Fishing Before Work

Fishing Before Work
Two Silvers out of Ship creek

I caught these two beauties out of Ship Creek in Downtown Anchorage before work one morning. A few of my co-workers and I checked the tide tables earlier in the week and decided that it would be a good day to hit river in the morning and try our luck.

Getting up early is a lot easier when you've got something fun to do. So I woke up, stashed my gear in the backpack, hopped on the KLR and headed down. I met Rich, Tanya and Eric down there and quickly reeled in the first one. Then on my last cast before it was time to head for the office I caught the second one.

You may wonder how one would transport two good sized fish like that on a motorcycle. The answer is to just strap em to the back rack!


I folded my waders on the rack, layed the fish on them, and used my bungee net to keep everything in place. Some Japanese tourists took a picture before I headed home, and a I got a few looks from people down town. But what do they expect?

Motorcylists need to eat too!

Rain, The Kodiak Expeience

Rain
My first Saturday in Kodiak

So there I was.
My first Saturday in Kodiak watching one of the two main roads in town get dug up so they could install a new water main.

It was raining hard! If you enlarge the picture you can see the stream running down the ruts, caused by studded tires, in the road. There is even a diversion to keep the water from running down into the trench.

I propped the camera up on the hood of the work truck, hit the timer, and took this picture to capture the enthusiasm I was having for the day.

My rain pants didn't make it in my bag before I left. Soaked to the bone I went and picked up some Guy Cotton bibs for the next rainy day.

Also I'm not really that big around. There are two flannel shirts and a fleece under my rain coat.

Pasagshak River
and the only fish I caught in Kodiak

Looking though a XD card from my camera that I hadn't seen in a while and found a bunch of pictures from Kodiak.

These two pictures are of the only fish I caught, that was worth keeping, the whole six and a half weeks on Kodiak Island.

Pasagshak River is all the way out at the end of the road. It takes about 40 minutes to make the drive and even if you don't catch anything the view is worth it. The silver salmon that run up it are bigger than you find in most of the other rivers. Plus I was told there are no bears out there.

This day walked down to the mouth at low tide and walked across the fast moving river. I went up stream aways and tried floating some eggs but my left hip boot got a hole in it and soaked my foot.

Since I had a wet foot I walked upstream to a hole I'd been eying up for a while. After tossing a spinner out there a few time you could see a couple nice fish following it in taking a look. Finally this one took a bite and saved me from being skunked for the whole trip.

It was pretty good size. I didn't weigh it but by the time walked back across the river my hand was tired from carrying it.

How much seed would a wood pecker eat...

I do not know how much the big guy ate but he was a welcome sight Christmas afternoon.

I'm back in Michigan visiting the family for Christmas. After we opened presents this woodpecker stopped by for a bite to eat.

Scooter Gang
in Homer

I met some friends from work in Homer this summer to go Halibut fishing. While out and about we saw this scooter gang from Wasilla.

They brought them down in the back of a truck and were enjoying the weekend even though it was raining pretty good. Just look at the smiles on their faces! Thats how you can tell if you have a happy scooter rider, by all the bugs in their teeth.

New Bike!

The newest addition to my stable
2001 BMW R1150GS

First off I need to say that I stole these pictures of the Previous Owner's (xdbx) SmugMug.


Ever since this years Dawson City ride I've been considering a larger bike that is more road oriented for the longer trips. I also wanted something that could comfortably carry a passenger.

I considered several different makes and models but it always came down to a BMW GS. So when I saw this one for sale in the ADVrider FleaMarket it was hard to pass up.

Currently its stored away in a heated garage of undisclosed location in Michigan. I've got a couple options but most likely I'll fly down in the spring and ride it back to Alaska.

Should be a fun trip :D

Whittier Tunnel (From the Inside)

Whittier Tunnel
Sometime last winter when Mitch and Joe came to visit.

My friend from college, Miner Joe, was in Juneau at a mine his company owned doing some training. It just happens that My buddy Miner Mitch works at that mine and had a companion fare for Alaskan Airlines.

When the weekend came around they flew up to Anchorage for a visit. We had a great time.
I couldn't let my two favorite Miners come to Anchorage with out showing them the Whittier Tunnel.

This picture is while we were driving towards Whittier.