Panuktuk

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 main channel now. I tried a couple of my hotspots but there wasn't much happening. It was really windy,which made it hard to see if there were fish there or not. I didn't end up getting anything. The fishing will probably be a little slow now until ice cover.