I don’t usually wake up in the 5 o’clock hour unless I have to, and that’s usually for hunting. I honestly believe that red salmon don’t care what time of day it is when they run up Kenai River, so we can catch them pretty much around the clock. So this morning when I woke up on the early side, and couldn’t get back to sleep, I decided it was a sign that I should go on a solo mission and test the run strength as we approach mid July. It took about a hundred casts to loosen up and then wham this nice Sockeye hit one of TJ and CJ’s freshly time flies. The only problem was I had no net man… no big issue if you have a beach or gravel bar to drag it up on, but I was fishing off a boulder, so I’d have to hold the pole in my left hand while netting the fish with my right. Well, Sockeye Solo Mission accomplished…ussie and all! Cooper joined me shortly to test drive his new fillet knife…and July marches on like the Sockeye–on schedule.