Bishops Adventures

 July 30 & 31, 2024 It’s been a tough couple of days. Gary has come down with the flu and is struggling through all the necessary packing in order to be ready to leave here on Friday morning.  The most important thing yesterday was to see if the freezer we bought will actually fit where we intended it to go. It’s very light so it wasn’t a problem getting in. It fit through the door of the camper with only an inch to spare. We rolled it to the end of the island and carefully closed one slider at a time. To our relief it fit EXACTLY as we measured with not even a half inch to spare. In order to get in and out of the bedroom we had to take the door off its hinges and store it under the cushions at the dining room table! That’s good ol’ New England ingenuity at work right there! Now to see if it will hold 120 pounds of fish??!! We’ll find out tomorrow. 

 July 28th & 29th, 2024 Beautiful day but VERY windy.  Well, things here in Soldotna are beginning to wind down. Today Gary fished for the last sockeye we needed to complete our necessary weight for each box flying home with Gayle and Gerry on Friday . He also had some time to try out his spay casting rod which is a whole different technique.  I brought the last of the filets to the processor and ironed out details of our pick up later this week. We bought a freezer this time, due to the exorbitant prices of mailing fish home like we did last time. It will be interesting to see if it fits in the trailer where we think it might. And then it will be interesting to see if it will hold all 150 pounds that we have. We’ll accept prayers for this dilemma and we’ll let you know how it goes. 

 July 27th, 2024 A gorgeous day in the 49th state of the union. Cool temps, blue sky, dry with a light breeze.  Our first business of the day was to wave goodbye to our neighbors and friends. It was sad to see them go.    Before they left we ended up talking about their deep sea fishing experience. It was only then that Gerry mentioned he had taken pictures and video while out on the water! They told us they had seen a whale and a sea otter! Who knew!! Gary caught a stingray…. They caught just a glimpse of the whale as he blew water into the air…  The ocean started out smooth as glass but progressed into 5 foot waves. But they brought home halibut! And the scenery was spectacular.  The rest of our day was spent resting and relaxing. Enjoying the quiet of this beautiful day and catching up on necessary maintenance. 

 July 26th, 2024 It poured last night! And continued throughout the morning. It’s a good thing we had only planned to do laundry today. So Gayle and I spent a few hours there while Gerry and Gary visited some fly shops. It’s our last day with the Dukelow’s. They head out to explore and discover there’s more to Alaska than just fishing! They plan to visit Seward, Whittier, ride the Alaska railroad and visit Talkeetna.  So we thought we’d show Gayle what dip netting looks like. We had a spot in mind but it has been closed down since 2016. We drove around looking for a good spot to see them working their craft and stumbled upon a beach that stopped us at a kiosk. Gary explained we only wanted to get a glimpse of the dip netters. She replied, “oh, yeah, I can give you a beach pass so you can take a look.” I started to ask the question, “will we be driving on the beach??!!” while Gary grabbed the pass and we were on our way crossing a sandy beach. It didn’t take him long before he stopped a

 July 25th, 2024 I could get used to waking up to glaciers! The weather has been cloudy all day but it didn’t deter us from our day on the Spit. The guys (Gerry and Gary) were up at 5:30 preparing for their day on the water in pursuit of halibut!!  Meanwhile, the girls (Gayle and Debbie) slept in as we were lulled to sleep by crashing waves below the Airbnb we were in. During low tide there’s a beach under the boardwalk …  But during high tide the waves actually break underneath the dock. We eked out every minute we could there and then headed out onto the streets of the Spit. Deb & Jeff, who just arrived in town, joined us for a fantastic brunch.  We walked the boardwalk for a short time. Poking our heads into different gift shops until we heard from Gary. His text was earlier than expected telling us they were heading back in 20 minutes and Gerry was feeling seasick!  I decided to meet them on the dock as they arrived with their big catch. I sat for 1 & 1/2 hours for their bo

 July 24th, 2024 The weather today was beautiful. Lots of clouds in the morning but it continued to get brighter until we were in full sun.  Before Deb left Soldotna she was determined to catch her one fish. We all went with her to cheer her on and of course give her our own teaching techniques. How many teachers does one student need? We were all very attentive to her challenge.  She was in the water casting from 11 am to 2 pm with no hookups. Gerry was in the water with her and handed her his rod each time he caught a fish so she’d have a feel for what it’s like to have a fish on.  We were all very disappointed but needed to move on and get ready for a big over night trip to the Homer Spit. We drove the hour and a half once again down the sterling highway to Anchor Point first but didn’t catch any boats being removed from the ocean. We could see the beautiful snow capped mountains across the inlet much better than when we were with Kim.  We’ve booked an airBNB on the Spit for one nig

 July 23rd, 2024 The day started off rainy and cool before becoming a beautiful afternoon and evening. After speaking with a professional guide, the plan was to fish 2 and a half hours after the high tide. That meant in our waders, ready to go at 8:30 am. Gerry and Gayle surprised me when they showed up at the door ready to go promptly at 8:30! Especially Gayle who is not typically a morning person. So the three of us (notice who’s missing? The smart one) began our hunt for the elusive sockeye. There was no one else at the river which should have been our first clue. We casted our rods and stripped our lines in for a solid hour before admitting we were merely flogging the river. The fish have ‘turned off’ and we will need to wait to see if there might be another run in the future.  This forced break from fishing has given us some time to calculate how much fish we already have and how we plan to get it all home. We have a total of 118 pounds, not including what Gary and Gerry will get

 July 21st & 22nd, 2024 WEATHER: Sunday was beautiful. Warm, dry & sunny. Today is cloudy with light sprinkles and cooler.  It doesn’t matter what the weather is. It doesn’t deter us from our goal of 6 fish per day. Unless it’s more trailer trouble. Gary spent much of the day trying to figure out why we don’t have electricity. Both Gerry (an engineer) and Gary couldn’t figure it out. Gary ended up calling a professional electrician today who works exclusively on trailers. He was also baffled and said he would be out tomorrow to look at it but in the mean time take a look at where the plug comes into the trailer. From there it was only a matter of minutes before Gerry had it figured out and Gary fixed it.  I caught my limit yesterday which brought in another 14 pounds. Unfortunately Gary was unable to contribute because he was doing what he loves most, teaching fishing to two more friends who joined us here from NH!! Deb & Jeff Clark arrived Saturday evening and we spent the