We had a dry day with another forecast and all our smoke fish had been given away so time to smoke more fish.   I thawed all the coho we caught in Craig plus the king salmon back bones I’d saved from the April trip that had burst their vac pack bag seals.   I thawed all the salmonberry juice left in the freezer I’d saved from 2015 and 2016 and added 2 cups salt and 2 cups sugar into our largest stainless bowl. That made enough brine for half the fish.   I put the first batch of fillet pieces in for 50 minutes, and the second batch into the same brine for about an hour to account for any loss of salinity, etc.  I let the fish drain in colanders. After cleaning off the smoker racks, I put the fish on them in the refrigerator smoker John helped me build.  I left them with just the fan on overnight.   The next day the fish were drying nicely.  I noticed a blow fly on one of the pieces.  I scraped off the eggs and maybe need to put some netting over the vent holes in the bottom if it’s a problem again. I left the fan on and put in the electric frying pan I bought earlier in the day at the Salvation Army store and loaded it with some alder chunks.  The pan heated but would not ignite the chunks.  So I put in the hot plate with a little cast iron pan on top and that did the trick.  I left the electric frying pan on to add more heat.  I added more wood chunks to the pan about 4 times over the next day and a half.  The fish had a beautiful pellicle with no cracking or oil breaking through, but the bigger body fillet pieces were mushy inside.  I finished those in the oven at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.   We let the fish cool then I loaded the bags I’d saved and rinsed out when I took the fish out of them from the freezer, and Sara ran the vac packer.   Seemed like a big pile of fish out of the freezer but didn’t even fill our smoker.  The batch made about a milk crate full of smoked salmon to put back in the freezer.  We’re good for smoked fish for awhile.

With Ron and Jeanne’s escape from Juneau, I was wondering if I’d get to go to Haines again and fish for sockeye in the river with Roy. Andrew said he wanted to go, and Roy indicated we were welcome, he needed to get some fish, too, and the cherries were prime for picking when we weren’t fishing. So Andrew, who works two full time jobs, was able to get off Saturday and Sunday. We boarded the fast ferry to Haines on foot because for the first time ever, I couldn’t get the Yukon on the ferry because it was full for vehicles. Roy would do the driving. The fast ferry does 36+ knots and cuts the travel time to Haines in less than half- only a 2 to 2.25 hour trip. I talked for about half an hour to Andy, a trooper from Hoonah who is back working in his hometown after a stint in Craig and maybe Juneau. We’ve known each other for 20 years, and he was off on a solo sheep hunt up north. He had lots of good bear stories.

We arrived in Haines and Roy took us to the house to get the boat. Brenda greeted us like long lost relatives, and we spent an hour catching up on pet life histories and Haines politics. Then we were off to the river with the jet boat. We picked up a cooler of beautiful flake ice at Haines Packing on the way. We fished from the downstream boat launch up to the bridge. We caught few sockeye or other salmon in several drifts. Then Roy said we’d try a method I’d not done before. Andrew and I would get out on a sand bar and hold a line on one end of the net. Roy would back off the beach in the boat and pay the net out of the bow until it was all deployed, then he’d drift downstream with his end and we’d walk the beach with our end, keeping it close to shore. We immediately started catching fish. Not many, but at least a few. Being from Sierra Leone, Andrew was keen to keep everything legal and edible. By the end of the day, we had a 3/4 filled cooler of sockeye and a few chums and pinks. Andrew loved the river valley and the fishing. It may have been early to do better sockeye fishing, but we did well enough.

I told Roy that Ron and I had never done this kind of fishing before, and that was probably because Ron would get wore out watching me do all the work fishing from the boat, and would probably succumb to exhaustion if I was doing even more work handling the shore line. We returned to Roy’s and I taught Andrew how we’d clean the fish. I soon realized that, of course, he was a good fish cleaner. Sierra Leoneons can clean a motorcycle to like-new condition with a tooth brush. He was meticulous about scraping out the kidney, etc. We soon had the fish dressed, and I showed him how we belly ice the fish and pack them. The next day I showed him how little the ice had melted because the quality of the Haines Packing ice was so good.

