Fishing news and a muzzle loading match

The rumor I mentioned last week about the Chitina dip net fishery is now much more than a rumor!

According to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game news release issued June 14, the Copper River dip net fishery was closed effective June 18 until further notice.

Quoting from the news release, “The 2018 sockeye salmon run to the Copper River appears to be much weaker than expected and is the eighth-lowest count…since 1978…. Daily sonar counts continue to lag behind projected passage and it is unlikely that the lower bound Cooper River sockeye salmon escapement goal would be achieved without closing the personal use fishery.”

All Upper Copper River sockeye sport fisheries upstream of the south bank of Haley Creek have also been closed until further notice as well.

]On a” kinder and gentler” note, Fish and Game has issued three news releases regarding the Kenai Peninsula, the first of which expands the salt water sockeye bag limit in the northern waters of Resurrection Bay to a 12-fish daily bag with 12 fish in possession. This started on June 15 and continues through July 31.

The second news release liberalizes the bag and possession limits on sockeye salmon, from three fish to six fish, in the fresh waters downstream from the Seward Highway and downstream from Nash Road to the saltwater markers in the Resurrection Bay drainages. This change took effect on June 16 and will continue through July 31.

The third news release announced the early opening of the Russian River Sanctuary to sport fishing for sockeye salmon effective June 19 and running through July 14. There are no bag or possession limit changes over the standard regulations, but at least you can keep some fish. With the closure of everything except the Eklutna Tailrace for king salmon here in the Valley, putting some salmon in the freezer is going to be a good trick this season!

Let’s switch some gears and talk about something that we can do this summer.

Shooting!

I’m talking specifically about the Alaska Territorial Muzzle Loading Match, which is ongoing as you read this. The three-and-a-half-day match is held at Fort Wick, off Yoder Road along the Talkeetna Spur Road. Once you turn on Yoder Road, about three miles from the Parks Highway turnoff, you can follow the signs to the match location.\

This is the big muzzleloading shoot statewide for the year and there’s something for almost any type of muzzleloading firearm you may have. There are matches for your smoothbore long gun, like a Brown Bess or a Northwest Trade Gun; your flintlock or percussion rifle; your single-shot pistol; your revolver; your rifled musket, as used in the Civil War; your benchrest rifle; your sighted smoothbore; and even your modern, in-line rifle topped with a scope!

For the past several years, I’ve planned to drive my small motorhome up to the shoot and camp out for the duration. This saves me about a hundred-mile round trip drive every day. And every time I plan to do this, something occurs that prevents me from making that happen. In years past, it was family health issues or a problem with the RV. This year, it’s a little of both. You know what they say about “the best laid plans of mice and men!”

I enjoy attending this match for the comradery with the other shooters as well as the actual shooting. As I get older, I’m not shooting as many aggregates as before simply because I get tired and my rebuilt shoulder can only take so much pounding from the recoil of shooting these large caliber firearms.

I’m hoping to shoot the sighted smoothbore, rifled musket, and smoothbore matches at the very least. I was also planning to bring a couple of long guns I have never fired before just to start the process of getting the rifle sighted in and to see how the big smoothbore functions, but I don’t know if time will permit that exercise with the added three-hour commute (road construction) to an already full day. I’m also planning to do some RSO (range safety officer) work to keep my certificate current.

And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have another ulterior motive. One of the guys is a professional leather crafter and he made me a custom sheath for a large knife I picked up in a trade. I asked him to make the sheath to match my current big belt and other gear I carry during Rendezvous.