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.

Evening on Apple Creek

I must be suffering what's called "trout fever." Looking at my work schedule I may be working most weekends in the near future. The stream has just gotten to be more pleasant with few mosquitos, but we only have about a month of trout season left.
Yesterday after Joe got home from work, we went fishing in the evening, racing with the setting sun. Joe saw a couple of large fish, which he suspects might be the beginning of fall salmon/lake trout run. Fish were also jumping for flies everywhere, everywhere but where our lures were. That could only worsen my trout madness/fever. Such an enjoyable frustration!
The main reason for this post, though, was to shout out "I out-fished Joe!" I caught a beautiful 12" brook tout, the only keeper of the day-would-be. We've caught quite a few female brook trout this season, and Joe decided to keep no more brookies this year. I even understand the importance of not overfishing to sustain the future of the native fish, because I love the beauty of fish and their environment as much as the yummy taste of fish.

Tak & Kahori

It's been already a couple of weeks since we had Tak and his fiancé Kahori visiting from Japan. It was a busy and quick stay, as any friend's visit always turns out to be. We initially met with them up in the Keweenaw. It was a perfect beach day-- the next day was wet and chilly when we hiked out to Horseshoe Harbor, my favorite place. I have to say it was my first time there in the rain.
It seemed like the rain was getting harder while hiking the trail. And the rain cloud followed us all the way home with our guests.
But the wet weather allowed us to spend more time visiting with one another during their overnight stay at our house, which we probably enjoyed the most anyway.  
Though they could not go fishing, we made sure they got to taste the trout that we'd caught. Joe also grilled some kebabs with summer veggies to perfection. We know they both enjoyed the food. Or was it the local blueberry beer? We had a good time over our kitchen table till late.
Next day we drove to meet with Phil and Judy at Adventure Mine where all of us took an underground tour, which was one of the things on our to-do list, with or without our guests. When we came out from the underground was our time to say good-bye to Tak and Kahori.
To stay with our touristy sprit, we took a side trip to Bond Falls, another little thing that we'd been meaning to check out. It was kind of fun playing "tourists" visiting a semi-local spot in the height of summer tourist season around here, not mentioning the exploration around the waterfalls was very refreshing.  

Improving International Relations

We just hosted a Japanese stranger (sister city delegate) for three nights and had a great time.
The first evening Joe grilled his BBQ ribs and trout. Really, that was the most cooking we did for our guest, other than cooking white Japanese rice for his breakfast. Thank goodness, he brought his instant miso soup and a few condiments.
I joined a couple days of delegation activities as a translator again. I was definitely relieved when we got out of the museum and university tours with so much more to explain and translate! Still, it was a bunch of pretty cool people, so both Joe and I enjoyed the visit.
Our guest and two other delegates (who happened to be somewhat important city officials) left early on Thursday, while 6 others are staying till Monday. Today we went to a casual "sayonara" potluck party. We managed to make gyoza dumplings and Spam musubi to bring, as well as dressing ourselves in yukata for our very first time. We watched a video on how to dress in yukata on YouTube. What would we have done without YueTube?

Recent Fishing Report

Joe had a great day fishing this past Saturday... of course, he didn't have anybody to share the experience with. All 4 trout measured from 10 to 14 inches, which are now waiting in the freezer for the next special guest.
Sunday we went fishing again.... I actually caught a nice German Brown!
All in all it's been a decent trout season so far. I learned how to tie a fisherman's knot to tie my own lure this year. Most of all, Apple Creek is always so lovely.