My neighbor Greg asked if I could give him a hand with a project in Homer. Of course I would. That’s what neighbors do.
Greg needed to load a boiler on a landing craft and transport it to his property across the inlet. It’s a heavy load and he needed extra manpower to lift it on and off the boat.
He thought he had enough people lined up for the task. I told him Boo, Brad, and Oliver were in Homer for the weekend and I know they’d be happy to help too. After all, you can never have enough bodies when physical work is involved.
A quick call to Boo and the three of them met us at the freight launch at 11am.
A half hour boat ride later, the boiler was off loaded.
It was a good thing we added extra muscle. The boiler was much, much heavier than Greg anticipated.
Boo was in Homer for a shake down trip prior to his first charter of the year. When we were done with Greg’s project, Boo asked if I wanted to join him.
Hmmm, drive back to Kenai, or help Boo. That wasn’t too hard of a decision.
When you’re in the fishing business, the best way to make sure your gear is working is to go fishing. Initially, we tried to catch a few king salmon. We couldn’t find any. We switched over to rockfish and halibut. There were no problems finding them. Here’s Boo holding a double lure, double catch of rockfish. I had a blast reeling them in.
By the end of the day, this was our reward for helping out.
Boo might not have felt as lucky as I did. While towing the boat to Homer, his truck experienced transmission issues. On the water, a downrigger malfunctioned, a rod trip broke, a net was left back on shore, and the supply of terminal tackle needed to be replinished. Boo said it was a shakedown cruise and it was all small stuff compared to having a leaky boat or outboard motor issues.
It’s now official. The Red Ryder and Tall Tale Charters are good to go for the 2024 fishing season.
I hope to follow soon.
Chores Are Done…For Now.