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Just after I got out of the USAF, I attended a small Christian college in Fresno. I arrived the day before classes began and very few people were around. I met an Alaskan Eskimo wandering the halls, like myself, trying to find his room. We became good friends. That summer (1977), he invited me to go to his home as his partner, fishing for salmon. The season lasts about 8 weeks. I stayed for about 5 weeks. It was very hard work, but an experience I will never forget. I returned again the following year.
The fishing week was (then) Monday - Thursday. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was NO FISHING to allow some salmon to go upstream to spawn. But during fishing, it was balls on setting net, watching net, and hauling in the net and hopefully fish.
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Flying in on a bush plane. This is the canary where the salmon is...uhh..canned. |
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BTW- this is Jonny, the captain of Nickio II, and my good friend. We left the canary a little too late and missed the tide. When not on the bow putting out, watching, or pulling in the net, we slept and ate in the 6 ft long covered 'cabin'. Good thing neither of us are big. |
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Here is how it works: |
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The fish swim into the net, through one of the open 'tangles', which are just big enough for them to go in, but their gills get caught when they try to back out. Because King salmon are much bigger than Coho, they use different nets. |
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This one was not caught in the net; it was dazed and confused, swimming loose in the netting. Worth $1/lb at the time, about $100, I leaned over the rail, grabbed him by the jaw, and eventually wrestled this monster into the hold. |
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The canary from the water. Heading in with the tide to off-load our fish. Take a quick trip to the store to resupply, then head out while the tide is in. |
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At the canary, a scale basket is lowered to our hold. We toss the fish into the basket. Kings are loaded separately as they are worth more. |
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A beautiful bay adjacent to Togiak. |
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About 3 am. |
