The Bell-Weather Hole                                                                                                                                                         Page 3
    You Don't Need Donuts for a Good Koffee-Klatch On The Kenai River
   It has come to be known as the Bell-Wether Hole.  But it isn't a hole at all, it's a street end.  The first road that turns left after the airport in Soldotna, along Funny River Road, is a road called Mann Road.  If you follow Mann Road for about a mile toward the Kenai River, it will finally come to a T and you can turn left or right and follow Johnson Drive up or down the river and meet your neighbors who live on the river.  If, however, you drive straight ahead on the street end, you will end up in the river. This is okay if you are backing up because it is also a boat launching ramp, a popular spot for taking out or launching your boat for a fishing trip.  This street end, as it were, is normal for a street right of way, about 100 feet wide and overgrown with grass except for the launching area in the middle and where they park their cars.
   This is also the meeting place for a select group of serious Sockeye fishermen, who congregate here daily during the Sockeye run and drift their flies in the current.
   "Kenai George" Carnahan was casting his 12 foot spinning rod from a lawn chair on the bank.
   "I'm seventy-seven years old and my legs ache a lot," he says, spitting in the river at his feet.  "This is the easiest place to fish in a relaxed manner."
   George is the unofficial spokesman for this gang of anglers, most of whom are summer visitors.  Not tourists, as such, but maybe one level above because they have been coming here for years and fishing the same hole with the same folks.  This isn't tourism, it's a function of regulars, the kind that is neither natives or residents.  And regulars can have reunions.  Which is what is going on here.
   Kenai George is the chairman. Literally.  He directs traffic, gives advice, and helps the crackers get started. From his vantage point in the lawn chair, he expounds to the world about fishing lore and political challenges while he drifts his fly in the current.  "I call the County Executive at least once a week," he says with a wink.  "Not because I need something, but just to keep him on his toes."   George's current vendetta, when not fishing, is the state of the real estate taxes that have been re-assessed continually in recent years.
   With quite a bit of insight, George has discovered that the appraisers that work in the County Assessor's Department, are not licensed appraisers.
   "How the hell can the borough assess our property with unlicensed personnel when every one else has to go to school and pass a test to become an appraiser?  This is madness."
   Glenn Carey is filleting a Sockeye at the cleaning table.  "If the appraisers are illegal, maybe the appraisals should be set aside."  Glenn has an interest in real estate as well.  He is a building contractor in San Diego and spends his summers on projects on the Kenai Peninsula.  Fishing is a major ingredient in his efforts.
   Most of the remainder of this group, who meet daily and for a number of hours, are retired from the daily requirements of work.  60 to 70 would be a good estimate on their age.  To make the fish-cleaning effort easier on the lower backs, George has fashioned a cleaning table to accommodate the efforts of this combined fraternity.  He brought over a fiberglass four-legged laundry sink to put at water's edge.  He then fastened a piece of plywood, covered with some indoor-outdoor carpet, on top of the sink with some bungee cords.  He then installed four coffee cans at the bottom of the legs of the sink and filled them with ready-mix concrete, thus lending some stability to the whole cleaning operation. George takes good care of himself and his friends.
   There is a local Labrador retriever that has joined in this merry crowd.  With my own eyes, I witnessed this Lab chasing around one of George's sockeye and brought him onto the shoreline.  I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised.  They do it all the time with ducks and pheasants.  We should know, shouldn't we?  We had Princess Pat and Gemini for twenty years.   
   The name "Bellwether Hole" is my contribution.  Every day during the fishing season,  I stop at this operation and give greetings and inquire about the success; are the fish running today, or is it quiet because the commercial nets are out?  Then, depending on the report, I will proceed to my digs with the decision made as to whether I will spend some time chasing the muse.  Hence, the name Bellwether.  #