Happy Birthday Lindsy!

Yesterday was Lindsy's 21st Birthday. We made a carrot cake, and used matches in lieu of candles.

Here at Chignik we celebrate birthdays right.

Boat trouble

On the last trip to Black Lake, the boot (jet intake) came off the boat while we were running. Luckily we had two boats, so Conrad and Lindsy floated downstream while I went back for parts. it made for a long evening.

Up at Black Lake, there is a long sand spit that projects out into the water. In the morning we approached the spit and saw this little fox poking around.

Electrofishing

Simms wader models.

For my work creating a Dolly Varden genetic baseline we electrofish small creeks to collect newly emerged Dolly fry.

E-fishing in action. The fish are tiny and don't get stunned for very long, so we have to be quick with the nets.

At Disappearing Creek, the stream literally bubbles up from a spring after 300 yards or so. Last year we were dismayed to find the "end" of the creek when we hadn't collected enough fish, but this year we did better. After shocking the creek we drank from the spring and took a little break.

Summertime!

Last week we finally got some good weather.

Conrad busted out the hammock

I grilled some burgers and brats and exposed some of my skin to the sun.

Today we went halibut fishing. We didn't catch any halibut, but brought some cod home for tacos. On the way back we stopped to grab a photo on this cool rock.

Team FRI (Conrad is taking the picture).

Birds

We have a fair number of sandhill cranes around this time of year. A couple of weeks ago a pair was hanging out in the marsh behind our cabin. I saw this one up at Black Lake a couple days ago. Its not a great shot, but they are hard to get close to.

Bald eagles are more common and easier to get close to. This juvenile was hanging out on the bank of Chignik River and we doubled back after passing him once and he didn't seem to mind. Sometimes the eagles on the salmon spawning grounds get so fat with fish they seem to have trouble taking off, but early season they are pretty trim.

Fishing the Alec

A couple times a summer we try to get up the the upper Alec River to catch Dolly Varden to look at growth rates and collect genetic samples. Its a tricky trip and takes a couple of hours of riding in the jet boats to get all the way up there. The water is high right now, so we didn't run into too much trouble but you still have to pay attention.

Conrad busted out his spey rod to go after the dollies when we stopped in a good looking area.

This is the biggest Dolly I have sampled to date, about 20 inches. Some smaller fish we found there last year were 9 years old, so this big boy may be even older.

After a long day of fishing we headed back down the Alec to a bumpy ride across Chignik Lake.

Fishery is open!

Here is a leftover from the beginning of the season. We get all of our food in one big shipment and its a bit of craziness while we try to get all of it stored in appropriate places (cupboards, shelves, under beds). This year I went big and got a whole case of Tapatio hot sauce! We are ready for Tish to visit next month.

I have also been waiting to do some sushi here, and this year we finally made it happen. We didn't have much but salmon to put in the rolls, but we managed cabbage, spicy sauce, cashews, carrot, and Pushki (cow parsnip).

Yesterday (June 17th) Alaska Fish and Game opened the commercial sockeye salmon season in Chignik. They shot off a flare at 8pm to start the fishery and we went down to watch (It was a little lumpy, but we braved the weather and Conrad got this picture of the flare).

Desperado's first set went well despite the weather and they had ~100 fish or so. Our friend Fred is captaining the boat and can be seen on the stern handling the floats here. There were about 30 boats fishing and they delivered 39,000 fish on the first day (I don't know what the price is right now, but probably in the ballpark of 80 cents/pound and 5-6 pounds per fish. The escapement up the river so far (what the fishermen don't catch) is about 160,000 fish, pretty high compared to recent years.

Iron Chef

So, the other day the folks from the Fish and Game weir sponsored an Iron Chef competition. The rules were that each entry had to be a "sandwich" of sorts without using bread (apparently this follows a Kentucky Fried Chicken sandwich that uses chicken as the bun. So, we at FRI submitted a breakfast sandwich. Two bacon "lattice" pieces serve as the bun. Then in the middle there is two layers of hashbrowns, and a "toad in a hole" in the center. F&G threw out a surprise ingredient at the last minute, SPAM. So that was included as well (I mean really why not).

Spam art! Here is the final product. That bacon lattice was inspired.

We got second place!! In full disclosure, I did not try this thing myself. And no, we do not normally eat this kind of thing. We do have a case of bacon we are trying to get rid of though.

Black lake

One of our first tasks of the season is to head up to Black Lake to check on Jen's stuff and get some monitoring equipment in the water. Its a two day trip and we overnight in a bear hunter's cabin. The accommodations are spartan but it keeps us dry.

Jen keeps her weather station on a cabin at Black Lake (different from the one we stay in). After downloading the data from the winter and re-powering the station we break for lunch in the lee of the cabin.

Our season opening crew includes Jen, Conrad, Lindsy, and Curry (left to right).

After the weather station is in, we install water height gauges and conduct flow measurements in the Alec River (a tributary of Black Lake). This involves stringing a steel cable across the river and making depth and flow measurements every meter from side to side.

First science

We have doubled our limnological efforts this year, and it means a full boat when we sample. Luckily the weather was perfect for the first shakedown sampling this year.

To make the sampling easier we added some moorings to the lake. With a clip we can attach the boat easily and maintain position for sampling. Previously, a boat driver was required to maintain position, so this is way better. To make moorings we found old outboards in the bushes and tied them up to lines. As it turns out, Evinrudes do make good anchors!

Its been a cold spring here, and there are still large patches of snow around the lake and mountaintops.

There aren't many moose in Chignik, but we occasionally see one. There are lots of bears and hunters, so I think they don't stand much of a chance. This little guy was hanging out near the edge of the lake on our way back from sampling.

Back in Chignik

Conrad and Jen are excited to be flying back to Chignik this year. Here we are leaving King Salmon for Chignik Lake. The last leg of our journey to camp.

A view of Chignik Bay from the air. Spring is late this year and everything is brown and snowy when we arrive.

Willard was nice enough to drive all of our stuff form the airstrip to the lake, and the Fish and Game smolt crew gave us a ride across the lake to our camp.

First order of business at camp is to unboard the cabin and get the generator working. Our efforts last fall paid off as there were no voles in the cabin (or vole evidence) when we arrived.

The new generator shed we built last season was welcomed by the bears in fine style. Now it looks like a real Chignik generator shed.