July 17, 2009

July 17, 2009

One of the things I have been looking forward to in Alaska was watching the salmon spawn runs. Salmon are extraordinary fish in that they are born in a river, live most of their adult life in the ocean, and then amazingly re-find their birth river, swim upstream for endless miles leaping up past waterfalls, lay their eggs at their birth spot, and then die. We saw a little of it on our Alaska cruise of the Inside Passage five years ago but expected to see much more. So far most of the Interior rivers are full of glacial silt making the water murky. The Kenai is no different.

Well at least I will catch a few salmon. Even that has turned out harder than I thought. First timing is crucial. You have to fish when one of the four main species is running. Second, none are hungry when spawning. They have other things on their mind. Reds, which are starting to run now, will not hit a lure. They can only be caught by snagging. I asked some locals what to use. Just a hook. A plain hook?! So I am slapping the water with an empty hook. Stupidest way I ever saw to fish. I later learn that snagging is technically illegal so I have to tie a piece of Aimee’s knitting yarn on the hook to transform it into a "lure".

The largest runs occur at high tide. High tide was midnight last night. I gave it a try in the midnight dusk catching no salmon. Amazingly I did pull in a local trout variation, called a Dolly Vardon. I thought I was a fish god, turns out I am only a trout god.

Today, I gave it the old college try again with no success. I ask around and I am not the only one doing poorly. It turns out this river is not having a good salmon run. Plus it seems the sport fisherman (and tourism) are getting the short end. Many of the fish are being taken by large nets at the mouth by commercial fisherman. Next in line are the Alaska residents who use 5-foot dip nets to take lots of fish. What little is left, the tourist can try for....with a fishing pole. Unfortunately snagging is only effective when the water teems with salmon. To top it off, since snagging is theoretically illegal, you can only keep what is “caught” (read snagged) in the mouth. If you snag them in any other spot, back in the water they go.

I also had expectations that fishing in Alaska’s Kenai was going to be in pristine wilderness where I am fighting bears for the salmon. Far from it. The Kenai is very developed, very crowded, and shoulder-to-shoulder combat fishing is the norm.

And to make matters worse, one of my brothers-in-law sends me an email to send him 20 lbs of salmon. Not just any salmon but the expensive hard to catch King Salmon. I haven’t been able to catch a sockeye. How am I going to catch a King, the giant of salmon, which few people have the pleasure to catch. He has unrealistic expectations even for a fish god. This is too much pressure on me.