A Year In The Life - Day 40, June 30, 2014

Today we made yet another pilgrimage back to the grayling creek.  That place is truly a gem.  Among the critters witnessed today we can count a snowy owl, a great horned owl, two brown bears, and a hundred or so spawning Yukon chum, up close and personal.  Oh, and grayling by the dozens. :D  This shot is from the GoPro underwater clips I took on today's trip.  Cropped out his reflection on the surface because my camera angle was just a MITE off, and ruined that part of what would have been a PERFECT mirror image.  Oh well.  Looks pretty cool to me anyway...that fly in his mouth is a pheasant tail nymph in size 12.  And it was the hot ticket today.

A Year In The Life - Day 39, June 29, 2014

Warren playing with his two "baby pike-fish" gets the nod today.  Had him out on the lake and we made a killing (literally) :)  in just a short time.  It is so much fun going out with him that it has remained a daily occurrence.  Often when waking up he will say "I want to go catch fish!" - and folks, you gotta love THAT!

A Year In The Life - Day 38, June 28, 2014

And here we have another shot that was taken from video.  While out around the house this evening watering the garden and tracking Ada down, we heard what sounded like...well, a weasel.  So upon inspecting the sound, we came across...a weasel.  :)  She is nesting in this box aside the neighbors' house.  A great spot actually.  Glad to see it.  Now there will be some extra weasels running around this winter...

A Year In The Life - Day 37, June 27, 2014

Today was the first gas delivery via barge of the year.  As we were down by the water anyway looking for anchor-rocks for the set net, we got to be on the scene, and Warren of course enjoyed it greatly.  He and a small group actually sat down to watch the proceedings and that, along with the beautiful day, offered a good shot.

A Year In The Life, Day 36, June 26, 2014

A double for today.  :)  One above water shot of a leaping pike from the GoPro's Eye view, and an underwater of the GoPro's eye view - both of the fish of the day. :)  Another 10-11 pounder (again - according to the formula, not a scale) this time from the lake just behind the boat. :)  See the species list post for the video and details if you like:

A Year In The Life - Day 35, June 25, 2014

A sober reminder for today, that life in the wild is no guarantee.  The day prior, some of our crew working with the summer chum tagging project saw this moose calf swimming the river with its mother, crossing to nearly this exact spot.  Now...it is an eagle's brunch.  After that, it will be the ravens, the gulls, and/or the fox, weasels, and the rest who can get there before the sun is bleaching the bare bones.  Who knows why mama chose to cross at that wide point in the river - wolves?...bear?... Perhaps the calf received a wound before attempting the crossing in some other animal's attempt at keeping itself alive for another day.  Maybe it was just pure exhaustion.  Either way, it was too far of a swim for the calf.  Leaves us with something to think about, and even more to be thankful for.

A Year In The Life - Day 34, June 24, 2014

Mmmmmmm...kippered salmon...just plain yum. Yep...that's brown sugar... No explanation needed...just a napkin for the fingers. Was easily the treat of the day, and now it's the pic of the day, too...

"Holy Grail" - ing....

**This post is on the species list pages as well - it's the same one** :D

Since we have been here, Sarah has wanted to get up a certain creek to catch some of the Grayling that are supposed to be in it, and this is the first summer we have stayed around, and so - the time was right with all this high water.  They have been our "Holy Grail" of Russian Mission, if you will.  One of the very few things we have wanted to do here that we hadn't gotten around to doing.

Well, today we set out on a whole-family adventure with a lot of hope, but with nothing certain.  We headed up the Yukon to the creek that was reputed to hold Grayling - meaning wild, placed there by God milennia ago, surviving against all odds in the middle of Pike shangri-la, bad-ass Grayling, in a wild destination.

...And they were there!!!

Meaning, this wasn't one of those "24-inch trout are in this creek", or "Golden trout lake - that wasn't", or "Bass-as-long-as-your-arm farm pond" adventures that doesn't pan out - this was the real deal.  Add in that we accomplished it with the two boys and Ada along for the ride, and it gets even more special.

So as we left the mainstem Yukon, the water was high, murky, and choked with brush and froth.  Didn't look good, in other words.  But after we got about 100 yards in, the water was a blend of mud and something a bit clearer.  And then we got a little further in, and as we switchbacked around through a scum slick reminiscent of tidal water...something happened a switch flipped - and all of a sudden we were gliding over deep, clear water pools, full of rootwads and logjams that just screamed 'fish'.  And then a few more switchbacks, and things started to get that feel of "Score!"

