29 July 2014
Hanging Out in Fish Camp
(Note: I have updated our travel map. You can locate it on the tab labelled “Map Us” on the tool bar.)
As you saw from our previous post, we are now ensconced in Fish Camp (actually the official name is The Grove). After spending the three days smoking the Pink Salmon we caught in Valdez, we finally got our hooks in the river, ready for Red (Sockeye) salmon.
The first run of Reds occurred in June. Daily counts then for just the Copper River exceeded 44,000 per day for several weeks. We are now in the second run of Reds. Unfortunately this run is significantly less than the first. Daily counts in the Copper River are averaging less than 6,000. This means significantly fewer Reds are making up to the Klutina River where we are fishing. Consider this: With 6,000 Reds entering the mouth of the Copper River they must outsmart the Alaskans “dip netting” them off the cliffs at Chitna, make it past bears and eagles, past many anglers along the Copper River where many will break off and travel up various rivers that feed the Copper River (including the Klutina River we are fishing on.) By this time a relative small percentage of the 6,000 are passing by our hooks. It’s no small wonder we are not catching them like we did in 2011 when the second run of Reds was much larger.
This trip we are fishing hard and have only caught 5 in 3 days. However, some friends we met here have given us (we are definitely not too proud to accept them) three additional Reds so we currently have 8 in the freezer. We will be fishing for another three days so hopefully we can augment what we already have in the freezer (the 8 have produced filets weighing at least 25 lbs).
We leave here on Friday, returning to Valdez for a couple of days. From there we travel by ferry to the small town of Cordova. Cordova is supposed to be a quaint town only accessible by ferry or air. This is a new adventure for us this trip. We will spend several days in Cordova before returning to Valdez. Maybe the Silver (Coho) salmon will be running then!
We traveled all the way to Fish Camp to meet Bill and Sharon from Mansfield, LA
In Alaska, the end of the rainbow has fish instead of gold!
MB looking for her Red!
Looks like HB might have a Red on his line (notice the two in the water he has already caught)!
One of Fish Camp’s guides returning after a successful trip.
This defines success! The guide is carrying in King’s on his right and Red’s on his left.
Mt. Drum overlooking Fish Camp.
I particularly like the puffy clouds in this photograph of Mt. Drum.
MB took this cloudless photograph (very unusual) of Mt. Drum.
Panorama of a double rainbow over Fish Camp.
29 July 2014