Salmon Fishing

We left later than we intended, but it was still only 6:17 AM when I drove the van out the lane. Andy was in front of me pulling the boat.

The sun had already been up for a couple hours, so it felt strange to drive through the little town of Anchor Point and find it quiet and empty.

Once we reached Homer, Andy launched the boat at the ramp while I herded all four children through the bathrooms on our way over to the harbor from the parking area.

It was cold from the night chill – 40 degrees before we left our cabin – and we bundled to the gills in coats and hats before getting all the life jackets on. We took a while,  sitting there in our boat at the launching ramp. The people looking on probably thought it was quite the circus, and several of them waved to us once we finally pushed off and began motoring to the mouth of the harbor.

Andy pointed the boat toward our favorite salmon fishing spot, and the children and I settled on the hard boat seats, our eyes tearing up from the wind.

A puffin flew past, and I saw a dolphin surface 1…2…3 times before diving deep, out of sight. There are so many times my camera is just not quick enough, so we just enjoy the scene in the moment, tickled we get to see it ourselves.

China Poot Bay is a dry bay, so you can only get in around high tide. We anchored the boat near the mouth of the creek and Andy jumped right out with his fishing rod. We could see the schools of salmon swimming up into the creek, and before long Andy began pulling them in, one after the other. After a while Andy offered to hold the baby so I could take a turn fishing.

It took me a while to get the hang of it, but finally I learned to wait until I saw a group of 7 or more fish coming up the creek. If I’d throw in my line right in the middle of them I could hardly help but catch a fish! Andy joined me, and holding Ariel in one arm, managed to catch three more salmon one-handed.

The limit per person is six fish caught with a pole, so before very long we had caught all we could. Gabe tried too, but only caught algae, even with Andy’s help.

Grabbing the nets from the boat, we started our long trek up to the falls, me ahead, carrying Ariel and helping Jasmine, Andy behind, carrying the nets and Oscar. Gabe was able to navigate his own way through the rocks on the steep creek bank. Praise God, one less to carry this year!

China Poot falls was roaring over the rocks, and we took turns staying with the children and wading out with the net to dip it deep into the hole beneath the falls. The water is 15-20 feet there, and the salmon like to stay at the bottom, swimming around while they get up the energy to try to jump the falls. We caught 2-3 fish per dip, and with the limit 6 per person, it didn’t take very long until our stringer was full. Gabe and Jasmine were able to help with the dip-netting, and Gabe caught his limit while Jasmine caught two. We’ll be hearing their fishing stories the rest of the year!

We hiked down in shifts, carrying the children to a level spot, fording the creek, then going back for the fish and the nets.

There were 32 salmon to load into our coolers before Andy started up the boat motor and we began to put all the coats, hats and life jackets on the children for the trip back.

There is always at least one moment during these adventures that I catch myself wondering if it’s worth all the work to bring the whole family, but to see Gabe’s face as he holds up a salmon, or the delight as Jasmine and Oscar point out two bald eagles swooping down for fish, and to hear them talk about their adventures later – it’s worth it.