The annual dipping trip was a little different this year. We used to leave after work on a Wednesday with plans to camp and dip until Sunday, but we had softball on Wednesdays this year and had a double header (don’t get me started voicing my frustration with people prioritizing non-Alaskan stuff over the Alaskan things that aren’t flexible). Instead, we planned to leave the house at 4:30AM on Thursday morning. This was thought to be a good change too since we would pull into the campsite during the late morning and have the best chance at finding an open camp site (and something we will likely do each year from now on).
Luke and Kevin rounded out the team this year. Both have
gone dipping with me on the Copper before, but we have never gone together. I
was excited they were going to be in the boat this year because they are both
work horses with great attitudes. The icing on top was Kevin’s ability to
secure an RV for us to stay in while we were dipping as well… talk about
comfort!
We all had little sleep Wednesday night due to the games,
but everyone was able to be awake and ready to leave my house on time. It was a
beautiful morning and made us think we should have left earlier (maybe next
year). Luke jumped in with me and Kevin followed in the RV. We got to the
campground around 10AM, right when a few sites were opening up. It was a little
difficult getting the RV to park without grounding out, but we eventually
wedged ourselves into a spot.
We didn’t really have a set plan for the day we arrived,
because we weren’t sure what the water level, weather, wind, or fishing report
would be. The water level was around 14ft (14.5ft is typically max dipping
level), the weather was clear and sunny, the wind was relatively absent, and
the fishing report was amazing. Our neighbors let us know they were leaving
early after a couple successful days, so that got us excited. We decided to get
the boat ready and dip for a couple hours to see how the river felt.
Driving to the place we launch our boat from was difficult
this year due to a high creek we needed to cross. Without knowing the
shallowest route, we ended up driving through some deeper than ideal water, but
we eventually made it across and to the launch area. In typical Chitina
fashion, people were rudely parking their trailer and truck along the shore,
blocking the best launch area and deepest spots to temporarily beach/ dock a
boat. We ended up spending quite a bit of time walking the shore and in the
river to determine where the best/ safest place to launch would be. Another
boat (an old couple) was also doing to same thing and they decided to launch in
a spot that resulted in the truck driving pretty far into the river, but
allowing a safe launch. The only reason I mention this is because is the lady
had to park the truck and cross creeks to get to their boat… and I did my
chivalrous duty and helped her across the water to the boat.
We mimicked the launch without trouble. Kevin quickly parked
the truck (out of the way of others), jumped on the boat, and we were off to
start dipping.
The place we dip is considered a subsistence area. Dipping
here has the advantage of being able to keep more fish, including five kings
per permit, but the fishing is typically slower than the sport dipping area.
There is also a limited stretch of the river dipping can occur in with wind and
current drastically impacting conditions. Even though significantly less people
dip this area, our goal is getting our King Salmon limits since kings are hard
to get many other places and we have the opportunity to catch Sockeye Salmon in
many other rivers.
It was about 11AM by the time we started dipping. We like to
get on the water earlier in the morning since that is when the kings are more
active and numerous. The wind tends to also pickup the later it gets in the day
too, so we were curious how the day would go.
The boat is setup where I drive the entire time. The river
is ripping with fast current and debris, and the shore is a sheer cliff the
entire length of the shoreline we dip from. I would love to let someone else
drive the boat while I get to experience the thrill of pulling in fish, but
really, I’m not too comfortable letting one of the guys drive our boat in those
dangerous conditions… especially since it’s a jet and neither have experience
with the unique propulsion of a jetboat. This results in me being the Captain
all day while I’m tasked with putting on top of the fish, keeping up morale,
and ensuring they guys stay hydrated, fed, safe, and in good spirits… It’s a
fine line between being a coach, friend, and cheerleader at the same time. As for drifting our run, I drive the boat to
the place we start, turn it perpendicular to the current, and keep it under
power, quickly adjusting it forward/ backward/ side-to-side to allow us to
float that way, as close to the shore as possible, the entire length of our
run. At the same time, the boat dippers are on the side of the boat with their
nets in the water, dragging the bottom as the current pulls us down river.
As soon as we started our first drift, we realized the
dipping was going to be good. It didn’t start out too hot, but it was
consistent with one or two fish on each drift. In fact, we only had one drift
the entire time we were out where we didn’t bring in a fish (drifts take about
7 minutes each). As the time went on, and fish kept filling our boat, we soon
realized this may be the only day we needed to fish. At the same time, we were
getting better at bringing in more fish consistently. Other boaters were
completing every other drift without a fish, drifting too far away from the
shore, and not drifting long enough, and not staying on the bottom. We were
doing the opposite and hammering fish. In fact, Kevin developed a new approach
that I have never heard of, but easily proved itself worthy of doing from now
on. Instead of bringing up the net after a fish swims in it, we now leaves it
down, and continues to collect fish in the net until the drift is complete. The
only exception to this not bringing the net up is if a king swims in the net,
at which point the fish is so powerful it prevents any further control. This
method resulted in multiple three, four, and even five net fish at the end of a
drift. It was always fun to watch Kevin bring up his net at the end, excited to
see what surprises it held.
As we got closer to catching our 15 kings, we decided this
was going to be the only day we fish. The last fish re the hardest to catch,
but somehow, Kevin managed to net a double king when we were at 13, to put a
cap on our day of dipping. It took us six hours, and we caught what we came
for, 15 King Salmon with 115 Sockeye Salmon as welcomed bycatch 😊.
Unfortunately, my job is to keep count of the fish and I miscounted the kings
somehow… we only boated 14 King Salmon, but we think this happened when the
counter fell on the ground and likely resulted in a false click/ count without
me knowing ☹
At 5PM, we landed the boat and got ready for hours of fish
dressing. We grabbed some food, beer, and our cutting items before taking
pictures and setting up cleaning stations. Since the water in the river is
silty and not clear, and sand/ dirt is blowing everywhere, fully cleaning
salmon on the river bank is not an easy or clean task. Instead, we simply gut
and rough scrub all fish before putting them on ice, and fully clean them at
our homes.
After processing, we turned our attention to getting the
blood and slime out of the boat, which usually takes a significant amount of
time. It was about 10PM by the time we returned to the RV for dinner and
drinks… and we were beat! We started a fire and reflected on how epic of a day
we just had. Oddly, we stayed up well past midnight boozing it up, although we
were all running on fumes from a long, tough day. We debated staying another
night since we weren’t expected to be back until Sunday, but we decided to head
home the next day (Friday) to get the fish on more ice and in our freezers as
soon as we could.
We slept in the next morning without any real rush. We
eventually got everything packed and headed home without any issue. Once home,
we divided up the fish
