I love Alaska. I know of no other place where thousands of people can congregate on a small stretch of river bank with their cars, trucks, ATVs, tents, dogs, barbecues and lawn chairs, with almost everyone carrying around massive 5' diameter nets with 4' long handles, and there's not one fight. At least not one that I saw. It's like a giant camp-out with thousands of friends you don't know.
Dip netting: a pursuit that Alaskans on the Kenai Peninsula take very seriously. When the salmon run up rivers, this hardy group of Alaskans don their chest waders, grab hold of a giant net, walk out into a chilly river, push their net out and stand waiting for a fish to swim into it. What I don't get is how hundreds of people (if not thousands) can stand on the banks of a river side by side with their nets out and most of them can catch fish. It happens!
The three of us decided to try our luck on the Kasilof River last night. We joined thousands of people on the river with nets out in hopes of catching a fish.
I can't believe we caught one. I estimate that with the cost of the nets and gear we purchased and the cost of gas to get to the dip netting place, we paid $150 a pound for that Sockeye Salmon we caught. It was really fun though - totally worth it.
Labels: alaska dipnetting, Alaska Travel, dip net, Kasilof River
