Salmon Fishing Lessons from Alaska

On our recent Alaska cruise, we signed on for a half-day salmon fishing trip from Ketchikan. Here, I use the royal “we,” referencing the decision-makers in our family who determined that fishing would be a great adventure during our Alaskan vacation.

Based on that introduction, the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes are not required to understand that I am not a fisherman. Nope, never have been, and never will be. Neither the allure of long periods of macho companionship swapping stories about the ones that go away or the promise of consuming mass quantities of alcohol on a gently rocking boat have enticed me to “enjoy” fishing.  But the marital wisdom obtained over nearly 40 years plus some peace-keeping skills that might be useful in the United Nations helped guide me to the right family decision. I booked our expedition in Ketchikan through the excursions offered by Costco Travel, and that’s how we met up with Captain Dan on the docks of Ketchikan for our fishing adventure in a scenic glacial fjord.

Let me paint a picture of our Captain Dan. If you remember the movie Forrest Gump, you may recall Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan, sitting on an Alabama fishing dock as Forrest sailed past on his shrimp boat. After Forrest jumps off and swims up to Lieutenant Dan with great enthusiasm, Sinise deadpans, “I thought I’d try out my sea legs.” That was our Captain Dan: serious and unsmiling on the outside, but with just enough wit and charm to make him likable.

After traveling about three miles down a lovely channel, we entered a fishing ground jammed with commercial, charter and private fishing boats closely resembling North Atlanta’s I-75/I-285 intersection at rush hour when the Braves are playing a home game. That’s just slight hyperbole as most of Alaska apparently was closed for salmon fishing, and this small area outside of Ketchikan was one of the rare territories open during our visit.

Which leads directly to the lessons we learned about fishing trips in Alaska, which included:

• Wildlife Encounters Are Not Guaranteed. On almost every tour or excursion, guides provided detailed and vivid descriptions of recent wildlife sighting and events. And charter captains love to tell the stories about their best trips. But lawyers must have intervened somewhere along the way, as virtually every description or tale was followed almost immediately by a disclaimer, “Wildlife enounters aren’t guaranteed.” From cruise directors to tour bus drivers and including boat captains, that scripted admonition was recited almost verbatim. While friends and neighbors also had regaled us with tales of spectacular fishing success, our four-person expedition caught only one king salmon, and had only one additional strike. Judging from commercial and recreational boats around us, we weren’t alone in our lack of success. Our captain assured us that his fish finder indicated the presence of fish, but they just weren’t active. Here’s an idea – how about a fish finder with a sensor for identifying the hungry ones? Someone could make Bill Gates/Steve Jobs/Paul Allen type money with that! Anyone have an idea on how to sense electronically and identify fish hunger pangs?

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  Double-check the Season. While Alaska has a reputation as a land where almost “anything goes,” complex fish and game regulations apply, especially to non-natives and tourists. A variety of authorities now regulate hunting and fishing periods (though according to Captain Dan, over-fishing is a growing problem). Our fishing in Ketchikan was limited to a smallish geographic area, and we were allowed only one king salmon per person. In fact, the regulations were so specific that one of our charter group always had to reel in the line to clear it of seaweed or freshen bait just in case their was a fish on instead of debris. We were further restricted by natural seasons, which we had not considered when booking. Visiting in mid-June, we apparently arrived about two to three weeks early for the best fishing, when salmon are running, almost all of Alaskan waters are open, and the fish are so plentiful they jump into your boat (of course, that last statement followed by a legal disclaimer, “wildlife encounters aren’t guaranteed.) So before dropping lots of cash for an early-season trip, do some research on the areas you’re visiting. And if fishing is your primary reason for visiting, push your trip back to later in the year.

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  Enjoy the Experience and the Scenery. If my tone sounds disappointed and grumpy, I apologize – that’s just me, and not the Alaska fishing experience. We had a wonderful time fishing and enjoying the natural wonders in a smaller boat. We were surrounded by bald eagles, and captured spectacular pictures and video of several hunting for small fish around the nearby boats. We were even more thrilled to witness several pods of humpback whales in the narrow channel. One pod seemed to play in a small cove, then turned into the channel and swam out to deeper waters. A second pod swam under our boat, plainly visible on the fish-finder, then surfaced several times within 100 yards of us. (No, we couldn’t tell if these mammals were hungry, either!) We watched in fascination as they blew out their expended air creating small geysers near the boat. Surfacing three times, they then seemed to wave goodbye with their tales before submerging for a longer dive. Turns out we saw more whales for a longer time on our fishing trip than we did on our whale watching tour the day prior. But, remember, wildlife encounters aren’t guaranteed, and we did see three bears playing on a rocky shore during our whale watching trip.

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  Have Your Camera Ready. As mentioned, we landed one king salmon. Although it wasn’t hooked on his rod, we allowed our 13-year-old son to enjoy an unforgettable experience reeling that 20-pounder to the boat. As I helped hold the pole tip up, the fish ran for awhile before Eli reeled with all his might, his face a mix of fascination, strain and unbridled joy. Unfortunately, since I was helping to hold the pole and Eli was reeling, neither of us could take pictures. Our other family photographer was busy calling out instruction and cheering on the proceeding, with her camera safely stowed in the cabin inside a waterproof bag.  We missed documenting this part of the trip — one might argue the raison d’être. No still pictures. No video. And while we do have pictures of the fish in the boat, Captain Dan removing the hook, and then the traditional display of the trophy fish, we’ll never be able to relive those action-shot-moments except in our memories.

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  Don’t Calculate Your Per-Pound Fish Cost. We decided in advance that any fish we caught would be shipped back home for us to enjoy on our return. According to stoic Captain Dan, our 20-pounder would yield about 10 pounds of fish after being cleaned. Forms and a credit card were necessary to complete the easy transaction, valued just over $100. At this point my wife informed me, “Well, that’s cheaper than I could buy it in the store,” explaining that she pays approximately $20 per pound for fresh, wild-caught Alaskan salmon at our local grocery. Now, while I majored in journalism so I wouldn’t have to take math, even my feeble calculating skills recognized that this equation did not include all the potential variables. “What about the cost of the licenses,” I asked, adding another $50 to the total.  “Still a good deal at $15 per pound,” was the response. “What about the excursion cost,” I asked, pointing out that Eli’s participation was over $200. “Oh, that doesn’t count because we’re on vacation,” was the next reply. “And what about our cost, another $200 per person,” I asked. Similarly, “We’ve on vacation, so that doesn’t count either,” was the final answer. Over-matched and referring to my mental peace-keeping skills checklist, I capitulated and accepted the logic.  After all, we undertook our whale watching excursion with no expectations of returning with whale, and from our dog sledding adventure with no intention of retaining a dog (thankfully!), so why would we consider the cost of our fishing expedition into the cost of fish which we retain?

  

Our Next Fishing Trip?

After our return from Alaska, we met up with our extended family in Louisiana. There, our grandchildren enjoyed fishing with their great grandfather and other family members. Each grandchild caught multiple fish, small bream hooked from the dock fishing with worms as bait. Which, of course, led to the question about our next fishing trip. At this point, I don’t have an answer.  But I can assure you that it will be close by, it won’t require air travel, bus transportation or a cruise ship.  And where ever it is, I’ll enjoy every minute of it without ever calculating our cost-per-pound.