Salmon Fishing!

 Wednesday, July 13, 2022 - It was a 4 hour drive from our campground at K'esugi Ken to the Kenai.  We weren't sure where we were going to stay, but decided to stop at the Russian River to see if they had any campsites available.  We got there around 4 and put our names on the waiting list.  At 5:00 they open up sites that have been vacant for 24 hrs.  We were happy to get a nice double spot.  There was a trail from the campground down to the Russian River and we decided to try some fishing after dinner.  It was a rocky shallow river, and we found a nice quiet spot.  After about 45 minutes of fishing a guy came down the trail and told us a bear was coming, we looked up and across the river about 50 yards from us was a big grizzly, looking right at us.  We all got off the river, and watched the bear make his way down the other side of the bank.  He moved along the river and would come out and look at us as he passed, we'd yell at him and he would move on.  We fished for a bit longer, but I spent as much time looking up and down the river as I did fishing.

View of the Turnagain Arm

The fireweed was thick, on our drive today

The first chance to try out our new hip boots from Trusty's

Hip boots and bear spray

Getting ready to fish

Our campsite at the Russian River

Uncle Gene's ready for some big fish

The Russian River is shallow and rocky

I got a few, not-so-great pics of the grizzly

Back in the water

Kev caught a trout, but we didn't catch any salmon

Thursday-Friday, July 14-15, 2022 - After the Russian River, we decided to head to Gail & Brian's in Soldotna, for some salmon fishing on the Kenai.  They have had a lot of rain there, so the trail to the river from Gail & Brian's was mostly under water.  We decided to drive to the pipeline entrance to the river and actually found a parking spot.  It's a farther walk (about a half a mile each way compared to a quarter mile from Gail & Brian's) but the path wasn't nearly as crazy.  We fished for about an hour and a half and came up empty handed, but no one else was catching either.  We listen to the commercial fishing update each day to hear the sonar numbers.  Friday, they were 1000 (if the salmon are in, the numbers should be around 60,000 so it wasn't surprising that we didn't catch.  But it was good practice for me since the technique used in salmon fishing is different than what I'm used to with bass fishing.  

getting ready for some salmon fishing

fishing in the rain

Saturday-Sunday, July 16-17, 2022 -  Gail & Brian love to go to garage sales, so Gerry and I went with them this morning, since it's another rainy day.  It was fun to see what Alaskans are selling and I found a couple of treasures (2 Alaskan cookbooks and a small smiley face cutting board for the RV).  We went to a couple of the look-outs over the mouth of the Kenai, to see the dipnetters in action.  Only Alaskans are allowed to dipnet.  They can use a net that is up to 5 feet wide, and everywhere we go we see pickup trucks with multiple nets in the truck bed, so they are ready to fish at a moments notice.

dipnetters lining the mouth of the Kenai

 lining both sides of the mouth

they can camp at the mouth so they are there and ready to fish when the tide is optimal

Gail said that when the salmon are really running, this spot will be shoulder to shoulder

Dipnet Fees

Kev flew the drone over the spot where we fish, on Sunday night.  It didn't look too crowded, but people were there at 9PM

I love the house we pass that has their fence decorated with salmon

wish we could buy a big dip net

all the aisles at Walmart are filled with everything salmon... fishing, packaging, canning, drying, shipping

Monday July 18, 2022 - Today we decided to brave the trail from Gail & Brian's and we were out on the river by 9:30.  It wasn't busy, so we had our choice of spots to fish from.  The counts Saturday were 5,000 and Sunday they were 45000, so we were assuming today would be a good fishing day.  The spot down on the far end of the fishing area seemed to be the best spot.  Kev started talking to the guy on the primo spot (John), and he gave suggestions as to how to better outfit our fishing rigs.  John would catch a fish, have a beer, catch a fish, have a beer, and he eventually got his max for the day and we inherited his spot.  Next Ken came in slightly above us, and he did the same thing minus the beers.  Ken was even more helpful, and once he reached his quota, he handed over his spot and Kev immediately caught two fish. More and more people came and they were all eyeing our spot.  Finally around 2:30 we were so tired we had to throw in the towel and head home.  Once we got back there was even more to do with fileting the fish and then packaging and cooking.  We went to bed tired!

