The fishing season begins when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), who are responsible for the management of the fishing season, have established “openings” for the fishermen to begin.

All salmon return to spawn in the river that they were born in, so after spending their adult life in the ocean, they return to their waters of origin through an innate sense of direction.  In the interest of future salmon being born, the ADF&G ensures that an adequate number of fish swim up the river before allowing the fisherman to begin harvesting the millions of salmon that are headed towards their spawning spots.

The first salmon opening was announced on June 15th for the following day at 8pm, so we geared up to head out and begin the season.  Around 5pm on the 16th, following a tense last minute repair of our fish hold refrigeration system, we headed up to the Chignik Lagoon to hopefully catch some fish!

We joined about 60 other boats in a lagoon that was 5 miles in length, all nervously chugging around looking for the biomass of salmon.

Our net was ready to go.

The skiff all hooked up and ready on the end of the boat.  The deck was clean, and we all gathered on the flying bridge to scan the water for “jumpers,” hoping to find a large school of fish to get around.

The minutes before 8pm dragged slowly as we prepared.  Lloyd was in the skiff, and Jeff and I stood on deck waiting for the signal.  It was a “flare opener,” meaning that the ADF&G would shoot a flare gun to signal that it was officially open for fisherman to begin fishing.  All the boats slowly swung small circles, as the fisherman held close to their favorite positions after decades of fishing this lagoon.

Exactly at 8pm, the flare launched into the air in a bright red arc against the blue sky, and the lagoon came alive!

Skiffs roared to life, the nets began to string out behind the boats like rows of bobbers in the blue waves, and before the flare had slowly fallen towards the ocean surface the fishing season had begun.  We didn’t catch much that night, but my nervousness dissipated within the first hour of making a set as I became familiar with the techniques of fishing. The next day was our first good day of fishing as we brought in several thousand pounds of fish.

That night was the first night of many spent on the water fishing until the Alaskan summer sun set after midnight.  I learned early that fishing has it’s moments of excitement, but most of the time it’s a grind of making one long set after another and seeing the profits build up over time.

As my skipper said many times, “if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”