Salmon fishing 2019

The return of salmons is an exciting part of Alaskan summer for many people.  Taiga experienced a festival-like event of dip-netting in Kenai River two years ago (link).  But he hadn't caught a salmon by himself.  So this year, we hoped that Taiga would experience the power of salmons by himself.  Salmon runs can be quite different every year, and we wouldn't catch many if we miss the timing.  Also, I wasn't sure if some areas are fishable by a 7-year old kid.  With a bit of uncertainty, we started our adventure on Sunday, June 30, 2019 and fished almost everyday for a week.  Overall, I would say we had a successful trip!  It was the time when intense smoke from Shovel Creek Fire near Fairbanks was coming into town, so it was a great timing to escape from the smoke, too.

First, we checked Gulkana River from Sourdough Creek campground and at the bridge of Richardson Highway.  But a fisherman with a raft said that it was very slow, so Klutina River would be a better bet.  Following his advise, we decided to camp at a private campground (Salmon Grove campground), located along Klutina river around the bridge of Old Richadson Hwy.  Before the trip, we watched a informative video about Klutina Sockeye (red) salmon fishing by Alaska Fish and Game (link) a couple times since this was the first time we tried this kind of fishing.  We are basically casting a  fly hook into the stream, the current pushes it down, and hopefully the hook ends up snagging the mouth of the salmon.  There was a friendly family from North Pole fishing there, and they showed us how to do the flipping.  Taiga quickly mastered the rhythmic flipping motion, and kept flipping hundreds or thousands of times.  At the end of the first day (July 1), I hooked one, but it skillfully escaped after a couple acrobatic actions.

Salmon Grove campground. I hooked a salmon right below the bridge, which can be seen in the background.

We woke up relatively early next morning and hiked to the good fishing spot which North Pole family shared with us.  The previous day was extremely hot (around 86F), and wading in the cold water without waders was nice.  But it became too cold in the morning after an hour of fishing, so I went back to get the waders while Taiga and Diana were fishing.  But this turned out to be a bad timing.  When I got back to the fishing spot, Taiga was excited to see me and proudly showed me his first salmon on the stringer! A nice, experienced fisher-lady from Palmer, fishing next to Taiga, told me that he landed it all by himself.  The lady also made sure that Taiga wouldn't get pulled into the river (Diana was a bit busy dealing with her snug).  Darn, I completely missed his epic battle, but I'm glad that Taiga had a great time!  At the end of the following video, I tried to get the details of the battle from Taiga while he carried his catch proudly to the camp all by himself.

And here is dinner of that day.

Freshly caught Klutina Red for dinner.

Right after his success, we drove to Valdez on Tue afternoon, and camped at Allison Point Campground.  It is right next to a road and a rather dense campground where people have to camp next to each other.  But we happen to have nice neighbors, a couple who drove from Illinois, so it was enjoyable.  Taiga liked to tell them how to catch salmons.  After we set up the camp, we fished around Allison Point, but we didn't catch any.  There were commercial fishing boats fishing really close to the shore, but they weren't catching a lot, neither.

Allison Point Campground.

Next morning, while we were driving to the town of Valdez, we saw lots of actions around the east side of the Solomon Gulch Hatchery.  There were swarming pink salmons, and you almost can catch one for every cast.  The following video shows how much fun Taiga had with them.  At the end of the video, you can also see a Steller Sea Lion feasting.

For the first couple fish, Taiga almost got pulled into the water right after the initial hooking, but he quickly became an expert and could land the fish all by himself.  It is a great, easy access fishing spot for small kids (especially at the low tide).  I'm guessing that many kids started their salmon fishing in Valdez.  The wet rocks are slippery, and they should wear eye protections (frequently, the big treble hooks flew back to them when the fish escapes), though.  In 3 days, we got 12 fish (mostly Taiga caught them).  He wanted to catch more (and it would be easy to max out to the limit), but that is enough for 1 year of fish supply for our family.

Steller Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus) around Solomon Gulch.

Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) at the Solomon Gulch Hatchery.

We also looked for creatures in tide pools during the low tide.  But the diversity was fairly low.

West side of the Solomon Gulch Hatchery.  A big area gets exposed during the low tide.

Rockweed (Fucus distichus ssp. evanescens)

Oregon Pillbug (Gnorimosphaeroma oregonense).  Just like a pillbug on land, it can roll up into a ball.

