My Alaska Trip July 2012 - Can You Say "Fish On!"

[Oregon Bigfoot]

This was my first trip to the great state of Alaska, and it won't be my last. My brother in law and I had a blast fishing for Sockeye salmon (reds), because the Kings were closed, due to a poor run. The day we landed in Alaska, was the day the sockeye limit went up to 6 fish/day, and we caught our limit every day, pretty quickly. I have a friend that has a cabin near Soldotna, Alaska. We fished on shore, right on a boat ramp on the Kenai River, without a guide. Man, that was fun! We brought back to Oregon 200 LBS of salmon fillets, and 50 LBS of salmon roe we cured up. We use the salmon roe here in Oregon for bait for chinook, steelhead, and coho in our rivers. We even got to watch the residents of Alaska, dipnetting at the mouth of the Kenai River, and they were bringing the fish in every few minutes, it was insane. The dipnetter's limit is 25 fish/day, wow! We saw one grizzly bear, and one moose. It was cool, that sunset was after 11 PM, and it really never got dark, even in the middle of the night. It was more like dusk all night long. It is absolutely beautiful up there! I bet once the snow starts falling, it's even more beautiful!

Enjoy the pics!

 

[Oregon Bigfoot]

And, here's some sockeye salmon jerky I made after getting back to Oregon. The first picture is after sitting in the brine, right before smoking, and the second picture is the finished product! Now I know why they call sockeye's "reds". Yum, yum!

Also, here's a picture of my friend's smoke house, and part of his fire wood pile he's working on for next year. I had to get a picture of some Alaskan firewood!

 

[bogydave]

Awesome memorable trip.

Nice solid fresh reds, strong fish eh? Nice size too.
Break any rods ?

To bad the king run was so weak. Hope next year is better.

 

[begreen]

Wow, that is some good fishing. Looks like you were having salmonchanted evenings there.

 

[Jags]

Nice fish. That trip sounds like a blast.

Trying to get my head wrapped around salmon jerky though. That one is a new one to me.

 

[begreen]

Good smoked salmon jerky is heavenly.

 

[Jags]

I have had plenty of smoked salmon, but none that I would have thought to call jerky. Is there a diff?

 

[ScotO]

that jerky is way tasty! Looks like you guys will have the freezers stocked nicely with fish this winter.

 

[Oregon Bigfoot]

I caught a 22 LB chinook salmon on the Columbia River last Tuesday on my boat. Oregon salmon fishing is fun too!

 

[Oregon Bigfoot]

I have had plenty of smoked salmon, but none that I would have thought to call jerky. Is there a diff?

To me, smoked salmon is smoked and cooked until done and might not have any spice except salt/sugar. But smoked salmon jerky is cut thinner, dried much longer for that jerky texture, and has more spices, like beef jerky. It's super good! An hour before I take it out of the smoker, I baste with jalepeno jelly or other pepper jelly. That habanero jelly thread got me thinking I need to try some of that!

The pics above, I wish I would have made it a bit thinner. It was a bit too thick for proper jerky, but it still turned out awesome!

 

[Jags]

The pics above, I wish I would have made it a bit thinner. It was a bit too thick for proper jerky, but it still turned out awesome!

Got it. So it really is a "jerky". Thats cool.

 

[SKIN052]

Very jealous, what type of tackle was used? Looks like some bait casting and some fly rods used?

 

[Eatonpcat]

What a cool trip...Glad you hooked up with the Salmon!
The jerky looks awesome!

 

[Defiant]

Fish on

 

[Oregon Bigfoot]

Very jealous, what type of tackle was used? Looks like some bait casting and some fly rods used?

We used bait casting reels and rods. All we used was pink yarn and a 5/0 red hook, 30 LB leader, and about an inch size of pencil lead. You would drift fish. Cast upstream, let it drift downstream, wiggle wiggle, set the hook, FISH ON! Bait was not allowed at the time, to protect the poor king runs.

Some used fly rods and salmon flies, but I think our bait casters did better then fly rods.

One day, 196,000 sockeyes came past the sonar counters in the Kenai River, so there was no shortage of fish. The river was loaded, and they were stacked like cordwood! I think the total run was like 4 or 5 million salmon. It was insanely fun!