Day 40 - Haines, AK Day 6

Hard to believe I've been in Haines for 6 days now, even harder to believe that this is my 40th day in Alaska! I went into the clinic in the morning to do my standard Friday phone calls, but the dentists in the Haines clinic do not work on Friday afternoons so I left around noon.

I met up with Sean Cone and we decided to go fishing since the rain finally stopped. I had to go and buy a fishing license because the fish and gaming commission is very strict on who can fish, how many fish you can keep, and the size and length of those fish.

There are a lot of neat intricacies to fishing in Alaska, but none more interesting than the arrangement with Canadian residents in Alaska. Residents of Canada can come to Alaska and purchase a fishing license at the in-state rate (the price difference is equivalent to going to a state university and not being from that state, albeit not on that scale!) and bring fish back across the border. It's a great deal because salmon fishing in Alaska is much better than in British Columbia or the Yukon so residents of those parts of Canada can make the easy day trip into Haines or another Southeast community, clean up on fish, and then drive back home and have a sockeye filet for dinner.

Unfortunately, the Canadian government does not extend the same luxuries to American citizens that hunt and fish in Canadian provinces. Canada, specifically the parts mentioned above, has a much higher population of deer, caribou, and moose than does Alaska. Despite the fact that the Alaskan state government allows Canadians to come and take their fish at the local rate, Alaskans cannot travel to Canada and hunt these animals at any type of reduced cost. This is a huge loss for a lot of the population in the Southeast of the state because many still rely on game meat to survive and feed their large families. It's a very interesting situation and makes you wonder why there isn't more give and take, or why the American government doesn't simply start charging Canadians the out-of-state rate.

Sean and I went to the Chilkoot River hoping to catch some sockeye salmon which are just now beginning to make their run through the fresh water rivers and lakes. On the way out to the river we saw a grizzly bear who had the same idea we did - he wanted to fish. Fortunately, we fished on the opposite side of the river. My first few casts were a little difficult because I am not used to fishing with such a strong current. You cast the reel upstream and let it flow downstream as you reel it back in. The problem is that every time the current tugs at the line it feels like a fish is biting. I was very jumpy and excited until I realized that I was simply dealing with current and rocks, not a 50 pound king salmon.

We fished upstream from an area of the river where they count the salmon that run through each day. The fishing commission directs fish through certain parts of the river and then counts them by sonar. They keep track of the numbers so they can set appropriate limits for the private and commercial fisherman to ensure that they are not depleting the salmon population. Yesterday over 400 sockeye salmon ran under the sonar whereas today only 30 or so swam through.

Today was also a beautiful day whereas yesterday was cold and rainy - a perfect day for fishing. If I had gone to Skagway today and fished yesterday I would have definitely been able to both dog sled and catch a salmon. But, naturally, I did the activities in the opposite order. Oh well, such is life!

Sean and I left the Chilkoot River and drove towards the Canadian border to fish on the Chilkat River although we had similar luck there. It is still a bit early for the salmon to be running in large enough quantities to catch them easily. In another month or so people will be catching so much salmon that they won't even be able to give it away. Even though we didn't catch any fish I still had a great time talking with Sean and spending the day out in the sun - sure beats work.

I came back from fishing and watched the Cardinals game. Almost as frustrating as not being able to catch a fish was the fact that nobody on the team can get a clutch hit or any hit for that matter. The Cardinals apparently do not play well on Alaskan time. For dinner we ate salmon that someone else caught, not as fun, but still good nonetheless. After dinner I finished packing and just relaxed. I convinced Lisa and Zach to come with me to Juneau tomorrow to run in the midnight race (more on that tomorrow...) tomorrow night. Not only will it be fun to spend an extra day with them, but Lisa is bringing her car so I won't have to walk from the Juneau ferry terminal back to the dorm, instead, I'll have a ride...