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Gone Fishing
by McKibben Jackinsky
Excerpts:
A chilly mist hung above Kenai River’s quickly moving gray-green water, glistening in the half-light of dawn. From up river, the smell of coffee wove its way through the air, and somewhere someone was frying bacon. The mouth-watering smells pulled me from thoughts of home and bed as the hum of an outboard motor approached. Standing at the stern of her boat, Val Early steered toward the dock. She cut the engine and floated toward my two fishing companions and me. Stepping on board and taking our seats, we buzzed with anticipation. Soon, our hooks would be in the water. Were king salmon waiting for us? The coming hours would tell . . .
. . . . . . Boats with twin engines race for the center of Alaska’s Cook Inlet, looking for deep water, hoping to out-do the 363-pound halibut caught in 1997 out of Homer, a town near the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. Val Early’s approach offers a different challenge. Using her 16-foot drift boat and a pair of oars rather than motors, she meets the Inlet head-on. Minimizing risk by keeping to waters a mile or two off shore, her only request is that clients agree not to bring aboard any “big” fish. Other halibut fishermen shake their heads in disbelief. “Where’s she hide the motor?” “Who’s she have help her?” . . .
