Fired up for spring

I’m starting to see boats being towed on the local highways now. While there is no open water yet, at least that I’ve found, I suspect folks are getting antsy and are wanting to get the dewinterization procedure out of the way so their boats will be ready for the open water fishing season. I’ve given some thought to that myself.

Before I launch the boat this spring, I plan to have a professional mechanic go over my boat’s engine, do a tune-up and fix anything that needs it. I’ve owned the boat, which I bought used, for about four years and haven’t had this work done before, so I figure it’s time. There is one item I noticed last fall when I was winterizing the boat that I want to get checked anyway.

I was also planning to get some “remodeling” done on the roof of the boat, but I think I’ve already waited too long to get it into the shop in time to have the work finished before the fishing season starts. I checked with Gary Feaster of Greatland Welding a few weeks ago about this planned work and he already had something like a dozen boats lined up for work and orders to custom build at least two more boats.

Gary and crew do really good aluminum welding and fabrication work and folks in the area know it. That’s good for his business but bad for those of us procrastinators who aren’t on the ball. My excuse is that the access road to my storage building is still snowed in and I’m not sure I can tow the boat out through the remaining snow cover on the road. Our snow in Big Lake seems to last longer than either Wasilla’s or Palmer’s.

I know a good marine mechanic in Anchorage from my days working out of the Fish and Game Anchorage office. I’ve got a reference for a local Valley mechanic — I just need to quit dragging my feet and call. I’m just concerned he’ll tell me to bring the boat over and I then get stuck trying to get it out to a cleared road. Ahh, the joys of break-up.

I do have a backup plan on the roof remodeling work, though. I figure everybody is in a hurry to get their boats ready so they can be out chasing king salmon as soon as the rivers open up. There are some folks who will be using their boats to access bear baiting sites also. Those are the folks towing boats around now.

King salmon will still be somewhat scarce again this year. While my wife and I do enjoy getting out in the boat and wetting a line for kings, we realize that bank fishing in the right locations can be as productive as running around in the boat, at least for us. So, once the initial rush for service and alterations is over and those boats are out fishing, I’ll get my boat in the shop and get the work I want done during that, hopefully, slack period. Good plan, huh? Now if the snow would finally melt and the ground dry up enough so I can get my truck back to the storage building.

On another topic, I finally made my second appearance earlier this week at the monthly black powder pistol shoot held at the Matanuska Valley Sportsmen’s Association indoor shooting range on the Glenn Highway in Palmer. The last time I attended was last November and I shot a couple of my percussion sidelock pistols to a fourth-place finish out of nine or 10 shooters. That surprised me because I had never before shot one of the pistols and the second one hadn’t been fired in 15 to 20 years. I was just planning to do some load work and get them sighted in.

This last time I took my cap-and-ball revolver, a model 1858 Remington fitted with adjustable sights, to shoot figuring, again, on mainly getting it sighted in. As I write this to meet a deadline, the scores have not been posted, but rumor had it that night that I had probably taken first place in the revolver category. At worst, I finished second. How’s that for a blind squirrel finding two acorns in a row.

OK, now before you think I’m bragging (I am) the truth must prevail. There were only two of us shooting revolvers this last time. The rest of the guys were shooting flintlock or percussion sidelock pistols. That’s why I can say with confidence that I finished no lower than second place. I probably will leave that part out of the story the next time I tell it — that tidbit of information sort of detracts from the overall level of the accomplishment (the other revolver shooter is a pretty good shot).

In addition to these monthly black powder pistol shoots, a sanctioned three-pistol shooting match is scheduled the last weekend in June, I believe, at the Upper Susitna Shooter’s Association range at Mile 94 of the Parks Highway. This two-day match requires a flintlock, a percussion sidelock (both single-shot guns) and a revolver to compete. I suspect loaner guns will be available if you don’t have one of each. Pencil this in on your calendar of events to attend this summer. As the dates get closer, I’ll mention this shoot again with contact information and more specifics.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.