The Miller Scale

When Jane and I bought Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service in 2003, one of the items we inherited from the Jahrig's was a bathroom scale to weigh fish boxes. Not very efficient and sometimes embarrassing for the user.

This is how it would go down. In order to get a fairly accurate reading you had to stand on the scale to weigh yourself. Then, while standing on the scale, you'd grab the fish box and subtract your weight from the new reading. If you were under the airlines benchmark weight of 50lbs, you'd add a few fillets. If you were overweight, you'd remove a few fillets.

Year after year of using this archaic method of weighing, Dick Miller had enough and decided to build a custom fish box scale. The photo above is the cradle that a fish box will sit in.

In the middle of the bar will be an eye bolt that the scale will attach to. The entire "Miller Scale" will hang from the ceiling by a chain. Voila, a much better mouse trap.

This is a welcome addition to Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service. Many, many thanks to Dick. I know we'll have a lot of happy customers and I bet the the airlines won't mind losing a little bit of revenue from the loss of weight overages.






Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

When Kenai Kings Run

Just after the Board of Fisheries meeting concluded, I couldn't help but think how timeless this video is, well at least about fish politics (the style of the 80's is not so timeless). This documentary was filmed in 1984 and it's purpose was to highlight the differences between the user groups that compete for salmon that return to Alaska's most famous river, the Kenai. I don't know if it was a coincidence that this came out in 1984, but there are two novels that George Orwell is famous for: 1984 and Animal Farm. In Animal Farm Orwell makes the claim that, "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." I'll let you decide who I think is more equal in the upper Cook inlet fishery.

It's a rather long video, nearly 30 minutes, but if you'd like to see a historic perspective of the Kenai River allocation issues, it's well worth the time. My own personal history is I was introduced to the Kenai River (and Jeff King) a year after this film was produced. Other than adding a personal use dipnet fishery, I'm amazed how little things have changed. Same arguments, just different people (except Bob Penney).

Make sure you listen to the closing credit song, Ballad of the Kenai River, written and performed by Hobo Jim. I loved this verse in particular.

                                 
        Set nettin', drift nettin' that's how it's done.
        Trying to catch those salmon before they make that river run.
        On the river there's sport fisher's standing by.
        Ah, just trying to get those fish before they die.
        Strange as it seems these two groups can't get along.
        Each claiming rights to the fish, who's right and wrong?
        But the real trouble in these two fisheries.
        Is they can't fish as often as they please....  



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Board of Fisheries: Kenai Proposals

Today, the Board of Fisheries voted on 21 Kenai River proposals that dealt with management plans, regulations, habitat issues, and guide regulations. For the most part it was status quo. The biggest change, and I feel for the better, was passing a conservative, early run Kenai king management plan. This plan not only helps protect the recovery of the early king run, it gives stability to the industry that makes a living off of the resource (that would be me and Jane).

The new, early run Kenai king management plan moving forward is:

• If ADFG's preseason forecast is below the large fish goal of 3900-6600, the season will start off closed.
• If the goal is forecasted to be met, the season will start off catch and release only, single hook lure with no bait, or/with possible retention if the projection is within the optimum escapement range. An angler can retain one king a day, two for the year. All king salmon over 36" must be released.
• Once in season research is under way (sonar counts, test netting, log book info, etc.) and ADFG is confident the escape goals will be met, an angler can use a single hook lure with no bait. An angler can retain one king a day, two for the year. All kings over 36" must be released. 
• If the early run will exceed the escapement goal, a single hook lure with bait will be allowed. An angler can retain one king a day, two for the year. All kings over 36" must be released. 

As always, the early Kenai king management plan ends June 30th. The late run Kenai king management plan begins July 1st, and ends July 31st.

This plan was supported by the guide association, the sportfish association, and a private angler association. As long as I can remember, there has never been a united effort like this from the three associations. The Board took notice, and voted 7-0 to adopt this new plan.

Long live the kings!





Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Board of Fisheries: Week 1 Summary

After one week of meetings, here's a recap of a few of the changes for Upper Cook Inlet (UCI) that affects the Kenai River.

The Kenai red salmon in river goal was raised which will allow more fish into the river. The 1% rule for commercial fisherman was moved from July 31st to August 7th (this can definitely impact early river silver fishing). The parity issues from three years ago have softened in favor of commercial fishing interests. Specifically, if the king sport fishery is restricted to no bait, the set netters fishing time per week will increase from 36 hours to 48 hours. If the king sport fishery goes to catch and release fishing, the set netters fishing time per week will increase from 12 hours to 24 hours.

