Dipnetting In Chitina

Adventure. Lots of it in Alaska.

This past weekend I was able to enjoy the process of dipnetting for salmon. Julia was kind enough to let me run down to southern Alaska with some of her friends from the ski team and they were kind enough to let me tag along.

It is an enjoyable process. Here is a rundown.

1. Go to Chitina.
This involves an incredible drive, mostly following the Richardson Highway and the Alaska Pipeline. Pictures from the car do not provide enough detail. In short, it is gorgeous.

2. Camp
This is a picture.














3. Wake up and hike.
We got up around 4 AM and got the gear together for the hike. We followed an old railroad bed that was built for the purpose of transporting copper from mines in the area (Link for your enjoyment: Kennicott - Julia and I would like to visit this place soon.) to a port in Cordova, AK. It was a pleasant hike, somewhere around 3.5 miles. There was steep portion of the hike that brought us to the edge of the river.

This is a picture.


This is another picture. Scott, Julia's coach, is down by the river and Ingrid, Julia's other coach, is climbing up the bank.


















4. Fish
This involves several steps:
a. put net in water; we found a nice area where salmon can rest due to a current reversal in the river.
b. wait.
c. wait; when many fish are running, this step can sometimes be avoided.
d. catch a fish; the river is full of silt from glacial rock flour; thankfully, if a fish is in a net, it is very obvious and exciting.
e. pull the fish out of the water and bonk it on the head.
f. slit its gills, cut its tail fin, and stick it on the stringer; more on this later.
g. put net back in water and repeat.

We did this from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. There were not too many salmon at this point in the Copper River but there were enough for us to catch right around 20 and keep 17. It was still very fun.

This is a picture. It shows a bend in the river near where we stuck our nets in the water.














5. Hike back out.
The sun came out in the afternoon. Very pretty place.

This is a picture.














6. Fillet Fish
There is a nearby creek that sends fish parts down river in order to avoid attracting bears.

This is a picture. It shows my group cleaning fish.














Optional Steps.
It is possible to make dipnetting even more exciting by wearing a climbing harness and tying off to a tree. This allows a dipnetter to perch themselves in a productive spot along the river and catch a fish. Our group attempted this on a nearby rock where many salmon pass by. I tried it and caught a fish.

This is a picture. It shows me tied to a tree with a salmon in my net. There is some urgency due to the fish making a valiant effort to squeeze through a hole in the net. Ingrid, Julia's coach, was kind enough to pull her net out of the water and take a picture.


















Unfortunately, after scrambling off the rock, over to the club for bonking fish on the head, bonking the fish on the head (This fish received 2 bonks; very humane), untangling it from the net, snipping its gills and tail fin, and wandering down to the stringer, I managed to struggle with the carabiners on the stringer and eventually drop the dang thing into the river. Crud. Never saw it again. Killing a salmon and releasing back into the wild is also optional.

This is a picture. This fish will be eaten by someone. It made it onto the stringer.



Come to Alaska. It is very fun.

Happy Father's Day.