September 16, 2016 – The end of another day on the Atnarko gill netting for Chinook broodstock, today the crew I was on was on the Lower Atnarko, the area that is usually crawling with grizzlies, but none came to visit today. Perhaps they didn’t like the weather forecast. In fact the only wildlife I saw this trip was a moose hanging out with the cows in a farmer’s field both days we drove up the valley.
The forecast was for rain, but the Atnarko is up the valley quite a ways and the weather is often different. It drizzled a bit, but didn’t really turn into much until we had caught our target of Chinook brood and pulled the boat out at Belarko.
Tangle nets are effective, but nasty things. The fish get the fine mesh tangled around their fins, hooked under their operculum, snagged around their maxillae, and woven into their teeth. Trying to get them out of the nets is an exercise in patience.
And then there are the pinks.
Although we are after Chinook, the river has a lot of pinks in it too, and so many of those little buggers get themselves so badly wedged and twisted in the nets. The first fish to get out are the Chinook does, then the Chinook bucks, then everything else. And the pinks have tiny little razors for teeth, and those little tiny razors are almost impossible to avoid over two days of fishing. My finger tips are littered with tiny nicks, but I managed to avoid any major gashes.
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