Alaska!!

I don’t think we got to sleep until Twelve or One in the morning. My Father and I had not spent a lot of time together, we were weathering the storm. What we had going here, was a sorta forced friendship. We just figured we’d head out to the middle of nowhere, and fight it out. Funny thing happened, we started finding some common ground. We hung out with that kid, the kid selling Smoked Salmon Steaks to all the Combat Fishermen, who came up empty on the river. This must have been the first time we ever agree on anything, we both thought this kid was sharp. We had gone into our tents, talking back and forth for how long, I couldn’t tell you. There was a lot for us to talk about, a lot of ground to cover. We were excited, we had gotten through this first day, and found out, we could enjoy each other. I woke up real early, I didn’t sleep to sound, it had never gone dark overnight. I grabbed a fishing pole, figured I ‘d let Dad sleep a little, and took off for the river. We caught our dinner the night before, now I was working on breakfast. It didn’t take long, I had two nice fish in five minutes or so, and started hiking back. In Alaska you really get the feeling that your out there alone. I grew up in Southeast Pennsylvania, as a kid,running wild in the woods. The Forrest were thick and deep, you could loose yourself. Up here it was different, maybe its because at some point you realize, as your looking out across the land, that there may be no one, not a soul, for thousands of miles. When I got back, my Father was moving around, he’d got the fire going, tea for him, coffee ready for me. I guess he’d gotten used to me taking off. He was in his morning routine, fixing his insulin, working on his teeth. He was about 63 back then, and caught up in that battle of trying to keep them. He did pretty well with his diabetes, I think he figured it out about the time I was taking off from home. Its a rough disease, but he had done well. He’d been ahead of the curve, watching his levels, keeping track. If and when, it all would get out of line, he’d figure out why, and adjust. So anyhow, I went off to clean some fish, coffee in hand, wrapped them in foil, with peppers, onion, and butter, then threw them in the fire. We were eating good, had some fruit, eggs, and Dolly Varden. The kid the last night, knew about these fish we were catching. He said they followed the Salmon up stream, that they were an Arctic Char. We took a little time to clean up around the camp, then decided to head back over to the river. Salmon is big business in Alaska, that’s the reason most of these people were here. The Kings were running, ain’t nobody round here thinking bout trout. I was proud, having caught those fish so quickly first thing. I guess those fish, never tasted, one of those Mepps Black Furies before. They liked it, seemed like we had teased them, the night before, dragging that spinner through the stream. Like they had waited all night, they wanted more, earlier, they hit me right away. No sooner, did my Father and I cast out, then we had fish on the hooks. It got crazy, we weren’t keeping any, just throwing them back. My Father hadn’t had much luck with fishing. He’d spent a lot of time, with my Sister Janie fishing, spent a whole lot of time waiting, on very few fish. For him, this was a new experience, Christ, I’d never seen anything like it. I swear, you would throw a fish back, cast your line, and in ten seconds or so, you’d feel them start to tug. Before you’d know it, another one would come flying out the river, these fish fought. There were two guys, a little downstream from us, they were having no luck. They had fly rods, and said they were feeling a little beat up, by all the heavy combat, taking place on the Kenai. Not a fish between them, they were heading south, later in the day, and just wanted to catch some fish. They had heard about this place, that the fish were hitting. They had come over, they’d seen all our action, and were wondering what we were using. Those fish were jumping, all the time we talked with those guys. I guess my Dad and I, stayed out there, about an hour, an hour and a half. We had caught a lot of fish, we were both a little giddy. So as were leaving the river, my Father, wants to rub it in. He walks over, to where those guys are back at there fly fishing. He tells, them that next year, they could hire him as their guide, and they’d be sure to catch fish.