June 8: Seattle work keeps me inside

The weather has been mild - warm, really. And dry. I think there were 8 raindrops yesterday, but the squall went on by. It is kind of painful to be sitting at my kitchen table trying to finish up a Seattle report when there is mud to walk through in search of last year's anchors (it's always best if we can use them again). Depending on how the water has moved the mud around and what the ice may have taken with it when it left, we can usually find most and usually have to set a few.

I intended to make a brief report and include a photo of last night's sunset and this morning's sunrise. Both were beautiful - but I left the SD card in my computer. Sigh.

In talking with Roy last night, I learned that a few fish are already showing up in Egegik. They are usually a little ahead of us, but it sure makes me wish our permits were in hand. This happens every season - we all carry around a thick coating of anxiety, watching for signs of early fish and afraid we'll miss it. Eddie Clark, the very nice and competent guy who takes care of my trucks in the winter and fishes with great intensity in Egegik in the summer, just stopped by (and brought me the first fish of the season!). He has been monitoring the river temperature since he got to fish camp in May and he told me that the Egegik river has already reached its fish-attracting temperature and he is getting some beautiful, mature fish already, but they're small. Uh oh. Here I am in the middle of a Seattle report, without permits in hand, not much readier than I was when I arrived, with nets hung with 5 1/8" web sitting in the warehouse.

I remind myself that the earliest we have ever seen a good showing of fish is June 20 - and they were that early only once since 1975, when I started paying attention. (Up until 2006, the latest fish had ever arrived was July 10. In 2006, that stretched to July 12 and calamity followed.) Early season fish are often very small - I think of them as "bullet fish." They just seem shaped that way. So, all is probably fine. The answer is to calm myself, remain focused on this report so when the fish are here, so am I, then pick up Jeff, Luka, Rohan, and Roger next week... and get ready!