Salmon fishing!

I'd love to include a picture of my day trip salmon fishing (on a charter boat, on the Little Susitna River) but I managed to leave the cord at home that allows me to download the pictures from my camera to the computer. I'll have Tom send it along in a box to our next appointed mail stop.
But imagine Mary getting up at 3AM, yes, you read that correctly. She has made her lunch the night before and at 4AM she leaves with her bro-in-law, Walt, for a one-hour drive down a dirt road, praying that there are no wandering moose on the road! She and Walt meet the charter boat and with two other men, they all set out on the river for a 5-hr fishing trip.
The men all elect to done hip waders and to fish from the sand bars once we've traveled about 5 miles downriver in the misty and rainy pre-dawn light. Mary wisely elects to stay in the boat and fish from it's side.
See Mary catch the first fish, about an hour into the journey. It's a very small silver salmon, a female, and the men are all very happy for me, but comment that it's a pity it's so small.
As the rain abates, see the other men catch-and-release several chum salmon (they don't keep them as it's taste isn't as good as the silvers and others.
Imagine in another 30 minutes of casting into the river, Mary saying, "Oh, I may have a fish, or I may be snagged on a log on the bottom." The guide comes over when he has finished working with another man's line, to give me a hand... landing an over 9-pound silver. That turns out to be the biggest fish of the day, and I'm now at my limit.
Mary sits down and watches the rest of the men fish for 3 more hours.
Was Mary going to say, "Oh, I need to step ashore and find a convenient tree?" NOT on your life!! There were fresh bear tracks in the clean sand on the sand bank! BIG bear tracks! And when we changed to another place on the river, there were fresh moose tracks! According to the rangers at Denali the moose are more dangerous than the bear!
It appears that we are going to leave the Palmer area tomorrow. We've been up to see the Matanuska Glacier (that was impressive!) and we've been to the musk ox farm (fascinating ice age animals) and we've visited the Ididerod Museum, the start of the race, dog kennels, etc. All in all, we've had a great time right here around Palmer. It's right next to Wasilla and I kept my eye out for Sarah, but she must be away right now!
I promise pictures for the next installment of this journey!