The Board of Fisheries also established a new, large fish goal for the late Kenai king run. The goal is 13,500-27,000 fish. In theory, this should result in a greater abundance of large kings in the Kenai River. What I found out during the deliberations of the large king goal is ADFG has projected 30,000 large kings, and 10,000 small kings for 2017. This is an increase from last years forecast. It's good to see that the trend is going in the right direction. Hip-hip-hooray!

This upcoming week is what I'm looking forward to the most. This is the period when Kenai River regulations will be discussed. Make sure to check the blog often. I plan on posting as decisions are made.



Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Board of Fisheries Meeting 2/23-3/8

The Alaska Board of Fisheries Upper Cook Inlet Finfish meeting is being held right now in Anchorage. The purpose of this board is to conserve and develop the fisheries resource of the state. What makes Alaska different than the other 49 states is that this is an open process with rule changes submitted by individuals, private organizations, and the department itself. This happens every three years and the seven member board will listen to testimonies and presentations for two weeks. Ultimately, they decide if proposals are adopted or rejected. It's not over stating things to call this ground zero for the FISH WARS experienced in our area. It's a contentious battle between subsistence users, sport fish users, and commercial fishing users.

If you click on this link you can listen to the Board of Fisheries process. Be warned, listening to testimony and deliberations can be a lot like touring a sausage factory. Sometimes it's just better to find out what the new rules are rather than knowing how they got there.

Since I won't be able to attend the meetings, I plan on listening to all things related to the Kenai River. Check the blog often because I plan on giving updates as they happen.




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Ice Fishing Part 2

After posting about ice fishing in Alaska, I received a few photos from friends of mine with fish they've caught this winter. I might as well start out with the biggest and it's a photo of my buddy Andy with a monster northern pike.

This is Andy's son, Drew. A chip off the ol' block, wouldn't you say?

Here's Peter with a great eating size northern pike.

 Esko Bill with a sturgeon.

....a steelhead,

...and a monster walleye.

Thompson Kenny with a beautiful winter sturgeon.

Had to include a few photos of my old buddy Dave. Here's a nice eating size walleye. Pretty good multi tasking for an older fella to take a selfie and hold a fish at the same time....ha!

...and here's a HUGE perch. Uff da!

I'm sure a lot of my southern friends are confused about why anyone would want to ice fish. Well, quite simply, we do it because it's a lot of fun and it's not as cold as you would think. You either fish in an ice house that has all the features of a comfortable home (propane heat, satellite tv, bathroom, couches, etc.), or you wear the right clothing and fish outside. As my grandma Ina use to say, "there's no such thing as bad weather, it's bad clothing." That's sage advice no matter where you are in this world.




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Ice Fishing

In an earlier post I asked for reader input about topics I should cover. An anonymous poster said I should write about ice fishing. Well, this post is for you.

A popular spot to ice fish on the Kenai Peninsula is Sport Lake. It's conveniently close to town (Soldotna/Kenai), and ADFG has stocked it full of rainbow trout, king and silver salmon (kokanee). If I've conditioned you to photos of large fish on the Kenai River, you'll probably be disappointed with this size of these fish. A large king or silver will be between 1-2 pounds.

Stocked lakes in Alaska usually equate to small fish and non stop action. Although there are a few large trout in Sport Lake, the previous description fits this lake to a "T". Above is a rainbow trout at the top of a 10" hole. This is a typical size fish found in a stocked lake. The bait of choice is usually salmon eggs on a small jig or spoon.

A rather petite silver (kokanee) salmon.

On this day I was out ice fishing with my neighbors. To the left is Evelyn, and on the right is Rusty. They're checking the depth and getting their lines baited up.

Here's Jane proudly displaying one of the many Sport Lake rainbow trout she caught.

Here's another photo of my neighbors. Rusty is on the left, Charlie is in the middle, and that's the Fish Whisperer, Barbara on the right.

Yours truly with a rainbow trout.  All in all, we probably caught over a 100 fish on this day and released everyone of them. It was a great day to get outside and spend quality time with friends.

I wanted to end this post with this photo. As I left the lake I looked over my shoulder to see this wonderful sight. It's never a bad thing being in the outdoors fishing with your children.





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