I fished a set-net permit for Sockeye salmon on the Ugashik River on the SW peninsula off of Bristol Bay. Set-netting is near land with 24’ skiffs and a net that is anchored into place. This way you do not have to live on the boat and stay in a cabin that sits on terra firma.
As seen here:
The fish and game control the season very carefully. The idea is each river system supports a certain amount of fish every year by the amount of food available for them to grow large enough to head to the ocean. Then in two-six years, they return to spawn and die off.
The beauty of the system is that it only takes about 1/6th of the amount of fish to spawn to have a sustainable fishery. For example, our river estimates 6 million fish return every year, and we can catch 5 million of those fish with 1 million escapement. This directly relates to kiting because if the fish and game didn’t have enough escapement one day, we kite. The openings are usually for only 4-8 hours starting at a low water slack. This way the fish and game allows some escapement everyday and we don’t accidently take too many. The fish and game actually sit far up river on ladders counting fish.
Anyway, its windy:
The Ugashik District lies on the SW peninsula of Alaska. 15 miles from us was the Aleutian Range. This separated the cold pacific ocean from the shallow and warm Bristol Bay.
It is a constant equalization of pressure and storm wind. Typically very clean wind.
The camera came out a lot more when it was calm water because I wasn’t clinging to the boat or trying to stay dry. Here are some typical fishing shots::
Probably about 1:00 am.:
$6,000 for permit owner caught in less than two hours:
Picking fish:
After filling up with fish we would run down the river about two miles and deliver to the crab boats that are under contract from the fish buyers.:
The only by-catch is Flounder. They are a great by-catch fish because they can hang out in the mud flats for hours waiting for the tide to come back. Out of the thousands of Flounder caught, I think we killed three.
Because we ate them:
For our home pack we took mostly king salmon . They are a spring run fish but you can a bunch of late run fish that come through while we are fishing for Reds. They sell for $2.50 lb but they just taste so good:
The camera did not come out enough while kiting but we managed a few. We didn’t have the ground support of Lincoln Beach equipped with photographers and people to help with launch and land.
First off, the transportation was half the fun.. It took us about 5 minutes to head to the freshwater lake behind the cabins on an old trail through the tundra.
Sometimes it would take 6 minutes when we would get stuck in traffic:
The trusty steed:
Notice how the lake is recessed from the surface level of the tundra. This wasn’t a low water issue or anything, just the way the lakes are in the tundra. Conveniently, this created the most incredible flat water I could imagine. 35 miles and hour and it was still flatter than a 16 meter day I am used to here.
12 meter so it was probably 22-25 and butter:
My friend has some more images, but I haven’t seen them yet. Here is a very short video from one or two days:
[ulr] http://vimeo.com/14081910[/ulr]
We counted days, but lost track after twenty and still had a month left in Alaska. It was a great place for my first season on water. When I got the job I lied and said that I kited on the water fine. Really i had a season and a half on the snow and maybe 4 hours on the water. I just knew I had to land this job and so Trevor took me under his wing and we headed out three-four times a week until I left. Thanks Trevor!
Anyway, when we would get back from kiting, we would hit up the wood fired sauna:
And go inside to an insane meal prepared by my friend’s wife. See, it was her job to keep us fed, whether the hunger was from working or playing☺
Then we would enjoy the views from the deck before bed:
Sometimes with wildlife:
Or 9,000 ft volcanoes:
Sometimes venting:
Since we had a couple three wheelers and plenty of fuel. We would take trips to lake on map]s and go fly-fishing, or take the skiff up tributary rivers for dolly varden, pike, and king salmon.
Fishing off the highway:
Caribou Highway
Tracks:
Wolves are big:
Awwwwe so many more pictures, not enough time to sit in front of this screen. Hope you enjoy some of them. I will be going back for sure.
Just remember, in Alaska, you are never too far from help if you own one of these:
Just don’t forget your gun:
see ya back in the mountains soon!
