fishing trip

No trip to Alaska would be right without a fishing trip. During past trips I've had the pleasure of fishing for halibut and twice going out for salmon. It is especially cool on the salmon trips that we need to get to our location by plane. It's one more treat for the 'city boy' that I feel like when I'm in Alaska.

This time around our fishing trip was a bit different. We were going for a fish that was quite a bit less difficult to catch even if they sound tough...Hooligan.

The trip in the plane was fun as ever. Dad was flying of course, I was in the co-pilot seat (and not needed this trip, thankfully) with sister-in-law Sharon and nephew James in back. The trip was uneventful, although we did see some moose and a bald eagle on the way.

Unless you've been on a trip with a true bush pilot it's really hard to imagine what it's like to land in and take off from these remote locations. There's no airport there kids. So this time out I shot some video.

The landing on "Hooligan Island"

Hooligan are small fish (also called Candlefish by natives, since they dry them and burn them like candles) that are oily and look something like sardines to my untrained eye. They run past this island for about two days at the same time every year, heading off to spawn. Here's what they look like swimming:

Hooligan running

To catch them we got a net and scooped them up. It's that easy. So easy it almost feels wrong... Here's a look at part of James' catch up close and me with a net full:

Fish in a barrel?














James and I with fish and a plane














The view...














It was a very short trip. It doesn't take long to catch a bucket full, so we were off. It was fun and another interesting piece of Alaska for me. I'll end with another bit of bush piloting.

Takeoff from Hooligan Island

Jonathan