My folks are in town and my dad's a flyfisherman from Colorado. This trip is a dream come true for him with visions of salmon eagerly slurping up flies.
First trip was a guided trip on the Deshka River, but we were skunked
and it was darned near combat fishing with a boat --just us and 100 of our closest friends on a few holes in the river. Can't blame the guide, however, since no one else was catching any fish either.
Next trip? Off to Ship Creek during the salmon derby. Ok, so I ain't terribly bright. :? Dad was tossing out a spinner and doing OK, but things got crowded and the fun stopped. I don't think his Alaskan Dream included tossing two guys in the river as they continually snagged his line.
Dad at the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers
What to do? I know, the Reds are starting to run in the Russian River. The day before we left, my unit chaplain (we'll call him Bubba) called me at work and asked when I was taking him fishing... How about tomorrow? Great. Both dad and Bubba are from Mississippi so they hit it off pretty well. Since the Russian is flyfishing only we figured dad would be in hog heaven. :grin: He was casting to "fishy" looking spots and I was beating the water into submission. Bubba was quickly finding out just how much water his chest waders could hold. We noticed (I'm very observant) that several folks were catching fish and we weren't. We finally found out why. They were using lead weights and snagging with flies. :roll:
Off to Quartz Creek for smaller fish. Same methods as before. Dad looking like A River Runs Through It and me and Bubba flailing like we're being attacked by a swarm of bees. Dad lost one fish and was happy just to have a strike.
Dad on Quartz Creek
After a couple hours it was time to leave...with no fish. I told the fellas I'd take a few digital pics of them fishing for their photo albums. Dad looked like some sort of ad for a flyfishing magazine. Bubba asked if he could just borrow dad's flyrod for a quick picture.
He laid the line on the water and BANG!!! FISH ON!!!
That dastardly chaplain caught/stole my dad's Dolly Varden :wink: .
He'd been telling us all day how he was going to make this day into a sermon for Sunday. Up until then we thought the sermon would be about patience and frustration...but apparently theft will be the subject. Either way he's "tricked" us into church this Sunday.