After fishing we started on picking cherries. More than I’ve ever seen on Roy’s spread. Over the rest of the day and part of the next morning we filled 2 five gallon buckets and there were plenty left on the trees. Since we got a smaller number of fish than expected, Roy and I let Andrew have them all. The cherries would be my prize for the weekend.

Along with eating. Brenda is a trained chef, and fed us one simple, delicious meal after another, using greens and vegetables from their garden, eggs from their ducks and chickens, fish we caught or from the freezer, and maple syrup from Pat in Bolivar. They also gave us a dozen duck eggs each to take home. On Sunday afternoon, we helped Brenda load the truck with furniture we were donating to a lady who’d lost her cabin in a fire. From what I gathered, she lived with her husband on a fairly remote gold mining claim until he died, after which she stayed out there for another 10 years or so with no utilities, etc. In the summer, she could get to town, but once the road snowed in, she’d have to use a snow go. A mistake by a young man starting the wood stove caught the cabin on fire. When Haines townspeople heard about her loss, she was offered a cabin nearer to town, and people like Brenda donated furniture, etc. When we dropped off the furniture, we were greeted by a bunch of goats and dogs and had a nice talk with her. A real Alaskan.

After that, we went to look at the boat I bought on the Haines Classifieds website from a friend of Roy’s. A 13 foot skiff with a 10 hp outboard that I plan to take moose hunting on the Yukon River next month. As we drove up the seller’s (Peter) driveway, we saw a well-kept lawn with a coop and pen full of chickens and several geese in another pen. There were well-stocked wood piles in the neat wood sheds and a clean chain saw in the garage. I hoped the boat would be as well cared-for, as I’d bought it sight unseen. I was not disappointed. Since Roy would be out of town when I came back through to go moose hunting, I asked Peter if he’d be able to help me put it on the Yukon and he gladly obliged.

Andrew was taking the 24 hour+trip in and not saying much. When we returned to Juneau and Sara picked us up, he raved about the people with their chickens and nice gardens in Haines, and how the Russians probably wished they hadn’t sold Alaska. I realized these places were a lot like his home village with people growing food and living off the land a little bit. He really enjoyed the fishing, too, and seeing two brown bears along the river on the drive home from fishing. I realized then he’s basically been working mostly non-stop for several years here. His kids have traveled the region a bit, but not him. Haines was his first trip to another Southeast town and I could tell it whetted his appetite to see more and maybe work a little less. It hardly rained in Haines. Not the sun I’m used to in year’s past, but mostly dry. The monsoon started as soon as we headed toward Juneau, and continues through this morning. While much of the country is being warned not to look directly at the sun during the eclipse happening right now, there’s little worry for eye injury here in Juneau. I can’t even see Thane from the Douglas bridge.

Just back from 2 weeks in Craig with my 15 yr old nephew from Pittsburgh who has been up before. Smilin John and his buddy Billy met me in Craig for fishing in late July. The boys fished Eagle Creek and Angel Lake and caught lots of trout, dolly varden and salmon. We went gillnetting with Brian for an opening. Good experience for the boys but not their favorite I don’t think. Billy went home after a week so just me and John the second week.

The next day was my favorite. Kevin and George joined Brian, John and I to move a floathouse. The float logs are aged and need to be replaced soon, but the house on top is in great shape and will be an incredible luxury to hunt and trap out of if it all works out as planned. We moved the floathouse with one boat pulling and the smaller boat pushing. The next day we went king salmon fishing on the outside waters right at the big ocean. We caught 7 kings and a few cohos and black rockfish. Lots of humpback whales there amongst the charter boats and us. That night we went with Ellen on bear patrol at her friend’s place. Bears were raising hell with the friend’s chickens and bees as not many berries and no fish in the creek yet.

