Dipnet Fishing & Other Fishy Stuff

Salmon has always been a central part of growing up and living in Alaska. One good memory of salmon comes from when I was a little girl. I know I was big enough to be able to remember this time vividly but too young to be much help to anyone but to stay out of the way. Not sure what age that puts me at so I will skip the age thing. This is our granddaughter feeding the seagulls. Back then, the fish ran upstream in numbers so huge they made the water look to me like it was boiling. Many of the people from the village of Old Harbor on Kodiak Island traveled by dory, skiff or boats to Barling Bay to split fish there all day. My Mom, Aunt's & Cousins sat on the creekside splitting fish and tossing them into tubs as the young guys kept watch with guns for bears in the area. The split fish was hauled to the creek to be cleaned after they were split then they were taken home and put up in smoke houses to be first smoked and then dried for winter use. MMMMMMM! I remember grass being cut to lay on the beach for the fish to be cut up on top of. The ladies would stop working and rest while the messy grass was removed and new grass set in its place. They laughed and visited with each other, enjoying being together and watching their kids play with the fish and each other. One of my favorite fishy memories is standing in the creek feeling the fish bumping my ankles as they swam upstream. Since getting married and living in the Matanusky Valley having fish has been scarce around our home because we never took the time to get the fish when it was available. It's sometimes a long time between fish from brothers and my sister and her husband, my other sister, my brother, my brothers wife (she would send her excellent smoked fish), our daughter's husband loves to sport fish and we would luck out and get some fish from them too, then there were the many friends that shared! We so appreciated every fish we received from every one of them! It is great to have lots of fishy relatives sometimes! Lately, if it works out with Doug's work schedule, we have been participating when Alaska opens salmon fishing in Kenai (other areas are opened too) to dipping with nets. My husband finds this to the be the best way to get fish. It's fast, it's efficient and besides that it works! He does not like to "waste" time standing for hours on banks tossing out a line with a crazy lure on the end of it and MAYBE catch one. That's not his idea of fun or relaxing, so I am very thankful for dipnet fishing and so happy to be able to get enough fish to freeze and can even though it is hard work! Doug checking things out, early in the morning, in his waders, waiting for the tide to come in. The tide came in quite a ways. After we saw another fisherman catch one and many jumpers in the surf, Doug went out and began to catch fish. Happy fisherman! North Kenai River Beach, our granddaughter and the dipnet my husband made. The frame for the net is 3 feet x 4 feet and has a long handle. We see some of the fisherman use the handles from old crutches on their home made dipnets. My husband took the handle off of our weed whacker for this one. The head of the household is allowed 25 fish a day and 10 more for each household member. That is a lot of fish to clean, filet, smoke, can or freeze! You should bring your cooler or coolers when you go salmon dipping. <- Chewy watching the seagulls early in the morning. Sunset on Kenai Beach. Snug Harbor Sunset Tired and going home. We ended up getting home at 3:30 A.M. We were all very tired. This editing program is driving me mad today, but maybe it's because I am tired!