DIP NETTING ON THE KENAI

FINALLY, after 2 weeks have gone by, I'm posting about our dip netting trip to the Kenai. Click HERE for more info on dip netting in general...

As for our trip...
We went forth at 10:pm Saturday (7/19)evening. Truck loaded with gear and nets. It was a sunny evening but there were scattered showers along the way and as the sun began to set, it's brilliance blazing through the rain, we were treated to quite a few gorgeous double rainbows! This one

followed us for quite a while down the .. . .highway, rising out the chaotic waters of Turnagain Arm and arching over the highway and down into the mountains on the other side. Perhaps it was a good omen of things to come!

We arrived on the mouth of the Kenai River at about 1:00am Sunday morning. We found a spot amid others in the tent "city" and set up our tents.

With the kids tucked in we attempted to get a few hours sleep until the next incoming tide which would bring the salmon. Huz got up and was in the water by 6 AM. I poked my head out of the tent at 7Am, caught Huz's eye and he held up his hand. He caught 5 fish already!!! By 7:03 I was dressed and in the water beside him.

Redoubt Volcano in background!

Over the next hour I caught 2 ,but the tide was slackening and I was getting chilly. There wasn't much action so we decided to bag it until the 2:pm tide. We stripped off our waders and greeted the kids who had gotten up, had breakfast and were playing in the sand. I was a little bummed that I had been too tired to get up when Huz did-I might have caught a bunch more fish-but, hey. I was WIPED!!! I figured I would catch during the 2 and 7Pm tides. Plenty of time for more fish wrastlin'.

Lo and I spent some time beach combing-one of my FAVORITE pastimes. The sun was out now-a rarity this summer-and it's warmth felt soooo good on our lily white vitamin D deprived bodies! We walked down the beach past the tent city and found lots of tiny beautiful rocks. I was excited to find an holey (Odin) stone-however teensy-and focused my site and being down to small patches of stones to see if I could find more.

After awhile, with a pocket full of treasures-alas, none with holes- we headed back to grab some lunch. We were joined by Dea and decided to head to the "Big Tent" where a church group was serving hot dogs and hot cocoa. The wind was picking up and it was getting a little chilly-hot cocoa was a welcome idea! As we walked we were surprised to see that a Bouncy House had been erected(!) out on the sand by the church!

Kind of a weird thing to see among all the discarded fish heads and folks milling around in waders! Lo was giddy with delight a the prospect of doing a little bouncing but hunger took precedence and she opted for lunch first. By the time we had eaten the wind had picked up so much that the they had to take the Bouncy House down! Poor disappointed Lo! And the Big tent had been out of cocoa as well. :(

The 2 o'clock tide was approaching so I got into my waders as the kids settled in their tent for some cozy quiet time- and a potential nap. Lo had been playing in the sand but the wind was blowing sand in her eyes and she had become distraught.

Huz and I got back into the water for another go at the fish. It didn't last long. Now, we're outdoor studmuffins, mind you, but the conditions were getting miserable. The wind was blowing up HUGE waves which topped my waders almost right away. The tide was a seriously strong one and we found it very difficult to both keep our nets vertical and to keep them from sliding along in the direction of the current. It was clouding up and it wasn't long before we were wet, cold, and fatigued. We gave up and went back to the tent to get dry and warm. We sat out in our camp chairs with a beer and tried to enjoy the last of the sun before the clouds over took it.

The kids emerged from their warm cocoon to have another go at playing. We all milled around checking out the remaining die-hard dip netters, taking pictures and looking for more treasures. The waves were pounding the shore now and we saw several people go under in their attempts to hop over the waves. The current would just knock their feet out from under them and down they would go-usually letting go of their nets in order to get back up, thus loosing the net!

I had found Lo's sunglasses-which became her "sand glasses"- to help keep the sand out of our eyes. With the increasing wind we were getting sandblasted so we headed back to the Big Tent so that they could join in the kid activities that the church had set up. They had face painting, fingernail painting, crafts and games. The kids were thankful to have a respite from the weather and to not feel confined to their tent!

We had been so excited about joining camp with some friends for the 7 PM tide but decided that we should call and let them know what the conditions were before they headed down for the 3+ hr. drive. I doubted that anyone was going to want to get in that water and it didn't look like it was going to let up. Huz and I sat on the beach trying to enjoy being outside and on the water but it just got so cold. Soon, it became clear that the rest of the evening would consist of simply making dinner and going to bed early. The prospect of eating dinner outside in the windstorm-and even whether we could light the camp stove or not-was met with antipathy. So we lit out for the nearest pizza joint! A couple hours inside a warm place(of COURSE I was seated right under cold air blowing out of a ceiling duct....) and yummy pizza helped pass the time until we could crash in our tents. We were all pretty tired, anyway, after not much sleep and an active day.

When we got back to the camp we were surprised to find that, despite the foul weather, a new wave of fisher folk had replaced the disgruntled ones who had left! And why were their tents placed so far back from ours? The whole city was erected about 30 feet behind our tent. Was the tide supposed to come in very high tonight?! As we approached our tents I discovered why we were the only ones sticking out on our own. The area was almost white with seagulls that were feasting on the vast row of fish heads and guts that the high tide had brought in and left as it retreated. And there were seagull droppings EVERYWHERE. All over our stuff. Nice.

a Hitchcockian moment

We pulled the tents and all our gear back out of the way of the poo bombardment. To bed with us. So much for that rainbow!

Sometime during the night-probably around 1 AM judging by the amount of light in the tent, I awoke to the most beautiful singing. The tent city is usually quite the culturally diverse place and there was a big group of Samoans behind us. Someone had pulled out a couple of guitars and and they joined with the singers playing these soft and gentle sounding lullabyes. It was like we had been transported to a Polynesian island. I tired to find my camcorder to capture the sound but I was too out of it and went back to sleep.

I awoke again at about 5AM to the more intrusive sound of commercial fishing boats racing out of the mouth to the ocean to start their day. I popped out of the tent and was greeted by the start of a beautiful sunrise. I ventured to the port-o -potty and then back for more sleep.

2 hours later? Raining. On top of more wind. Another couple of friends had driven down to meet us for dip netting-hey, we warned them!!!! They set up their gear as Huz and got dressed to join them outside the confines of our tent. \Our jovial adventurous friend, R, braved the crashing waves.

Eventually Huz joined him and they each actually caught some fish! Meanwhile the kids and I broke down camp and prepared for home. All in all we came home with 20 nickel bright sockeye salmon. Despite the wind and rain, it was still nice to road trip to the beach , goof around and enjoy family time and spend some time around the ocean. The few hours of sun we did have were SO appreciated, and catching enough salmon this season to prepare it twice a week for the next year is a damn good thing!

The weather this time around was a bummer, and I hate to portray this type of fishing as a bust, cause, man, when you get a warm sunny day catching lots of fish, dip netting is the s h i z n i t!!!!!!