Laura Valaas, salmon

On Saturday I went out with Katie Ronsse & her dad, Dennis, and Heather Zimmerman to Homer to experience my first Alaskan salmon fishing! Way more exciting than the rollerski race we did earlier that morning!

puffin

Katie Ronsse (APU/DU), Laura Valaas (APU), Heather Zimmerman (UNH)... we don't just ski!

kittiwake

Katie drove us out to the fishing spot and Heather drove us back. I enjoyed bouncing across the ocean on the bow where the bounces were the bounciest.

Katie Ronsse dip-netting

Katie kissing one of the fish that we put back. Once they start to turn red they get less tasty so we only keep the silver ones.

The salmon story (in case you're not from salmon country):

These salmon were hatched in a hatchery in a lake upstream where they became alevins, then fry, then fingerlings, all of which make tasty snacks for birds and bigger fish. Once they were fingerlings they started their journey downstream to the ocean. By the time they're smolt they're ready to head out to sea. Once in the ocean they spend 1-4 years cruising around trying to avoid predators such as Orca whales. Adult salmon make for tasty eating so lots of predators in the ocean will eat them if they can. If they survive their years in the ocean, they return to Homer where the big comercial fishing boats wait just outside of the mouth of the stream and scoop them out of the water. The salmon that make it past the big boats head upstream back into freshwater where they stop eating and get ready to spawn. On their way upstream they get snatched from the water by black bears and individual fisherpeople. The very few salmon that don't get eaten by this point swim upstream until they hit the waterfall where we were fishing. There they stop since it's too much for them to climb. Then they die. I wonder if someone told these fish when they were born that they'd never be able to complete their life mission and return to their birthplace if they'd give up in despair or if they'd still fight their way back to the base of this waterfall and enjoy the struggle for its own sake.



black bear

The black bear was hanging out around the stream while we were there but he never came too close. Which is good because until we got back in the boat, we didn't really have an exit if the bear had decided he wanted to fish where we were.

Of course if you're going to catch fish, you've got to clean them. So Dennis beheaded them once we got back to the boat and then we gutted them. Katie had the brilliant idea to eat some salmon eggs. So then Heather tried them, so then of course I ate some. Interesting.

Dennis Ronsse, fishing guide