First Fishing Report for 2013

Ahhh, the first report of the season.   This is my latest "first report" ever and it's not because I didn't want to go fishing....I just couldn't.   Mother Nature has her own schedule and this was the first stretch of the season that you could actually get out (spoke too soon, there's snow in the forecast!).   My first trip came when Big Will called me up and said let's head out to the ocean to catch a few halibut.   Hard to say no to Will and to the invitation.   We didn't catch any halibut but we did catch a couple of spiny dogfish shark.   Always a blast being in the boat with Will.   

The next call came from the guy that started my guiding career on this river, Jeff King.    Jeff was the very first person to take me out fishing on the Kenai.  How appropriate that I'm out with him for my first day of fishing the Kenai in 2013.  Anyway, here he is sitting in his office; a chair he has held for more than 30 years.    Did we catch an elusive early, early run Kenai king?  Nope.  Did it matter?  Nope.

A  big reason why I like hanging out with Jeff is he reminds me of all the great times I've had on the river with my Dad.   For about 15 years it was usually just the three of us out chasing "Ol' Slimey" and making memories.  The photo above was taken in the late 80's and that's my Dad in the foreground with a young, virile Jeff  behind the wheel.   The story behind this photo is we were in the last hour of the day and my Dad hadn't had a bite yet.  He looked at Jeff and said,  "rally caps!"   Jeff didn't care that he looked a little crazy to the other guides or to the other anglers on the river.  The most important thing to Jeff that day were the people in his boat.  It was true then, and it's true today.    Good times (I miss you Dad!).

Well, that's about it for the first fishing report of 2013.  See you next week for the second fishing report of 2013.