Coley might be on to something with the impeller.

Isn't there a separate impeller for cooling/pissing? You said it worked at the house when hooked up to the garden hose but keep in mind the garden hose is "helping" by it's own pressure forcing water into your intakes.....may have offset what a weak cooling impeller couldn't handle anymore. I'm going on the assumption you were using one of those earphone-looking contraptions you hook up to a motor so a garden hose can be attached.

When you had it broken down did you remove any shafts/gearing that might control the cooling impeller?

Outstanding report and shots Doc, stellar work my man!!!

I'm just wondering how soon the good posts are gonna' get the overhaul ?!?! I've been watchin' you and yours fish a lick now, and I know you gotta' be getting critiqued by the rulers of your roost. Sooner or later, they will take over the commentary of the fabulous fishing life they live at the hands of a wonderfull Father...... My point is, you're one hell of a dad and I've watched you raise some wonderfull, fish lovin' kids over the years & you truely inspire me. Please keep on doin' what your doin', and thanks for sharin' your life with us here!
BTW: Mingo has always been on the top of the Avatar ladder...... IMHO. Thanks for sharin' your "Spoils of War" with us too!

Dammit! Editing privileges expired on the original placeholders! What gives? Hey Parker or Ryley.... can you grant me extended edit rights?

OK... adding on where I left off.

Day 5...

Back to the Wall. How could we not return after how good it treated us the previous morning. It would be another banner daybreak bite on my favorite tidewater run. We would go 4 for 11 with Tanner' being the designated HOT rod for the morning.... four ripping good king grabs before he finally stuck a fish!

Here's a couple of C&R sequences of Tanner and myself with a pair of fresh chrome hens.

Here's Tanner hooked up:




Fish in the bag.... oh yeah!






Settin' up the C&R stills:







Then it's the good doc's turn to bounce one up.... livin' life "Off The Wall". Props to Wayne for digitally documenting the moment with my Canon D10.

Here's Noel taking me ashore to beach another chrome hen...


Gettin' busy... time to claim my prize!


Buckle up and enjoy the ride!







Big head shakes as I try to lead her ashore...


Yeah baby, she's ALL mine....







Another high finner for the gravel!



Spent the afternoon hunting for more fillets for the cooler. After brunch, we parked our Predator on the Honeymoon Bar to floss up a wheelbarrow full of sox for Noel and Art. No artsy fartsy fNp pics here, thank you.... just whackin' and stackin' in grand Alaskan style.

Hey Doc, Where did those skinny arms go?

Doc, great stuff as always........Bolo Yeung called, he wants his upper body back!

Mingo... That is some funny sXXt!

5 days in, and already more chrome salmon than I have brought to hand in 12 years... that may be an exaggeration, but I doubt it. It's certainly more chrome poundage! I know the Doc's a good captain and fisherman, but there must be something to that whole Alaska thing. Maybe I should go there someday....

excellent report.

We were very pleased with the king fishing.... not so much that it was anything approaching epic, but rather by comparison it was head and shoulders better than last years lackluster bust of a run.

Now the sockeye flossing on the other hand was beyond epic. To the best of my knowledge the previous daily record count for the Kenai was on the order of 110-120K. We witnessed a 230K day followed by a 170K day! In fact over the course of our stay, 0.95 million reds stormed up the glacial flows! Averaged over 8 days, that's a whopping 119K-plus per day! Imagine fishing on top of a record daily escapement 8 days in a row. That's some serious whackin' and stackin' if someone really wanted to get busy.

hey doc is it my new eye or was the river clearer this year?

Both your eye AND the river were clearer this year!

Day 6...

My boat scores 3 for 6.

Based on a report from the previous day, there was a hellaciously good tide bite for kings at the Mud leading right up to the guides' 6pm quittin' whistle. Noel and Art and I were too distracted flossin' reds at Honeymoon at the time.... I found out after the fact.

So the next am, we strategize that the Mud is the place to be first thing in the morning. We strategized correctly. It wasn't hot and heavy, but a steady bite materialized and we plucked the biggest fish out of the run amongst 45-50 other boats. As I posted earlier, Team KeenEye had to endure extreme verbal heckling as we pinned the boat to the high bank and set up for some Release-A-Hawg photos. We were promptly reported to the Rangers for molesting/abusing fish.

My crew quit at their usual 10 am appointment with brunch. I jumped into a guide buddies boat to help deckhand and get an extra rod deployed for his crew. Great day of fishing but mid-day catching was non-existent.

Noel and Tanner motored down to Eagle Rock to pick me up at about 4 pm. Went down to the Pasture and got blanked. Popped back up to Mud for the end-of-shift bite that happened the day before. The fish started biting in earnest just as the guides ran out of time. Tanner scored his second fish in the 40 pound class.... a mortally wounded platinum buck that got stuck in the first gill arch. By the time that fish was landed and the horribly underexposed pics were taken, we were nearly flooded out. Nearly = just enough time for Noel to hook up again with a smaller platinum buck.

So why were you getting so much grief Doc? Is it the general opinion up there that the fish should be harvested? What gives?

