Annual Salmon Round-up

Last year I got to join Buford, his family, and some friends for the Sallaffie/Holly annual fish gathering. They have a camp down the river a few miles from Council and each July they get a group together to spend the weekend saning (net fishing). Of course, the weekend also includes lots and lots of fish cutting. Buford's family gathers enough fish to last for most of the year. I joined in again this year and had a great time. We got about 160 Chum and Pink Salmon. We gut them, cut them, and soak them in a salty brine before hanging them in a screened in tent area to dry for approximately 3 weeks. They turn out something like jerky. I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of dry fish, but I love being a part of this weekend.

Our new friend Ethan, a summer intern at the hospital, came along with Buford and I this year. We left Friday night for about a 2 hr. drive to Council. We then canoed down to camp, which took another couple of hours. It was a beautiful night and we finished it off enjoying the sauna, dipping in the river, and having a bonfire. Good times.


Duke checks out the sauna

Dave and Kathy



Moriah, Sine, and Kathy







In the morning, Sine, Buford's mom, made sourdough pancakes from a 10 year old batch of mix. Delicious. By late morning, more friends, Kirsten and Kat had arrived to help out. Also, a family friend Jay, and his son Tyler flew in to help too.

Jay and Tyler

We spent a great day saning, cutting, and swimming. Moriah, Buford's sister, made some awsome Moose stew for lunch.









Kathy, Buford's little sister used her time cutting fish for all the pets. She ended up with a whole tray of tiny little filets. So cute. These were small Grayling and White fish that were lost in the net, so Kathy made good use of them.



With so much to do with my move I really needed to have a full Sunday to get some things done. So, we left at about 8pm on Saturday instead of spending another night. Apparently there was a slow leak in one of my tires so we had to change to the donut tire for the ride home. I didn't have a jack, but luckily we were able to borrow one. It was a slow ride home and we were all really tired, but its that sort of tired that I love. You know, that tired feeling from a long day in the sun, working hard. Its a good thing and always makes for a great night's sleep!

I definitely feel that after two years of fish camp, it is now a tradition. I hope to make it back next July to do it again.

I have a couple of videos that show off the whole process from netting the fish to hanging it up, but for some reason youtube is being uncooperative. I'll update this post with videos if/when I ever get it to work.