fly out the sockeyes mouth and then hers went into the sockeyes mouth. She was laughing and surprised and thought it was so funny when she lands my stolen fish! Finally I get my third and we can go.
Wednesday July 17 27,000 sockeye / 338,000total
Finally I was the champ this morning but then again Bunny didn’t even go fishing. Got to the river at 4:15am and action was pretty good from the start. More fish coming in on a consistent basis. Big old grandma nailed 2 from the bank using the Marie method of casting and reeling in. I banked one at about 5am in the Bunny championship hole. Hooked a few others then finally landed my second at 6am. After that I became foul hook boy. Finally after I agreed to be back at 9:30 for pancakes I switched to left handed in order to change my attack angle. I then mouth hook a huge buck and get my 3 limit. I make it back just in time for breakfast. We then process and head to Hamilton’s place. Wayne and Joe are due in at 5pm. Nap time.
We all fish together when Wayne and Joe arrive. Bunny got the first fish of the night. Then Wayne and then Joe limited out. I played catch and release for the evening.
Thursday July 18 44,000 sockeye / 382,000total
We get ready to go. Wayne is too tired. Sky
looks black and we dress for rain. Rain comes very soon in the morning and
everything gets a bit soggy. Fishing was pretty good. Marvin and I hooked lots
but we lost them all. He finally got one on the bank though. I landed 4 or 5
foul (released of course - you yahoo's) and lost all of my mouth hooks. I scored on a tiny - while shooting lefty. More
hooking and losing ensued after that. Then I slowed down again and landed a
real fat hen. Not long after I got my third. Marvin was still at 1. Headed back
on the trail at about 9:30am and passed Wayne and Glory. Joe had already headed
back to bed. They fished for a few minutes before deciding it was breakfast
time. It started to rain again....really hard. I dried off and went back to watch them.
Glory lost 2 and Wayne lost 2 then we quit.
After breakfast I took a nap while Wayne and Joe fished. When I woke up Bunny was gone to watch them. It was 4:30pm.
I got dressed and went down to the river as well. As I get to the hole I see Kevin Roberts on the bank. He was with his friend Mike…who is skilled in the German-fillet arts. I joked with everyone while Wayne and Joe fished. Joe had 2 and Wayne 1. Finally Wayne got his 2nd. He had bluehat-Leon next to him. Wayne fouled one and lost it and the hook hit Leon in the head. Then Wayne foul hooked a 2nd one which broke-off and knocked his own hat off with the ricochet. Soon thereafter, Kevin got hit in the knee by someone. Wayne hooked his third and had a great battle around the submerged rock. It ran across the rock no less than 3 times. It continued to circle the sunken rock for a long time. Finally on the third try it came over to Joe and lept out of the water. Joe weakly waved at it with the net and so I had to tease him loudly. Then it lept right into the net. Later we all watched as Marvin hooked a fish and snapped his rod in two. Anyways I wish I had gone fishing but I needed the nap and my hand needed rest too. Plus with all of the shenanigans going on down there I was probably safer being out of the water today. Halibut is coming up tomorrow and I want to be ready. Hands are already nicked up. Good thing I’ve taped up from the beginning.
Saw Don-Fly-in-the-Cheek at the airport. Talked to him for 10 minutes. It was the only time I saw him all trip.
Dumped RV and headed off to Homer. Arrived at Homer and camped at Beluga Lake Hotel Parking lot. Had shower at Wayne's room. Bunny cooked eggs and bacon and sausage. Lost to Wayne in cribbage with the “there’s no way I can lose now” taunt. Oops.
Friday July 19 95,000 sockeye / 477,000total
Halibut fishing with Obsession Charters and Captain Larry. On board with Wayne, Joe, Bobby, Bill, and Bruce. Went to the first hole at 130ft. I had a fish right away. It took some line and put up a good fight. When I boarded it it was only a mid-30’s fish. We threw it back as too small. Unfortunately that was my biggest fish all day long. That hole produced a few more chickens and we threw them all back. There were quite a few line tangles as the chickens ran round and round as they came up. Next we moved to a slightly deeper hole. It was like 220ft. No one caught anything at all. We were even hoping for the chickens to return. Then we went to the 320ft hole. More chickens and ling cods. We caught cod after cod. Next time we should book a cod charter and catch some halibut. Time was running out so we started keeping our chickens. They were smaller than my first fish I do believe. Slept on the way back into port as Wayne and Bobby and Joe played cribbage. Overall, I was really disappointed with this charter. The Captain seemed to be uninterested in his paying customers and it seemed as though we were a burden to him. Also, the guy kept missing his spot when he'd try to drop anchor. At the second hole, we spent a good hour driving in circles as this guy made multiple attempts at dropping anchor. Basically, the Captain was a stiff.
