Catching Silvers

The Silvers (Coho Salmon) are "running" throughout the Kodiak rivers right now and last week Joe had the whole week off of work. Boy, did we have a good time.....living in our waders, soaking in the Vitamin D enriched sun rays, getting red-stained fingers from handling Joe's home-cured salmon eggs, watching the spawned-out Pinks do flips and dances across the water in front of us....for four straight days we hung out in the river with a goal of catching as many Silvers as the Department of Fish and Game would let us (which, if you'd like to know, is 2 each per day).

The river of choice for our fishing adventure was the Buskin River. The river is less than a mile from our house and is well known for it's excellent salmon numbers. It has a beautiful deep greenish-gray coloring to it and when you have polarized glasses on, you can see fish after fish after fish swim by. The bottom of the river is covered in slippery smooth rocks that you have to be careful to walk on (especially if you are bit clumsy like I am. I only fell once and I caught myself with my hands so only my arms got wet. The all-important iPhone made it through the fall safely in a dry pocket. Phew.)

I was glad that my waders were insulated as the river is a bit chilly. I really couldn't ever feel my numb toes which made walking weird but I was not uncomfortable in the least bit. The wind was very strong the first two days that we fished and it was a task trying to stay upright when the big gusts blew down the river corridor. I almost lost my hat a couple of times.

Over and over again, we cast out our hooks that were laden with cured Sockeye Salmon eggs. Our line would drift down with the current as we slowly reeled in. Joe says that Silvers like eating the eggs of competing species as they float down the river. He seems to be right. It was only a matter of less than an hour on our first day that I hooked into my very first salmon ever. I felt the nibbling....I waited in hopes of her eating a bigger bite....my line tugged.....and she was hooked! She pulled line from my reel as she swam back and forth, bending my rod and making me squeal with excitement. I literally screamed as she jumped up and danced in the air, trying to get the hook out of her mouth. I looked at Joe, afraid he'd be upset that I was making so much noise but he had the biggest smile on his face - he was as excited as I was. After a short fight, I finally got her to the bank and Joe unhooked her for me. She was beautiful.

I pushed my finger up through her gills and pinched it tightly against my thumb so I could hold her up for my "first salmon ever caught" picture. She still had a lot of fight in her and she thrashed around, cutting up my finger with her razor sharp little teeth. Luckily, Joe had forewarned me about the teeth and promised she wouldn't cut my finger off or else I might have dropped her.

We continued fishing and within an hour I caught another, even bigger Silver. My limit for the day was maxed out. Unfortunately, Joe was not having the same luck. I told  him to start fishing wrong and maybe he'd catch something since he is obviously a more skilled fisherman than me and I was catching all of the fish. I felt bad for him but he was so happy that I was having success that it didn't bother him that he was getting skunked.

The whole fishing experience was a team effort when it really came down to it because even though I was catching them, Joe played a vital role in pulling the strong, flopping fish off of my hook and then quickly stringing them and gutting them right there in the river. It was neat watching him make the skillful cuts that allowed him to pull all of the insides out of the fish in one easy tug, leaving just the beautiful red meat. He saved eggs for curing and then tossed the guts into the fast-flowing current of the river (a practice that helps ensure bears don't come around, attracted by rotting fish smells).

We hooked the stringer to a tree and let the fish float in the current as Joe tried to catch his limit for the day. I loved the way the sun glinted off the scales of the salmon and had no doubt in my mind as to why they are nicknamed "Silvers". When they are swimming through the river, all you see is a flash now and again as they twist their bodies through the current. It's how you know that the Silvers are there: you watch for the quick flashes.

Eventually, our growling tummies got the best of us and we called it a day. Crystal: 2, Joe: 0. We brought the fish to the filleting station on the Coast Guard base and Joe made quick work of portioning and bagging up enough fillets to provide us with at least six dinners. Yummy!

The next day, we headed out again. I was still riding on the high of having caught two fish the day before and was excited to try my luck at catching more. We went to the same spot, baited out lines, waded out into the cool water and started casting. Our goal was still to catch Silvers, but there were spawned out pink salmon everywhere.

We saw proof that bears had visited the river, taking bites of the slow-moving, dying Pinks. Half-eaten dead ones littered the floor of the river, taking their place in the ever-important circle of life that the river harbors. They are ugly fish when they are in their last stages of life....the males grow large humps on their backs and their mouths mutate into a mean, beak-like shape. The females turn into splotchy gray and white "lepers" with rotting flesh and milky eyes. We had to watch where we walked so we wouldn't step on them. While the females slowly swam around us, the males were busy trying to protect eggs and were darting around, jumping out the water, reminding us of ballet dancers as they flipped and twisted in the air. It was actually quite entertaining to watch. Luckily the Pinks had no interest in our bait, as hunger is not something they are thinking about, so even though they were everywhere we didn't have to worry too much about catching them. Not that it was impossible:

Joe managed to "snag" a couple of pinks as he pulled his line through the water, getting his hook accidentally caught in a hump or tail. These fish were quickly released, allowed to get on with their process of dying.

I had luck again on this day and managed to pull in two more gorgeous silvers. My second one was huge and really fun to fight with.

Fish #1

Fish #2

We got a video of my fight with the above-mentioned second fish:

That was so fun!

While Joe didn't catch any Silvers again on day two, he did catch a little Dolly, which he released.

We were able to get a lot of meat off of the two Silvers we caught and it's a good feeling putting meat in the freezer. I can see why Joe likes fishing so much.

We were able to save eggs from three of the four fish I caught and Joe cured them so we could use them for bait. On days three and four of our fishing excursion, I had no luck at all. We did everything the same and I couldn't pull a Silver out of the river to save my life. Joe finally caught one Silver on day three, which I was so glad about (I'd post a picture, but forgot to download them before Joe took the camera to Georgia....I'll add it in later).  We have a theory that may explain our luck over the course of the four days. On days one and two, we were using Sockeye eggs for bait. They worked great! On days three and four, we used Silver eggs for bait. We basically got skunked. Our theory is that the Silvers didn't want to eat their own eggs....you know, for survival of the species. Everyone will tell us this doesn't matter, but we wonder....was it a coincidence?

It was a really fun week of fishing, even if we didn't limit out every day. Again, Joe and I loved being in each others company. And again, as I watched Joe puff on his cigar, knee-deep in a beautiful Alaskan river, casting out with his antique reel, and having a completely contented look on his face, I realized how lucky I am to be married to a man like him. His hobbies bring joy to both of us and his patience with me as I ask him to unhook my fish and gut my fish and take a picture of me and my fish and tie a new hook for me never ceases. He is in his true "happy place" when we are out there. The contentment that surrounds us is hard to explain.

I hope that each one of you that reads this has their own "happy place" to escape to and that you use it often. I know I'm anxious to go fishing with Joe again soon!