The water on the trail to the fishing spot was over my knees in some spots

Beautiful day for fishing

By noon it had gotten a bit crowded

Uncle Gene helped John net a few fish

We inherited the honey hole

Kevin catching

Ken helped with the net

Kev catching again

The day's haul

The long trek back

A quick lesson from Gail & Brian on how to filet in the fish house.  

Kev trying his hand

This salmon was full of eggs

Gene and Kev look like pros

Gerry taking the finished product for packaging

last one

Mirabelle and I were the supervisors 

a good spot to dry our boots

Gerry frying the collars (behind the head of the fish) and the combs (the center of the backbone)..the rest are saved for later

dinner in the tent with the gang

  

Our Last Days in Fairbanks and Good Bye to the Smiths

 Sunday July 10, 2022 - Today we took a ride on the Riverboat Discovery.  It was a bit touristy, but it was fun to be out on the river.  We stopped in front of Susan Butcher's sled dog property and her husband talked about dog mushing.  Susan Butcher was the second woman to win the Iditarod and won a total of 4 times in 5 years prior to her death in 2006.  We also stopped at a native Alaskan village where we heard about various aspects of Athabascan life.  In the afternoon we explored downtown Fairbanks, where we looked around the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center.  We watched an interesting movie there, and were surprised to find Jack Reakhoff in the movie, talking about life in Wiseman, AK.  We had lunch at the HooDoo Brewery, where there was a great food truck - Grandma's genuine Navajo Tacos, so so good!  After the cultural center we went to the dive bar, Midnight Mine next door, that Manny had told us we should check out.  It was a fun spot with darts, pool and an outside patio.

Riverboat Discovery

Jen with Susan Butcher

a float plane took off next to the boat

Susan Butcher's husband and their two daughters still train and mush sled dogs.  He came out and talked to us about the sled dogs

After a run, the dogs all jumped into the river to cool off

The Nenana joining the Tanana River.  The Tanana is the milky color and the Nenana is more clear.

Kev looks good in a fox pelt

Ok, we ALL look good in a fox pelt

The moose/elk arch next to the cultural center

 

Monday, July 11, 2022 - We decided to have a communal breakfast this morning, and wow was it good...cheesy eggs, sausage, bacon, english muffins, pancakes and fruit, quite the smorgasbord!  We then headed off to the Museum of the North on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus and then to the engineering building to see the Chris McCandless bus from "Into the Wild".  UAF is refurbishing the bus which will then be housed at the Museum of the North.

Yum!

I want it all!

Skeleton of a 43 foot Bowhead Whale

This looks like a table my Dad would design

The "Into the Wild bus"

Looks like they have a lot of work to do

Tuesday, July 12, 2022 - Today is a 4.5 hour drive to K'esugi Ken Campground in Denali State Park.  I booked us a night there, so we didn't have such a long drive to Anchorage for the Smiths and to the Kenai for us.  We drove through the area of the fire that's been causing so much smoke in Fairbanks (Clear, AK).  It was quite smokey and we saw trucks being used in the fire.  The K'esugi Ken campground was a quick drive off the Parks Highway and had lots of hiking, but no views of Denali, since it was a cloudy day.  We had one last bonfire with the group and a birthday party for the guys.

We stopped in Nenana, and who could pass up another round of root beer floats?

A smokey drive to Denali State Park

Water trucks queuing up for the fires

Stampede Road, outside of Healy, where Chris McCandless was dropped off for his hike into the wild

A look down Stampede Road

Smoky Mountains (not in Tennessee but in Alaska)

A stop along the Nenana River for lunch

lunch view

We've collected a lot of stickers on this trip, our wall is getting full!

Janet and I hiked some of the trails at K'esugi Ken

This is where the view of Denali is supposed to be...

Grizzlys in the area

the fireweed is 6 foot tall here

and the cow parsnip is even taller

Kev had a little mishap while using the "facili-trees".  He stepped into the mud, lost a shoe and kind of tipped over

guess we'll need to head to the laundry

Janet & Bob, final pic with their rig

Finally a bonfire.  In Fairbanks and Denali NP we weren't allowed to have a fire

Janet bought the Summer birthday boys a cheesecake

What a wonderful time we've had with Janet & Bob...one last selfie!