It was low tide at lunchtime last Thursday, and the mudflats stretched out toward the horizon. Kenai's north beach was relatively quiet, except for seagulls flying overhead and waves crashing in the distance.
Chris Burt-Burger and her husband pulled a green wagon full of buckets and a large dipnet across the sand.
“He likes eating the fish, I love catching them," Burt-Burger joked. "It's just a thrill. And I actually love being in the water. So it doesn't really bother me to stand out there.”
Clad in hip waders, they waited for high tide. That’s the optimal time to advance into the water with their five-foot diameter nets and harvest as many sockeye as they can. The couple drove from Palmer, over three hours north.
Thursday was opening day of Kenai’s personal use fishery at the mouth of the Kenai River. The summer tradition is a way for Alaskans to catch enough salmon to last them through the winter.
Burt-Berger’s husband, Bryce, is hoping to harvest at least 20 sockeye.
“They say they're hitting good in the Kasilof," he said. "So we'll see what happens here.”
It was a more active scene on the beach a few hours after low tide, when a slew of dipnetters stood up to their hips in Cook Inlet’s brisk waters. A few curious spectators watched from the shore.
Anchorage’s Zane Giles was done fishing for the day. He crouched on the beach and used a blue cooler as a makeshift table. Slicing open a sockeye he caught just minutes before, Giles pulled out its heart, liver and hundreds of small, red eggs, and tossed them in the water.
Giles has dipnetted in the Kenai River for more than a decade. He likes that it's a quicker way to catch salmon than using a rod and reel – even with the three hour drive from Anchorage. But he enjoys the shared camaraderie among dipnetters most.
For Giles and others, the fishery is an important subsistence resource. The current limit is 25 salmon per permit holder and ten per additional household member.
“We're all going for the same thing," Giles said. "We're trying to feed our family and be out here in nature and enjoy the fishing. It's a really good place.”
Giles says he eats salmon several times a week. And the amount he caught on this day should last him until next summer.
But not all the fish he’s caught are for him.
“We're going to have a family reunion, and we're going to have a big ole’ fish fry. Or bake. Or grill. Or whatever. Or all of the above,” Giles said.
Further down the shore, the Burt-Bergers just finished for the day. Chris was smiling ear to ear, and showed off a hardware store bucket brimming with sockeye.
“Oh, it was wonderful, we did good," Chris said. "We caught 29.”
The Kenai River personal use fishery is open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. through the end of the month. For information on limits or permits, visit the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website.
