It is the 07th day of the 07th month of the year 07. The news reports three times the normal weddings this Saturday because it is such a lucky day. Las Vegas is booked for the same reason. Well we just couldn’t pass up this opportunity to try our collective luck. We have placed our fishing envoy, Jack, on the auspicious fishing charter boat, the “Carnivore” to try his luck at Halibut fishing in Cook Inlet on this triply lucky day.

It has started out lucky. We drove all the way down here in one day even though Jack didn’t have reservations. Remember this is the July fourth holiday. Yes! Jack was able to get a spot on a charter boat, and even now is on Cook Inlet trying his luck. The weather is clear and sunny and Cook Inlet is like a lake. The three mountains, Mount Redoubt, Mount Iliamna and Mount Augustine, all volcanoes, stand as sentinels over the water.

You never saw such a zoo in your life, however. This is not your typical fishing village like we have on the Oregon or Washington Coast. This is a long gravel beach. A couple hundred fishing boats on trailers converge on this beach in the morning. (Actually I counted 137 trailers lined up on the beach.) The State’s Concessionaire has six big tired loaders running on the beach. Each is set up with a hydraulically actuated arm with the equivalent of a ball hitch stinger on it. It has a turret with all three popular hitch sizes on it so it can handle anything from a 14 foot kicker boat to a 36 foot triple axle trailer and boat. There are about ten lines of rigs working their way up to the front of the line. Once you reach the front the helper disconnects your boat trailer from your pickup and you go and park. They have step ladders so people can board the boats, and when everything is in readiness the loader picks up the trailer tongue and down the beach you go. They swing you around and slide you right off into the water. Your engines better start! Check below for a series of photos to help you understand the sequence.

When the day is over the boats will return. I guess they radio ahead and the loader picks out your trailer and wades into the water with it. You just power up onto the trailer and out you come. Yesterday all the boats we saw return had limited out. Can today be any less lucky? Stay tuned for photos of the fearless fisherman.

It is now evening and the fish story can be told. Jack returned after nearly eleven hours on the sea. We all crowded around to witness the presentation of the catch. Six guys and a skipper make lucky seven. The boat returned with a limit of twelve halibut. Jack came back the hero of the charter. His best fish was 76 inches long and tipped the scales at about 235 pounds. His other fish was about average for the catch and will make several nice meals for our group. The big one gets flash frozen and FedEx-ed home. It would overwhelm our little refrigerators.

By the way the boat registration numbers for the Carnivore have the numbers five and two which equal seven and the numbers three and four which also equal seven. Am I writing too much into this lucky seven deal? You decide.

Good bye and good luck from the Kenai Peninsula.

Gary, Judy, Jack and Sonja