You won't see this in the Olympics

The Summer Piscine Biathlon has run its course, and the newest member of the Lynn Canal Pirates Association has flown his colors, played the game in SE AK, and lived to tell the tale.

Ratbone needed just 72 hours in-country to complete the course, and early tallies indicate that the volume of alcohol consumed and the total numbers of fish caught were sufficient to rank this performance alongside the all-time greats.

Although handicapped by a beater truck, a few pages of a phonebook map with unintelligible scrawl, and strike indicators, he managed to pull off a win on the local flows under questionable conditions. Capping off the day with much beer and pizza, plans were hatched to make a go at the Mist Valley the following morning.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

The trail is still as hairy as ever...literally. Lined with shed fur, and paved with poo both old and new, it is a reminder that you are in a place that most folks can't even comprehend.

The fish of the Mist are still there. Big, violent, and hungry as hell. If you don't bring an 8wt an 15 lb test, you are in for a very long day.

After the initial sensory overload, it was game on for 6 1/2 hours.

Words won't quite do it justice, so we'll let the pics speak for themselves.




















Some things, some experiences, they just don't translate well to the written word.

If you were there, you would understand.