A Fishing Excursion

I am not a fisherman. I just am not that into fishing. I have never really quite understood the whole thing. Now, I love to eat fish, especially the kind I can catch around here on the Delta. And I do enjoy throwing a line into the water in hopes that a fish will bite. But I am still baffled by people who are really into fishing.

That said, some friends of mine decided to take an overnight fishing trip up the Little Kasigluk River. They invited me to come along and I welcomed the chance to be outdoors and sleep in a tent. I did not realize at the time what sort of fishing trip I had gotten myself into. Little did I know that I was going to a place so wealthy in its abundance of enjoyable fish to catch. Apparently, it is the type of place that uber-into-fishing-fishermen pay thousands of dollars to hire a guide and be flown to location on a float plane. I was told the particular section of the Little Kasigluk that we went to was particularly good for Rainbow Trout, Dolly Vardon, and Grayling. And, in hindsight, I suppose it was true because we caught a lot of fish.

The Crew

Ross Boring: Knowledgeable River Traveler
& Avid Fisherman

Corey Tolliver: Boat Owner & Avid Fisherman

Dave Cronk: Also Knowledgeable River Traveler
& Avid Fisherman

Myself: Self-Appointed Camera Man
& Non-Fisherman

This trip too had a rough start to it. Corey called me, as I drove to meet him at the harbor, that his boat wouldn’t start and that he was fixing it at his place. Disappointed, I went home and read my classwork for a while. About two hours later, Corey called me and told me that his boat was fixed. Quickly we assembled and got the boat in the water. Corey owns a 20 ft Lund boat with a 115hp 2-stroke motor. It got on step quick, even with 4 guys and a sizeable load of gear. But when we were going slowly we sat lower in the water because of all the weight. It’s a good size boat with a good size motor, with a nearly a flat bottom for going up small rivers.

(Gearing up at the boat harbor)

Just above Kwethluk is the mouth of two rivers that join together right at the end, the Kasigluk and Kisaralik. Both rivers flow nearly parallel to each other. At a couple places they actually have cut over so close that a channel has opened up and it possible to switch from one river to the other by boat. So, when we reached the mouth we took the right Y, which was the Kasigluk River. It was wide at the mouth but the further you travelled up it, the more narrow and twisting it became. It also became much shallower, with mud flats at the beginning and gravel bars later on.

Hitting a mudflat or gravel bar is extremely easy to do if one doesn’t know the river or know how to read the river. By read, I mean look at the shoreline and surface disturbances to determine where the main channel is. In every river there is a main channel that is usually deep enough for a boat to pass through, often at least 3 feet deep if not many more. However, one has to know what signs to look for. The surest sign is to always stick close to the cut bank side of the river. Cut banks form where water is pushing against the outside shore of the river as it goes around a curve, cutting a wall into that side of the shore and digging a deep channel on the river bed. Opposite of cut banks on a curve are generally shallow spots, where mud or gravel is deposited. By driving a boat close to cut banks and away from the opposite shoreline, one can general guess where the main channel will be. Still, one needs to know how to spot shallow water by its surface movement and to judge just how wide the main channel is based on the tightness of the river curve. It takes some impressive driving to make it far up some of these rivers.

(Ross at the helm)

Ross knew the place we were going to and he also knew the river best. After a while of driving up the Kasigluk, he took over from Corey because it took some more expertise in river boating. He pulled some impressive moves with a large hefty boat on a small river. Still, we hit gravel bars often. Corey, Dave, and Ross all had waders on so they just hopped out and tugged the boat off the shallows. I, not being a fisherman, do not own waders and so had to sit in the boat. I felt a bit useless at times. Once, we sucked some mud up into the water intake and had to clear it from the line. On our way up we also passed a couple friends, Andrew and Kristie, that were exploring the Kasigluk River. Eventually, after navigating some 50 miles of the shallow, gravel bar filled Kasigluk River, we reached the Little Kasigluk. Our campsite, Ross told us, was just about ½-1 mile up that even shallower river.

