Arctic Adventures

Out of the Water Last night Kyle, Percy and I went on a bear hunt. We had planned on going out a couple of different times but it just never worked out. Finally all of the schedules lined up and we got a chance to head out. I have been having problems with our four wheeler wheels freezing solid so I rode over to "Old Boat Harbor" with Kyle. Percy was heading there at the same time and when we came up to river, there were 2 caribou right across the main channel. Right after we saw them go into the willows we heard a gunshot. They must have missed though because we didn't here the "thhwaap" of a hit. We waited for a few minutes to see if they would come back out of the willows to cross but we didn't see them after a bit so the decision was made to head out. We left the "Old Boat Harbor" at about seven o'clock. Trying to Lift the Head Percy had a good spot in mind just below Sugar. A long, shallow back slough that ran past Robbie's camp. It is...

Happy Mad Innisaq Saturday I went and helped Hilda and Tina cut fish. They had a big ol string of salmon waiting when I got out there. I brought my knife with me just in case they wanted me to help cut too. I just ended up getting fish for them and hanging them. They were cutting all the female salmon a certain way to hang them. I cannot remember what their word for it is. They cut the back meat off the salmon but leave it connected at the tail. It is important that you don't penetrate the belly cavity otherwise the eggs will go bad. The fish are then hung for a while to dry. After a certain amount of drying time the fish are good to eat. Apparently the eggs are delicious. All of the male salmon were cut with the fillets connected at the tails and then scored so they dry better. This is called "panuktuk," (not sure about spelling) or dried fish. Getting Ready to Knock Some Heads I went fishing for a little while after cutting the fish. There are very few salmon in the mai...

Me and Oren went fishing after work one day... Remember the Size of the Plywood? He got pretty mad at me after about 45 minutes. I have no idea how you could get mad catching trout like that... Biggest One Still managed to get a few... Couldn't Kill that One

Fall Colors Its getting to be that time of year here. It's 28 degrees and blustery one day and 65 and sunny the next. Then there are some rainy days thrown in for good measure. Caribou are on the move. It seems like every day somebody is telling me about caribou that they caught. A View of the Mountains I have been out on boats quite a few times this year. Up until last night I had not seen anything besides a few bears waaaaay back up a slough. The only reason I knew they were bears was because another guy with binoculars said they were. They were just dots moving in the distance. With some of the recent rain we have been getting the river is up again. Everybody had moved their boats to the old boat harbor because the water was so low that it was hard to get in at the pit to park a boat. Now the water is too high to cross the side channel by town to get to the old boat harbor so everybody has moved their boats back to the pit. Happy about Something Wednesday night Kyle and I headed...

(by Russ) We fly out tomorrow morning at 930 am to begin our long trip home. It seems like we just got here! Kayla, Brett and Oren were patient hosts and the only reason we are here. We entertained ourselves with days of the most phenomenal fishing I have ever seen. I learned Kayla's "just back up"method of landing salmon (back up rather than reel) which is very effective to land them quicker. We have met very friendly people here. We have seen how the adults and kids in the community react with excitement when they see Kayla, Brett and Oren coming. We have seen Arctic Alaska by plane, boat, canoe, 4 wheeler and on foot. This is a place I could live in a heart beat. Kayla, Brett and Oren's life here is a good one and will be good for many years if they so choose. I can only imagine how Troy, Carson, Brant and Tucker would react to the fishing. We got here 8/30/11 and leave the village 9/9/11. We had a few days of some rain, 4 warm sunny wind free days i...

(by Russ) Brett, Grandpa, Paul and I took advantage of quite an opportunity on Wednesday. We went with native Eskimos Jimmy and Jayson Mills in Jimmy's 20 foot boat about 35 miles upriver on a caribou hunt with some fishing. Boating here is quite an experience and is geared toward going fast over being cautious. The boat had a 90 HP Yamaha which moved the boat very well. Knowledge of the river is critical as all 4 of us would have been lost quickly as the river branches off all over the place. It was impressive to watch and ride with Jimmy as Captain. The river has so many gravel bars I have no idea how we made it 35 miles without hitting bottom once. We wound up past and much nearer some mountains in a feeder creek to the Noatak. We caught 1 trout, 1 grayling, and several whitefish the short time we fished. We idled back towards the village and hunted. Numerous people in the village "caught" caribou that day but not us. They typically leave the racks on the ...

(from Russ) Kayla lined us up with a float trip on Monday. Tim, a teacher here, left his boat down river many miles after a moose hunt. He invited us guys to float the river in canoes back to his boat. Paul went in Tim's canoe and Brett, Grandpa and I were in the other which was a rather shaky situation as none of us have been in a canoe for decades! I finally remembered my camera and took it out for a picture. The timing was bad as we were going into a fast moving snag filled corner at the time. Our heavy loaded canoe went sideways in the current and there were numerous instructions given to me by Brett and grandpa about what I should be doing and it did not include taking pictures. We survived the corner and went on to survive the many mile trip. We saw permafrost in the eroding banks. We got the boat and landed on shore at what I now call grizzly corner. The place was littered with bear tracks and the bears had trails worn in the sides of the river banks!!  We loaded ...

(from Russ)  The trout are in.  This place is so unbelievable!  Chumming the shallow gravel bars brings the trout in by the hundreds.  We had a great day Saturday and caught a number of salmon but only kept 3 good ones.  It is the end of the run with thousands of salmon in every stretch of the river but it is now rare to catch a fresh one.  On Saturday Kayla, Oren and I took the four wheeler to our hot spot.  Grandpa, Brett and Paul walked and fished the river on the way.  Grandpa caught the biggest grayling so far.  Kayla and I caught the biggest trout to that point along with a few others, some grayling, and some salmon.  It was a sunny calm day that started at 28 degrees but warmed up and was soo beautiful.  We have now all the Dolly's in the freezer we are allowed to take home along with a few limits of grayling. Grandpa's grayling Pulling in another "darn salmon" Brett and I went out in the evening and caught trout every cast.  Brett knows this river very ...

HELLO from NOATAK (from Russ)-  We had another awesome day here in Noatak which is day 4  of an 11 day stay in town.  Kayla and Brett can't go anywhere in town without having a parade of kids follow them.  The kids in town look to them for attention and approval all the time.  Oren is certainly a hit in the village as well.  Grandpa, Paul and I have never seen anything like this place.  We have about all the fish we are allowed to take back in the freezer already.  I never thought I would see a place where you would say to yourself "not another one" when you catch a fish.  The river is like an aquarium on top of the gravel bars and in the crystal clear deep pools.  We have caught chum salmon, humpback salmon, dolly varden, a few arctic grayling, and a few whitefish.   The one fish I want to catch before we leave is an arctic char.  The salmon run is ending and the trout "run" is starting according to the locals.  It's an adjustment to get used to the remoten...

The guys enjoyed another nice day on the river.  Grandpa figured it was "Phil's Day"--he figured he out-fished the other guys.  In the evening we went for a walk through part of town.  The kids came running and followed us for the entire walk. Telling stories.    Checkin' out the river. Oren's relaxing position. Check out my awesome boots!!