Sockeye Strikes Back

Sockeye Strikes Back
Written by Henry Maitland

While on a family vacation in Alaska in the summer of 1983, we made several trips in pursuit of Sockeye and Chinook Salmon. On one particular outing the emphasis was on catching Sockeye or “Reds”while fishing from shore.

The Sockeye salmon migration or “run” up the Kenai river to spawn was at its peak. Once in fresh water these salmon stop feeding. Instead, their priority was to fight their way up the river to that predetermined gravel bed and with a partner of the opposite sex, deposit and fertilize thousands of eggs. With luck, some of the eggs would hatch and mature to the smolt stage, and within two to three years make their way to the ocean. As sexually mature adults, at approximately the age of five years, with bodies turning red, eighty percent would return to their birth place to spawn, only to die a few weeks later.

“The food they ate in the ocean is high in carotenoids (the same pigment that gives carrots color). These pigments are stored in their flesh. As salmon approach their spawning grounds they begin to absorb their scales. The carotenoid pigments in their flesh are transferred to the skin and eggs.” {National Park & Preserve, Alaska}. This causes the body of the sockeye salmon to turn red, with green heads, thus the nick name “Reds”.

Ideally, the best time to fish for sockeye salmon was at the beginning of their run up river before they had a chance to turn red . Once they started to turn red their flesh was no longer good for consumption. When a Sockeye salmon hits your bait it was an act of aggression. Prompting such an attack with various types and colours of tackle was the key to success. During the peak of the run the sockeye numbered in the thousands, making it easy to “snag” a fish by mistake. Legally, any salmon not fully hooked in the mouth had to be returned to the water.

We were all lined up along the river, wading out from shore, casting Pixie spoons and long haired streamers made from “The hair of the dog” in hopes of getting a strike. The day before, my brother -in-law had noticed that a couple of fisherman had had great success landing sockeyes using long white haired streamers. We did not have any long white haired streamers in our tackle. Someone jokingly said,” Allie’s got some light buff coloured hair on her tail and backside. They would make great sockeye streamers.” I asked my brother- in- law if he had any long shank hooks. After some searching, he handed me a half dozen hooks. Meanwhile my sister was busy brushing their dog’s coat. Within just a few minutes she handed me a sandwich bag full of long light coloured dog hairs. Using my portable fly tying kit and white thread, I created a half dozen light buff long haired streamers.

Once someone hooked a fish, they yelled,”Fish On” and those fishing nearby reeled in their lines and the designated “dip netter”would attempt to successfully scoop up their catch.

We were all lucky enough to legally hook and land several sockeye that day. However, my youngest brother experienced more fishing action than he had expected. He was using one of the above mentioned long haired streamers with an inline sinker placed approximating twenty inches above the hook. He hooked one salmon, that immediately made a mad dash down river. My brother started applying some resistance in hopes of turning the fish around before it striped off too much line. Unfortunately, he was holding his fishing rod pointing straight towards the fish when the line broke.The in-line sinker came straight back towards his head, smashing into the wire rim of his glasses knocking out the left lens. He let out a yell and my sister responded. Luckily, he was not hit directly in the lens, which could have resulted in the loss of an eye. The rest of us quickly began looking for the missing lens. Thankfully, he was standing in approximately a foot of water and someone quickly spotted the reflection of the Polaroid lens on the bottom of the river. It was not damaged and he was later able to place it back into the frame of his eye glasses.

Not easily deterred, my brother composed himself and once again took up the challenge to land an other sockeye salmon. My brother - in -law said to him, “You need to hold the tip of your rod high and away from you when you are fighting a big fish”. Within minutes he hooked up with another fish. Again, the salmon made a run and the drag started to whine. Before he could get the tip of the rod high over head and away from him the line broke for the second time. The yell that came out of him was distressing and he was turning white. The sinker rebounded, striking him on the side of the left gonad. He slowly made his way to dry land and after some time and heavy breathing, the colour returned to his face.

To this day, when ever my youngest brother hooks into a fish, no matter what the size, he instinctively holds the tip of the rod high and away from his head.