John and I went trolling with Mike and Cheryl for a day. I hadn’t been on a troller for 10 years or so but it was like riding a bike putting out the gear and bringing it in and landing and cleaning fish. Next day we split firewood with Ellen. They have a splitter but I felt no less of a workout bulldogging huge rounds to the splitter, where Ellen ran the splitter and John threw the wood on the stack. They burn 24 inch logs in their wood furnace, and even split the pieces are heavy. The next day 6 of us went salmon and halibut fishing. We didn’t have as much luck getting salmon with just one king but several cohos and black bass. The whales were right next to the boat this trip.

Halibut was a different story. Before long we had 8 hogs on the deck, and some yelloweye. Luckily we had lots of hands so the butchering went quickly when we got back to town. Took John to the plane the next morning and saw a bear in Klawock and a buck cross the road as we got to the airport. John was a tired pup after another trip of a lifetime. At 15 he’s an old hand at flying all the way back to Pittsburgh by himself. I got another window put in the container house this trip, and I helped Brian put in most of the septic lines and tank for our place right up to the last minute to my plane at 5pm. Won’t be too much longer and we’ll be able to use the container house. The freezer I sent down from Juneau with Brian’s nieces worked great and a welcome addition. At the Ketchikan airport I met the daugher (and niece) of sisters from Sand Point I knew at UAF. I’d known her as a child and she looks just like her mom now, and as talkative as her mom and aunt. We were about the only people in the airport waiting area and talked for half an hour   She said she’s glad she can get her parents flights now after they’ve been so good to her. How many kids say that? A great trip. Whale watch boat driving tomorrow and back to cubicle hell on Monday.

The kicker we got with our boat would not start.  It would fire, run for about 3 seconds, and die.  Then I would pull and pull and pull and it wouldn’t start.  If I tried an hour later, it would fire for the 3 seconds, die, and the same story as before.  I thought it was the fuel pump because it seemed like it was starved for fuel.  I bought a new one for $55 and replaced it.   It seemed to help a little because it would fire more often, but it would not stay going. So I started looking at the carb.  I drained the bowl, and found that it would not refill by squeezing the bulb.  I had fuel to the fuel pump, so it was the carb it seemed and not the fuel pump as I thought. I cleaned the carb as best I could without pulling the float and needle valve, and put it back on and still no fuel to the bowl.  Now, it was getting serious, so I pulled off the float and needle valve.  I used to be in a constant battle with the oil stove on the Dutch Master, so I’d seen a float and needle valve.  After I got that off, I started unscrewing things that had a slot for a screwdriver (I later found out these were jets) and snooping around.  Then I went back to the house and found a youtube for the same carb.  Bingo.  It showed me a few other recessed jets to pull and other areas to pull and just blow out with compressed air and replace.  I never saw any gunk or debris, but hoped for the best.  I poured gas in the bowl when I put it back together to prime the carb, then put the carb back on and gave it a whirl.  This time, the outboard started and when I put the choke in, it stayed going.  And going.  I had the earmuffs over the water intake so I thought I’d let it run for 15 minutes to be sure it wasn’t just running on the fuel I primed the bowl with.  A cup of espresso later and the outboard was still running so hopefully  it’s fixed.  Now I have an extra fuel pump just in case it really does go out. Yesterday, I changed out the throttle cable on the 115 main Yamaha.  The engine starts right up and runs smooth but the throttle had been giving me fits.  I would flex instead of pushing the throttle wide open.  It seemed like I had to adjust the new cable further out on the threaded fitting than I felt comfortable with to make it go out to wide open but we’ll see next time we go out if it’s a fix or I should have adjusted somewhere else and end up with a good spare throttle cable. 

