Arctic Adventures

Burbot Under the Ice Oren and I went fishing on Saturday at the Pit. I caught a few trout, but the highlight of Oren's day was the Burbot under the clear ice. There were 5 or 6 groups of the fish. It seemed that the further we went down the river, the bigger the Burbot got. While I was going for trout Oren was exploring on the clear ice "looking for fossils." He started yelling that there were fish. I figured he was just seeing old, dead salmon through the ice, but my curiosity got the better of me and I went over. Sure enough there were Gobies and small Burbot scooting around in the 2 inches of water under the ice. Oren chased them around for a while. I gave up fishing for trout and started exploring with him. The farther we went down the river the bigger the Burbot got. The biggest one we saw must have been an easy two feet. I was really wishing that I had brought my ice spud to see if I could spear them after chipping a hole in the ice.  Big One ...

 Ice Skating on Nuvruuqpaaq  See the Trout?  Like a Fish Tank I finally got out fishing a couple of Saturdays ago. I tried a few different spots before I made it to the spot in the photos above. I had this spot in the back of my mind from fishing earlier this year and I had a feeling it could be good. It was ridiculous. I had to park the honda and walk to where I thought the fish would be. Before I left the honda it looked like I would have to fish through the ice so I just brought the jigging rods and spud bar. After a half hour of bushwacking through willows I got to where the ice was and it was a 1/2" thick. I could have cried. I ended up cutting down a willow and using the line from a jigging rod. It actually worked pretty good.  I could see trout just hanging behind salmon waiting for eggs.  I threw some more salmon eggs out there and the trout just came from everywhere. I ended up with 28, and easily could have filled up a couple of sacks ...

  Swimming It was really warm right when we got back to Noatak this year. I went swimming 4 or 5 times. Even Kayla went swimming one day. The water was COLD! I took my camera and took some pictures underwater. I sure wish I would have had my goggles and snorkel (even though you can't keep your head under water for very long anyway.) I took some pictures underwater with my camera. I wish I would have thought to take some video.   "Oren Fly Fishing For Grayling"  Thought Russ might get a kick out of this one. A boat we saw in Kotzebue during Inservice  Underwater Chum  Again  Another Kara and Josh also visited this year. They got here on the AM Bering on a Saturday and we went out camping right off. I took them up to a spot called Evelyn's about halfway to the Kelly River. We hiked in on an old sled dog trail to a creek looking for moose. We didn't see any moose just a tree that had been demolished by a moose. As we we...

 A good day trapping   1st Wolverine     I finally caught some animals on our upriver trapline. I put a lot of miles on our snowmobile this year. Getting Thick Nice Day Fishing Getting There Trout fishing hasn't been fantastic as of late, but I have been able to get a few fish every time I go out. One spot I wanted to try I drilled 3 different holes but couldn't get to water. Gets to be a workout with the hand auger. Steps Down the Bank      Oren loves to slide down the bank. The first time I took him here I had to keep sliding down to help carry him up. I got smart and cut some steps with a shovel. Moose Ribeye Anyone?

Finally figured out how to post this...

 Wolverine Ranger Station

 It's Like a Fishtank Down There  Getting Wood I asked Oren if he wanted to go fish or go get wood. He said he wanted to go get wood. We saw a fresh set of wolf tracks right across from town too. Trying to Chop Wood  At the Airport Virgil's Plane

Sorry. It's been a while. Oren got skiis for Christmas. We had a cookout for lunch one weekend. We've been out fishing the last couple of weekends and been getting a few fish. Last weekend Oren was catching so many fish that I didn't have time to fish. I was too busy taking trout off his hook. I've finally got a decent trap line out now. My trapping partner has gotten 2 wolverines so far. I've missed a few for various reasons. So far I've caught 1 lynx, 1 marten, 1 mink, 1 otter, and 5 foxes.