The Salmon Run...and Run...and Run

One of the most frequently asked questions we get about life here in King Cove is “What’s the fishing like?”

Answer:  IT’S GREAT!!!!

You can stand on the dock and catch cod and halibut. And Keri has even gone out on the ocean in a friend’s boat to fish. He’s also caught some salmon and trout in the streams. And we have a neighbor who is a fisherman by profession, and has dropped off fish, crab legs, and octopus. It was funny when his wife gave me the crab legs. She was actually apologetic because they were so small…and those suckers were over a foot long! We thought they were great! But more on crab in a later blog.

As for the salmon…WOW!

So far I’ve learned that there are actually several different species of salmon and they all “run” at different times.

The king salmon were here earlier in the year, as were the reds (named because, you guessed it, they are red instead of salmon-colored). The kings are by far the biggest…the record-holder was a whopping 126 pounds, although they are usually more like 40-something. How would you like to go down in history as the fattest guy in the river? There is a running debate on which one of them has the better flavor…the kings or the reds…but those two are definitely the favorites.

You know, if I were a salmon, I would not want to be a favorite. I’d want to be the ugly third cousin with twelve toes…the one nobody wants. The uglier, the better.  It would greatly increase the chance of longevity.

Anyway, soon the silvers are supposed to start running; also pretty good eating.

Right now, it is the pink salmon (also called humpies…they have a hump on their back) and the chum, aka dogfish. Those two kinds are the runts of the family; they are smaller. Humpies are alright to eat. But dogfish got their nickname because they are the worst of the salmon family. They are considered the lowest of all salmon…garbage meat…the bottom of the totem pole. In fact, locals refuse to eat them. So apparently, all salmon are NOT created equal. Kind of makes you wonder which kind is sitting in the grocer’s freezer.

There is a stream about 1 ½ miles from our place that is teeming with fish. What amazes me is how nuts salmon get during spawning season. I still don’t get why a fish would be so darned stubborn…or driven…or anal…or OCD…that they would insist on swimming upstream to deposit their eggs. Determined little things. And they all come at the same time…hoards of them. There are so many salmon in that stream, it looks like the water is boiling.

Swimming upstream would be bad enough—but to trying to do it with a crowd would really get on my nerves. If I were a salmon, I would seriously look for a nice little spot downstream to lay my eggs. A little shade, a little shelter, and I'd be in business. Let the crazies fight it out upstream. I’d have better things to do. I’m not quite sure what that would be in the salmon world, but almost anything would beat fighting a crowd for the privilege of spawning. 


I took a video of my husband, Keri, trying to catch a salmon, bear-style. It also shows a little of how packed the salmon are...the "boiling water" effect. To see it, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fPLfGohjjc 

Here he is with a couple of humpies he caught.

King Cove Rules!

I am in the Aleutians and I LOVE it! King Cove, to be exact. It’s on the Aleutian Island chain in Alaska. You know…that chain of islands that comes off the bottom of the state and stretches west over the ocean all the way t0 Russia.

There is SO much to tell! But I’ll have to do it in bits--otherwise, this single entry would turn into a book.

It took 4 ½ days of travel to get here. (This included a 2 day / 3 night ferry trip, which was adventure in itself. But I’ll tell you all about it in a later blog.)

My husband had been here for about a month already, and kept raving about it. I was only half believing him. The ferry docked at King Cove when it was still dark as tar outside. But when the sun came up...Wow! What a place!

Here are the highlights:

There is a stream about 1 ½ miles from our place, and there is so much salmon running up it that it looks like the water is boiling. The salmon swim UP stream to get to where they are going to spawn. Determined little things. Swimming upstream is bad enough—but to try it with a crowd would really get on my nerves. If I were a salmon, I would seriously look for a nice little spot downstream to lay my eggs. A little shade, a little shelter, and I'd be in business.

We have our own active volcano. Actually, in this part of the country, it isn’t all that impressive. I’ve been told that there are more active volcanoes in our little stretch of islands than anywhere on earth. We are part of the Ring of Fire.

And the island is green! Everywhere! There aren’t many trees around…probably because of the severe winds that come through here. They are mostly shrubs, bushes, and mossy spongy ground cover. But what we’ve got is dense greenery.

I got here exactly a week ago, and every day we've gone exploring. It is great!

We went berry picking, catching salmon (with bare hands…bear style), and went as far as the roads would take us.

Here is what I know so far:
- There is a LOT to do here!
- Spawning fish are CRAZY!
- There are a lot of bears...Kodiaks.
- The berries are huge, seedy, and S-W-E-E-T!
- It rains a ton.
- I’m going to like it here!

All of that will have to wait for later blogs. For now, here are some snapshots of our new home.

 Yup...it is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L here!

 ...and more beauty!

 The view out our window. 

Notice the trail coming down the mountain between the buildings? 

It's a BEAR trail. 

You know how deer will create a trail in the woods that they follow? 

Well, this one was created by Kodiak bears.

This is a closeup of the bear trail.

 The other part of the view out our window.

This is a fresh water lake. In the background, you can barely see the bottom part of the volcano.

Life is good.

More to follow.