On July 4th (Thursday), we had a peaceful canoeing in Valdez Glacier Lake in the morning.  It was pretty hot for Alaska, so this was perfect; the lake has floating icebergs, and the area is naturally air-conditioned.

A view from East shore of the lake, where a stream is flowing into the lake.

Papaver albroseum We were pretty excited to find this pretty poppy while we got off from the canoe and exploring a steep slope.

Then we went to the downtown of Valdez for Independence Day events.  They were having canoe jousting in Ruth Pond and live music.  The stage with the background of mountains was gorgeous.  They also had free burgers/hot dogs for anyone with a long waiting line.  According to a volunteer working there, a radio station mistakenly announced that there would be free food and a bouncy house.  The city officials panicked, but said that they would pick up the bill for both!  Taiga did enjoy bouncing with other kids in front of a magnificent view of mountains and glaciers.

US Coast Guard demonstrating search and rescue.

Valdez port

Allison Point.

After Valdez, we drove back to Chitna to see if we can dip-net red/king salmons.  Copper River around Chitna isn't known for a kid-friendly fishing area; the river is rapid and strong, and dangerous for adults, too.  But we found some areas where kids can experience it.  Kids may not be able to pull a fish with a net, but they can at least be close to the scene, and participate in dip-netting.  South side of O'Brien Creek has a beach area, which is relatively safe.  Also, the area under the bridge of McCarthy Rd. wasn't too dangerous.  In this area, other people were using larger nets with really long handles and walking with the current. Unfortunately, the water level was extremely high when we were there (Hem's Charters was closed during the week), so we didn't catch any.

North of O'Brien Creek parking lot.  You can reach to this rock by wading along the shallow water line.

Under McCarthy Rd. bridge.  West end.

Under McCarthy Rd. bridge.  West end.

During the drive home, we stopped frequently to enjoy the beautiful scenery as well as flora and fauna along Richardson Highway.  Insect nets became essential tools for a long drive; chasing dragonflies, butterflies, grasshoppers, and all kinds of insects give a nice break.

Dwarf Fireweed (Chamaenerion latifolium). Rainbow ridge in the background.

We stopped for a break around Donnelly Dome, and looked for creatures.  But the focus changed since we found lots of ripe blueberries.

Blueberry picking

Rusty Tussock-moth (Orygia antigua)

We got home around 8PM, and fish-processing was awaiting.  Taiga did a lot of works.  We had a processing pipeline; he scaled and gutted all fish, I chopped them into stakes (we usually don't fillet which waste meat), and Diana vacume-sealed.  Earlier in summer, Taiga attended UAF Kids' Cooking Camp, which he loved.  He generally likes cooking, but this camp probably made him more comfortable in a kitchen.  We managed to finish 13 fish and put them in the freezer before midnight.  Out of 12 pink salmons, only 2 were females, and the red which Taiga caught was a female.  We made enough ikura (link to a recipe), and made ikura-sushi next day.

Investigating the insect collection which our truck made, right after we got home.

A fish monger ready to process.

From NPR space music in the background, one can tell that it was late.  I love the super-sharp Japanese knife which my father gave to me for processing fish.  It is a bit scary for Taiga to use it, but it was the only knife he could easily cut through the bones.

Red salmon eggs (left), pink salmon eggs (right)

Our dip-netting in Chitna didn't work too well, but overall, we had a great time.  Some American people don't seem to know how to cook pink salmons, and they claim that pinks don't taste good if they get frozen.  But this is not true, it is more to do with their cooking skills.  Japanese people enjoy more diverse sea food, and we know many ways to cook fish than just smoking, pan-fry, or deep-frying.  If one is expecting that it tastes like other salmons, they would be definitely disappointed.  We treat pink salmons more like amberjacks (Buri in Japan).  So the sweeter end of Teriyaki works really well.  Or one can coat it with miso-sugar paste, and pan-fry (or broil).  It also works well in both Miso soup and Sumashi (clear) soup.  Diana recently made potato and salmon salad (from a recipe of Cook's Illustrated), which uses a microwave to cook the fish.  We were a bit skeptical about cooking with a microwave, but it made a nice flaky texture.  Since pink salmons are plainer in flavor than red salmons, it can match well with many different kinds of cooking.