Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

I went out fishing this morning, but the weather is so foul that I decided to come home early and try to get a picture to download for the blog. This little stream flows into Chatham Straits and as far as I know salmon run up it, but on the day this picture was taken there weren't any that we could see. The name of this stream is Featherduster Creek. I like the name. I don't know why it's called Featherduster. There is usually a reason that something is named a particular thing. Ears Mountain is so named because it looks like the ears on a bears head. Port Frederick is named after the son of one of the kings of Europe. My boys are named after myself and both sets of grandfathers. I don't know who I was named after. No one that I know of. In fact Tom isn't the name on my birth certificate. It's Tommy. I don't say anything to Mom about it, but that's a name that could get a guy beat up in grade school. I always went by Tom. That didn't keep me from e...

I should be down cleaning out the fish hold and getting it ready to receive a shot of ice for the upcoming opening, but I was actually able to get on the internet for a few minutes and so far got one picture to download, so I thought I had better take advantage of the opportunity. We are in the middle of a four day closure for cohos, which really worked out good for me because I had to do a bi-annual cleaning of the forest service building, which includes cleaning all the windows inside and out and powerwashing the whole building outside,as well as shampooing all five thousand square feet of carpet. It's quite a chore so I was happy that I could do it during he closure. The tides are huge right now too, and I don't normally like to fish too much when there is so much water moving. Depending on whether you're going with or against the tide, the boat is either going too fast or too slow. If you go cross ways to it the lines can sometimes get tangled. It's best just to avo...

I tried unsuccessfully over the past two weeks to get these pictures to download. I finally had to bring in the big guns to get the job done. Our family friend, Candy, a Stanford grad suggested that I try only downloading one picture at a time. Obviously it worked. I'm so glad that there are assets of such value here, even in tiny Hoonah Alaska. Several weeks ago I took the dog down to the cannery. Periodically I mention going in the truck to the beach. His little tail wags like it's going to fly off and he can barely wait until I open the door and lift him on to the seat. It's at that point that he abruptly changes his mind about going anywhere in a vehicle and the crying starts. It's only a five minute drive to the cannery from my house, but it seems like an eternity for both of us. Once we're at our destination though, he's happy as a clam at high tide, sniffing the abundance of new smells and having acres of area in which to do his duty. It was during our l...

Finally! I was successful in getting the pictures to upload or download or whatever it is that they do. I tried to do this blog a week ago, but the pictures wouldn't cooperate. Whine, bitch, complain. Anyway, if I don't hit the wrong key with my clumsy fingers I'll get this blog done tonight. For the past few weeks I've been pretty much hanging out over at Homeshore fishing for Dog salmon or Chum salmon as they are more properly known as. I doubt many people would pick up a can of dog salmon at the grocery store. They probably wouldn't snag a jar of Humpy either. Sounds like an add for a geriatric sex product or something. However, most moms wouldn't thing twice about buying their family a nutritious can of Pink salmon. To most fishermen here though, we refer to Pinks as Humpies, a shortened version of Humback salmon. They're named that because of the pronounced hump that the males develop as they get closer to the streams where they spawn. It's been re...

I know that I'm doing a blogger no- no by not staying up on top of it better. As I mentioned before, the busy season is upon me and I don't have the time to devote to this that I'm afforded in the winter time. I wanted to work on it the other day when I did have a few minutes, but the internet was down again. It's a fairly common experience here. What I don't understand is why I have to pay the same amount every month for service when it isn't available all the time. Basically I'm paying for something I didn't receive. That's like walking in to Mc Donalds and ordering a cheeseburger, and after you've paid for it, they bring out a burger with only one bun and the pickles missing. What the... If they can't get away with that, how do the internet providers? Another mystery of modern day life in Hoonah. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking a delightful trio of young ladies (including my daughter Jen) out for a trip up the bay. The sc...

Isn't this a beautiful sunset? I was fishing in Icy Straits the other day hoping to find a king salmon or two but came in empty handed. I did have the pleasure of at least enjoying this spectacular sunset and I wish I could say that it was worth going out for just to see such a view, but I need fish in the box to pay the bills, so while I did very much enjoy this heavenly display, I was stressed beyond words wondering how I was going to pay for the next fuel or grocery bill. It's an annual struggle for me. When I'm fortunate enough to be successful in my endeavors, it immediately goes right to my head and I think I'm some great fisherman or some such thing. When, however, I fail to catch, I'm quite certain that there has never been such a world class buffoon as myself who would so recklessly engage in a profession with so little return. It's a no win situation. Several days after these pictures were taken, I got word that the guys in skiffs were catching kings...

I know that it's been a while since I posted anything, but as I mentioned in the last entry, it's the busy time of year here with maintanence on the boat and fishing and all the other spring/summer things that have to be done while the weather cooperates. Spring has been beautiful this year thus far, with lots of sun and a little too much heat. I hope we don't have another hot, dry summer again. We really need the rain to keep everything in balance. I was trolling for King Salmon the other day with relatively little success. I'm like the vitamins so far- one a day, which isn't a very good average. At this moment I'm going in the hole fishing, but hopefully that will turn around soon. I ran across Icy Straits to fish Homeshore last week. Historically the kings run up that side of the Straits on their way to the Taku or Chilkoot or Chilkat Rivers. I'm not sure how well the wild runs are doing. I know a lot of the fish we catch now are hatchery fish. The commer...