ws: canning easy, I smoke them for 1 hour in the smoker, then right into the jars (1/2 pint & pint), cook 90 minutes at 15 psi.
Franks: the nets in the pic are for a boat (shorter handles), we troll down stream & you can feel them hit the net. I run a john boat, 2 guys with nets, we all got what we needed in a few hours.
Some dip from shore with longer handled nets in an area at the mouth where boats aren't allowed. They all did well too.
Out of the net, bleed in cold water in a trash can for 10 minutes, then in coolers & iced down. So I know 3 families got their fish for the year. Between the 3 of us, we could have got 125, but just got what we needed so none will be wasted. Average 8 lbs, some up to 15lbs. We did get one more 35# king, (only allowed 1 king per year/ per person dip netting)
It can be hectic, lots of boats. So the boat driver has to pay attention all the time. When one net comes up, the boat wants to turn so you are busy steering & not getting run over.
Lots of work, especially after we get them home.
We went Tuesday, got a bunch, the run was close to peak. Just finished canning last night. So far, over 700,000 went past the commercial gill netters & us dip netters, so the escapement is in good shape & are still coming in.
Project over a million. Emergency opening for the commercial guys so they are all at it. To many fish escapement is bad, over spawn, to crowded for the fry, most die. Fish & game keep pretty close tabs on the numbers.
In one day at the peak, 230,000 went thru the weir. Takes about 2 days for the fish to get from where we can fish, up river to the weir counter.
Kenai River F&G fish weir/sonar counts for Late run sockeye:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishC...ts&COUNTLOCATIONID=40&SPECIESID=420&YEAR=2011