Last summer, by the time I got halfway through my Alaska trip I had an overflowing freezer at home. Keith Combs and I had started the trip fishing out of Seward with Captain Chris Hanna of Outer Coast Adventures, and while the purpose of that trip wasn’t fillets, it was just too easy to send some home. I FedExed 50 pounds of halibut and rockfish back to Virginia. We’re still enjoying it, although the supply is dwindling.
So when we got to Bear Trail Lodge in Bristol Bay and started whacking on some salmon, we had to say “no” to his offer of vacuum-packed fillets. That’s too bad, because we could’ve checked through a fish box as luggage and added to the haul.
This year, though, a Faustian bargain with COVID-19, Hanna and I have decided to limit our trip to one stopping point. We’re going to the Naknek River in Bristol Bay, bunkering there (except for daily excursions on the water) and then coming home. That means we should get to bring home some salmon. For the cost of checking through one more piece of luggage, we hope to have a lot of meals by which to remember the trip.
Hanna, if you’re reading, for my birthday next year I want an extra freezer for the house. These choices are becoming difficult and they’re wholly unnecessary.
