Chitna Dipnetting 2008

Tuesday, after work, John, Jeff, and I loaded up my truck and headed to Chitna to dip net for salmon. We had a good trip (we caught more fish than anyone else using the charter boats that day). We came home with 46 sockeye salmon. I lost a NICE Chinook salmon and we probably lost at least another 20 fish that fell out of the nets as we tried to lift them from the water. This is truly extreme dip netting as we were tied off to trees with safety ropes and fishing from a spot about 15 - 20 feet above the water. It was a beautiful day, with clear skies and 80 degrees.


Jeff and John Fishing


In line for the charter boat at 4:30 am. The guy sitting on the trailer in the left of the picture was on his third Pabst Blue Ribbon when I took the picture.



Looking up the Copper River and the charter boats that deliver dip netters to fishing spots.



A view of our fishing spot.



Jeff



John fishing



Some of our salmon (we caught 46).



The boat comes to pick us up at 5:00 pm.



By 7:00 pm, we had all the fish filleted, packed the truck, and started driving back to Anchorage. We stopped in Glennallen for dinner. At about midnight, we were just outside Eagle River and I made the comment that I should be extra careful as it seems most moose collisions that I hear about happen as someone is making a late night trip back from dip netting. Just then, I see a moose and calf cross the highway in front of us...no big deal. Luckily, I was watching the right, rather than looking at the moose..as calf number 2 darts out right in front of us. I was able to swerve and we didn't hit the calf.

We had a great trip. I will probably make this an annual trip.