June 2009 - Fishing & Cabin Update

Howdy Doody everyone!! Well, Craig arrived

last Tuesday. As we were headed to Soldotna,

we saw a moose about 5 minutes before Coopers

Landing . . . then we stopped along the Russian

River to watch the fishermen pull in a "slew" of

Red Salmon. About 2 minutes after leaving the river,

we came across this Brown Bear in the center of the

highway. I pulled off quickly and Mom handed me

her camera. I got off a few shots before it disappeared

in the brush. It didn't seem overly frightened of us.

So, here Craig is, less than 2 hours in the State of Alaska,

and he sees a Moose, Red Salmon being caught, and a bear!!

Hardly seems fair right! ha.

After we cleaned Bryson's King a couple weeks back,

I asked Ploy and Shelise if they would help me process

the eggs. Check out Ploy's expression - looks like

she's having a great time! ha.

Don't worry Ploy, "They don't BITE!!"

Oh come on Ploy!!! They don't smell THAT BAD!!!!

(Big Baby!!!)


Wow . . . check out the color of these babies!
You can't imagine the size difference of the King
Salmon eggs versus the Red Salmon eggs!

Incredible difference in size!!


Shelise's photo. Pretty fancy!!

Looks like one seed is getting ready to launch!

Mom went down to the city park to check out

the little "fair" they put on every Saturday in the

summertime here and she couldn't resist

snapping a quick shot of this "groovy dude"

sitting in the side-car on a motorcycle.

Pretty funny!

On Wednesday, the day after Craig arrived, we

headed to the Russian River to try our luck at catching

some of those Red's we saw folks pulling in the day

before.

Here's 3 of us trying our hand at it. Bryson, Preston

and yours truly. My spot by this tree turned out to

be the "hotspot". I hooked about a dozen here

and landed 3 of them (all in about 90 minutes). Craig and Preston

also caught one each in this same hole.

After landing my three,

I gave up the hole for the others to try and

I headed downstream.

Just before calling it a day, I slipped back into the hole

and told Shelise and Ploy that, "I get 10 'snag-throws'

before leaving", (it actually took me about 23), but

I hooked another one. Unfortunately, it came

out of the water and flipped off the hook. Dang!!!

Now there's the expression of a HAPPY FISHERMAN!!

Preston declared at the end of the day that, "Red

Salmon fishing is by far the best!" (He

hasn't had any luck with Kings yet)

I just HATE this country!!!! (hahaha!)

Eat your hearts out!!!!

Another happy fisherman? YOU BET!!!!

It was an awesome day. Because there were

record numbers of Reds in the early run this year,

they have increased the "bag limit" to 6 per

person/per day!!

We're going again in 2 DAYS!!! YES!!!!!!

Here's Craig landing his "brute"! Craig and

Preston both lost 3 each in this hole as well.

We just couldn't keep them on the hook

long enough!

I had moved downstream by this time so I did not

see either of them land their fish. I caught

one more downstream, but the best spot

by far was right here by this tree.

Preston says, "I got first dibbs on the tree hole when

we return".

He'll have to fight me for it!!!!!

Heap's private fish pond!!

DO NOT TOUCH!!!!

Ploy tried fishing for a little while and then

lost interest. She and Shelise turned to "other

forms of entertainment"!

Here's an inch-worm they snagged and befriended!

Ploy also caught a good shot of this little visitor to

the streamside.

Here's another "creature" they got a good

shot of . . . . oh wait . . . that's Ploy!! haha.

CRAZY THAI WOMAN!!!!!!

Preston's brother Trevor can never say again

that he "ALWAYS CATCHES THE SMALLEST FISH"!

I think Preston already ordered his 2010 summer return

ticket from Alaska airlines!!! ha! He's hooked!!

Check out all these REDS!!!

Dang I love Alaska!!! haha! Hey, Dallas,

the Freezer is already half full . . . . might have to

buy a bigger one this year!! haha.

Here's Preston, learning the fine art of

salmon steak washing!

The salmon eggs we took from Bryson's King were about

the size of an entire Red Salmon!! These little guys are "itty-bitty".

Our SLAUGHTER TABLE!!!

This is an Alaskan-Mormon-Father's-Day-Gift. . .

given out to all the fathers in the ward here.

Check out that nice 'spin n glo' plug! Pretty Awesome!!

Well, here's CABIN #1 with siding on 2 sides. The

white powdery marks you see on the right side of the

cabin are from "concrete dust" left on the siding when

we cut it. We didn't have time to clean it

all off before taking the photos today.

Looks pretty good, wouldn't you say? Wait till we

get landscaping and everything done . . . it will be an

awesome looking getaway place!

On Saturday, Craig and I worked from 7:30 am until

11:57 pm to get the front and the peak (right side) of this

first cabin sided. Mom thinks we're NUTS!! She's right of

course . . . but don't tell her I admitted it!!

Mom on the "trail" from the cabins. It's

gorgeous as usual here . . . .

Mom has decorated and beautified this place with

lots of flowers again (enlarge to see everything). Ploy and

Shelise will be re-sealing the deck and all the

deck-posts over the next few weeks. Fun fun!!

Pretty in Pink!

We hope this blog finds everyone well and happy!

Life here is absolutely fantastic . . .

Weather's gorgeous, fish are biting and the cabins are

progressing nicely.

Just need someone to win the powerball so I can stay her

forever!!!!

Let me know when one of you stike it rich!