The Mighty Kuskokwim Salmon Fest

This is Genevieve driving Judge Devaney's boat out on our first fishing mission. We only caught two that time, but it was enough to break the Michigan curse. (We never caught a fish in Michigan, despite our skillful attempts. Of course, we never had bait, which may have been a problem.) The Judge let us take home one of the fish, which was great. Our friend Gilder tried to talk us through our first salmon filleting experience. It took us about an hour. And a trip to the store for a better knife. We ended up with Salmon steaks. Fillet shmillet.


Here's a nice view of the river. The part to the right is actually an island, so the Kuskokwim is actually about three times wider than it appears in this shot.

This is a cooler of salmon. They are not small. We had twelve after fishing attempt #2 and were no more skilled at the fillet process. Further complicating the matter is the fact that we didn't gut the fish while out on the river due to the heavy rain and ass cold temperature. So, our palacial kitchen became a mass of fish guts, fish heads, fish eggs and fish blood. They have a lot of blood! After four hours of hacking and packing, our freezer was nearly full. We gave up on the fillet method and resorted to steaking once again.

We labeled the fish appropriately. "Mangled. Not for guests"

We later got a primer on the fillet maneuver from Judge Windahl. We now have several more salmon fillets in our freezer and they are beautiful. It takes no time at all once you know what you're doing. And you have a sharp knife.