Alaska Page 7 - My Birthday
Friday: Today is my birthday and I could hardly be enjoying it more. I am in Alaska, it's another beautiful day, I am with great friends, and the reds are running!
Alaska Fish and Game have a sonar gate at the mouth of the river and they count how many salmon enter the river. By Thursday the local paper reported that almost 700,000 reds and 36,000 kings and gone upriver. They also had some pictures of some of the local catches including a 78 pound king.
I hooked into a real fighter and finally dragged him up the boat ramp.
Drift boats frequently went by. They put in upriver and drift down to the mouth of the river where they put them on a trailer and go back to start over again.
Gil asked me if I wanted a birthday surprise. I said "sure". He punched me in the nose and knocked me in the river. Some kind of Kenai initiation thing. I don't know. I do know that water is cold and it's the first time I got a black eye for my birthday.
OK, I was just yanking your chain a little. For the record, Gil didn't really punch me in the nose. He did have a fish on the line and when he was trying to pull it in, the hook came out and the line flew out of the water. The 1/2 ounce lead sinker nailed me right on the nose and knocked me in the river. Better the sinker than the hook! I wiped off a little blood, changed into some dry clothes and went right back to fishing. I do however reserve the right to forever remind Gil of the time he gave me a black eye for my birthday.
Sore nose and all, it was another good day on the Kenai.
After a day of fishing we had dinner relaxed around the fire pit. Froggy and some friends did a little target practice to dial in their bows for hunting.
These guys have some high tech Mathews compound bows.
Froggy has some neat arrows with a small light in the end that lights up when you fire it. It looks like a tracer in the darkness and makes it easier to find your arrow when hunting.
I brought along a couple of my custom knives to try out in the field. My little camper same some good use. Especially the bottle opener on the end.
I also brought one of my Rio Grand bush knives.
It came in handy for splitting some kindling for the fire pit.
