Only you can prevent peeing yourself
Guess what I got to do on Friday?
Holy Hot Damn, friends – as if just being in Alaska wasn’t enough, I got to simulate Superman and fly above it. Part of the whole lodge package included a “fly out” in a pontoon plane just large enough to fit 6 normal sized guys (so how we got in, I’ll never know). It…
was…
awesome…
The plane took us inland to a part of the river that connected with the mountain streams. The plan was to find a place where fresh glacier water was feeding into the river, and hook as many sex-crazed red salmon (sockeye) as we could before they all managed to flop their way upstream to spawn. Before we found such a place though, we got to pass by some amazing scenery.
Okay, so we found a good place to drop our lines, but as we were coming in, we saw that we fisherman and our opposable thumbs and developed brains were no match for the local competition. Yeah, in case you can’t see that, it’s a bear. A wild, freaking bear. But, we were told by our guide, Steven, the rule is that so long as there are salmon to be had, humans are second on the menu. Even still, I kept a close eye on my pickanick basket, just to be safe.
After the bear left, we were left to our own devices and managed to catch quite a few reds. In fact, everyone limited, so we came away that day with a lot of fish. At one point, Smokey jumped into the water about twenty five feet away without my noticing. I should say, I didn’t notice until he jumped into the water. Then he had my full attention.
Having shown Alaska what it sounds like when I scream like a little girl, we packed up and inched away. At that point, we were more than happy to watch from a distance.
So, if we look at the score card, I see I’ve caught four different kinds of fish so far; I’ve seen moose, sea lions, eagles, and now a wild bear; I read by sunlight at midnight; and I made friends over good booze and cigars. My only task left was to catch that elusive king salmon, and only half a day to do it. Click here to read about Saturday and find out if I was able to make that happen…
Holy Hot Damn, friends – as if just being in Alaska wasn’t enough, I got to simulate Superman and fly above it. Part of the whole lodge package included a “fly out” in a pontoon plane just large enough to fit 6 normal sized guys (so how we got in, I’ll never know). It…
was…
awesome…
The plane took us inland to a part of the river that connected with the mountain streams. The plan was to find a place where fresh glacier water was feeding into the river, and hook as many sex-crazed red salmon (sockeye) as we could before they all managed to flop their way upstream to spawn. Before we found such a place though, we got to pass by some amazing scenery.
Okay, so we found a good place to drop our lines, but as we were coming in, we saw that we fisherman and our opposable thumbs and developed brains were no match for the local competition. Yeah, in case you can’t see that, it’s a bear. A wild, freaking bear. But, we were told by our guide, Steven, the rule is that so long as there are salmon to be had, humans are second on the menu. Even still, I kept a close eye on my pickanick basket, just to be safe.
After the bear left, we were left to our own devices and managed to catch quite a few reds. In fact, everyone limited, so we came away that day with a lot of fish. At one point, Smokey jumped into the water about twenty five feet away without my noticing. I should say, I didn’t notice until he jumped into the water. Then he had my full attention.
Having shown Alaska what it sounds like when I scream like a little girl, we packed up and inched away. At that point, we were more than happy to watch from a distance.
So, if we look at the score card, I see I’ve caught four different kinds of fish so far; I’ve seen moose, sea lions, eagles, and now a wild bear; I read by sunlight at midnight; and I made friends over good booze and cigars. My only task left was to catch that elusive king salmon, and only half a day to do it. Click here to read about Saturday and find out if I was able to make that happen…
posted by Mike Garvey at
10:59 PM
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