Project Smokin!

So I have smoked some fish this year. I have this on hand, which is going to get shipped out sometime in the next two days:



I am planning on going to Valdez over Labor Day, and hopefully come back with many silvers, which means I need to clear the freezer, which is currently in this state:



Almost all reds, with a bit of halibut and one chum (the tiger striped one). I figure that it will take me four to five double batches to clear it out (probably four).

A duffel bag full of fish

55 pounds of fillets in a duffel bag.



In the cooler.













And I have 14 fish at the processor getting smoked and turned into lox. I am going to buy a canner and start canning fish today.

43 fish total, probably 175-200 pounds total fillet weight.

Kenai, Round 2

So I am heading out for the second weekend of dip netting the Kenai. I will be going out on the boat with KTG and The Moefather tomorrow, then hitting the beach with Fito and Lizza on Saturday. Hopefully I will have gotten my fish and will merely be running/cleaning/advising/taking pictures/video rather than getting my gear on and getting into the water.

The forecast is partially cloudy, with highs in the 60s and wind. Saturday is mostly cloudy with scattered showers. We will see.

21 fish to go.

I got this shirt at B & J's in Anchorage this afternoon.



It says:

Fishes Fishies!

Back from the Kenai, ended up with 29 reds after a marathon weekend. Very tired, more words and a write up to come tomorrow. Here are some fish pictures.

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Fish and fillets

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Fish!

And I'm Off to Kenai

It is now 2:25 am, I just got up from my nap and finished loading the car, and I am off in 5 minutes. I am going to stop and get ice and coffee and then hit the road, in time to be at the Kenai for the 6 am opener. I think my setup is promising, but needs to be tested. Pictures and a report to follow.

Dipnetting is Here!!!

I am leaving for the Kenai to go dip netting tomorrow after work. I am very excited about this fact. I got a total of 28 reds last year and I am hoping to limit out this year. For those of you who do not know what a dip net is, I got one and it looks like this:



If you say "But Josh, I can't see how big it is", here it is leaning against my bike:



Another shot of it:



I am very excited to get it in the water. 25k fish through the Kenai and 19k through the Kasilof yesterday (that is very good).

For those of you who did not eat some part of my reds last year, here is what they looked like:



Kenai red sushi



Lox on cream cheese and crackers



Sushi Buffet



Fillet pre super bowl sushi



Super Bowl Sushi Spread




It was very tasty fish. I hope to learn to smoke and can fish this year, in addition to the kippered, the lox, and the salmon strips.

In any case, I am leaving late tomorrow and will be back sometime on Sunday.

My crew got a whale!

May 11th, 27'6".



Co-Captains Herman (center, back row) and Jonas (right end, back row) once again proving worthy.

Go Team!

Disc golf and Roller Derby

A natural combination, no doubt. What follows is a recap of last Saturday. A couple notes before we get to the video madness. 1) I just got a memory card big enough to start playing with the video settings on my new camera (Casio Exilim) and the work so far is rough. 2) I am in the process of growing my hair out and it has reached "long enough to be annoying, but not quite long enough to fully fit into a ponytail". This is not an intentional style choice, but rather one of the (several) horrific stages between short and long. Anyway, onto the video and some shot analysis.

Peters Creek #6


This is only my 4th or 5th round of the year and both my form and my fitness are still working there. On my forehand shots, I am not fully closing my shoulder and, as a result, my shots are a bit too far to the right. This still turned out relatively well, but I should be in birdie range on every throw by midseason.

Peters Creek #9



As you can see, I am not getting anywhere near level on this shot. My right arm angle is way below where it should be and the disc came out high and sailing to the right. It turned out ok (about 9 feet to the right of the basket), but it is not where I would like it to be.

Peters Creek #11



As you can see from this shot, the disc goes straight down the middle of the trail before cutting to the right. Ideally it should be s-ing to the left side of the trail before cutting back. Once I am getting my shoulder closed all the way, it should s a bit more and get over to the left side. Again, a good result, as the shot ended up at the base of the hill below the basket.

Peters Creek #12



I purchased an Innova Star, with the hopes that it will become my backhand disc for left turning holes. This is an early shot and a definite work in progress. I think this will be good in the long run. I need to get my footwork on my approach worked out, as I have an over-exaggerated hitch out, followed by closing my shoulders too far at the start of my delivery.

Peters Creek #13



We call 13 "dotting the i" This is my buddy Moesepheus shooting. He got on a run in this round and dropped 5-6 good shots with this disc (the Predator, I believe, but I could be wrong). This shot landed about 3 feet past the basket. Great shot.

Peters Creek #18



This is one of the better shots I have thrown in the last year or so (despite looking like a schoolgirl while watching it fly). 18 is a fairly tight hole that breaks wide to the left, then cuts back straight at the end of the hole. Also, there is a line of trees to the left, with two breaks that go down to the creek. There is a landing area there, but it is below the hole and a tough approach. This shot went directly over the basket, about 3 feet above the top. It turned about to be not as good a result as I would have liked. Despite only going 10 feet past the basket, the shot was really not all that makable, as there is a dopr off about 8 feet past the hole. Thus, the disc ended up 7 feet below the hole. Still a good shot. I can usually throw the overstable hook, but I usually lose it to the left. This time I kept it level enough that it tailed back to the right at the end.

After we finished up the round, Moesepheus and I met up with KTG and some other friends to hit the Roller Derby, more specifically the Rage City Rollergirls. The evening turned out to be awesome! I did not have any expectations going into the evening (besides being told that the players came in all shapes and sizes), particularly considering I had never seen a roller derby and that I did not have the first clue about the Rules. Here is what it boils down to: Imagine that you have two football teams consisting of 4 lineman and a running back. The goal is to have your running back run past the other teams lineman as many times as possible. And you are all running the same direction. In a circle. On Skates. Thats pretty much it. Once you know that, it goes from a confusing tangle of women to a sport with some pretty cool strategies and neat things going on. Imagine football before you knew what the hell was going on. But with hot women in miniskirts on roller skates (whoever was rocking 1/2 tsp. was garnering some admirable comments from the beer garden). Anyway, here are a few jams from the second half.







The only downside to the event? The lack of seating in the beer garden. There were 4 rows of seats in the front, then one section of bleachers tucked in the corner. The other 200-300 people in the beer garden had to stand up. So everyone was ready to go as soon as the event was over because we had been standing on a concrete floor for two hours by the time it was over. Had there been somewhere to sit, it would have been 1000% better.

Overall a fun day. I think this is going to be a good season discing and that I am going to get my game to places where it has not been since I left Ann Arbor. And I will probably go back the next time the roller derby goes off in town.