Eight glorious days on my "home" river in mid-July... six of them under blue-bird skies, one overcast, and one rainy day. Lots of opportunity to intensify my signature Alaska Raccoon.

The stats:

56 chances and 24 kings brought to hand for 266 rod hours of effort.... that's 4.75 rod hours per bite, 11 rod hours per fish landed... daily batting average of 3 for 7. In other words, average Kenai fishing for my vessel. WAY better than my dismal 2010 season.

One Release-A-Hawg in the 60# class, four in the 40's, lots of 30's, lots of 20's, a few dinks, no sub-taggable runts. Had to ward off much hi-profile heckling while releasing the BIG BOY, as well as a trio of Park Rangers prepared to seize my vessel. Hey, but it's all good... no harm no foul.... I think.

I'll put up a separate post for each day and attach pics accordingly.

Day 1...

Well not really.

No on-the water pics of our first day on the Kenai. Four chances and one 18# buck released by Tanner on his favorite K16 Kwik.... "Dope on a Rope". Also a nice sockeye for the fishbox caught on a K16 eyeFISH 2005.

Pics below are from the day before of my brother Alex's beautiful family... Silas Isabel and Max... and grandma visiting from the Motherland. It was a nice visit in Anchorage while waiting for our Kenai flight. Major props to Alex for giving us free reign of his truck the entire week. He and his oldest son Silas would join us later in the week for some fast and furious sockeye action.

Day 2...

No-guide Sunday. Our standing crew for the trip consisted of Noel, his friend and our local host Wayne, Tanner and myself. Wayne was already committed to go on halibut trip with another friend. So what's the Doc to do when he's short a rod? Call a guide!

We were joined this morning by Andrew "King Me" Larsen who brought some good eggs and even better mojo to the boat. Upper holes were dead so we trudged on down to meet the tide fish. Andrew picked up a couple of sockeye backbouncing my trusty K15 Tammy Fae below the Pillars.

We dropped down to the Crossover where King Me scored our first bonafide Kenai king backtrolling a diver and eggs. After high fives and testosterone-driven hero shots, we dropped down to bounce the Beav. (no joke, PP folks, this is the for-real-deal bonafide Beaver Creek). Noel scored a pair of his and hers kings on his namesake "Special", handing the bigger one off to Tanner.

All the fish this morning were beautiful platinum chromers. I called Andrews beautiful hen at 37-38 in the net and gave him the choice to heave it aboard. "Yeah I need the meat, " he says. Up and over she goes. I called Tanners equally gorgeous hen at 34-35 in the net. "If you say she's under 40, I'll take her," he says. Up and over she goes.

Well "F" me... let's just say I underguessed..... AGAIN! A bit disappointed in myself for killing a pair of 4-salt egg wagons, but all in all a fabulous morning bite!

However unbeknownst to me, we did suffer the first casualty of the trip. 10 ft Sage XP laying in the gunnel tray was now only 9'8" due to careless rearranging of rods. GDITMMM! Oh well... still managed a limit of reds from the Riverbend launch for Tanner's cooler while my compadres went to eat and nap at Wayne's house. Ran the boat back down to the Beav to meet another guide buddy Ryan. Stopped at Eagle Rock to make one single rod drag for old times sake.... first time I've turned my boat sideways in 16 years! No bite. I hopped in Ryan's boat at the Beav (where he was down to only one rod having already put two in the box) and bounced up another king on UEC.

Later that evening, Silas and Alex arrived at the house to join us for some sockeye flossing the following morning. Before Silas went to bed he got his first lesson at filleting fish.

Day 3...

Driftboat Monday. My host for the day is none other than fishook.... and for the entire Alaska calendar year, he LIVES for two Mondays. I feel privileged that he sees it fit to regularly include me and my posse for one of the coveted days.

We would split the drift trip with Tanner and I starting at Riverbend and working our way down to the Beav. Noel would ferry Alex and Silas down with the powerboat to a tidewater flossing bar for reds.