(Ross pulling some impressive river driving.
At the very end we hit a gravel bar. Note the
sound of the propeller hitting the gravel)

We slowly cruised and pulled our way that short distance and got to the campsite. We tied off to a steep embankment and climbed up to a nice flat spot of solid ground. Ross pitched his large tent canopy and we all pulled out some beer. Immediately Corey, Dave, and Ross threw in their fishing lines and from the start they were hit fishing. Ross says that this one particular hole, on this particular horseshoe bend in the river, is the best place. I cannot doubt him because of all the fish I saw brought up and all the talk of how big the fish were for their species. I grabbed a line and threw it in for a while, pulling in a few Dollys and some Graylings. One thing I didn’t realize about the trip was that it wasn’t for food gathering, but rather catch-and-release. I do wish we would have ate more of the fish that we caught out there but that is how they fish I guess. In any case I caught more fish on a rod and reel than I ever have in my entire life.

(Corey & downstream view from campsite)

(Ross cooking, Campsite, & upstream view)

(360 degree view of campsite)

(An industrious beaver)

(Smaller rainbow trout)

(Some of the best fishing was right off the boat)

We pretty much proceeded to get drunk and fish. There was a lot of rum and some whiskey involved and by the end of the night everyone was feeling pretty good. Someone ended up fatally wounding a Dolly Vardon with their hook so we ended up cutting it up to try. I must say, it was delicious. We cooked up some bratwursts and ate those too. Dave brought some excellent fish strips and some salmon spread. It was a camping feast. Of course, the mosquitoes were horrendously bad but some powerful bug spray did the trick, it really was it a life saver.

(Mmmmm...Dolly Vardon)

The next day we all woke up early and a little hung over. One thing I have found though, is that I often feel much better waking up hung over when I’ve slept outside rather than inside. Dave was first to get a hook in the water and his first catch was the biggest Rainbow trout of the trip. Corey became pretty intent on catching one bigger. Ross stayed at camp for a while as the rest of us walked to the opposite side of the horseshoe bend and fished during our walk back along the shore. The morning was beautiful, clear, and warm.

(Corey with his bear protection, a .44 magnum)

(Dave trying his luck on opposite side of the horseshoe bend)

(Dave with a large Rainbow Trout)


(A Grayling that I caught)

(Fishing different holes on our walk back to camp)

When we got back to camp we noticed there were lots of Grayling hanging out under our boat. You could basically just drop a line over the side and pull up a good size fish. Then, I remembered that my camera is waterproof. I stuck it underwater while Dave dropped fish egg bait nearby. I tried to film them as they ate and I think it turned out really well actually.

(Fish video 1)

(Fish video 2)

Around noon we began to break camp to head back down river. We loaded the boat up again and slowly floated back down the Little Kasigluk and then to the Kasigluk. Again, Ross took the wheel because he knew best how to drive those waters. When going down river there is less control than going up so we took it easy and went slowly through the most difficult stretches. Even still we got stuck a number of times. Each time we’d lift the prop and the other guys would hop out and pull the boat out of the shallows. When we came around a gravel bar, we spotted Andrew and Kristie again so we stopped to talk to them. We walked around the gravel bar for a bit and noticed on one part that there were some grizzly bear tracks. I was told that prints that size were from about a 10 foot bear. We continued our float, eventually making it to deeper water so we were able to speed up. We turned into one of the channels to cut over to the Kisaralik River next to us. It was narrow and fun to drive through, but a beaver dam cut it all off. It completely blocked the way so we had to turn around and take the Kasigluk all the way. As we went, the weather worsened, becoming very windy and rainy once we reached the main Kuskokwim River again.

(Slowly making our way back down river)

(Bear tracks on a gravel we stopped at)

(Corey & Dave removing a clog from the water intake)

By the time we reached Bethel after 4 hours of river travel, I was pretty cold and wet. But I really enjoyed myself. It was a blast to get out on the river and cruise around. Plus to be outdoors again, it was so nice. It was also a good chance to test out my camping gear before this summer when I will really be using it. And fishing, well I was immersed in fishing much longer than I ever had before. It was an interesting experience, one that I think I wouldn’t mind involving myself with again in the near future. Although I have a LONG way to go before I could call myself a fisherman.

