Doin’ the Dip
Doin’ the Dip
My hometown, Soldotna, is on the Kenai River which supports one the healthiest wild-salmon stocks anywhere on earth.
When the salmon return to the river – tens of thousands of tourists also migrate up the asphalt river and there is a dis-harmonic convergence of supply and demand. Some 400 river guides take their clients out on small boats to try to land a king – it’s not uncommon to catch a 60+ pounder. The reds are also running now – and so the commercial fishermen set nets from shore and boats to make a living. And of course there are pukers – those folks that come down from Los Anchorage for the purpose of killing fish and stocking their freezers. Quite a few of these folks could give a care about anything else except drinkin’ and fishin’.
A few years back , the state let all AK residents harvest salmon with a dip net. These nets can be up to 4′ wide and can be used from the beach or from a boat in the lower part of the Kenai or Kasilof rivers. Last year, 2 friends and I netted 78 salmon in 2 hours. This year the salmon escapement is way low (they are closing the fishery tomorrow night until more fish get upstream) and we only boated 27 fish in 6 hours.
We counted over 200 boats on the river when we were out there – and for the first time in years, it was less chaotic than normal.
Tags: alaska, Kenai River, salmon, Travel
jpb