Klutina Salmon Charters-Copper Center, Alaska

Ask yourself what were some of the Magic Moments in your life; maybe it was making the winning touchdown; graduation, your wedding, etc. Salmon fishing on the Klutina River was one of mine. It's the kind that will always bring a smile when you think about it-even in your old age.

It's difficult to explain certain things in life-especially if the other person has never done it before. How do you explain a kiss? Fishing for king salmon -and the high y0u get-well.....

Erick Nickell and his wife Donna own the campground and he was my guide. Erick is great-low key-patient and extremely knowledgable. He gave me basic instruction in casting, setting the hook, playingy the fish, etc. We went up river in his jet powered boat-anchored and fished from the bank. The fishing was awesome. I landed four, kept one (the limit) and missed two-one being a monster. When I hooked him, he just kept running-I had the drag set all the way and he couldn't be stopped. He jumped several times and finally broke the line. What a thrill- the strike, the singing of the reel, the fish leaping and "tail dancing" on the water-one gigantic Magic Moment!

The campground is next to the Klutina River and we camped within three feet of the rushing water. As I wrote in the previous post, the fishing was "out of this world". Sometimes I exaggerate in writing this blog-when I hooked, fought , and lost the big fish, I thought I hooked a Hummer but it was probably more like a Jeep Cherokee. I was so tired and hot so I jumped in the river- like lemmings, Bruce followed. Erick said he had never had clients "swim with the fishes" before. He took our pictures-probably post it on his website with the title, "My clients really get into it".

A problem back at camp-how do you cook a 45 pound fish in a one quart boiling pot -we use for oatmeal, tea and gruel. I asked Erick if he knew anyone interested in making a meal for us in exchange for the remaining fillets of prime pink salmon. No problem-his wife Donna was our chef-fresh salmon-five hours from stream to stomach.