Old Man Parker is getting up there in his years and his health and ability to move around without pain and discomfort has really decreased. We kinda figured this would be his last trip up North so we attempted to set the stage in our favor. Last week in July for a shot at the big kings on the Kasilof! This year, the other two seats went to my fraternity brother who logs in here as Delbert and his 12 year old son, Peter. Delbert has fished with Bob both in Washington and in AK and was a veteran of the game. Peter, on the other hand, was looking at a 17" rainbow as his largest fish hooked and landed. This was his "initiation" with "the boys" as it was your classic Men's Fishing Trip up to Alaska. I'm sure Peter had huge expectations in his head that he was going to get large kings every day with the ease of a seasoned pro.
I hate to burst the kid's bubble at such a young age.........
Got all settled in to Beluga Bill's and even though the Kenai was rip roaring and the highest I've ever seen it, I promptly flossed up a red or two...or er, I lose count.... Hit the sack by midnight. Gotta love Alaska!
Day 1:
Saw us up at 3:15am and out on the water by 4:30. By 4:45 or so, we were set up at The Traps waiting for The Game to begin. Delbert started things off pretty early with high teens fish that was promptly let go. We thought things were looking up. Nothing else really happened in The Traps so we moved on down to the Hog Trough and got the lines wet.
Peter's rod folded over. Game on! With only a little help getting the rod out of the holder and making sure that Bob's $700 rod/reel didn't go flying out in the river, Peter stuck with this fish all the way to the end. Both Peter and the fish was exhausted. Unfortunately, when we asked Peter if he wanted to shake this "football" off, he said no.
Peter and his 37 pound Kasilof King! Hell of a nice fish for one's very first king!!!!!
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Due to the Kenai close to flooding, there was a ton of boat traffic on the Kasilof on all the days we were there. The normal "chess game" that is played on the Kasilof by all the veteran guides went out the door as it all broke down to a ton of boats racing each other to various spots, low holing, corking, and so on. We pretty much zigged when we should have zagged on this day. Never got any real brake during the day of fishing and it resulted in a pretty average day for a strong tide with a good push of fish coming in and out on the tide. I bounced up a small king with the fly rod and various other kings were caught and released. Nothing really to write home about.
Off the water by 1:00 or so. Stopped in to Trusty's for some vac-pack bags and safeway for some more supplies. The rest of the day(s) pretty much went something like get home, floss some reds, eat some dinner, floss some more reds until dark, process fish, and in bed by midnight.
Day 2:
Bob might have sort of hinted that he was off his A-Game the day before, so we got up at 3:00 to be on the water and in the Hog Trough by oh-dark-before-everyone else. If they wanted to race, well screw them! We would be where we needed to be first!
Newly Seasoned Veteran Pete promptly showed us that Kids really DO RULE on the Kasilof and hooked up in to a fish within the first 5 minutes of putting the lines out in the Trough! Not as mean or as big as his last fish, but we helped out as little as possible and when the fish finally came in, he punched out on this nice 28 pound fish!
Old Man Parker was out for Trophy Fish this last week, but in among the fish he was releasing, he finally decided to get some ink wet on his catch card and tagged out on this fine fish.
By this time, we had moved down river to Parker's Pink Hole. Don't ask and I won't tell and I sure as hell hope no photos end up here.
Ok, maybe just this one - of my ass in waders! Again, don't ask, don't tell!
This one is for you Aunty! Men In Waders 2009 - April
But, ol' Pink Hole produced a fine fish for me on the heavy gear rod.
I managed to finally whack a small silver down at the Creek and Delbert was left with all 4 rods to get a fish. Sadly, other than a bunch of footballs, it wasn't his day.
Off the water by 2:00 but we invited the Ball's over for some same-day-sockeye. As soon as we got home and unpacked, I was instructed to go down to the dock and flip up some reds for dinner. That took about 5 minutes. Mission accomplished. The Ball's came over and we took some cracks at some reds on the dock.