Sandbars and Twisting Rivers

Summer is officially here!!! It seemed like such a long time coming. This school year kicked my ass. Actually, it isn’t even entirely over. I still have to finish an online course that I need to stay employed next year, so it’s kind of important. But at least I can do that on my own time schedule and not have to wake up at 8am for it. So for now, I have no time constraints except those I’ve chosen to take upon myself. It’s a nice feeling.

One thing I’ve been wanting to do since the river ice broke up is get out on the river on someone’s boat. I don’t own one yet, that is an expense I might split with my roommate next summer. That means if I want to be out on the river I have to ask my friends who own a boat to take me out. On Monday, my friend Andrew had some free time so we decided to take his boat up river for the day. We didn’t have much of a plan; in fact we didn’t have any fishing gear so we could even catch something. Basically, I just wanted to be on the river so it was more exploratory than anything.

(Andrew on the till)

The trip started off a little rough. When we got to the boat harbor, we couldn’t find the boat. For a number of reasons, there are about 3 models of boats that most people use in Bethel. We didn’t know where his brother, who had last used it, parked it along the shoreline. That meant we had look for his flat-bottomed aluminum boat among all the others that look very much like his. Finally we found it and could begin our journey upriver.

(Barge travelling upriver somewhere)

(Fishcamps along Steamboat Slough)

(Fish racks for hanging salmon to dry)

We took off with his 30hp jet motor in search of an interesting stream or river to cruise. The nice thing about jet motors, the type used by jet-skies, is that they have a very shallow draft. His boat only needed 4-5 inches of water to travel so we could go up some pretty small channels. Right outside of town we took a shortcut through Steamboat slough. This slough is lined with old boats that have been abandoned, although there is one that still looks operational (last one in the video).

(The trusty jet motor with Kuskokwim River in background)

(Travelling on Steamboat Slough)

We decided to head up the Gweek River since the further up you go the more drastic the landscape changes, turning from willow line riverbanks to pines and birch trees. Eventually we passed where I had gone on my snowmachine so from then on it was an all new experience for me. Also, the main Kuskokwim river, while wide, is very shallow and so are all of its tributaries. It is extremely easy to hit shallow mud flats that often are exposed during low tide but are hidden under very shallow water during high tide. On the Gweek and other smaller rivers, it is necessary to drive your boat closer to the cut bank side of the river, particularly on curves, because on the other side is where sand bars form. Basically, you are trying to follow the deepest part of the river channel.

Pretty early on Andrew and I hit one of those sandbars. We were pretty surprised since his boat has such a shallow draft but when we looked over the side we were sitting in maybe 3 inches of water. We hopped out and tugged the boat off the sandbar. Unfortunately, when we started the motor up it wasn’t drawing water into the engine to cool it down. Somewhere along the water intake was clogged with mud. This was a major problem because that meant we could not run our motor at all. If we did the engine wouldn’t be cool enough and so we could blow a piston. We quickly drove to a solid river bank and began to figure out how to unclog the line. When we looked for some tools, the ones we needed were not in the boat so we had no way of really working on the thing. Eventually an older native couple from Akiachak drove by and stopped to help us. They whole family chuckled at two white boys who hit a sand bar and didn’t know how to unclog their own motor. Even the old woman knew exactly what to do. They showed us how to remove the mud clog, shared some of their wild rhubarb with us, and left us on our way.

We continued onward, this time being cautious to follow the river channel and not cut corners. Later we saw a beaver slink down into the river’s edge and then a female moose eating at the riverbank. When we approached a Y in the river, we decided to take the right fork. This it turned out was not the Gweek River anymore and, now having looked at the Topo map of the area, I realize now it actually doesn’t have a name. Perhaps the locals have a name for it but the U.S.G.S. does not. This river quickly reduced in width to a large stream. This made driving through it very fun because of all the tight quick turns. It was a blast just flying through such a narrow waterway. Since we were further upriver, that also meant there were actual trees so there were also obstacles to be avoided. Trees hung low over the water or had fallen in and were barely submerged. At one point, we came around a corner and spooked a snowy owl. It took off in flight and stayed right next to our heads for about 5 seconds before turning in toward the trees. It was crazy, I’ve never been that close to an owl before. I feel like I could have reached out and grabbed it.