The sockeye were really moving this day. At Fall In, there was a solid 20 ft wide swath of rollers/jumpers in 3-4 ft of water for about 150 yards. At any one time, 15-20 reds were out of water. With the LOW water conditions, flossers found new and productive runs that would be unfishable with another foot of water in a normal year.

King fishing was dead slow again in the upper holes. The fantastic weather helped to ease the pain. It wasn't until we were just above Eagle Rock that Tanner got his first bite bouncing bait.... premature swing and a miss.

Caught up with Noel Alex and Silas above the Convergence Bar where they were already up to 65 sockeye on two rods! Silas was a bit outgunned by these powerful sockeye, but he was content to play in the anchored boat and take it all in while Dad and Uncle Noel put the hurt to the reds. We were anxious to stock up on beer this fine July afternoon... JFC, we launched without a single bottle in fishook's drifter!

With a nice beer/lunch break behind us, fishook boldly stroked out into the middle of the Crossover at full flow. Mind you, this is a run that we backtroll with a powerboat at 1100-1200 RPM with the big motor. It takes courage, determination, strong arms and a spine of steel to try it with the sticks.

We're about 3 boat lengths into the pass when my plug rod slams down, dips twice, and then absolutely flattens in the FOLBE. Yee Haw.... Measles with an albacore belly wrap! I've got the fish on for about a minute when the rod tip suddenly pops up and I feel my heart sinking as the telltale throb of a free-swimming KwikFish tells me the fish is no longer attached.

Undeterred, fishook starts stroking harder to get us re-deployed and keep us fishing the productive run. The tuna wrap is destroyed so this time, I put out a Lemon Lime Uni-Bomber Combo laced with fishooks freshly cured Nates bait. A few strokes later, my rod is buried and line is absolutley screaming from the Revo Toro! Fishook strokes us over to the Convergence Bar where I beach the fish (despite guide Capt Bligh's ignorant attempt to prop-chop that fish off as he motored right over my line.... dip$hit!) I release the dirty hen after getting some nice beach pics.

We drop down in to the Beav where a steady bite has been going most of the day. The wind is frickin howling, making it ever so difficult to gauge just where the boat's gonna end up when we drop the hook. Boats are hooking up all around us, but finally it's fishook's turn. He puts out a gold SnG/Nates bait and starts bouncing. Pay dirt... a beauty buck in the 30-35 range. As we're beaching the boat to set up the photo shoot, the big boy abruptly comes unbuttoned.

At this point Tanner and I trade places with Noel.

I go on to have a great afternoon with my nephew. We floss up another limit of reds above Convergence, then motor up to the Honeymoon Bar where the action is fast and furious. Alex and I pick up another 25 fish in the next hour while Tanner struggles with the mechanics of a hookset and fighting big strong sockeye in HEAVY current with a flyrod and single action reel with no anti-reverse. It ain't pretty.... but at least he's trying.

Meanwhile the wind squelches fishooks/Noel's plans to fish down thru Mud. Noel hooks and lands a mid-20's buck at the Beav. They get as far as the Wall where Noel plucks a big boy that was on for several minutes before coming unbuttoned... 50-plus I was told.... maybe bigger. Course I've heard that one before.

Day 4....

Super Tuesday.

In the immortal words of Michael Jackson:

"Gotta leave that 9 to 5 up on the shelf... and just enjoy yourself.

Life ain't so bad at a-a-a-a-l-l-l-l , if you live it Off The Wall.

Live your life Off the Wall.... live it Off the Wall!"

And that's just what we did. High-tailed it down to the Wall to beat high water for our first morning pass and NEVER left till it was time for some of my pansy-ass crew to go home for brunch and a nap. It was steady action right thru the flood and the flush giving Team KeenEye the opportunity to go 5 for 6. No bigguns.... just steady action coming to my de-hooker.

Tanner and I stayed on the water during the "break" picking up fishook to make up for the rod shortage. Mid-day fishing was great, but the catching was DEAD. Drank some beers, soaked up some sun, and snag country music with fishook thru every hole we beat up. We were obviously having way too much fun... or at least a lot more than the SOB who reported me to the Park Rangers. Half nekkid beer swillin' country music singin' redneck Ornamental backtrollin' machine was just too much for 'em to stand.

