Day by Day: The highs and lows of fishing...

You all have heard about the amazing fishing that exists in Alaska - salmon, halibut, crab, etc. What you probably don't know about are the lows. After several hours of fishing the Kenai River a few weeks ago for king salmon (see blog from July 9) and coming up empty, we are back for more. Yesterday we decided to try our luck with the red salmon because we heard, "They are running really strong." I am not sure exactly what that means, but I have my assumptions. After hearing a commercial fisherman say that the fish were running so thick at the mouth of the river that they were literally forcing each other out of the water and up onto the bank - - so much so that a boy was running along the bank picking them up and throwing them onto the shore - needless to say, my assumptions only grew. Which bring me to our fishing trip yesterday.
We were standing on the bank casting out into the river from the same spot you saw the eagle tearing into his fish a few weeks ago. The sun was shining brilliantly overhead and the water was running crisp and clean. After about 10 minutes of enjoying the scenery and repeatedly casting upstream, Erin snagged into the "first catch"! She set the hook and begin reeling fervently. With what seemed to me like little fight from the fish, she lifted the tip of her rod high into the air and her catch come rushing upward breaching the surface of the water! Truly the most amazing catch I have ever seen!

How you hook a rock with only one crack in it is truly more amazing and lucky than snagging old fish...at least that is what I told her. :)
Today, after church of course, we decided to try our luck with the kings again. Three hours and no bites later we decided we would go back to trying for more rocks (or reds). With not nearly as much excitement or grandeur I caught the first - followed quickly by two for JR.