Pretty soon we were cruising over fleeing Grayling, and even watched a pair of spawning Kings dart under the boat.  Yep, this was gonna be good.  It wasn't long before we were crazed and just looking for a place to beach the boat so we could get to it.  Our first stop was a shallow sandbar between a riffle and a deep pool.

It was there that Sarah hooked her very first Grayling, and I was jealous.  Although I had caught them before, it was only in stocked high-mountain lakes - not the same.  Here she is, holding up the first of the day, bug net and all:

Warren was more than happy to help dad get his first one in the boat - and of course he had to wrestle it into submission before it could be placed on the stringer:

My favorite pose of the day from these two - made the 'pic of the day' on the home blog :)

W wasn't entirely selfish, either - he took time out to show his little brother the spoils of the day :D

Checking them out - reminds me of his dad, back when I was little, and my dad had to tell me to quit staring at the fish we had caught and get to catching the rest of 'em...

And lastly, the staged shot - the funny thing is, that setup is my pike rod - complete with pike tippet and steel leader I crimped onto a swivel. :D  works for Grayling though apparently, and later in the day it scored quite a pike, too - for that see the other post from today...

Lastly, for those hardcore friend and family folks that read these posts to the end, here is a link to Dropbox for a video of some of the day's catches - disclaimer - this is family time, and goofiness abounds.  You will get no apologies. :)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t09t8beml2r2nhn/Graylingfun.m4v

A Year In The Life - Day 33, June 23, 2014

This precious gem resulted from our trip 'up the creek' today, where we got into a Grayling bonanza, and even saw a couple of spawning Kings.  Yeehaw!!  An epic day with maybe a dozen "pics of the day"...was hard to choose - but this one sure fits nicely. :)

A Year In The Life, Day 32 - June 22, 2014

This pic of the day represents hours and days of beachcombing.  We have here lead lines, corklines, corks, and webbing. All discarded - by an assortment of random people - and cut, pulled or dug out of various rootwads, sandpiles, and dirt - by us.  For what?  A gill net, of course. :)  Any day now this puppy will be cut, sewn, tied, taped, and pieced together and be a life-taking weapon of mass destruction.  :)   ...And then we will likely have to take it apart and re-sew a NEW version with 6-inch mesh once they lift the regs next month.  Stay tuned for more pics of this baby hanging in the Yukon with chrome dangling from it. You heard it here first...

A Year In The Life - Day 31, June 21, 2014...Happy Solstice!!!

Happy Solstice indeed!!  It has been a glorious day - perhaps the greatest weather of the summer thus far.  I spent the day working with the ADFG, telemetry-tagging summer chums, and Sarah took the boys out fishing.  And that is where the pic of the day comes in.  The brothers posing with one of the day's kills:

And I wouldn't be a fisherman if I could leave this one out - what a ham!!!

A Year In The Life - Day 30, June 20, 2014

An action shot makes the big show today.  W found nearly-three-year-old level excitement in the simple act of splashing his feet in the Yukon.  Sarah captured the moment - you can tell he was having a ball when you see the splash marks on the log to either side...

A Year In The Life - Day 29, June 19, 2014

Our pic of the day today comes from our trip to beaver Shangri-la, that we encountered by chance on our exploration of yet another lake.  (Check out the other post from today with more pics, if interested...)

Beavers of 'High' society...

Well, today was another exploration day, this time out on another lake - this time upriver.  A gorgeously beautiful day, the water was calm and the bugs were out in force.  We hit the lake in the morning and immediately headed for the inlet creek, as that was where the pike should be...  A little ways back through the switchbacks we had to jump a beaver dam, and that was the first sign.  A hint of what was to come.  Here is a pic from up above it, but that came later on our way back out...

