Christmas fishes

My wife and I returned from a pre-Christmas trip to Hawaii on Saturday morning, December 21, and although we enjoyed grilling Alaska salmon we took on our vacation, we were already grilling and enjoying more salmon on Tuesday evening. Earlier on Tuesday we shared a gift from Hawaii with a friend, and received some of his freshly smoked thin salmon strips. Also that morning my nephew, Paul Warta, called and asked, when my wife and I were planning our first big salmon fishing trip next summer? Paul intends to join us on that trip, but has a new job after graduating from college last spring, and needed to schedule time off from his job to fit our trip.

We will do the best we can, but fishing success is also partially dependent upon water conditions, when the salmon show up, and how abundantly those fish are, when / if they show up. We have some tentative dates picked out on a calendar, but I can remember, only a couple years ago, when our scheduled big salmon harvesting trip turned into a camping trip — with not a single fish caught over three days of fishing. Fortunately our second big trip of that summer (scheduled spur-of -the-moment after receiving a positive fishing harvesting report from Paul) was a better match for good water conditions, strong arriving numbers of salmon, and consequently we harvested what we wanted, in a shorter amount of time, than planned.

With Alaska daylight hours now near their shortest of the entire year, Mat-Su residents will be celebrating the Christmas Holiday with positive hopes for a new year. Our extended family will be meeting and celebrating the birth of Christ and the Christian faith, at my brother-in-law and sister’s house on Christmas Day. Knowing many family members love outdoor activities, including: fishing, berry picking, and hunting, I am sure planning new adventures for those activities, and remembering some of the better-shared trips of the past year will be our “Sugar Plums” of conversation.

We will have a small gift exchange, but the real gift will be spending time and sharing with family members. An additional nephew has travelled all the way from Juneau to be with our family group on the holiday, and some family members will be sharing Christmas with other friends / family— in different locations.

Before we get together on Christmas Day, I am scheduled to fish a couple hours in multiple bags of potatoes, armed with a peeler, pots of boiling water, and a potato masher. Others are assigned to different kitchen patrol duties in preparation for the day’s shared meal. One nephew often brings very well-smoked salmon — Yum. I also intend to remind myself to take small portions / limit my intake / and share in the cleanup afterward. An even more difficult endeavor, with our ever-expanding family, is finding a way to spend meaningful time with each family member during a day or few days of getting together.

I am thankful for regulation changes made in Copper River salmon management by the Alaska Board of Fisheries through Proposal 51, as outlined in last week's fishing column. I look forward to seeing if those new regulations produce better and earlier Copper River drainage king salmon escapements in 2025, along with a more consistent fishing season, uninterrupted by inseason restriction or closure, for users fishing the Upper Copper River.

Those are just a few of my Christmas fishes / wishes this year, along with wishing all Mat-Su Anglers a Merry Christmas! and a hopeful New (fishing)Year!