Tish in Alaska

Tish arrived at camp a few days ago. We went out on the river for some king fishing.

Tish and Conrad (combo effort) caught a nice one!

We have been working pretty hard, but today there was a little down time for guitar practice.

Black Lake revisited

Up the Alec river there are some neat marshy areas that have fun plants we don't really see anywhere else. Conrad snapped some of these shots of one of our trips to Black Lake.

Curious bear.

Amazingly flat and clear day on Black Lake with an incredible view of Mt. Veniaminof, our local volcano.

Coming home from Black Lake can get challenging. Jets are a necessity as the the delta is only a few inches deep in spots. To make it through we go as fast as we can and hope to find the channel. Sometimes we don't make it and have to push the boats.

Often bears fish in the delta because it is so shallow and the can easily catch fish. Usually they run for their lives when we come screaming through at top speed, but occasionally they are curious and hang around while we push the boats.

Baby Bears

Every time there is a bear in camp, we run out to take pictures. No matter how many pictures you have, there is always room for another bear shot.

This year there seem to be lots of bear cubs around. A couple nights ago we saw this sow and cub across the river and watched mom fish with the cub on her back.

At one of our beach seine sites in the lagoon we saw a sow with two cubs that were enjoying some rare sunshine. Mom lay in the water while the young ones frolicked on the beach.

Nothing more exciting than a washed up orange!

Halibut!

Our last fishing expedition to the bay was disappointing. We ended us catching nothing but Pacific cod. Cod is ok, but it really pales in comparison to a nice halibut taco. So we went for an all day outing to the bay. We left on the morning high with plans to do some stream work in the bay, get some fuel and groceries, then fish our way home on the evening tide. We saw bears, a gray whale and some otters while we were out on a really beautiful day.

And we came home with four halibut, although it was after midnight at this point. We were starving and decided to go for it and clean the fish and make tacos.

1:30 am: Yay, fish tacos!! I'm so excited and delirious from lack of sleep!

1:35 am: Too many fish tacos.

4th of July fun

For the second year in a row we went to the Fish and Game weir to have a BBQ and horseshoe tournament. For the second year in a row I was randomly paired with the weir manager. We braved some lousy weather, but it was still fun to hang out with everyone.

The boys at the weir found some inventive ways to launch bottle rockets. The pipe that I use to hold some of my fish tracking instrumentation was apparently the perfect launching pad.

We also launched some expired rocket flares.

Todd and I won the horseshoe tournament. I think it was the power of the smoked salmon sticks that helped my delivery.

Weir Art contest

A couple days ago, we were invited to an art contest at the Fish and Game weir. They are a talented bunch and put together quite a show. I was lacking in inspiration and made a "monkey's fist" and braid with some rope I found on the beach.

As a group submission, we all put together this FRI gingerbread cabin (and associated out building).

Note the working seat!



Apparently my rope ball smelled authentic enough to win the "most resourceful" category. They had some sweet prizes. I just missed out on the six pack of beer and won the electronic game Catch Phrase instead.

West Fork

A week or so ago we attempted a trip that we have been talking about for a few years, West Fork. West Fork is the river that drains Mt. Veniaminof, our closest volcano, but has not been visited by and FRI students in recent history. It is very silty and notoriously braided, but it harbors a large amount of the watershed that I have no genetic samples from. So, while the water was still high we decided to take both our jets up the river and give it a try. As predicted. the lower stretch is a silty mess. Both boats ended up getting stuck and a bit of cooling system repair and pushing was needed (here Conrad and Lindsy are working on the duck boat).

Once we got past the delta area the going was easier, although its is still a flat braided mess, and some on the fly decisions are required about direction.

We got very close to the volcano and it afforded some spectacular views between the clouds.

In the end we made it about 25 km up the West Fork. We could have gone further, but the gradient got pretty steep and we were more worried about getting back down, so we decided to call it a day. In the end I got 300 Dolly Varden samples from three streams, so the mission was a success