Fishergirl

I was born in Central Wyoming to a father who enjoyed fishing and a grandfather who lived fishing. From a young age I had a pole in my hand.

Through the years I continued to fish even into high school. I went fishing on occasion with one of my best friends, Brian, from high school. I remember one night camping out at a lake around a bunch of old people (who were all quite nice) and fishing. The wind blew so hard that night I feared the tent was going to blow away with us in it.

Given that my husband's moniker is "Alaska Boy", you can probably guess that I have fished in Alaska. One of our most recent trips I even outfished AB for sockeye!

One of my favorite Alaska fishing memories is fishing with my mother in law at 1am with wine glasses in our hands. We have fished in a number of different places in Alaska - the Kenai peninsula, Talkeetna area, and King Salmon.

AB hasn't fished much in this area though we keep talking about changing that. Leif has a desire to fish and he caught his first fish, a nice rainbow trout, in Alaska two years ago. AB needs to get out there with Leif.

AB has his list of fish to catch - salmon shark tops the list, but includes sturgeon and tuna.

For Father's Day this year I decided to get AB a sturgeon fishing charter. I conspired one morning (while in a meeting) with a coworker who is an avid fisherman. When I told him what I wanted to do he rattled off a phone number. One of his good buddies is a guide and would be happy to take AB out.

I called and organized the trip after giving in and divulging to AB my plans. See putting anything on AB's schedule is hard. AB was thrilled.

Unfortunately the first trip was cancelled. There is an issue with trying to get a single guy, one guy I mean, on a charter. No guide is going to take a single person out. The guide worked with me trying to fit AB on with other groups, but it wasn't looking good.

Finally one evening I said to AB, "I could probably go with".

I hadn't really thought about it to that point. It isn't an inexpensive venture, but I love fishing too. AB smiled. The big issue with doing this lies with the kids. Being out of touch of the school, the kids in daycare, is a tough thing. Thankfully we have great friends who can back us up!

I called and asked him to fit us in and offered a few days. Thursday night he called and asked if we wanted to go out the next day. Even though my gut said no way, too short notice, what about the kids, this is less than 12 hours notice, I agreed to go.

AB caught the first sturgeon.

I got the second... when our guide saw him jump he had me sit down in the chair and brace myself...

Then he jumped again and I completely freaked out!

Once I got the fish all worn out - after about 20 minutes - I passed it off to AB to pull in. (Which only took about 40 minutes or so!

Hello big boy!

8-9 feet long, 200-300 lbs, and about 60-70 years old.

AB holding on to his mouth. I got to do that too! Then we let him go.

This is me bringing sturgeon number three!

Me and my fish! This one was only 25 years old or so. (Then we tossed him back in.)

Then I caught a catfish... that was a surprise. It was our guide's first catfish on the river after 14 years of guiding!

The not so observant preschooler

When we lost our first fish years ago we scooped him out while Leif was sleeping and when he later inquired we told him he went to visit his fishy friends. This has never been questioned. The other day:

Leif: "Mommy, did you know that another fish packed his bag and left? Why do they keep doing this?"

NM: "What?" (Paranoid that another fish may have bit the dust and thinking I am going to need to fish it out since we have a carnivorous goldfish that really tears things up.)

Leif: "The big googly eyed one, he left!"

NM: (Somewhat relieved - that fish died MONTHS ago and yes, we have two fish still in the tank.) "Did he leave?"

Leif: "Yep, he did. I don't know why they don't stay."

Leif's first fishing trip

Uncle Scott and Cousin Aidan

We've got something!

A 10" rainbow trout... not a bad first fish!

How to get to know the guys in my building...

Over lunchtime, have your browser open to fishing charter websites.

I was eating my soup from Safeway while searching for Salmon Shark charters for my husband. (It is what he wants for Father's Day - to go salmon shark fishing while we are in Alaska in four weeks.)

So I was searching. And eating.

And before I knew it I had a group of guys outside my door introducing themselves.

They stuck around to chit chat a little after I explained I was looking for a charter for my husband. They told me my husband was a lucky guy to have such a devoted wife, not only to allow him to go on a charter by himself on vacation, but to look at booking it myself for him!

That made me smile.

Iron Chef Sauce still reigns

I needed to cook this weekend. I needed AB to watch Leif and Skadi while I prepared something new and fantastic and original. All summer it seems as though my role in the kitchen has been either quick prep and serve for weeknight dinners or sous chef to Iron Chef BBQ. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy working with Iron Chef BBQ (aka AB) - particularly the end result. But this style of cooking has left me feeling left out of the action. I needed to create.

I chose halibut for my main course and since Leif had already eaten (chicken noodle soup and oatmeal... yeah, a pairing made in heaven), I decided to do a salad and rice. The rice did beckon Leif back to the table for a few bites until I commented on the nastiness level of the boxed rice. Then Leif decided it was not acceptable anymore either. Duh NM.

My title remains... Iron Chef Sauce. I made seared halibut with a honey chili plum Viognier sauce. I was faltering... I had the plum and Viognier thing going but it was lacking depth and far too tart. I pulled it out in the end though with the addition of honey and chili garlic sauce.

I won... (I am not sure who against, but I needed a win) though AB did bring me down off of cloud nine by mentioning how great the sauce was, how great the halibut was, but the pairing just wasn't working so great for him. The sauce would have been far better paired with chicken or pork. I tried to deny it to myself... but he was right. The sauce was a little too sticky for fish.