Shari Hauling Fish

More images of these two fishing trips in the gallery.

If there is one thing out here that most of the locals talk about when it comes to sport and subsistence fishing, it’s the arrival of the Sockeye Salmon at McLees Lake and Reese Bay.  The past few years the fishing has been hit and miss.  Fish and Game would close the area around the rivers outlet to the bay until at least 10,000 fish passed through the fish weir to the lake, then the area from the outlet and around the bay would be open for gill netting.  In the past the immediate area would remain closed until the first or second week of July.

This year however, the escapement number was reach early and the area around the river outlet was opened to fishing.  Jennifer, Shari and I made plans to head out early on Friday to go fishing.  We took two boats and headed out about 0800.   We ended up with 32 fish in just over and hour.  It was fun fast fishing, we were certainly happy with our catch.

Jennifer Picking The Net

I had also made plans to fish with Aura the following Monday.  Earlier in the year she had ordered a net and was very anxious to get it in the water and see it fish.  Originally we were going to meet up and leave about 0530.  However I was on fire watch with the fire department and ended spending my Fourth of July night putting out unattended (abandoned) bon fires until about 0300.  So we ended up leaving about 0730 instead.

We headed around to the bay, we were the first ones there.  It took a little bit to figure out the best location to fish her net, once we got it dialed in – it fished very well, netting fish every few minutes.  After a few hours we packed up and headed back.  She was happy with her net, and the fish it caught.

Once we got back to the dock, we cleaned up the boat and I started to fillet the salmon.  I keep the roe (eggs) also, I like to cure them and use them as bait for Silver Salmon (coho) later this year.  I have a large batch of salmon that are in

Aura Very Happy With Her New Net

a nice dry brine getting ready to head to the smoker, and the rest I vacuum sealed with a variety of seasonings and put them them in the freezer.

All in all, two good fishing trips, and a few good pictures.  I believe I ended up with 18 fish for myself.  I could use  a few more though.

More images of these two fishing trips in the gallery.