Hunting & Fishing

It was moose season this week on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and I went to one of my favorite spots to check out both the moose and the hunters.

Christine John lists all the fish they have in Crooked Creek: “We have king salmon, dog salmon, silvers, and reds.”

I asked Mishka Andreanoff, aka Johnny Boy, “What’s your quota?”

Johnny Boy replied, “As much as I can eat.”

That’s Mishka Andreanoff and Christine John speaking with KYUK’s Petra Harpak during her trip up the Kuskokwim River this summer. They are among the many voices on the third and final edition of a program about upriver fishing.

Kalskag is tiny, but it is one of the larger communities up the Kuskokwim. It is also the focus of part two of Petra Harpak’s exploration of the fishing life upriver. Some things remain the same all along the river. Men like Michael Savage don’t cut fish.

When asked if Michael cuts fish, he said, “I just fish. My wife and kids, they do the cutting.”

I asked Bolossa Michaelson, “Do you eat tepeq, [fermented fish head]?”

This summer, KYUK’s Petra Harpak headed up the Kuskokwim to learn how fishing upriver differs from the downriver fishing she knows.

It didn’t take her long to find someone taking a unique approach to smoking fish.

“I grew up using the standing live cottonwood, but after living in Holy Cross, they use the standing dry cottonwood and it’s got a really good dry smoke and it makes the fish taste a lot better. So, I think I’m the only person who goes out to get the drift cottonwood without the bark,” said Dorris Allain.

Healthy numbers of salmon are reaching their Kuskokwim spawning grounds this season, according to state standards. Across salmon species, state-issued escapement goals are being met. These goals are set to help ensure sustainable runs and future subsistence harvests.

Silver salmon are now arriving in the lower Kuskokwim River. The state-operated Bethel Test Fishery began catching silvers on Sunday of this week.