The bearing went on Ted’s 1986 F250 diesel last week.  Sara and I were on our way to a roadkill deer for the foodbank when without touching the brakes, the rear drivers side tire locked up going about 45 a mile from the house.  It freed up, and we nursed it back to the house.  We took the Yukon and got the deer. Later, I pulled the wheels and hubs and saw that there was no brake issue.  I cleaned up the brakes, then jacked up the rear under the pumpkin and started the truck and put it in gear.  The drivers side was definitely wobly.  I took the truck to one of our mechanics my nursing it at idle the mile and a half to the shop with Sara tailing me.  I typed instructions that I thought it was just the bearing and if was more than that to call me.  Well, it was more than that.  The mechanic made what he called a “temporary fix” instead of calling me right away.   With the $500 bill paid, I drove it away and it clunked about as bad as when I took it in. My mechanic is as honest as they come and I’m not disappointed.  He did the best he could. If he’d have called and said your rear end is shot, I could have paid him for work done to that point and had a wrecker take it to the junkyard, and not much would have been saved. When I got home, I replaced the excellent tires with the old ones – two of which were not so good but 2 in nice shape.  Then took off the topper. Then put it on Craigslist for free.  Two kids working the zipline called within 30 minutes, came by and took it for a test drive, and said they’d take it.   I should be able to sell the tires and topper for close to the mechanic bill and know I won’t remember any of it a week for now and will just have more room in the driveway and one less vehicle to worry about.   Haven’t been without a truck for about 30 years I’d guess.  Gonna try to buy a trailer to use for firewood and dump runs and use the Yukon to haul the boat and the trailer.  We’ll see how that goes.  

Scored a 10′ raft for the fall Yukon River moose hunt on Craigslist. It has a fiberglass hull and can haul 1400 lbs. It came with an 8 hp outboard and I need to take it for a spin to see how the motor will push the boat. The guy selling it was a plumber now. When he was a kid, I went with him and his dad their first time gillnetting as a favor to Len so they’d have a third hand to help. He didn’t remember. He’s trolling now when he can, and updated me on his dad.

Sara had warned me not to go spending a bunch of money just now, so it was time to start selling stuff I don’t use that’s in the garage. Sold the hydraulic steering I’d bought for the boat that sunk that I never put in. Sold the seats on pedastals and the magic chair from that boat, too. And the 12 foot skiff that didn’t work well as a punt. And the old 8 hp Evinrude kicker. That got me about to what the raft cost.

Got started on my empty woodshed. First I had to tear down the old one made with pallet walls. Then used the pipe from the net pens as a foundation base under the floor that was still good. I’ve been interested in cordless chain saws ever since we got the electric car. So I rented a Stihl one from Tyler. It came with the charger and 2 batteries. I’d read that the batteries could be charged in 25 minutes, but turns out that was with a quick charger, which the one with the saw wasn’t. It was a couple hours to charge. So, I could cut for about an hour with the two batteries, and then it was a few hours for recharge. The saw worked pretty well. I got about everything bucked up that was 2 feet or smaller diameter. I’m contemplating buying one, but they are spendy to get it with a couple high capacity batteries and a quick charger (close to $600 I think), plus Tyler said they can’t get the batteries right now, either. It was a pretty sweet deal for $50 for the weekend so think I’ll keep renting. Rest of this week I’ll split and haul into the woodshed then be good for the year. Got about 2 to 3 year supply now, with dry wood to burn this year.

Kurt called for help with the hydraulic steering on their new boat. The oil level was down, so we added till full and purged it through the fill hole, then took it out for a spin and it seemed to have worked. No sign of leakage so not sure where the oil had gone. I finished today with the saw so took it to Jeff to try it. I was on my way with Gloria to take her for more driving lessons. He’ll turn it in for me tomorrow cause he’s retired. Gloria is getting better and more confident in her driving, but still makes for a nervous instructor. She is applying to go into the Marine Corps, and we talked a lot about that today. We stopped at the gas station for her first time to fill up, and I showed her how to check the oil and where the other fluids were under the hood.

Got an email from Allieu in Sierra Leone. Solomon’s daughter has epilepsy now like her dad did. He said she’s under treatent, but remembering what a bitch it was for Solomon makes me sad. People believe you are possessed by spirits if you have epilepsy. That’s gonna be tough. For Allieu, he’s in a complicated situation where the site he was building his house on was approved by many different levels of chiefs, only to get the walls up and someone came and said they owned the land. Then, somehow the clinic where he works is on land owned by his family, so he’s trying to get the clinic to help him with his other property while they work out a plan for the clinic being on his family land. Oh Salone. I’m glad we’re here for them when we can.