A trio of Rangers was dispatched to apprehend the villain wide open throttle on full plane, fully prepared to confiscate his vessel. Got pulled over at the top of Chicago where I was made to pin the boat in heavy current when the interrogation and sobriety testing began. I answered The Man's questions and completed his tests without hesitation. Still unconvinced of my ability to safely operate my vessel, they escorted us back downriver to a dock at Beaver Creek where he felt compelled to complete his investigation on dry land. I was instructed to pin my boat on the tip of a skinny little dock that was mostly sitting high and dry on the mud. Walked ashore and performed all his gymnastic tests without skipping a beat.

The Man and his posse were more than a bit disappointed that they couldn't get their man. I'm more disappointed in the POS that felt compelled to report me.

Picked up Noel and Wayne at Beaver Creek and we dropped down to the Pasture to wait out the new tide fish. "Wait" was the operative word because they never showed... or at least refused to open their mouths. Fished the flood up to Mud and then back to the Wall. Sure paid back the rod hours that day!

i see no pictures

Patience, grasshopper...

Downloading from cams...
Sorting by date...
Cropping....
Re-sizing...
Uploading to PP...

It'll be worth the wait.... promise.

But I've got a lower unit to install on the 225 E-Tec in the next hour (f4b en route as I type), weeds to pic, beer to drink, and UV rays to absorb in between. Gotta work on making the torso match the "raccoon" doncha know.

Hopefully the ER beeper stays quiet.

Francis...

Upload to photobucket. Resizes for you, provides [img] tags at the click of a mouse, larger pics, you can upload 100+ at a time, and do all your chores as they upload.... and you don't tie up TRBO's server space.

Just a pump to prop swap out.

DONE.

Test drive on the Chehalis. High water at Monte in just a few minutes.

See ya in a few.

Twitch,

I've wondered about this feature on photobucket. Is there a simple explanation for a dimbulb like me on how to locate the resizing feature. I have an account/album but I've never seen where I can resize on their website.?? Probably right in front of me and I missed it.

Thanks.

P.S. Francis, looking forward to your pics. Give a shout if you need a 3rd set of hands on your motor.

I predict that day 8 was good.

Looking forward to the pics and stories Doc.

Doc,

Listen to the experts on the photo thing. Download all at one time to PhotoBucket. No need to resize - ever! Then copy as many as you like to your post in seconds.

Welcome home Doc.
I've been waiting with baited breath.

Test drive failed X2.... insufficient water uptake.... pissin like an old cocker in dire need of FloMax... or a full blown TURP.

Pulled off the lower unit again to double check that the plumbing was properly aligned.

Something clogging the water uptake, or a defective waterpump/impeller.

Back to the shop.... AGAIN!

GDITMMM!

No resizing required if you use Photobucket, no using Bob's server space, you can insert them in the text instead of as attachments at the end, and you can upload as many pics as you want there in one fell swoop, instead of one at a time...no need to ever use anything else!

Fish on...

Todd

Pee tube may or may not be an accurate indicator of water intake. Is the motor overheating? If not, you may just have a clogged or pinched indicator hose.

Worth checking before you yank the lower unit again...

Alarm went off at 2000 RPM, with almost zero piss.

Trailered her back home, pulled the lower unit, rechecked the plumbing connection, hooked her up to the garden hose... oh yeah baby.... rev to 3000 + with no alarm.

Put her back in the water.... holy crap.... weak stream again. Alarm sounded at 1800-2000 RPM... again little to no piss.

Shutter down and put her on the trailer. Back to the experts on Mon am.

Pictures or it never happened.

Silas with the stringer is a great shot.

Francis, eating up the KeenEye tales, keep em coming and strong work so far.

On the motor issue, is your impeller is keeping up (ie, not spinning on the shaft)? I wonder if it could be a wear sleeve/impeller spacing problem? Are you noticing any loss of or reduced thrust, or just overheating at higher r'spm?