I believe a large contingent of locals would rather the fish be harvested to cycle anglers off the water.... take yer frickin' fish and get the hell outta Dodge.

Another contingent despises the the notion of C&R of any sort.... the whole "playing with your (their) food for thrills" is viewed as something disgusting and vulgar.

Finally there's the undeniable element of guide envy.... dozens of boats packed in a hole/run vying for the same limited pool of biters..... most struggling to even get a single takedown for their clients.... only to have some yahoo tourist upstage them with no intent of harvesting the catch.... AND have the audacity to measure and photograph the release in front of the entire pack. Some find the whole measuring and pic-taking thing an unnecessary exercise that only prolongs the agony of the fish. I respectfully disagree.

No boat takes better care of released kings in that river, and my crew would never release a fish that I felt was mortally wounded. I've made guys (myself included) tag out some mortally wounded fish over the years that they did NOT want to retain.... my call. No way my boat's releasing a dead fish even if it's a dink or an over-ripe brick.

My personal crusade to promote discretionary release of Kenai kings in now in its 11th year. And while the tide has turned with the conversion of a handful of dedicated C&R guides over the years, I must admit it is very discouraging to witness that 85-90% of the kings caught on the Kenai still end up in the fishbox!

But early this morning I received this PM (name omitted), and it really made my day. Makes the whole consevation effort ( despite repeated tongue lashings and darts in my back over the years) TOTALLY worthwhile. Allow me to share it here....

This might come across as kind of strange, but I just wanted to say thank you for helping to educate me on the health of the Kenai King fishery.

I'm not from the PNW, in fact, I live on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan. I'm an avid fisherman and try to keep up on the health of the fisheries all over the US as much as I can. When researching a trip that I wanted to take to Oregon a few years ago I came across this site. I don't post, only read, and your reports are always some of the best.

My wife and I spent July 14-23 on the Kenai Peninsula. It was my fourth visit, but my wife's first. We rented a cabin at Beaver Creek Cabins and fished with Keith Holtan (great guy!) a few times during the week. In fact, the afternoon that you passed over a few fresh sardines to us I was the guy who held out the net. Over the course of the week my wife and I landed seven beautiful Kenai Kings all in the 30-45lb range and all were released after a few quick pictures in the water.

I guess I just wanted to let you know that your reports, stories, and history of the health of the Kenai had an impact on me and my wife all the way over here in Michigan. I agree that everyone has the choice whether or not to keep or release their kings, but knowing what I know now we wanted to do our part to see that our son has a chance at catching one of these trophies when he's old enough to.

Take care and best of luck in your fishing adventures.

(name deleted)
Marquette, MI

GOOD STUFF!

My wife and I spent July 14-23 on the Kenai Peninsula. It was my fourth visit, but my wife's first. We rented a cabin at Beaver Creek Cabins
(name deleted)
Marquette, MI [/i][/color]

[/quote]

The secrets out. No more Beaver Creek privacy.

Doc- Great report!

Day 7....

Crew getting WORN out.... yes, even the captain.

We all sleep in late.... a bit of boat maintenance.... a bit of fish processing... a bit of leader re-stocking.... a bit of plug wrapping.

Oh yes... finally remembered to turbocharge my stinkin' sardines that simply weren't getting bit. Eggs were outfishing plugs by at least 8:1!!! Time to serve up some steak and eggs. I wrap up some sardines marinating in leftover egg juice overnight... others lightly sprinkled with magic "Pixee Dust" just before being deployed.

Finally some bonafide rippin' plug bites! I tell you, I could kick myself in the a$$. It's a classic case of CRS when a guy can't even follow his own advice that he's posted all over the free world. WTF? Why the hell didn't I start curing sardines days earlier?

Mission of the day was to tag out a nice buck in the 20's or 30's for our host Wayne. We basically let him fish EVERY rod in the boat. First rod down was at the Pasture on my trusty Funky Chx wrapped with "steak and eggs". The dinker buck was NOT what Wayne was looking for.... see ya!

Next rod down was at the Mud a couple hours later. Katosan's hand-picked and now infamous UniBomber K16 sprinkled with a bit of Whitlatch's magic "Pixee Dust" delivered the goods.... a nice mid 30's buck. We all but had that thing cut and vaccuum sealed in our minds when the hook popped about a rod length from the boat. DANG!

Noel and I swapped out turns driving and bouncing.... driver would put his goods on a diver in the rear position. Noel's diver rod would take the next dive. Go Wayne, go! Fish on, baby.... strip strip strip... shake, shake, shake.... fish off! DANG!

My next turn bouncing, the beers started kicking in bad, so I tell Wayne, "Here take my rod, I gotta pee." Bounce bounce bounce.... RIP RIP RIP.... Holy Crap, Wayne's hooked up again! But before I could get my junk back in the trunk to grab the net.... fish off! DANG!

Great afternoon and evening of tidewater king fishing at one for four, but alas no actual fish pics for this day.... just a couple of Wayne hooked up at the Mud with Katosan's UniBomber.

My personal meat run would begin the next (our final) day. Stay tuned.