(Offshoot of the Gweek River)

(Beaver dam under construction)

Eventually we turned around and headed back toward Bethel. On the way it started raining so that made it pretty cold. It still isn’t that warm up here so you cool down pretty fast when wet, plus rain stings when you’re going 30mph. However, one really cool thing came from being in a rainstorm. For the first time since I’ve lived in Bethel, I saw lightening. Two lightening bolts at that! I’m not sure why but Bethel never gets really hard rainstorms. It must all fall on the mountains before it reaches us, or something, I dunno. We seem to only get precipitation when there is a southernly wind. In any case, I was excited.

(Rainstorm in the distance)

That pretty much concludes the trip. We made it back to Bethel and had enjoyed ourselves for the day. Hopefully next time I'll be able to do some fishing and bring home king salmon.

The Delta has Mountains!

Several weeks ago, Erin and I drove up river to the village of Aniak. From Bethel to Aniak is about 250 miles round trip. That is by far the farthest and longest I have driven my Jeep on the Kuskokwim, ever. The trip will probably forever hold that title. This winter has been cold with a very early freeze up of the river. Many people have been talking about how great the river road conditions were this year, and it is true. From Bethel there is a well-plowed, two-lane road that a construction company maintains for their own vehicles, which continues about 20 miles up river. After that, for as far as you can possibly drive up river, the road becomes a set of two tracks, depending on weather conditions. Still, the ice has been in excellent condition and is about as perfect for driving as ice can be.

(Map of route and villages)

My co-workers and neighbors, Carrie and Paul Longpre, invited me to help them move some of their belongings to Aniak. They are moving there this summer and wanted to bring their truck along to leave it there. They could have shipped it but that would have been expensive. So instead, I followed Paul in my Jeep to Aniak where he dropped off his truck and then we all rode together back down to Bethel.

(River road from Bethel to Kwethluk)

Erin, Paul, and I set off bright and early in the morning, around 10am. Paul was in the lead since he knew the way and I followed behind. Erin was cranky for a while because she ate breakfast late, but other than that there were really no problems for the rest of the trip. Like I said before, the first 20 miles up river were easy going since the river had been plowed down to the ice, creating a road that was really no bumpier than your average Michigan highway. You could easily do 50 mph on that stretch. Once we reached Kwethluk, however, the road became a two track and stayed that way for the rest of the trip (mostly).

(The Beginning ft. Erin)

When we got past Akiak, the next village up river, we had officially gone further than I’d ever been, whether by vehicle, boat, or snowmachine. From that point to the next village, Tuluksak, the road conditions worsened. The two track became slushy and ill-defined. This was due to the fact that the day we took the trip, as well as previous couple days, the weather was unusually warm and sunny. This melted the little snow we had and made following the two track very difficult at times. If it were not for Paul knowing the way, I’m sure I would have gotten lost had I tried the trip on my own.

(Akiak river bank)

(Car abandoned on river bank outside of Akiak)

(The only road sign on the river, that I know of)

(Sandbar outside Tuluksak)

(Paul Longpre and Erin)


(Me and Erin)

(Conditions of the river road)

From Tuluksak to Kalskag, the road became better due to more snow. This made following the road easier since it was no longer a guessing game as to what path to take. It was also at this time that the mountains became much more noticeable and began to fill the skyline. From Bethel, the mountains to the north seem so distant, which they kind of are. It was nice to finally approach the peaks that, up until that point, I had only viewed from afar. Unfortunately, my camera battery died during this leg of the trip. Therein lies the problem of rechargeable batteries; you can’t just change them out like double AAs.

