After a long day already of chasing the elusive Kenai Kings by boat, up at 0500 and under the eagle’s nest again, greeted by the eaglet balancing on the edge of the nest above, we cast the boat from the dock around 7:30 pm for one final run of the evening to celebrate our friend Sherry’s birthday on the river. We had a sweet surprise planned, a special birthday desert of Bananas Foster on the Finncooker stove while backtrolling for Kings at the crossover. No sooner had we run the lines out when I pulled out a nice bunch of bananas and Sherry’s husband Mark said “What is that???” — he knew bananas are commonly known to bring bad luck on a fishing boat! No sooner had he spoke those words and I saw his pole bend deep toward the current and his line started silently screaming off the reel. Fish On! King on! Here we go…

As is often the case with Kenai Kings, they happen when you least expect them and many times when you’re least prepared. Here we were with a boat kitchen just about set to start the desert prep (in case you don’t know what bananas foster is, it involves bananas, a homemade caramel sauce, rum, cinnamon, ice cream and most importantly…fire! Not things most fisherman pack in their tackle box, but hey we do it different here).

As the bananas fell from my hand, the rum bottle went rolling, and the stove was quickly shut, Mark made a strong hookset on the plug recently named “alien” and the King took off toward the stern of the boat, then under, then out the starboard side and straight back toward the prop as the pole went from Mark to Sherry to my hands so I could plung the rod as deep into the river as possible to avoid contact with the prop or edge of the aluminum boat. I was shocked that the fish was still on as I passed the line and rod around the motor and prop, but it was hooked and running hard asvit took off on the port side, splashed, then returned under the boat, around the bow and jumped high out of the water with the Qwikfish dangling from it’s jaw.  Sherry felt the energy flow up her arms and into here smile, 1 part shock, 2 parts exhaustion as Sherry handed the pole to her lifelong bestie Judy who took up the next leg of this marathon fight! Again the fish ran right for the boat, under and out the other side as I helped her hold the pole in the water, hearing a boat near us shout “It’s jumping on the other side of your boat!”. What a circus. A bonafide Kenai River King Salmon fire drill, except this was no drill and we all stayed focused, despite the pandemonium, on bringing this fish into the net. After a few more circles of the boat, with all six of us tripping over each other in our fishing team building exercise, laughing, coaching, and joining in this fantastic fight, we finally found a way to slide this King into the net. We continued the celebration with a delicious desert of boat side Banana’s Foster for Sherry’s Birthday surprise, extra cinnamon! No more bad luck with bananas, the curse is broken! Back in camp before midnight, CJ filleted this beautiful King to perfection, ready for the grill, ready for the smoker, and ready for our shared memories forever.