Alaskan Salmon
Year 2015 - a super summer
Is everything now shifting due to global warming?
Would you rather go straight to the photo album?
It was early this year when I started my Alaskan trip in 2015. I was in the country of countries at the end of May. The background was the school holidays here in Hesse and ultimately also the amount of work that was waiting for me: the further construction of our cabin.
Of course, my boss was part of the party again - the little wild guy. Unfortunately, we were not yet aware that it would be his last trip. Unfortunately, my boss passed away in September 2015 after a short, serious illness. He was a loyal friend and companion to me and simply a great dog with a great personality. Who cares here are some info and reminders
There was a lot to do, rent a trailer (thanks Mike), buy material (donate money) and get it to the construction site. All in all I had my hands full for almost 5 weeks - see also here - but I also took the time to snatch a salmon from the Kenai River every now and then. That's often tedious in June, but you're alone by the water, on vacation and "nothing else to do anyway" 😉
A little side experience: In the first week of June I spent an hour on the water - as always on "my" island - and pretty soon landed a nice Red and hung it on the chain. When nothing happened after an hour, I thought: "Go to the tip of the island in the faster water, maybe there's something else to do there." Thought done and as soon as I stood in front, I saw a white-tailed eagle landing on the other side. I always have a photo with me, so I slowly and quietly went back and wanted to take some nice pictures of the bald eagle.
The only thing I saw of the bird was that it flew away with my salmon in its claws and only a small part of the skull was left on my chain. I shouted a few angry words at him in "pure Hessian" - but ended up laughing.
Another highlight besides the "Lachsklau" was undoubtedly the excursion with Ilona and Klaus to the Gulf of Alaska from Homer. A great day, the weather was great, the water was relatively calm - at least until midday - and the catch was more than good. In addition to many small by-catches, I was able to get a sizeable halibut of about 25 pounds into the boat. Then another, slightly smaller halibut and some nice big cod made the day another nice experience.
Of course, the Reds came too - a little late - but they came. Around July 20th. then it started and we could finally start to "catch" the salmon. Between 25,000 and 70,000 Reds moved into the Kenai River every day, which was quite a few compared to previous years. But the run ran almost at the end of August and ultimately there were more than 1.7 million fish that made their way to spawn in the
Creeks had found. It was a great 2 weeks that Renate - who had also arrived in the meantime - and I had on the river. We actually always fished from "our island". It was partly full (very full !!), but luckily we only dealt with pleasant people. We knew most of them from previous years, some others quickly got used to our "place sharing". Space sharing meant that we simply alternated the fishing spot with others and so everyone reached their limit, which at the beginning was, as always, 3 fish a day. Later the limit was increased to 6 salmon, which made things a lot easier for us. As a result, Renate, I and Bossi were actually able to go on vacation for almost a whole week.
And all three of us enjoyed the last few days. Invited and visited friends and just relaxed again. On the penultimate day there was a day trip to Seward. With wonderful weather, we were able to really enjoy the trip and the great day.
I almost forgot the highlight of this trip:
On the way home we were lucky enough to see a quite young brown bear at mile 40 of our Sterling Highway. The boy was not bothered by the 30 or so tourists with cameras and enjoyed himself in the water of the Kenai River. Just think. . .
On Wednesday we had to pack - on Thursday morning we only had to empty the water pipes, close the cabin and fly to Anchorage. Our flight with Iceland Air didn't leave until the afternoon and so we could do everything in peace. Our friends took our Ford Expedition back with them the next day on their way back from the "Slope".
If everything works so smoothly, it's a great thing.
See you 2016