Fish and More Fish

The Rivers are filling with Sockeyes running upstream to their spawning beds.  The riverbeds and beaches are filling with both sports trying to catch fish with rods - both spinning and fly - and Alaska residents trying to use nets to dip the fish from the River. 

Al has been taking me to the Kenai and giving me lessons on the style of casting a fly rod necessary at this time.  Fishing right now is called Combat Fishing because there are so many people fishing and necessarily, fishing quite close together.  Soooo... it is important to wear protective eyewear, hats and shirts that can catch the errant flying hook.  

Not too many yet...still early.

More fishers have shown to fill the riverbed.  Banks are protected and one cannot fish from the bank.

After three attempts, number four was to be my lucky morning with a catch of my first Sockeye.

Al was as excited as I was since he now has another successful student.  Yeehaw!

Lots of great meals.

A  Different Kind of Fishing

Latona and I explored a Beach called Beluga Point a few weeks ago and this is what it looked like.

On the 11 of July, a special event began -a fishing phenomenom called dip netting. Here in Alaska, every resident who is the head of a household is allowed to net 25 salmon and each additional member of the family can take 10 more.  This is to sustain the family through the winter months and is an amazing thing to watch.  This is how the beach changed during just the first day of dip netting which goes on for two weeks.

It is amazing to watch as a fish is landed, killed, and added to the family count.

I am shocked to see this natural flood of fish into the area and to realize what the fish are providing for so many. Everyone I have seen fishing is either freezing or canning their catch to serve them later in the year.  We hope to send some home too!  

The Fish and Game Department have underwater counters on the River to monitor fishing limits.  Yesterday, over 30,000 Sockeyes swam into the Kenai! I can only say thank you.

The final note for this short blog post is a special picture we took yesterday.

The double rainbow was another special gift of being here at Klondike RV park with Al.

And my final message is one of gratitude for Latona and her support of this adventure.  It could never have happened without her.  It has been so exciting in so many ways and has exceeded my dreams so far.

 Next week, we will travel to Denali National Park.  Hope to have much to share after that trip.