Rev. 08/22/01
Alaska & beyond - continued 8/21 - 8/24
Valdez -- the Silvers are in! the Silvers are in!
Had a good time with the pink salmon, but now the silvers are
in -- Monday was the first good day for catching them by casting from shore
-- which is my thing. I had three hook-ups today but didn't catch any.
I could see them jump right in front of where I'm parked in the RV
camp -- and there's a sea otter floating in front of me right now.
Continued fishing. Caught two pinks, and the ugliest fish you ever saw -- about a foot long, all mouth and huge pectoral fins, like wings -- scary thing.
Finally quit. When I climbed back up the bank, the lady came out and handed me part of a fillet -- still much more than I could eat. Cut off about a third of it, shaved some onion, slice of lemon, wrapped it all in Saran -- put it in the microwave for about three minutes -- about as fresh a salmon as I've ever eaten, ono!
A
couple in a very large pickup camper backed into the space to my right, blocking
my view of the bay. He got out, saw what had happened and said,
"Sorry, I'll pull ahead a couple of feet." They were from Vancouver
BC, on a lengthy trip up through Alaska, just started later than I did --
they said they've had great weather. I asked them if they'd had dinner,
and if not would they like some real fresh salmon. Told them where
it came from and how I'd cook mine -- Mary jumped up, went in and started
her propane oven right away.
Loyd is a chemical analyst, working for mining companies all over Canada and Alaska. He told me about the Kennicott copper mine down on the Chitina River -- now I'm going to have to make a side trip to see it. And there are a lot of old mines around here that he was aware of. The more we talked, about things I's done and things they knew about, the more they decided to stick around Valdez a little longer -- and the more things I found to do.
This morning, Wednesday, I caught six silvers over at the point -- were they ever hitting. The largest looked like it was well over fifteen pounds. When it wanted to go some place, it did and there was little I could do about but hang on for the ride. It sure took a long time to bring in. The last was a small one, about seven-eight pounds, probably should have kept for dinner -- oh well......
Loyd and Mary took the ferry to Whittier for a day or so.
That evening a huge fifth-wheel RV, towed by a very large, poorly tuned diesel pickup, belching smoke and rattling like its death knell, pulled up. The "Sargent" got out, and she proceeded to tell the "Major" (they appear to be an Air Forced couple) exactly how to back that monster into the site -- with no concern for me, she had the "Major" back, and back, and back, and back, until the RV was ten feet beyond me and up on the bank -- then she gripped because it wasn't level -- of course it wasn't, it couldn't be, it was up on the bank. Then the "Major" alighted, along with a second woman, four loud whiny demanding kids, and two dogs. They proceeded to occupy every inch of their site, and the bank, with outdoor rugs, tables, chairs, grills, rubber boots, shoes, socks, and miscellaneous junk. Now I have nine grandkids, and am pretty tolerant, but this particular assembly of adults, kids, and dogs was more than I needed -- in the morning I went to the office and asked for another site, let someone else "enjoy" them.
In the morning, after making my request at the office, I headed
for Allison Point.
On the way over there, saw my nemesis, the big red bus from Eagle Plain. He was parked in a large clearing off the side of the road here in Valdez.
Fishing was a bit spotty, not too many catching their limits today. After a couple of hours I'd caught three silvers and four pinks -- its amazing that bright pinks are still showing up this late in their spawning season. Finally hooked a good sized silver about noon, he fought like he was twenty pounds, running and dancing like silvers do. He was fat and full of fight. Finally got him ashore.
Now my brother Frank has been bugging me to send him a salmon,
don't anyone tell him, but this one is going FedEx to his house tomorrow,
and he'll get it next week. After catching him, lugged him up the hill
-- swore he weighed at least fifty pounds. Drove to the Easy
Freeze. His real weight -- twelve pounds.
Got
back to the RV lot and had a new berth with new neighbors. Parked to
fix lunch. As I was getting things ready, the was a commotion outside
-- oh oh, I thought, not again. Looking out the window -- there was
a convention of ravens next door, squabbling over raven rights.
And of course there were sea otters swimming around where we were fishing. This particular one came very near getting hit by a cast lure, he was that close. He just ignored it and went swimming on by. In the back ground is one of the large cruise ships that come into Valdez (that's a fog bank hanging above it).
Friday
dawned rainy and dismal, it had rained all night long and was still drizzling.
A raven, perched on a rock, looking out at the fog, even seemed
weary of it. It had rained so much there was a small river behind
me where the road was. One guy joked, looking at it "Wonder when
the silvers will come up here to spawn?"
Seemed like a good time to revisit the Solomon Gulch fish hatchery, which is privately owned and run. Probably learned more this second time than the first.
The pink salmon are the main-stay of the commercial fishing, supporting the fishing fleet and the canneries. The hatchery incubates 230,000,000 pink eggs each year. Of those, 207 million hatch and are released as fry, and 10.35 million return as adults. The hatchery also incubates 18 million chum and 2 million silvers. The silvers require a bit more work, they spend another year in the hatchery fresh water before release.
They
have started a program, in conjunction with the Alaska State Department of
Fisheries, of raising king salmon. They have reared and then released
100 thousand smolts, or young salmon, a year for the last three years.
Next year, the first year's release should return. That will
start to give them an idea of the viability of the king salmon program.
I asked about the sockeye, the red salmon. They told me it was much more difficult to raise them, so at this time they are not considering it.
Boy, if you want to live here you really have to get used to the rain -- all the natives walk around in rain gear and rubber boots. But finally the drizzle slacked off and I decided to fish the low tide. Found out the night before a bear had gone down the trail leading to where we fish -- he'd pooped right in the middle -- big time.
This time the fishing was great -- caught seven silvers, and a half a dozen pinks -- best day yet. Quit when it started raining in earnest.
Being my last day in Valdez, after lunch, figured I'd better do a bit more fishing this afternoon, even if it was still drizzling. As I drove by the fish hatchery, I spot a sea lion in close, right in the bay right next to the hatchery -- he was so close you could hear him breath. He was voraciously feeding on salmon. He'd herd a bunch right into a corner -- submerge --all the salmon would thrash on the surface. Half a minute later he'd surface ,out a hundred feet or so, with a salmon in his mouth -- whip it from side to side, tearing it apart, then devour the pieces -- he was not a fastidious eater, just efficient. He repeated this time after time, quit a show!
Leaving the show, I went on out to Allison Point and hiked down the path to the bank. I fished for a couple of hours. Caught three nice silvers. Then hooked a big one -- he tore off about a hundred feet along the shore in one direction, with his back out of the water leaving a wake like a surfacing submarine -- turned and went a hundred feet in the other direction. Then he went down and caught the line under a rock. It finally came free, but it had rubbed it so bad on the rock that it parted on his next big run. Getting late, so called it quits.
Valdez has been great, the kind of fishing I was hopping to find up here in Alaska -- and the sea otter in front of me is enjoying a salmon dinner.