Apparently one CAN sleep while standing up as they floss for reds.
The cutest ladies in Sterling show us boys how to floss up some reds!
We all ate well on a dinner of same-day-bbq'd-sockeye, two different pastas, ceasar salad, bread, and for those that consumed the evil stuff, IPA beer or margaritas. Afterwards some more flipping (of crap?) went on, the Balls had to go home, and after processing some more fish, I was in bed by midnight again.
Day 3 - Final Day
My goal of the week was to backbounce up some fish on Bob's 10 weight Ugly Stick Fly loaded up with 30 pound dacron. For some odd reason, out of the 30 or so boats and 100+ fisher people on the river on any given day, I was the only one bouncing the bottom with a fly rod. Those poor folks don't know what they are missing out on.
Up at 3:00 again and set up in the Trough by oh-dark-thirty. By the time it got light enough for the fish to pick up, 6 or so boats were with us and wondering why I was backbouncing with a fly rod. I got to warm up the crowd by loudly calling out a bite and set the hook and played in a large football and pretty much handed me my ass on that 10 weight. Undeterred, I let the fish go, re-baited and went back to work. Didn't really have time to call out the bite as the fish bit, and took off towards towards the open ocean. I was down to about 50 yards of line when Bob finally took mercy on me and decided it was time to pull anchor and chase the fish. Took a while to catch up on the fish with the 1:1 fly reel, but in the end, the fish lost.
Here's a 36 pound chromer on the bug rod. If I only had that cool new J&H jacket to match that awesome J&H hat.......
Here's the rod in the mouth shot that we were going for, but apparently someone forgot to show Delbert how to properly FRAME a shot.
Damn, that's one DAMN FINE lucky J&H hat! Sure has heck beat up on the EAR hat!
Close to a good shot, but not quite......
Since we were there, we hit a slot that has always produced at least one fish for me every time it's been fished. Last year, I pulled out a 39 pound hen out of this slot. SInce I was already tagged out and Delbert hadn't really had a good fish yet, I promised him the fish on my rod. That reminds me of a story.......
I think the year was 2006. After fishing all day, Old Man Parker really wanted my seat/rod because it was getting bit all day. So, I said sure and switched seats with the Old Man. 5 minutes later he hooks and lands a 58 pounder.
Last year, CanyonMan gave handed me off a shot at a mercy fish and so after landing a fish or two, I said the next fish on my rod was his. That resulted in a 45 pound platinum buck for CanyonMan.
This year, we joked about that and I told Delbert he it was flat out guaranteed that my rod would hook up on a monster Kasilof fish.
Yeah, it did. It promptly kicked Delbert's butt and Bob didn't really feel like pulling anchor and helping out. So, we all laughed at poor Delbert as he got brutalized by this hand-off fish.
Most of the time, the scene looked like this:
Oh yeah, it came in at 43 pounds. A pound bigger than the largest fish I've landed on the Kasilof.
Uh oh, time for Men In Waders 2009- July
What about Peter? Was the kid done? Was he finally going to get humbled by the Mightly Kasilof and finally learn that one just doesn't show up and get a good king all the days they are on the water? Did that bubble get burst? Hell no!!!
Not much to say other than Sir King Peter bonked his 3rd and final king.
I think this one was 28 or so.
The end of the day was marked by a group shot down at Coho Cove. Not a bad shot and haul to mark this trip by!
Got to meet Scott as he is one of the Minnersotera guys that hangs out with Hawk and crew. Great guy with a great family and they were having a blast up there as well! Thanks for the halibut, Scott!
Of course, none of us had any fun at all and it was flat out miserable the entire time.
I don't think I really need to say (again) that Bob puts on one hell of a show and the Ball Family is Top Notch all the way around! It was an awesome trip! One that I will not soon forget!
Might need to take them waders out a bit though! 
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