10/23/2023
Was scrolling my web pages for fishing looking for a few things to change/edit and update a while back, and I saw a picture that was a dear friend. She fished with me every year for about 9 years, missed 1 year, promised she would be back the next year. She would fish about 3 or 4 days on each visit, but after her return, she only booked 2 trips, about 3 days apart. I had already given her a brand new light weight rod, and spooled up her 2 speed, left handed AVET SX reel, which is small for halibut, but she owned her own boat in Cali. and towed it to Oregon and Wash. to fish every year for salmon and dungy crabs, so she was not a novice. She explained that she had been going thru a fight with cancer, but was well on her way to a full recovery, it was in remission, and that was why she needed the time off between trips. She caught those 2 beautiful halibut on her tiny rod and reel, we had to put it in low gear, but she wanted to do it herself, and she did great. For years, she brought up the craziest colors of squid skirts and jigs for silver salmon that worked well down there, and I fondly gave her grief all the time about these Alaskan salmon laughing at her "California rigs" and the bright pinks and purples, fancy wobble beads and feathery trailing thingies she insisted on using. She always slammed out her limit of salmon either first or second person limited on the boat, and returned the grief to me about "them tough Alaskan salmon falling for that flashy Cali. stuff" This went on for several years, and I remember mentioning that even though we have King crab here in Seward, there wasn't much Dungy around. She surprised me one year and brought me a couple 8 oz packages of vac. sealed crab meat that she had caught and processed on her own, and when she was about to depart that last day of her trip, she told me to hang on to her reel for her and take care of it. She has been gone now for about 4 years, and today, I was rummaging thru a freezer for something for dinner and I found a pack of that crab, in perfect condition, and decided to make a bright and colorful crab salad using carrots, a radish, red cabbage and diced tomato, green onion and chives, with a kick of fresh squeezed lemon and a healthy dose of Creole seasoning, and put it on hearty, toasted points of whole grain wheat. The colors and flavors, the tart and spicy kick all remind me of that wonderful fishing friend, and I toasted her, and wished her voyage be long, on calm waters, with the sun in her face and heart.