Anyway, right after the dam it was too shallow to go farther.  We found what we thought was a game trail going basically straight uphill.  It looked good so the thought of climbing up and having a look-see crossed our minds - highest point around and all.   We followed the trail, STRAIGHT UP, and found that it was...no, I am not kidding here...a BEAVER trail.  All the way up the hill there were cuttings and chewed chips, broken branches, etc.  And at the top was a stump graveyard where a cluster of birch found itself among all the spruce.  Wood chips everywhere, huge logs scattered around and lots of evidence of other huge logs being drug back down the hill.  Judging by the height of some of these stumps, this was a BIG beaver.  I am seriously considering going back for him, even though it is not at all a short trip.  He's that big.  But here's some pics we got at the top of the hill.

A quick pose, without me, so we didn't have to take Abram out of the pack - the bugs were AWFUL!

Here's a shot of some of the cuttings:

And a cartoon version of the same photo that I thought was cool - a new feature I found on our newest point-and-shoot...

It was so much fun - here's another. :D

The actual photo:

and the cartoon version of same photo:

Can't wait to post up some fish shots using this newfound tool :)

Now, some more shots of our trip to Beaver Shangri-la...

Some fun times having a shore lunch.

Warren checking out a butterfly

A shot of a fish camp on the way back home:

A view of how calm the water was today, looking upriver from the bluffs:

A shot of dipnetting for chum in front of the fish camps.  I actually kind of like the old-looking, grainy feel of this one:

And lastly, a random shot from today - a new puppy in the back of a truck we saw while walking by.  Cute little guy.

A Year In The Life - Day 28, June 18, 2014

One of Sarah's many ongoing projects as of late has been making her own sealable, washable sandwich/snack bags, to help alleviate the mass quantities of ziplock baggies a family of four can go through when we are out adventuring every day.  Today was a bonanza of creation, as the weather outside was frightful... :) Six of the little beauties, in assorted sizes.  Thus, the pic of the day:

She ought to have her OWN blog so she could walk you through all the steps of her creations - they are AWESOME!  Maybe one day I will convince her...

A Year In The Life - Day 27, June 17, 2014

This evening I have for you a GoPro still sequence in wide angle, taken from a video clip.  Any one of these pics by itself just wouldn't be as much fun:

1) One of several sweet little backwater creeks I found myself in this evening while chasing pike... (Check out that small bird/Skeeter!!!)

2)  A cast at the moment the fly and leader hit the water...

3) Hookset on said cast...

4) Here, fishy fishy...

and 5)  Comin' at 'cha!!

A Year In The Life - Day 26, June 16, 2014

Today we have our first definitive fruit of the season from the Alaska gardening endeavors - a tomato! (still growing, obviously - but nonetheless emerged...)

 It sure has been a challenge with the cooler wet weather we have been having.  Some casualties for sure, but they are continually replaced with seedlings from indoors.  Now if the weather would just get summer-like, we've got a great base going.  The one veggie we have crossed off the list entirely is the corn.  Just can't get the warm soil temps it needed - even with covering.  Their place in the rows has been replanted with beets, so we shall see...

A Year In The Life - Day 25, June 15, 2014

I like this pic of Sarah and Warren out of the bunch from today's hike.  A fallen moose shed, weathered by Mother Nature and chewed by rodents, waits on the tundra, pointing the way.

Father's Day, June 15, 2014 - *121milesupstream's 100th Post* :D

Another Father's Day, another adventure for the 4-H Club.  Today we set out on a hiking/exploration adventure to see what we could, well...see.  We headed up the Marshall trail to put a few miles on with Warren and Abram to check out the view up on top in the big valley.  It turned out to be no less than awesome...

Here's the clan posing in the labrador tea blossoms for a quick shot about halfway across the lake.  This is currently Warren's "smile" face. :D  You'll see it again... 

And here it is:  Hah!!

Though thwarted at first with technical issues, we did get one of the lodges in the lake set:

Here's a smattering of shots for an idea of the terrain/scenery.  Not for those with weak ankles...or backs for that matter...

Sarah and Warren heading across the tundra

This shot personifies the majority of the ascent:

Sarah scores an Oneida Victor buried in the tundra!!  Oh Yeah!  It will be the first marten longspring set this season...

Can I have a drink, Dad?...

He is a trooper, no doubt about it...

Does this look familiar?   Sarah and I took pics of each other from nearly the same spot - with different cameras, one on the way up, and the other (this one) a few hours later on the way back down.  Check out the logs/trees with the pic of her above.  :)  Great minds...

And finally, some boat shots with W at the helm on the way home:

An awesome day with an awesome family. :)