Fishing
Since we have arrived in Noatak I have been able to go fishing just about every day. On lazy days I fish the river channel that is right close to our house for grayling. There is one spot that I have found that holds about ten grayling. I usually manage to hook two or three before I spook the rest of the fish. Grayling are fun fish to catch, although I am regretting not having brought my 5 weight fly rod up here because it would be very fun to catch them with dry flies. On days where I feel a little more ambitious I walk out to the main channel of the river to fish for salmon. The main channel is about a thirty minute walk from our house but I have to wade the near channel to get to the main one.
When Kayla was in Kotzebue for the teacher in-service I took Thursday off from fishing to try to come up with a fly pattern that the Chum salmon would eat on a regular basis. I found a few different ones online and tied them up to use on Friday. I found out unfortunately that the most effective fly seems to be the ones that are most visible to the fisherman. Using these types of flies, will at times, often result in hookups that are not in the fishes mouth. The salmon here probably average between ten and fifteen pounds with a few even bigger than that. When one of these fish is hooked in the tail it is similar to reeling in a drift sock that has decided that it wants to head back to the ocean. I am somewhat surprised that my fishing rod is still holding up. It is an eight/nine weight fly rod and every time I hook a fish I swear that the rod is going to break.
There has been a Grizzly with a cub roaming around the river near town. Friday I was out fishing and noticed two sets of bear tracks on the riverbank. Considering that it had rained the night before I concluded the tracks had to be pretty fresh. Instantly I was on high alert, possibly a little jumpy and kept looking over my shoulder the entire time that I was fishing. At one point I thought I saw a bear fishing on the other side of some bushes so I walked to the other side of the bushes to make sure. It was an overhanging bank that may have vaguely resembled a bear. I still have yet to see a bear here. If it was up to me I would just as soon go my whole time here without seeing a bear. I heard yesterday that someone had shot the cub but the mother bear was still around and not too happy.
The only salmon that I kept on Friday was a bright silver female. I was filleting the fish and I decided that I would try to eat some of the eggs raw. Just to see what they taste like. At first I ate just one but I decided that I wouldn't get a very good idea of the taste with one. So I ate about a spoonful of the eggs. I was surprised that the taste was actually not bad. Just a little fishy but might be pretty good with some salt. The texture was a little worse. It was like a runny egg but it stuck to your teeth and made them feel scuzzy. It would have been nice if I had remembered to bring water to wash it down. In conclusion, I was anticipating the eggs tasting a lot worse than they actually did but I don't think I will be going out of my way anytime soon to snack on fresh salmon eggs.
-Brett
When Kayla was in Kotzebue for the teacher in-service I took Thursday off from fishing to try to come up with a fly pattern that the Chum salmon would eat on a regular basis. I found a few different ones online and tied them up to use on Friday. I found out unfortunately that the most effective fly seems to be the ones that are most visible to the fisherman. Using these types of flies, will at times, often result in hookups that are not in the fishes mouth. The salmon here probably average between ten and fifteen pounds with a few even bigger than that. When one of these fish is hooked in the tail it is similar to reeling in a drift sock that has decided that it wants to head back to the ocean. I am somewhat surprised that my fishing rod is still holding up. It is an eight/nine weight fly rod and every time I hook a fish I swear that the rod is going to break.
There has been a Grizzly with a cub roaming around the river near town. Friday I was out fishing and noticed two sets of bear tracks on the riverbank. Considering that it had rained the night before I concluded the tracks had to be pretty fresh. Instantly I was on high alert, possibly a little jumpy and kept looking over my shoulder the entire time that I was fishing. At one point I thought I saw a bear fishing on the other side of some bushes so I walked to the other side of the bushes to make sure. It was an overhanging bank that may have vaguely resembled a bear. I still have yet to see a bear here. If it was up to me I would just as soon go my whole time here without seeing a bear. I heard yesterday that someone had shot the cub but the mother bear was still around and not too happy.
The only salmon that I kept on Friday was a bright silver female. I was filleting the fish and I decided that I would try to eat some of the eggs raw. Just to see what they taste like. At first I ate just one but I decided that I wouldn't get a very good idea of the taste with one. So I ate about a spoonful of the eggs. I was surprised that the taste was actually not bad. Just a little fishy but might be pretty good with some salt. The texture was a little worse. It was like a runny egg but it stuck to your teeth and made them feel scuzzy. It would have been nice if I had remembered to bring water to wash it down. In conclusion, I was anticipating the eggs tasting a lot worse than they actually did but I don't think I will be going out of my way anytime soon to snack on fresh salmon eggs.
-Brett
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