Alaskan Salmon
Year 2011 - in words and pictures
unemployed, but rich in fish
would you rather go straight to the photo album?
Due to "changings in Germany" Alaska started a little later in 2011 "only" on June 30th, 2011. As a result, we lost the first run in the Russian River, but were more than compensated for by the second run - but more on that in a moment. We, that was my shepherd dog Holly, who sniffed the air of Alaska for the third time, and me. Holly was initially involved in fishing; later this was unfortunately no longer possible for "traffic reasons".
Technically there was nothing to do or planned in 2011. Thank God we didn't have any winter damage, the expansion of the cabin has been postponed to 2012 and so it was really just pure vacation, Fi- relaxing - sightseeing - getting on your friends' nerves. The fishing really got going in mid-July when said second run started. It was great in the past few years, once 40,000 to60,000 reds (sockeye salmon) per day migrated into the Kenai River.
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It all started harmlessly on July 17th. at 2,900 a day, continued on 07/18. with 27,800 and culminated in a sensational 230,600 reds on 07/19/2011. I think the graphic below makes it all clear.
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Accordingly, this year's result was: short and painless
The "tourists" from distant countries, who had problems with so much fish somewhere, behaved less well. It was almost impossible to get to the water, pushing and shoving were the order of the day. Right here we were able to access Plan B, which means:from ins boat and up the Kenai River until calm is . . .
Those were wonderful trips, with great catches. Peace and quiet by the water, plenty of fish and the weather also (usually) played along. Speaking of the weather: 2011 was again a very nice summer in contrast to last year. Only the last week was rainy. .
At the beginning of August "min Frou" was added - but I had already closed the case of catching salmon. So Renate could finally go on vacation without necessarily having to go fishing. We could drive around more, see a lot again and if we felt like it, we went "fishing for fun".
It was a relaxing 2011 all round, culminating in a fishing trip on the Gulf of Alaska. We had avoided this topic for several years - we were too concerned about venturing out onto the open sea in our own boat. However, our new boat is ideally suited for this purpose - equipped with a 50HP 4-stroke engine and high side walls, it is ideally suited for excursions of this kind.
So the four of us drove off: Renate, Ilona, Klaus and I. Holly stayed with our friend Susan and Renate was quite tense and nervous until we got to Homer. Then it started with an absolutely simple slip; The boat was in the water in no time at all and could be easily "boarded" from the jetty. Then we comfortably chugged out of the port area onto the open sea.
EVERYTHING WAS VERY EASY. No wind, calm sea and our little boat ran like clockwork. A half hour trip, anchoring at 30m water depth and first attempts to catch a halibut were unsuccessful. So we implemented. Another half hour sailing and new anchor (again at about 30m). The bait was set - natural bait: herring or salmon shreds - and after a short time Renate had her first halibut (halibut). Not very big, but sufficient. Then things went pretty fast and we all caught our 2 allowed halibut; ie not all, Ilona said she had to get a big ray out of the water. It wasn't that easy and Klaus had to do "the rest". The ray had a wingspan of about 5 feet and an estimated weight of 80-90 pounds. In den Pictures of the year 2011 it becomes clear what a "knocker" that was. Then it was on the way back. Shortly before the harbor we fished for a good hour very successfully for cod and plaice and Renate - no longer afraid - could hardly be persuaded to stop now. Then we chugged through the docks again, got the truck, got the boat out of the water and back to Sterling.
Thank you Ilona and Klaus for this wonderful day and for "infecting"!
The following Sunday we drove the two of them to the plane in Anchorage and took the glaciers "Girdwood" and "Portage" with us on the way back. We hadn't seen them before and I think the pictures speak for themselves.
We then had another week - completely alone - in Sterling. We enjoyed that too, weather permitting, and celebrated Renate's birthday for the first time in Alaska. Many friends were there and congratulated - it was a beautiful day despite the bad weather.
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On Sunday we went back to Germany. Everything was packed, boxed and stowed away; made the cabin winterized and so we left on 28.08. our adopted home and are already looking forward to 2012. . .