ALASKA DIP NETTING-Thursday's recipe

My thoughts turned toward our summer fishing trips and dip netting this morning. I was in the garage searching for my missing summer clothes and the nets caught my eye.

An amazing phenomenon occurs for a short time each summer here in Alaska as thousands of us, from all walks of life, take a break from whatever we're busy doing at the time to storm the shores of Alaska's rivers. Some dip solo and some with friends. Some make it a family effort and yet other's combine the fam with the friends and that makes for a raucus time camping on the beach!

As each of the dip netting rivers are opened up for fishing, you’ll see them. When the tide is slack… over the horizon come the hoards. RVs, campers, bonking clubs, kids and coolers. Cars, ATVs, motorcycles, bicycles, tents, grandpas, fireworks and firewood. Filleting knives, dogs, rats, fold up chairs, grandma’s, BBQ’s and out of state visitors who only get to sit on the beach and watch. All toting the almighty DIP NET. A loooong pole with an always humungous varyingly shaped net at it’s end. The very device in which, if your lucky, a bounty of salmon will enter and never escape. The camps are erected and a beer is drunk. Off you go with net and cooler to the water’s edge.



Here’s how it goes down:
You wade out as far as you feel comfortable, usually chest deep, careful not to fill up your waders with water. You hold the end of the pole and slide the dip net straight out in front of you-the net standing vertical, not lying horizontal-into the current. Now you wait. And wait… And wait. Some smoke, some chat, some listen to I-pods. If you’re me, you close your eyes, feel the warmth of the sun, let the soft waves rock you, become one with the water, mind extending beyond it’s physical boundaries, reaching out to the horizon….and BEGGING Mother Earth to PROVIDE!!!!



If She is pleased, there won’t be a wait! Those fish just keep coming! You feel the tell tale tug in your net. Twist it down to entrap the fish and start hauling ass back to the shore where your sadistic kid
or your bored out-of-towner can bonk the fish on the head with the club. Clip the tips of the fin and into the cooler it goes! YAAAAHOOOO!!! Get back in the water to catch fish after fish and you are breathless and it’s someone else’s turn!


If She is not pleased, you wait. Until your back aches. Until your arms fatigue. You wait. Until you’re shivering with cold and then it’s someone else’s turn.


The head of the household-that’s me- can catch a total of 25 sockeyes for the year and each additional family member can catch 10 for the year. We got a second freezer and are eyeing a third. Sometimes you can catch your limit in one day. Often times it’s several trips to catch the limit. One rockin year we caught most of our limit in one day, one after the other. No sooner did you put your net back in the water and there was another one in there! THAT’S the fishin’ I like!



I won’t go into the bleeding out, and the gutting, and the processing…. Too exhausting.

On to the cooking!
PAN POACHED SALMON PICCATA

1/2 cup water

2 tsp. lemon juice

1/8 tsp. chicken broth granules

2 (4 to 6 oz. each) Salmon steaks or fillets, thawed if necessary

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. capers

black pepper, to taste

chopped parsley, for garnish

cooked noodles, optional but a good idea!

Bring water and lemon juice to a boil in medium-sized skillet. Stir in chicken granules. Reduce heat to a simmer and place salmon steaks or fillets in pan. Cover and simmer over low heat, 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until fish flakes when tested with a fork. Remove salmon from pan; keep warm. Boil remaining liquid in pan until it reduces to approximately 1/4 cup. Whisk in butter and stir in capers. Spoon sauce over fish. Season with pepper and sprinkle with parsley. Server on a bed of cooked noodles, if desired. Makes 2 servings.


Don't forget the Cab! "White", you say? NO!