The S.S. Stinky Salmon makes its debut

This last weekend Emily and I ventured down to Cooper Landing for a quick getaway and to find some open water. We wanted to test out our new-to-us packraft before we set sail on a grand adventure next month.

We backed down the ramp below the Cooper Landing bridge and I pumped the raft full of air and assembled my paddle. We donned our life vests and nestled down into our Crazy Creeks and shimmied off the rocks into a very low and slow Kenai River.

We paddled around for a while and took in the snow-covered mountains around us. The boat handled very well and we made plans on how we would arrange our setup in the future. It was a great shakedown opportunity for the vessel.

The next day I only had a couple of hours to fish after I had slept through most of the morning. We drove south along the Kenai, looking at promising pools and driving by hoards of anglers strapping on their waders and stringing their rods. I was pleasantly surprised to find my favorite pullout devoid of people. I was even more pleased when the next pullout down was also vacant.

I devised a quick plan with Emily that I would inflate the packraft at the first pullout, drag it to the river and float downstream to the next pullout. I instructed her to pick me up a couple of hours later. Emily said she timed me and I had waders on, rod rigged and boat inflated in less than 20 minutes. I was practically skipping down to the river.

The wind was blowing hard and the rain drove sideways at times, clouds cutting through the surrounding mountains and sunshine cutting in and out. I paddled my way along, really putting my newfound packrafting skills to the test on faster water.

I floated down to the first hole where I flogged the water for an hour with no success before carrying on. The parade of drift boats began to appear behind me and prompted a bit hastier float to hit some good spots before returning to the warm car and equally warm wifey.

I fished a handful of gravel bars before making my way to the roadside-bank and dragging the boat through rotten salmon carcasses to the highway. As quickly as I had inflated the boat it was rolled up and packed away for our drive north and I scarfed down a homemade burrito that was waiting for me.

We enjoyed a relaxing weekend and adventuring with the new watercraft. The S.S. Stinky Salmon has made its debut.