7/25/13: Soldotna

Today was a rainy day here at camp.  Rick went out this morning and ended up being out there quite a long time to just get four fish..  the run has really slowed down!  It must be time to head to Homer :)

We were originally planning on going out on a charter on the Kenai tomorrow, but they called today and let us know that King Salmon fishing would be changing to "catch and release" tonight at midnight... hmmmmm, bummer!  Don't really want to go out on a charter and just do catch and release (sorry).  Kenny our charter captain and Rick talked and Kenny felt that we should wait until we get back from Homer to do our Kenai charter -- as the Silver Salmon will be running.  So, after that news and Rick's slow day on the water for Sockeye's, we have decided to pack up and head to Homer tomorrow morning.  

I must say that all four of us are really ready for a change of both scenery, pace and lack of MOSQUITOS!  Boy guys, the mosquitos are REALLY bad this year!  I mean, really bad!!  So, it will be awesome to be back in our favorite ocean town and not have to deal with these pesky things for a week!  

Homer, we will see ya tomorrow (I don't know where BB gets it?!)

7/24/13: Soldotna

Today,after Rick got back from fishing (another limit in the freezer), we decided to go explore the town of Kenai.  Kenai is just about 5 miles from where we were camping at, but just like last time we were up here, we still had not visited it.  It was just a normal small town, it does have amenities like Home Depot and Safeway.. but it is still fairly small.  We decided that we wanted to see the local dip-netters netting the mouth of the river.  Dip netting is something that residents to Alaska can do annually.  We heard mixed stories as to how many residents can get annually, but the main number we heard was 30 a year.  So, they are just what you would think -- big fishing nets.  They put waders on and go out to the river and run the net through and then can either pull the net up to the shore or hook the net to a tractor and drive the net up on shore.. it is really insane and when the run is there, it pure mayhem!!  All the visitors just find a different place to fish!  We finally found the public beach (yes we drove by it and got a little off track), residents had tents set up on the beach, BBQ's, smokers -- again crazy!!

On our way back to camp we saw another momma moose and her calf.. SOOOO CUTE!!  back at camp it was late lunch and then time to take the kids out fishing for the evening (only Rick had gone out this morning).  The day was sloooooooow, but Brady caught one and honestly after how long it took to get that guy, they called it a night!

Just another fun day on the Kenai!!

Dip-netters all set up:

Momma Moose:

Baby Moose:

7/23/13: Soldotna

Today we decided to take advantage of the very low tides and do some razor clamming down in Ninilchuk, which is about an 45 minutes from camp.  We had heard that the state put "no limit per person" on clams and also now there is no license required either.  Due to the high number of clams being harvested, we also heard the clamming was pretty bad this year, but we wanted to give it a try for ourselves.  It was a beautiful morning as we left camp.  We were lucky and saw a Momma Moose and her calf on the way to the clamming beach -- it was cool!!  

After arriving, we were taken back by the total beauty of the day!  From the beach we were able to see three mountains/volcanos right in front of us!!  Ahhhhhh, gorgeous indeed!  We gave it a really good go for a few hours, but in the end we came back to camp with a grand total of 11 clams -- yep you read that right....  11 CLAMS!!!  Much different from the last time we were here and harvested 70 EACH!!  Oh well, it was enough for a batch of clam chowder for sure.

We headed home, cleaned the clams and then it was off to fish for the day.  It was a slow day, only caught four fish, but any day that we can put fresh sockeye in our bellies for dinner and then more in the freezer for more dinners, we are very thankful for!

Here is the Momma Moose and her baby:

Mt. Redoubt from the beach:

Clamming boys:

The muddy walk out to the beach:

Boots are all clean:

Beautiful:

Oh yeah, more Sockeye:

Kailey is happy to help clean with Dad (that is the Kenai behind her)

7/22/13: Soldotna

Just another gorgeous day here on the Kenai... 

With fish limits in the freezer, we enjoyed a very relaxing day at camp enjoying lots & lots of sunshine!!!

