Dip netting the Kenai River and processing the fish!

[@benmiller3358]

This is the single most authentic channel in the history of KZbin. Love it!

[@AlaskaPirates]

Thank you! That means a lot ! Really appreciate it! So glad that you are enjoying it!

[@harddocs]

In the early 1980's, I spent 1 weekend + 1 full week + 1 more weekend in Chitina, AK in an RV on the banks of the lake right in town (the salmon weren't running the first weekend, so I stayed & they were thick the next weekend when my friends returned). It was a short walk to the gravel beach of the Copper River (I think it's still called Copper that far north?). Anyway, we had a 3 foot net on a 10 foot aluminum pole + we added 24 feet of our concrete finishers fiberglass bowl float pole - screwed together as normal + duct taped for safety! We over lapped 5' of the nets aluminum handle, so our total pole length was 34 feet minus the 5 foot overlap (duct taped) = 29 feet. I was holding onto 3 feet of it, so I could pitch out 26'. We wore chest waders and walked through a channel at the bank about 16' feet off the bank to a gravel bar & another 12' feet into the river after that to get to a DEEP channel - all the way up to our chest. We basically just fed the pole straight up in the air directly over our heads & then let it tip down (pointing a bit upstream) into the water where it would sink - while we started bunny hopping downstream. There was an ebb & flow to runs & what we saw as time of day but when you felt something hit that net, you headed for shore! It was common to have 3-4 coho / silvers at 8~12 LBS in the net with & 2-3 sockeye / reds (Mr. FUGLY) @ 4~6 LBS. Long story long - I had the record that weekend with 100 LBS of fish in one dip! I got 2 chinook / kings @ 25 & 30 LBS (55 LB) + 3 silvers @ 10 & 10 & 15 (35 LB) + 2 reds @ 5 & 5 (10LB) = 100 LB! I did NOT do it alone though! When the first few fish hit the net, I started heading to shore, but then my net got hit again & started dragging me out on my heels & I started screaming for help! 5 dudes jumped in the water (one was my uncle, so he had to) and dragged my ass out! We weighed the fish & took pics & made new friends! We loaned the net to our new friends & they ran that same deep channel that I was and scored 40-60 LB dips & we were all VERY happy! I swear there were 10-15 people around our open fire on a gravel beach cooking 10 minute caught salmon in tin foil pouches - slathered in butter & some poached with onion & garlic & a few people had the foresight to bring potatoes & asparagus! Top 10 story of my life... BUT WAIT - there's more!

[@harddocs]

We took an RV to the river, but salmon weren't running. I volunteered to stay with the RV & my friends left their RV's w/ me so they could go home & come back w/ out the stress of towing. Best 5 weekdays of my life... I woke up early & built a fire, made cowboy coffee on the cast iron grate & jumped into an extremely COLD lake to wash up (yep - bio degradable soap existed in 1983). I drank my coffee squatting by the fire under a wool pancho - until I saw something in the water across the lake... At first I thought it was a goose, then I saw 2 geese, then I didn't know what I was seeing, then I finally realized it was a moose w/ a caboose (calf) and they were headed for my beach! All you could see was a large & small moose head sticking out of the water, so at a distance, I thought it was as goose & duck. When the mommy moose got close enough to look me in the eye, I poured my last cup of coffee grounds & went in the camper & looked out the window! Mom & her calf shook off like dogs do & then just stood by the fire for 30 or 40 minutes. I got dressed while waiting for them to leave & then went down to the river to dip. 5 days in a row - no joke. When the other people came back the next weekend, I told them about momma moose. We all saw her swimming in the lake on the other side, but she saw all of us watching & found another exit from the lake. The end.

[@AlaskaPirates]

AWESOME! That’s a mega dip!! I have never had that much in one! I do love the copper river though! I’ve pulled a couple of all nighters out there and come back with everyone’s limits. I even dipped a few kings but had to toss them back. I love the raw power of that river, and the entire journey to get there. It’s beautiful. I think back then was when Alaska was still incredible. These days it’s slowed down a lot! I wish I could have been around back then! But I was busy being born! 🤣 thanks for the story! I love hearing about the hood ol’ days!!

[@AlaskaPirates]

That’s amazing! I love those interactions with nature here! That’s indeed a once in a lifetime kind of deal!! I bet you are one of only a few that has had moose come over and warm themselves by your fire!! Maybe even the only one! I don’t know if you saw my eagle videos, but so many ppl just don’t understand nature these days! Lucky you!!!

[@AlaskaPirates]

Thanks for sharing! I think a lot of your comments in the past were part of KZbin’s issue, they seem to have worked out the issue for new comments, but they said they are still working on the ones in the past that got filtered out. So annoying! But please! Keep them coming! I truly enjoy hearing about Alaska back in the day! I want to do more interviews with old timers for this channel, just haven’t had the time, plus older folks up here hate tech🤣🤦🏻‍♂️ thanks for sharing!

[@harddocs]

I'm sure you've heard the term "drunk post" and that's about the only time I post on youtube, but the story I gave you is 100% true. Here's another one... After a few days, I got tired of waiting for the moose to leave my camp, so I left the RV and headed up a footpath into the woods vs going down the gravel road. The RV door was on the opposite side as the firepit & the camp site was all gravel & a small dwindling coffee fire, mostly burned down & it was drizzling, so nobody needs to freak out about an un attended fire. Annnnnnyway - I figured going up & down the hill behind the RV on this foot path might be shorter than going around the hill on the gravel road to the beach... but little did I know the foot path was actually a game trail & Mrs. Moose & her calf would be coming up the path right behind me. The hill was fairly steep - even for a 20 year old carpenter - so after 10 minutes, I was starting to breath hard & stopped to rest where the trail split in two. I was thinking the more distinct left path would lead to the beach I had been fishing the last 3 days & the right path looked a bit "less traveled" and it might "make all the difference" and take me somewhere more interesting, so off I went... but only about 50 to 60 feet where the trail got much less defined & I was ducking to get through the overhanging brush canopy... That's when I saw what looked like a 16" softball size human brain (squiggles and all) on the trail at my feet & it was "steaming". The sudden realization that I was standing 2 feet from a steaming pile of bear squat lit a fire under me like never before & I took off running in the direction I came from screaming NO BEAR! NO BEAR! and suddenly I was face to face with Mrs. Moose & her calf at the trail split where I just peeled off down the hill to the RV and she lit off down the well worn left side trail. Neither of us spoke about that the next 2 days... but we still shared the fire.

[@tanjredshirt]

Somehow I never realized that "dipnetting" was so literal.

[@AlaskaPirates]

Yea, same. I moved to southeast when I first came up, and there isn’t a dip net fishery there so I had no concept. When I first saw ppl doing it I chuckled to myself about how they were literally dipping their nets.