Roe Run

The 2011 fall season has been pretty much nonexistent for me so far. With a regional role at work and 3 three major plant Shutdowns underway my leisure time has been put on hold. With these types of Industrial work events everything in one’s personal life comes to a grinding halt. Every ounce of me wants to complain about my situation but common sense and direct exposure to the 180 degree alternatives have rendered my big mouth shut. I have a great job and am fortunate for where I am in life. The current economic status of the US, and my direct exposure to it via family and community, has really put things into perspective for me.

So having been away from the cabin and the river since early September we decided to make a break for it in the form of a whirl wind tour up to Manistee County after Saturday’s 10 hr shift. I wanted to make sure things were in order at the property and make one decent attempt at the kings while there was still Roe to be had. Barbaric as this may sound it is actually the lesser of all evils for me as one single Hen Chinook will fill my fishing needs for a year or more. This subsequently renders me a catch and release fisherman for the remainder of my outings. This accompanied with the fact that the Big Manistee is a Salmon Factory pretty much clears my conscience.

The King season had been well on it's way for several weeks now and arriving I wasn't sure what to expect. Much to my surprise the river was teeming with fish. Literally everywhere you looked there were Salmon. Kings and Coho were stacked. Earlier reports were indictive of an epic season and from what I witnessed I would agree. It wasn't long and I was hooked up with a few different freight trains only to exchange farewells at 50mph. I poked around the river long enough to find my "golden egg" and decided to get out of there while the getting was good. I spent the remainder of my day off at the cabin completing some much overdue chores all the while wishing I was staying for a few more days. Back to work Monday for another set of 6-10's or 12’s. Oh ya and I just found out that my outage commitments may extend into mid November. :O.