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kenai
Starting Member
USA
17 Posts |
 Posted - 02/13/2008 : 16:00:23
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The following conversation took place at 7:41 a.m. February 13th, 2008.
"Ring, Ring, Ring," rang the telephone.
"Alaska Dons," I said.
"Silence, silence, silence, silence, the sound of numbers still being entered, hello," said the client.
"Hello? This is Alaska Dons, can it help you?" I responded.
"Silence, silence, more key tones, silence, hello, hello," said the client.
"Hello? This is Alaska Dons. Can it help you?" I asked again.
"Is this Alaska Dons?" asked the client in a voice which sounded at
least 100 year old.
"Yes sir, this is Alaska Dons. Can I help you?" I said again.
"Is this Alaska Dons?" asked the client again.
"Sir can you hear me? This is Alaska Don's," I said again.
"Oh there you are. Is this Alaska Don's?" asked the client again.
"Yes sir, this is Alaska Dons. Can I help you?" I said again.
"Yes I had a couple of questions there for you. Is this Alaska
Don's?" asked the client again.
"Yes sir, this is Alaska Dons," I said again.
"Yes could you tell me how many salmon you can catch on the
Kenai River?" asked the client.
"You can catch and release as many as you want but you can only kill two king salmon per year on the Kenai River," I said.
"Two! Is that it? Only two?" asked the client.
"Yes, you can only kill two kings on the Kenai River per year," I said.
"Only two? That's not many fish for the whole year," said the client.
" I understand what you are saying but the State of Alaska restricts the amount of kings you can kill on the Kenai River while expanding the amount of other salmon you can take on the river. It is setup so that you may take up to 6 sockeye salmon per day and that is unrestricted annually," I said.
"Only two king salmon! That's not many fish to take home. You mean I'm supposed to travel all the way from New Jersey to Alaska and spend close to $10,000, and I only get to take home two salmon? Wow; and I thought Canada had restricted bag limits. You guys have really out done them!" said the client.
"Well you can only take two from the Kenai River but you can also take
three other king salmon from other locations around the state. It’s just that only two of them can come from the Kenai River," I said.
"I don't understand. I watch all these here fishing shows on the TV every week and those guys catch way more than two king salmon on the Kenai River. Heck I see those guys catching hundreds of kings on that there river. You mean to tell me that all that TV fishing is illegal?" asked the client.
"They were probably catching and releasing fish. A lot of people catch and release fish on the Kenai River," I said.
"Well my friends came back from the Kenai River last year and they each had a couple of big boxes of salmon. They had at least a hundred and fifty pounds of fish each. Are you saying that they all poached those fish?" the client asked.
"Those boxes could have been full of a lot of sockeye or silver salmon. The limits on those salmon are a lot more liberal since you can take home 6 sockeye and 2 silver salmon per day," I said.
"Yeah but they said they were king salmon fishing on the Kenai River
and I know those guys they wouldn't lie to me. Well at least I thought I knew them," the client said.
"Well you know that the kings on the Kenai River are the largest in the world. King salmon could have made up a large part of those boxes of fish," I said.
"Oh don't give me that stuff about the Kenai having the biggest, most gigantic king salmon in the world. I've been fishing for 50 years. I've caught fish all over Canada and everywhere else for that matter! We've caught lots of big fish but I've never seen such a restrictive limit. You would think that if a person was going to travel all that ways, that they would at least let them take some
fish home with them," the client said.
"That decision has been made by the State of Alaska, there's not a lot we have to say about it," I said.
"Well we were up there fishing the Kenai last year from a drift boat. We plopped into one spot and caught a king. It wasn't any kind of a monster or anything but it was good sized. We don't need to catch giant fish, just a medium sized thirty pounder is all we're looking for. When we first got there we caught that one but then we just sat there and caught nothing else for the whole trip! Do you folks fish from drift boats or power boats?" asked the client said.
"We do both, would you like to reserve some seats in one of our
power boats?" I asked.
"Well we're more interested in power boat fishing. I don't understand those guys in those drift boats, they don't want to get out there and chase the fish!" the client said.
"We could certainly setup some days for you to fish the Kenai in one of our power boats. What days are you interested in," I asked.
"Another thing that make me wonder about that Kenai River; everyone says that the land owners along the river spend their whole lives trying to figure out ways to stop the public from trying to fish the river. Why are those people so bent on stopping the public from fishing a public river like that? It seems like they believe they
own the water and the fish or something," the client said.
"Well we do have plenty of Kenai River land owners with attitude problems. A lot of them do that sort of thing but the river is still open to the general public. That is one of the reasons we are here, we act as a practical way to make the river more accessible to the general public. There are a great many people who either don't have or cannot afford all the necessary equipment and skills required
to fish on the Kenai," I said.
"Yeah well I come from an area that welcomes its visitors and we enjoy watching them make idiots of themselves trying to catch our fish. I just don't understand why those riverbank owners get so upset when they think a visitor wants to try to catch one of those Kenai River king salmon. From what I've heard they’ve caused
day and hour restrictions on visitors only and that's just not right. Nobody would put up with that kind of nonsense where I come from. Someone would get their head busted if they tried that stuff around here. Well anyway, could you send me some brochures or information on what you guys offer and your pricing?" the client asked.
"Sure, could you just tell me how many people are in your group, the dates your looking to fish the river and if you need lodging or not?" I asked.
"There are 4 in our group and we're looking for fishing and lodging from July 10 - 17," the client said.
"Could you give me your name, telephone number and mailing address," I asked.
"Yes I am Martin Goodman and our phone number here is * *** *** ****. Our mailing address is ***** West Mountain Av., ********, *****, *****," the client said.
"Ok Mr. Goodman I will send you out some brochures and work up a package for you to take a look at. Is there anything else that I can help you with?" I asked.
"No that's about it. If you could just send that stuff to us, we will be able to make some decisions as to what we want to do," the client said.
"Ok, well thanks for calling and if you think of any other question about fishing in our area, don't hesitate give us a call. We're always happy to help," I said.
"Ok, we will talk to ya later after we get the information," said the client said.
"Ok, thanks, bye," I said.
Don
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Said the Client
