Kayo's First Salmon

I've been pretty happy just eating the salmon and roe that Joe caught, but the excitement of a bending fishing rod hooked to a 20-inch fish was something I wished to experience for the last two years. This evening I finally (somehow) caught a Coho salmon!! Somehow... because all I thought and felt was that I had a snag under water, a rock or a log. But instead as the fish came up to the surface, it got bigger and bigger. Well, Joe gets all the credit for actually pulling the fish on the bank to letting me hold my trophy for a picture moment. I couldn't have done it myself. Also, the salmon appears absolutely huge in the photo, but for the record it measured 19 1/4"-- yes, a 1/4"  is important!
The rest of our fishing trip today was rather quiet, except I lost 1 lure and proceeded to almost lose another. I'm seriously hoping Santa will bring me another set of fishing lures for Christmas!  As you can see, the fall color was nice everywhere, too. 

Fall Salmon Run Begins

Yesterday was my day off-- that meant after Joe came home from work we could take off for fishing. I wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but I made sushi rolls for a quick dinner with the fish Joe had grilled the night before. Completed with sweet-soy cured fresh roe. Mmm.... I'm sure we had a hint of fish smell when we got to the river.
No fish actions with spinners, but Joe eventually caught his first salmon of the season on a crawler. 18 inches and almost 3 pounds. It is official that the fall salmon run has started! The trees are starting to show more autumn colors now, some yellows and reds.
Joe's gotten quite a case of fishing fever now that he knows salmon are up in the streams. Today after work he took a quick fishing trip back to the Big Hole and was rewarded by the even larger Coho salmon on a spinner. A 22" female with lots of eggs.
As I type this, Joe is sitting at the kitchen table, tediously cleaning the salmon roe, mostly for me to be able to enjoy the delicacy so fresh. At least he is also enjoying the new Leinenkugel Big Eddy seasonal beer that Kozue would be jealous of. And I know I definitely owe Joe another nice 6-pack for cleaning the salmon roe.

Good Fishing, Poor Catching

September is the last month of trout season, and the stream is starting to show the signs of coming fall. We've been fishing faithfully whenever we can (the only remedy for trout fever).... So far not much success in catching fish. A tree branch being a memorable catch!
Over the stormy wet Labor Day weekend Joe went fishing 4 days in a row, which was at least rewarded by the 12" rainbow, on the last day. Yesterday after work we packed our dinner and went straight out to the stream again. Though we did not see a single legal size fish, we started our trip with a tasty Kahlua pork sandwich and a slice of decadent velvety chocolate cake (my coworker's birthday cake) in the car.
And as always the beautiful water and woods ALMOST let me forget about my trout fever...almost.