The view from my camp chair is pretty nice:

7/21/13: Soldotna

Well, Rick filled his limit on Sockeye nice and early and got them in the freezer (which is filling up quickly), so we had the rest of day to catch up on a few things..

Mainly it was home cleaning for me and fish stuff organizing for Rick.  Then off to get Brady a new fishing pole - his broke the night before!  Luckily, we were able to find one that was perfect for him at the local hardware/fishing supply shop, so he is now back in business.  

Got back to camp and decided Brady needed to test out his new pole & try for his limit for the day!  Kailey decided to stay at camp with me, so the boys were off to get some dinner!  I got a camp fire going and then it was "game on"..  We love to play gin (thanks for teaching us Kate), Farkle, mancalla and more! A fun way to pass free time for sure!!

Brady's pole turned out to be lucky and the boys brought home fresh sockeye for dinner!! Yay!!  

Brady and his lunker:

The rest of the evening we just enjoyed a fire, until the Mosquitos came out to play!!! Ugh!!  Oh well, I mean we are in Alaska after all right?! 

Mosquito head/face block:

Now, inside and safe from the skeeters, it's off to bed so we can do it all over again tomorrow!!!

7/20/13: Soldotna

Morning from beautiful Alaska!!

Good news is that the Sockeye limits were raised to 6 fish per person!  Yay, we have been waiting to hear that news!! Rick went out early this morning to get his limit and had hopes of beating the crowds, no such luck on beating the crowds, but he had lots of luck on getting his limit!!!

Ricky's catch:

After getting back to camp we cleaned and vaccu-sealed them up and into the freezer they went!!

After a nap for Rick and many rounds of Gin-Rummy for Kailey and I, we decided to walk up to the visitors center and look around.  It's about a mile away (maybe a little more), so we were there in no time!  It is always fun to look around at all the stuff the Soldotna visitors center has- really cool!  It was also nice to have some free wi-fi to update this blog :)

After that it was back to camp, make dinner, enjoy the campfire and call it a night!!

The following pictures are not great, I will be honest, I am at camp with no wi-fi right now... So I took a picture, of my pictures on the iPad with my phone!  End result is not great duplicates, but at least I'm keeping up with the blog :)

I will fix it later..

Playing at the welcome bench:

Kailey saving Brady from the big fish:

Bald Eagle:

Wolverine:

7/19/13: Soldotna

Fish,fish,fish...  That's what we do here in Soldotna!  Rick again limited out today (still at three per person).  Then the kids went out later - Kailey got two and Brady got two before they were tired and hungry for dinner!

Campfire tonight.. Bet you wouldn't guess it's 9:30pm:

7/18/13: Soldotna

Another day of fishing, wood cutting and campfire today!!!  Kailey got two keepers and Brady and Rick limited out with three each!!  Good day indeed.. 

We heard the limit per person is rising to SIX per person tomorrow at midnight --Freezer is well on its way to being half full already!!! :)

This is the "Not another picture Mom!!" from my cute girlie:

My cute boy:

My cute boy & cute hubby:

And all three cuties are off:

First fish:

Nice fishy:

Awww yeah!!!

7/17/13: Soldotna

More fishing and supplies are on the list to do today!!!  Not a whole lot else!  Weather continues to be amazing!  

Good times my friends!!

Kiddos at camp:

Bo is so happy with his jolly ball & to be  settled at one place for awhile:

That's my girl:

That's our girl:

Tired girl!!!

7/16/13: Soldotna

It's fishing time!!! The Sockeye are thick and we just needed to run into town for licenses and then hit the river!!!  The daily limit is three sockeye each and we plan to get just that!!! Oh by the way, a better camp site opened so we took it!!

New campsite:

Comic making before fishing:

Prepping the poles:

He makes me laugh every single day:

My boys:

Oh yeah, fish on:

What a dude:

That's our boy:

What a girl!! Caught her first AK Sockeye in her first ten casts!!!

Sharpening the knife for clean up:

The keepers:

Bo does this most day: