Dipnetting Salmon at the Mouth of the Kenai River Alaska

Camp trip list updated, Wal-mart run, groceries packed, Chadd loads the gear and checks the vehicle, I pack the clothes, kitchen stuff, and amenities. We're getting our camp trip packing day down to a decent science. But this was our first RV trip as a family. I should have brought the Vitamix...! :) Chadd takes the wheel and I get to chill laying flat, that's my way to travel. RV's are awesome!! A clean, dry, cozy spot to cook, sleep, crank on the AC (which we actually wanted, in Alaska!), and watch a movie after a long days work and fun. My employer, MatSu Midwifery, has a company RV that  they lend to employees! Yes, I am so blessed! I have thanked my God many many times. My dear friend Heidi once told me when I was crying in her arms, "someday you'll have a job that you will love, and where you'll be treated better than you can imagine." It has come to pass!

RV capitol, I've never seen so many RVs as in Alaska.

 We drove a few hours through Anchorage and on to stop for the night at a secluded pull off near Hope, Alaska. Then on to an RV park in the Kenai Penninsula, "Alaska's Playground," for our hand at salmon dip netting.

The evenings were gorgeous, full moon hovering over the inlet,
cool enough to enjoy a fire. This picture was about 11pm.

Kids swim in the chilly water,
quite refreshing from the nice warmth up to 81 that Monday.
But quite fishy, fish heads and guts might be floating next to them...

Alaska residents, (defined as one year after moving to Alaska and no continuing residence in another state,) get the privilege to dipnet for 25 salmon per head of household and 10 for each family member. That's 55 for us thanks to Darius! Dipnetting is much more efficient that rod and reel. Though you may think, as I did, that you can fill your net with one swoop. It's actually considered lucky to get even two at once, though I have heard of someone coming up with four. You don't move you net when dipnetting at the mouth of the Kenai River. You stand on the shore of the cook inlet in waders along with the hundreds of other hopeful Alaskans gripping a 15 to 20 ft. long pole with a 5 ft wide net designed just for the job. Then, you wait. You wear sunglasses, most likely a hat, and hopefully sunscreen. Though the sun sleeps much in the winter, when it's out, it's hot. Chadd got his lips burned causing it to crack and bleed. The more amiable folk strike up a friendly chat with neighboring fishers. Some just stand. All try to avoid getting a wave caused by the un-liked commercial fishing boats to soak inside their waders. The smarter ones had on raincoats to prevent this. Chadd just put on his neoprene waders cut a hole in the foot to match the hole in the other, and went nearly swimming, up to his neck, further than all the others. He struck up company with a couple other limit-pushing guys and waited for hours catching nothing. Until suddenly, they hit...

The view from our great RV spot

This is an Alaska beach: coolers, nets, tents, personal
fish cleaning stations...it's a working playing beach. An out-
of-state ministry group had a bouncy house and served
free hot dogs and lemonade.

"This one's almost as big as you, Cyrus!"

"I GOT ONE!!"

"It's such an exhilarating feeling when one hits your net, BAM!" says Chadd, who is splendidly addicted to it, through the hours of waiting, soaked, sunburnt, and cold. But his persistence sure paid off. When they hit, it's a blast. One after another the fishers drag in their long nets to the shore, whack the flopping fish on the head with a wooden dowel, untangled it from their net, toss them into a cooler, and head back in. Chadd on the other hand, figured out how to do all of that without leaving the water. When he did come in he had a stringer so full of fish a stranger asked to take a picture of it. Unfortunately I was napping with the boys. But that day he brought in 38 fish.We brought in 50 "reds" or sockeye salmon, in two days, and the remaining 5 the next, with one net. I did catch 5, but mostly enjoyed being mom and achieving an actual tan, in Alaska! "We got our limit," that weekend, as Cyrus freely informs both friends and strangers. Again, a grand blessing from above.

It wasn't all fun and glory. Cyrus had a couple of breakdowns due to the crazy schedule of sleep, more sun than he's ever had, and walking up and down that huge bank several times a day that one of the pictures above is overlooking. I spent most of the second day after we got back either awfully cranky or lying around with a decent fever, body aches, and a yucky cough resulting staying up till 4am processing fish with no real recovery time. But all in all it was a fun vacation.

Hard working husband, midnight and just getting started...

After vacuum sealing and salt-icing our INCREDIBLY heavy giant cooler of fish (which actually freezes the fish, amazing!), we continued our family vacation to Seward, AK. Seward (pronqounced "SOO-rd"), is a quaint and touristy fishing village nestled in the midst of snowy mountains. The brilliant teal colored water holds boats of all sizes with inquisitive names painted decoratively on the side. We took a walk downtown, enjoyed an actual hand dipped ice-cream cone on a hot day, watched some fish processing from a tour boat catch, and struck out on a hike up a raging creek.

Have you ever ordered the expensive delicacy of halibut
at a fancy restaurant and enjoyed the tiny piece of white meat
in special sauce? Well, this is what you were eating. It is one of
the most disturbing fish I've ever seen. Their left eye actually migrates
to the other side of their head at 6 months old, when they switch to swimming
flat on the ocean floor. On top of that, when this guy kneeled on the massive
fish to cut it up, it jiggled like blubber.  

These are lingcod. Equally ugly.

A chubby sea otter gave us a show as he chowed down
on one dead bait fish after another. Who needs to pay $17 for
the sea life center otter exhibit ;)

Click on the title to see it full screen in youtube

Isn't that a gorgeous site.

 Back home to our fairly normal life in a neighborhood through the week. I work Tuesday and Thursdays. Chadd's employed job has some days without work but he has more side jobs and work to do on our house than he has time for. His skilled time is always in high demand. The exterior on our house is nearly finished, excluding one face board and a never ending pile of rocks... Our street gets a lot of traffic to the gas station on the corner and people cutting the poorly planned blinking red light that backs up for over a mile at times. We regularly have a car stop and say, "We LOVE what you have done with this house!" Just today I was out mowing the lawn with Darius on my back and Cyrus running around (don't worry family there's bag on the lawnmower), and I was wonderfully interrupted by both of our elderly neighbors across the road, twice each, a car stopping to comment that she absolutely loves the color and a couple walking by told me all about how their 21 yr old daughter used to have slumber party's in this house and it was so run down and now it looks incredible. It's rewarding to Chadd to hear how much the community appreciates what sometimes just feels like work.

Fresh salad greens from our garden patch
with daikon radishes from one of those
lovely visiting neighbors today

Now of I have the delightful task of exploring 101 ways to make salmon. Actually, I guarantee you I can come up with more. A friend of Chadd's retorted, "there's no way you can eat 60 fish in a year." And he confidently replied, "you don't know my wife."  :oD

Smoked Salmon Zucchini Boats

And now for a tutorial for our viewing pleasure. Click on the title to see it full screen in youtube