Last night the Sockeye run started. The sonar fish counter had a daily count from July 1st of about 5,000 fish a day, which is very low which means catching one fish will take most of the day. Yesterday’s count was over 20,000 fish. Five of us went down to the Kenai River last night at 7:00 pm and by 10:00 pm we had our limit of 15 salmon.

My grandson Will Doughton is here with my son-in-law Luke Doughton, his dad, and he caught his first sockeye salmon. He also hooked into a big King salmon that took all the line off of his reel before any of us around him noticed until it was too late, which ended his fishing for the night. We sat around in the cabin telling fish stories until well beyond midnight last night and slept in this morning. We will go out again tonight for some more hot fishing.

Many of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, and He promised to make them fishers of men. That is one of my main ambitions in my life, to be a skilled and knowledgeable fisher of people who don’t know Jesus. Catching sockeye salmon is fun, and I bragg about being the best fisherman, but catching salmon in Alaska has no eternal significance, but influencing people with the truth of the gospel so that they are transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of Jesus is eternally significant. Whether I am number one, two, or three in salmon-catching ability means nothing, but how well I do reaching people means everything.

The best salmon fishermen are those who do it a lot, and the most effective ambassadors for Jesus are the ones who recognize our calling and assignment from Jesus and are constantly looking for those open doors and opportunities to say a word, or do a deed, that will plant seeds and influence lost people into becoming followers of Jesus.

Colossians 4:5-6 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, (lost people) making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

My grandson Will with his first sockeye ever!

We see moose everyday driving back and forth from fishing spot.

Lots of moose calves that you have to watch out for while driving.

This is the salmon processing where we pat them dry with paper towels then we put them in bags and vacuum pack them and put them in the freezer soon to be brought home in fifty pound fish boxes on the airplane.

This is the vacuum packer that has vacuum-sealed hundreds of pounds of salmon over the years.

The finished product, ready for the freezer.