We feel so blessed to have our friends Kip and Leigh invite us to their set net site and learn the ways of salmon fishing on Kodiak. A set net is a semi-permanent location where someone can obtain a license to catch salmon fish with a net. The site is semi-permanent because the site is broken down at the end of each season, but the location does not change from year to year.
The day after we arrived we enjoyed a fun barbecue where other set-netters came from all around Larson’s Bay. Good food, fun games, wonderful conversation. We were thinking of taking off, but the weather did not look good so we spent a couple of days hiking and seeing what it’s like to live in an Alaskan summer cabin. On Wednesday the opening of red salmon fishing was announced to open Friday at noon.
Just before noon on Friday we met Kipp and Leigh and that is about all we shall say. A fisherman’s catch is a very confidential matter, both as a personal thing and legally, thus not to be discussed online, but we will say that catching fish in a gill net seems very fun time to us, at least for a single afternoon. Types of salmon caught were “pinks”, “reds” and “dogs or also called chums”. To top off the day, a neighbor got a 30+ pound white king salmon, which became a splendid group dinner of this delicious fish prepared by Leigh.
Leigh’s Grilled Salmon: She cut salmon into 4 to 6 oz fillets. Marinated the fish for one hour in half soy sauce and cooking sherry. She barbecued them over a grill using a fish basket, so the salmon could be flipped to cook on both side. Once the salmon was ready to come off the grill she brushed sautéed garlic butter over the top of each filet. Simple recipe but delightful! She also prepared the belly meat the same way but cooked separately because the belly is high in fat and it tastes like fish bacon! The skins that stayed on the grill extra long or got crispy tasted like a fish pork rind. Yummy!
This morning at 5 am we weighed anchor about an hour or so before low tide. Our depth finder read as low as 7 feet on our way out of Chief Cove and as our keel has a 6 foot draft; we had a bow look out. We are motor sailing down the Shelikof Straight today and hopefully will arrive sometime tomorrow near the Shumagin Islands. Today the winds have been primarily from both the west and south so we have been tacking back and forth trying to get to forecasted favorable winds.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Underway Noon Position 57° 37.400’N, 154° 45.813W
Good VHF Weather Signal, Unsure of SSB Signal, 5/5 Iridium Go connection
To find where are Wade, Sara, and SV Just Drifting, copy and paste these coordinates 57.623,-154.764 into Google Maps!
