Sockeye Salmon!

The week after we got back from visiting the grandparents it was time for our annual fishing trip. In mid July every year thousands of Alaskans (and almost as many seagulls) descend on the mouth of the Kenai river to stick their nets in the river in the hopes of taking home a truck-load of salmon. This year Marel's parents came up to witness the spectacle, and we were also joined by our friends Luke and Ashley with their kids. The day we set up camp was grey and damp, with rain coming in bursts. We got our tents and canopy set up just in time for the first cloudburst, so we could stay dry while we waited it out. We didn't mind waiting because we fish on a schedule based on the tides, so we had a while to wait before we were going to start fishing anyway.

After a few hours, once the tide was right, we donned our raincoats and waders and headed out. There are all types of folks with all types of equipment out there. The only regulation is that the widest part of the net can measure no more than 5 feet, and there's a maximum depth for the net. Aside from that, anything goes. Everyone has their own method that works for them. Some people have nice, lightweight aluminum poles, and others have homemade, taped-together wooden ones. Most people wear warm waders to keep warm when standing chest-deep in the glacial river and ocean water, and thick boots to protect against the rocky and gravely river bottom. Here we are geared up in our heavy neoprene waders:

Then there was this guy who fished barefoot with just his tank top and shorts. He was out there chest-deep with the rest of us. He's seen here with a more standard net, but most of the time we just saw him fishing with a hoop attached to a rope.

And he was catching just as much as the rest of us, which just goes to show that if you're there at the right time, it doesn't matter what you're using--you're going to catch fish.

Both of us were able to go out fishing this year since we had help watching the kids. And the kids, as usual, loved playing in the sand the whole time, though it was certainly messier this year because of the rain.

But we all had loads of fun nonetheless. And after camping on the beach for the night we woke to see the sun out.

We got up early and did some more fishing, then cooked up a delicious pancake breakfast before packing up and heading out.

Here is our catch from the first evening:

And the morning catch:

In total we caught 35 sockeye salmon, which beats our old record of 26. The fish were smaller on average than usual, though, so poundage-wise we ended up with more meat in the freezer the year we got 26. But it was a successful trip by any measure. (Of course our family limit is 65, but we would need a bigger car, a bigger freezer, and a bigger house to take home that many fish.)