Labor Day Weekend Fishing Trip

Brant's parents came to visit August 27th - September 2nd at the tail end of their Alaskan Cruise/Land tour. They got into town on Wednesday and we left Friday afternoon after I got out of work for a weekend fishing charter. We stayed in Soldotna and woke up at 5am Saturday morning for our trip with King of the River for Salmon. It was freeeeezing! We fished from about 7am until 12:30PM on the Kenai River. It was really different than any fishing we were use to (trout fishing in the NC river!). There was no casting, and the rod was pretty heavy and required some muscle work to reel in! It was the end of the salmon season, so we caught a lot of "pink salmon" which are not good to eat. We were trying to catch silvers, and Brant was the only one that actually caught one! Bob and I had a silver on our line, but we lost them :( We still had a great time even though Brant caught the only silver. When Brant was reeling in his silver, our captain helped him, and when it was in the boat, he took a mini wooden bat and whacked the fish over the head three times to kill it. It was really funny and we got it on video! It was a great day and finally warmed up about lunch time. We headed back to the hotel, showered, had some lunch, and watched the Clemson game - we should've stayed out to fish!

On Sunday morning, we had a full day (7am-5pm) of halibut fishing with Captain Steve's Charters. We had about an hour drive to get to Captain Steve's, so it was a very early morning! We got there, and it was not quite as cold as Saturday morning, but it was raining. So, we all got suited up in our rain gear: rubber overalls with suspenders, rain coats, and rubber boots. We looked like we belonged on "The Greatest Catch." We had to drive another 45 minutes to Cook Inlet where we were putting in the boat. We had another 30-45 minute ride in the boat out to where we were stopping to fish. I get a little motion sickness sometimes, so I took some medicine -- but it didn't appear to work very well. The ride was very choppy, and I had to lay down inside the cabin until we got to our spot. We finally got to where we were going to fish, and we all went out to the back to cast our lines. The swells were only 3-4 feet, but it felt like they were 20! Before I knew it, Brant and Janet were hanging over the sides letting go of their breakfast. I still felt terrible and was wishing I could let go of mine, but the medicine I took was not letting me. I spent the day lying in the cabin, while Brant and Janet puked on/off in between casting their lines. Bob was having a good 'ole time. The weather was so bad and the waves were so choppy, by 12PM, we were all ready to head back. With no halibut :(

So, we headed home early on Sunday with one silver salmon. We ended up cooking salmon steaks on Labor Day for dinner and they were awesome! We had a great time, but think we'll all try the Dramamine Patch next time :)