Made a good drive back to Soldotna. Joe and Wayne were headed back to Anchorage to send Joe home on his airplane. Wayne took the halibut home and processed it all for us. Got back to camp and Bunny and I went fishing. On the trail down we saw many fish being packed out which was a good sign of something happening. Got easy access to the log hole. Within 5 casts with 3 fish on I knew that something was going on here. It was going to be a dream night. We hit fish after fish. I got 2 within 10 minutes. I told Bunny I wasn’t going to take my third until she finished her limit. Within 30 minutes or so Bunny caught her 3rd. Then I took my third, too. Bunny landed all of hers on the bank, too. She's now an expert. I fished and fished and caught all of them in the mouth. The fish were way thick. I did real slow drifts and the fish were hooking themselves. It was so easy. Really different from all of the previous sessions. I didn’t have to try hard at all, too easy.
Saturday July 20 61,000 sockeye / 538,000total
Up at 4am on the water 15-minutes later. Within 2-minutes it was obvious that things were still going to be awesome. I hooked a lot right away. Started with a nice big hen. Got it on the beach without any problems. Hooked and landed a tiny, but let him go as too small. Kept another nice one soon after. I was 2 for 8 at that point and wanted to fish for awhile longer, so I went into catch and release mode from 4:50 am until about 7am. Kept hooking at an extremely hot pace for awhile. Released many mouth hooked fish and played them for fun. Decided to stop around 7am so I finally took my third fish. Hooked into at least 30-40 fish that morning. Only lost 1 fly, too. Funny how you can catch 30 fish on 1 fly when the fish are in thick, but I lose all of my flies on the days I try hard. It is the direct result of having to try and tug versus just drifting and letting the fish hook themselves. Without the tug-pull the fish don’t bolt away at the first moment of contact. Then I’m able to control them much more easier. Anyway, got back to camp and bunny was still asleep. We’re doing laundry and showers today so we need to get going.
Bunny and I had salmon and mashed potatoes for lunch, very good. We got ready and went for an afternoon evening session. Wow, it was really really crowded. Guess all of the locals and second wave of tourists have made it finally. There were lots of extra people on the beach just sitting around and waiting. I squeezed into a slow backwater spot up above the log hole above the hidden rock. Within a few minutes I hooked and landed a medium silver hen which I released. Bunny was substituting in the log hole next to snaggerman and the guy/gal couple. The guy was trying to teach his bunny how to fish. She had all of the new gear but no clue what to do. She was wasting real estate. I switched places with bunny and then squeezed in at the log hole. I hooked a few and landed another one which I released. After that I had Bunny come down and take my log hole spot, while I watched and filmed for a bit. Finally snaggerman left and bunny and I had our two holes. Bunny caught a tiny. It was really really tiny. Then I caught and released a mouth-hooked fish as I wanted to keep fishing for awhile. Then after while the fish starting hitting pretty hard. It wasn't long until Bunny had reached her limit for the evening. We cleaned and then went home and processed. Bunny got mad at me for getting mad at her, I think. Anyways, sorry Bunny. I wuv you.
Sunday July 21 33,000 sockeye / 572,000total
God is good. Still one whole week left and it is just for fun at this point!! Action is still really good. I can just slow drift with my fly rod. I will try to get bunny to use the fly-rod some next time we go. I don’t really need to harvest anymore fish, though I’m sure I will. I just like being out and hooking and playing the fish.
Anyways, on the water at 4:20am. Had first one on the beach at 4:45am. Fishing in bunny’s hole next to some young couple, who were there when I got there and look like they’ve been there all night long. They don’t have any fish yet, though. Guess they’re waiting for someone to show them what’s up. Mr. Snaggerman from last night shows up soon after I do. He pulls in just above the lower hidden rock. This guy pulls harder and longer than just about anyone I’ve ever seen. He sure got his fish quick though this morning. He was finished at about 5:!5am and cleaned and headed out. I got my second at about 5:10am so I wasn’t too far outclassed. Then I caught and released a few more. Finally I moved between my holes and stood directly on the rock. Got a hard hit from a big buck who ran straight out across the other side of the ripple and line burned my finger. Lost a few more after that. Then I decided to go for my last one of the morning. Took a couple of tries but I finally got him around 6:30am. Funny thing about that young couple I fished next to. They fished all night and had no fish, then me and snaggerman come and hammer fish after fish and they just pack up and leave. If it were me I would’ve stayed a few minutes longer now that the fish were running good. Why not wait a few minutes longer and maybe catch one? Oh, well.
Down to only 8 flies or so. I’ve already used up all of my old rusty’s from previous years. Also getting low on splitshot. Caught some fish with the rusty’s which is always kinda funny. Not sure what to do today. Bunny is still asleep. Trying to come up with a plan for the rest of the day.
Went up to Hamilton's and dumped our stuff off. Came back and did some gift shopping. Got some signs for bunny and a moose figurine for us. Wayne and Marie are on their way down to stay the evening.
Went down to the river with the whole gang. Took the video camera down, too. Everyone hooked fish. Wayne had 3 and Bunny had 2. Filmed Wayne and Marie arguing after Marie lost Wayne’s fish at the net. After fishing Wayne and Marie went into town and ate at Sal's. Guess they had they slow waiter from hell. Didn’t make it back until about midnight. Bunny and I made sandwiches and processed her catch.
Coming next....the second half of the vacation....I couldn't give it to you all at once now could I?
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