“american upbeat”(alaska!)

We flew in on different jets, myself arriving mid morning. The plan was for me to get a cab and head to the Inn. I had been here about 8 years before, and sorta had the lay of the land. My Father, arriving late afternoon, was to take care of the car, then catch up with me. I was standing by the door of the room as he drove up. Only once had I camped with my Father, It was quite an event. I remember going on a hike, me going ahead, becoming separated, and me ending back in camp first. I think that really scared him. well maybe it was my Mother who got really scared, her sitting in camp, waiting, as my Father, my Sisters, and the Rangers searched the woods.————————————– So he ends up with a 4 Wheel Drive Subaru, lots of room for our gear, as we’re planing to be out roaming for a couple weeks. So here we go, right out of the box he starts in with my directions. I had never got it figured out up here. When I was here working in the 80s, I couldn’t get to the same place two days in a row. My trick of turning left when I’m lost didn’t even work up here. Its hard up here. In the summer the sun rises in the west and it sets in the west. In the winter it doesn’t rise at all. This is really going to be good, the two of us out in the bush alone. There is always tension between us, well we were going to work it out! We spend the evening, after grabbing a bite, sorting out our gear, getting ready. In the morning we have a destination, we check out of the Mush Inn, and head south to Homer. I was working with a welder in LA, who’s father had a studio down on the Spit. We run down there and spend the afternoon in Homer, talking with Holies’ Father. He offeres some direction, as to where we go from here. This guy had it pretty good, been retired about 10 years up here. He had a photo studio down on the Spit making portraits for the tourist trade. He knew the State pretty good, and gave us some options. We took off, late afternoon, heading north up to Anchor River Inlet and making camp. All the way, driving south, you’d see hundreds of people, standing on the River bank. Standing shoulder to shoulder, fishing poles in hand, all trying for there Salmon. “COMBAT FISHING”. Its a sight to see, these people can’t move, I don’t know how they catch any fish. Neither of us have any interest in this, and we settle into this quiet little campground. Holies Dad had told us about this place. He said we’d probably get some Trout here, as everyone else, would be somewhere else, trying for that Salmon. We threw up our tents, grabbed our poles, and got down to that little stream. My Father and I hadn’t done much fishing together. My only memory, is of going deep sea fishing as a child and getting sick. So we’re using these “Mepps” black furies, and there working. In side of 20 minutes we have 3 nice size Trout, and head back to camp. I’d been running this drill, out camping, fishing, and photography, so when it came to cooking Trout, I had it dialed. In tin foil you stuff the fish with butter, red onion, garlic, and peppers, seal the foil loosely and throw it in the fire. We did up three, taking about 10 minutes. You just open the foil, start eating, after only forks to wash. No sooner do we start eating, then this kid walks up selling Salmon Steaks. We tell him thanks, we,re good, that if he like, he was welcome to the third Trout. You know he got excited, he said he was sick of salmon, seemed that’s all he ate. We got to talking with this kid, he was about 12. We were curious of his fish business, we wondered how he got the fish. Hands Down this is the smartest kid my Father and I have ever met. We still talk about him to this day. We had seen these gangs of people fishing and couldn’t figure how this little kid got his fish. He told us every morning he goes out, gets his Salmon, then goes home and Smokes it. Later, he comes back to the campground, and sells his Steaks to all the people who never catch their fish. So we ask him how It is, that he is able to go out every day, in these crowds, and get his Salmon? Does he have a secret spot or something? He just says no! He says he just goes out among the masses, flips his line and rod around a little, looking like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Looking dangerous, everybody moves away, they give him lots of room, and he gets his fish.