2nd trip - Dipnetting on the Kenai

We headed out of Anchorage at 4:30 am on a Wednesday morning (7/18) with Holly taking the day off from work! It was a great drive with little traffic and only one construction delay. We arrived at 7:30 and Holly and Rudy were on the beach and in the water by 8 am. The water already had more people in than I had ever seen before but the real rush hadn't even started.















We had the high tide pegged about 8 am. As the tide started going out Rudy caught a fish about 9 am. All of a sudden it seemed like people were shoulder to shoulder and fish were starting to pop out of the water with a lot of speed.





























The fishing got pretty wild for awhile. My job was to 'bonk' the fish and gut them after Rudy and Holly brought them out of the water . Within an hour we had ten in the ice chest and I decided that I had better start filleting. So I set up my work station and got to work. Our pile continued to grow! It was difficult to keep up ...









































The dippers!










































Dipnetting brings out many people. Some come to watch what is going on and some come to help.





















The gulls are everywhere. As you clean your fish if you throw the egg sacs there is a mad dash of gulls fighting over them. I had piles of carcasses which the gulls finally felt brave enough to invade!

The fishing slowed down with the low tide. As the tide came back in the current was very strong making it hard to hold the net out in the water. As it was starting to drizzle and our ice chests were almost full we decided it was time to head for home. After packing up the bus we hit the road. We were home at 10 pm. We had 42 fish! A great day!