A Weekend with the Tempo

The guys went fishing over Labor Day weekend. The girls were invited to go camping in Homer with a contact, which turned into staying at someone’s house that had nice warm BEDS and showers.

The guys went fishing for pink salmon on the Kenai River on Saturday. Fishing for pink salmon was a blast. Every fish that we caught was at least five pounds. Scott caught a pink on his second cast. It was not hard fishing. The easiest way was to just snag them but if you don’t hook a fish in the mouth you can’t keep it. Pink salmon are not very good eating so we did not keep any. Scott did catch a nice sliver salmon which we did keep and eat, tasty. Chris probably has the record for smallest fish caught will salmon fishing.

Saturday night was not a good night because all of the camp grounds were full and it was raining making it worthless to try and pitch a tent. So we sleep my Ford Tempo. Yep all three of us big strapping young men stayed the night in the tempo. Well actually we did not sleep in my Tempo because sleep implies rest. We did how ever take three to five, one hour naps during the night. Needless to say we did not feel very good in the morning, but there was fish to be had. Scott slept hugging his rod case all night. Chris’ night was spent curled up in the back seat with my rolled up sleeping bag. The night for me consisted of trying to use Scott’s rolled up sleeping bag as a pillow while playing twister with the front steering wheel. Scott is a snorer and Chris decided to join in with is own melody. The two of them combined was to much of harmonious melody for me to over come.

On Sunday we went fishing for trout on the Russian River. It was a new experience for me because fishing for Alaskan trout is different from fishing for trout in Montana and Wyoming. I am use to fishing structure and looking for places the trout might be hiding and the bugs would hang out. But in Alaska you use a plastic bead that looks like a salmon egg. This is tied about two inches above your hook. You then have a strike indicator where your leader and fly line are tied together. When the indicator bobs under you have to set the hook quick. I did not catch any trout. I hooked one but it got off. I guess I need more practice. Over all it was a great time. Scott showed Chris and I a think or two about how to hook a trout. The pictuer to the right is what the rainbow trout looked like. This fish however was not caught by any of us.