Silver Fishing Is On Fire!!!!

Literally.

A full report will follow in a few days but the fishing was on fire on 8/18. Mac, Ken, and Sam were out with me in the morning and we ran into a pretty good school of fish. We catch our last one at 9:30 and decided to head back to the cabins. About 50 feet from the dock I get a phone call from Jane and she frantically yells "the hot water heater is on fire, I got to call 911". I didn't know if she meant our own cabin or the Beaver Creek Cabins. I gun the boat to the dock and all four of us start to sprint towards the cabins. We see smoke bellowing out of the Chinook cabin and Jane is running into the cabin with a fire extinguisher. I grab the closest extinguisher I can find and Mac, Ken, and Sam head into the cabin with Jane. I wasn't far behind but the last to enter. When I get into the cabin we are all in the kitchen/utility room area using all the available extinguishers. Mac, thinking quickly shuts off the gas line leading into the hot water heater. Just as we get the flames out the Kenai Fire Department showed up and made sure that there were no flare ups. Ulitmately we came to the conclusion that the thermostat was stuck and would not shut off. It burned a hole through the floor of the cabin but did not burn anything else. I called our plumber friend who came and installed a new hot water heater within hours and Mac, Ken, Sam, Reese, and Joey all stayed in the cabin that night. It still smelled a little smokey but they said it added to the Alaskan adventure.

How lucky can you get. If Jane wouldn't have been in the cabin cleaning and if we didn't get our limit in short order, the Chinook cabin and the office/freezer room would have been up in smoke.

Sooo, after everything settles down we go back to the dock to snap a few photos of the fish. I can't say enough and can't thank these guys enough for being in the right place at the right time and not hesitating in a crisis situation. From left to right is Mac, Ken, and Sam. Thanks again guys, definitely heroes in our book.

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/15/10

Another great week of fishing with the Blinn Group #1 providing all the action and entertainment. The pink salmon fishing was constant and the silver fishing was up and down but consistent throughout the day.

Photo number one is Team Haskins which consists of Rebecca, Lily, and Joe. After a week of Alaska fishing Lily became quite skilled and accomplished at reeling in salmon and halibut. Photo number two is John who put in a lot of time to catch a silver. Photo number three is Team Blinn #2 which consists of John, Vernon, Ryan, Jim, Al, Orville, and Randy. Missing is Steve Morris and I'll make sure to get a photo of him during the week ahead. The final photo is Elizabeth with one of her many silver salmon that she caught this past week. I saved Elizabeth's photo for last because on the final day she caught a huge humpy and when it came to the boat she said. "that's not a hump, that's a mountain!"

Stay tuned for a report from the Blinn #2 group at the end of this week.

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/8/10

The silvers are definitely in. The pinks are in as well and will only get crazier as the month goes by.

The top photo is Team Blinn featuring Gary, Shawn, Stacey, and Tyler with a limit of silvers. The next photo is the fish box that Dave and Norm contributed to (photos of Dave and Norm will appear later). The next photo is Team Austria featuring Manuela, Lisa, Christoph, Nicki, and Gary. The final photo is Bev and John hoisting up a couple of dandy silvers.

I have a mandatory day off tomorrow and it's going to be hard to wait for Tuesday morning.

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/31/10

The 2010 Kenai king salmon is officially over. We had some good "catching" days and not so good "catching" days but the fishing was GREAT. Thanks to all of you who joined me on a trip or two on the world famous Kenai River. Sharing this river with so many good people is what makes it easy for me to get up every morning at 4:00am.

The last week of the season was fun for me because I was fishing full day trips with Team Oregon and Team Canada. Team Oregon consisted of Karen, Peg, Karen, Susie, and Ray. Team Canada consisted of Jim "aka Fuzzy", Kirk "aka Cut Plug", Ty "aka Fortuneless Fortune Cookie", Rocco, Rick, and Jake. For Team Oregon let's just say I may have to have a bag of cheetos and Orvis the Bear on my boat every season. Now to the photos. The top photo is Karen with her beautiful king salmon. Photo two is her dad Ray. The next photo is the good luck charm Orvis. Photo four is Susie and Ray with a couple of nice kings that where taken on a day that we actually had sunshine.

I suppose you're wondering where the photos of Team Canada are. The boys had been to Seward before they came here and they had over 700lbs of fillets to go back home with and decided that their Kenai trip would be about fishing and not keeping. It was kind of nice to release fish on the river and have surrounding boats applaud us for doing so. Wish I would have taken a few pictures of their fish but I find when we are on catch and release mode I don't want to stress the fish any more than I have to. Overall the numbers of fish released did not match their 2008 trip, but they still had a great time.

One last note, yesterday I took Kathy, Peg, and Lou out for an experimental day of pink/silver fishing. We casted spinners behind a few islands and caught quite a few pinks, a couple of dollies, and one silver. It should be a good start to the new season.

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/25/10

This past week was a great week of king fishing. Although not everyone caught fish the average size and the numbers steadily improved from the previous week. Let me start out by saying that I didn't have enough room for all the photos so my apologies to you if I left you out. The top photo is Sarah who takes top honor for the largest fish for her family. The second photo is my wife Jane who finally got out for her first official king trip of the season. This was her largest fish ever and boy did it give her a battle. The third photo is Eric, Jamie, and Glenn with a trio of nice fish. I should mention that Rick was the fourth on the trip and he had a couple of opportunities to limit the boat out. I guess he'll think twice next time about bringing a banana on the boat. The next photo is Dave with a nice chromer to end his week. The following two photos are Ursula and David with a couple of nice fish as well. The last photo is Ron and my old pal Gary Rudisell. Once again Gary was a perfect two for two. Two king trips and two kings. I think he needs to parlay his luck and head to Vegas as fast as he can.

This next week is the last week of king fishing. The way things are going I hate to see it end. For all of you that are coming in August, we've already boated our first pink and silver salmon. It looks like our fall fishing is shaping up to be a strong one.

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/18/10

So many pictures but only so much space. The fishing this past week has been very good for kings. The size is improving and the amount of action is getting better every day. The top photo I'm assisting Justin with his 50 inch, 62lb king. Justin fought the fish for over a half and hour so he needless to say he was a little wiped out and needed a hand lifting it up. The second photo is Jeff and Clark of Team ABC with a nice female king. Photo three is Steve, father of Marshall of Team ABC. The final photo is Sara with her first king ever. A great week of fishing with a lot of great people.

As far as the red fishing is concerned, fishing has been outstanding with everyone in the cabins catching their limits. Sara, Dave, and Carey left the dock and returned in 30 minutes with their 9 fish. Sara said it may have been a new record for them. There's no doubt she'll be trying to beat their new record this week.

I've got eggs to cure for the week ahead so I'm outta here....