Abundantly Blessed: Fishing For Memories

Uh oh.

It's that time of year again when I start to get insanely jealous of my friends and family back up in Alaska. I don't mind living there the whole year around, but there's something about those Alaskan summers that make it extra special up in the 907. Beautiful sunsets, nonstop daylight, perfect summer weather...Sigh...

I took this picture a few summers ago (I think 09) but it hardly does it justice!

What made my summers up there the most memorable were our annual family dipnetting trip to the Chitina Copper River. Believe it or not, dipnetting is one of my all time favorite things to do in Alaska. I love the 6-7 hour drive there and back, out to the middle of nowhere, with my silly siblings and awesome dad. I love being dirty for 3 days straight. I love the adrenaline rush of feeling a huge salmon captured in my net as we try to pull it into our boat. And yes, I love watching and helping my dad cut and gut the salmon to put them in the coolers for the journey back. One summer, about a week after I had bilateral knee surgery (surgery on both knees at the same time), I went to Chitina with my brother, dad and his buddies. I couldn't participate catching them, but I asked to help gut at least one fish...in crutches. My dad's friend paused and stared..and then said "sure." I'm pretty sure he thought I was a crazy lady, coming all this way in crutches and then asking to gut slimey salmon, haha!

For those who don't know what dipnetting is, here is a picture that can accurately explain what it is. Muddy water, pole with a net at the end, huge fish. Get the picture? ;)

My family just got back from their dipnetting trip a few days ago. It's now been two years straight that I've missed out on the trip (last year because I was pregnant and then Lydia was born.. I guess that's a legit excuse haha) But it seems like whenever they go without me they have the best time! First, on the way down (near Glen Allen) they saw a mama Grizzly and her cub, which got up on its hind legs and was about to charge their truck when my dad honked the horn and it ran away. Holy cow. Then, they came home with over 100 fish! And, unfortunately for me, my dad's friend beat my record for catching the biggest king. I proudly held that record for a few years. I'm quite convinced that if I had been able to go I would have been the one who got it! (Just kidding.. I'm not that arrogant and I like my dad's friend a lot. He's a good fisherman.) I guess I'll give him credit heheh.

Basically, what happens is this: You're in a boat, on a super muddy raging river (you literally can't see anything in it), for hours waiting for that salmon to go into your net. Sometimes it feels like it takes all day..and sometimes it does. But the rush you feel when you catch one is so worth it. However, I was never strong enough to pull it into the boat. I could only pull it upwards and hope that my net was facing the right way so that it didn't get away. My strong Daddy always helped me.

Here is a picture of the biggest king (in my day) that I caught which held the record for a long time. I was so proud of that fish. I had been waiting and waiting (tied up to a tree along the mountain side) thinking I'd never get one, when finally I felt a huge tug. I pulled him up and had to get my dad to help me and even HE had a hard time getting it into the boat. And when it was in the boat it was thrashing around. It's actually really dangerous if you're not careful. I remember taking a video of myself after I caught it and was so giddy and stupid on it, that when I got home I had to hide it somewhere in folderland (hidden deep within multiple folders on the computer) where my mom would never find it to show off to her friends while I wasn't around, which she had done. I could never find it after that either, I hid it so well..

..it was that embarrassing..

He was thrashing around so much. Did NOT want to get out of the water. He was so heavy.

So proud of my catch!

It was a brutal fight with the fish. Dad won. We were both proud.

What I really loved about this trip was that it actually was a testimony builder. Say what? Yep. It was a lonely few hours waiting for this fish, and I remembered praying to God and asking him if He would bless me with a fish..and if it's the only fish I caught, could He please make it a big one!.... And sure enough! Prayers were answered. And it happened to be the only one I caught the whole trip. Yes, God does hear you and He does delight in your happiness.

Here are some more pictures from other trips.

Seeee... I drew a pretty good representation of how it's like. I got the mountain side, dirty river, and trees. :)

I actually didn't catch any on this trip. I almost did but my net had holes in it and they got away! :(
This was my dad's though. It was still pretty big, I could hardly hold it.