(Looking north from Tuluksak)

(Sand bluffs below Kalskag)

(Mountains approaching Kalskag)

From Kalskag, the river bent sharply toward the east. This bend marked a major turning point in terrain features. Solid rock became visible from cliffs that lined the river. Below that point, all the way down river to the Bearing Sea there are no cliffs of granite, just cliffs of silt and mud. Real trees, like pines and birch, also replaced the scraggly alders and willows that dominate the lower reaches of the Kuskokwim. I was so excited!!! Trees and rocks! I felt a peace in the more familiar landscape.

(Random houses in Kalskag)

(Kalskag has birch trees, ooo!)

When we arrived in Aniak, we gassed up, even though the trip used only 1/3 tank of gas, and met up with Paul’s son who lived there, Jacque. We ate lunch with Jacque and his wife, and then drove over to Paul’s new house. I’d heard a how pretty the view was from Paul’s wife, Carrie, but I had no idea how right she was. The house has a dream view. It sits about 30 feet above the river on a step embankment and a place to beach a boat at the base. All they need to do is build some step down the bank and it would be perfect. Right across the river is a good-sized mountain, staring down at the house. In the distance are more mountains and you just get this feeling of grandeur from it all. The house is small but very livable. In my opinion, the Paul and Carrie have purchased my dream house. I could easily spend the rest of my life living there. Aniak is like a smaller, cleaner, nicer Bethel. I think my mother would actually approve of the place, unlike her opinion of Bethel.

(On way back from Aniak)

After we unpacked the vehicles and dropped of Paul’s truck, we all piled into my Jeep and made our way back down river to Bethel. This time, my camera battery had gotten a recharge and I was able to take some pictures. Actually, Erin took most of the pictures because I was way to busy driving. While we were in Aniak, the weather warmed up even more and it had rained slightly. This meant that there was literally NO two track to follow any more. Paul and I tried to navigate the best we could but most of the time I just drove over what looked most passable and safest. There was also a lot of water on the river by this time. This water though was mostly melt water from snow. The river was still frozen at least 4 feet thick. There was no chance of falling through but there was the chance of loosing momentum is slush and water. This would inevitably lead to becoming stuck so the best way to drive way fast. I just let my momentum carry me through the rough spots.

This, of course, meant the ride back was pretty rough. I bounced poor Paul and Erin around terribly. I had a blast, having full confidence in my driving abilities. Paul and Erin, on the other hand, just had to trust that I wouldn’t flip the vehicle over. They were both grabbing the “oh-shit” handles often. Paul just kept telling me I was having too much fun. I disagree; I was having just the right amount of fun. It was a riot. Since I sped home, we made excellent timing and completed the round trip journey in only 10 hours, 7.5 of which were actual driving.

(Just outside of Aniak)

The trip was amazing. The scenery was incredible. I got to see a vision of my future abode (hopefully). I couldn’t have asked for a better adventure. I also have bragging rights that I’ve driven to Aniak. There are a lot of people who’ve lived in Bethel for a long time who have never done that.

Next Post: My first trip to Three Step Mountain in search of caribou. Unfortunately, it was 20 below that day and the cold drained my battery, so no pictures from that trip. I’ll have to ride out there again to take some, when it’s not so cold out.

To Tunt and Back

Yesterday I took the longest snowmobile trip since I moved here to Alaska. It was a 120 miles round trip down river to the village on Tuntutuliak and back to Bethel. I was joined by my friends Mike and Alisha. We went there to pick up a friends snowmobile and bring it back. There, I think that sums up the basic info.



I woke up on Sunday morning at 7:30am to begin preparations for this trip. I took some basic survival things, extra clothes, and extra food. Unlike most snowmobiling in the lower 48, snowmobiling on the YK Delta can be dangerous. There is no managed trail system, everything is maintained by the local people. When trailing overland on an “established” trail, you typically follow a line of stick tripods with reflective tape on the tops. In bad weather conditions, these are easy to lose and get yourself turned around. However, when traveling on the river, things can be trickier. Ice conditions change rapidly so what might have been a good trail the previous day is now covered in overflow. There is a road that cars and trucks follow when driving on the river, which is marked by large willow branches stuck in the ice. But on this trip, I was going past the ice road for the first time.


I met up with Mike and Alisha and we hooked the sled to the back of my snowmachine. This was also the first time I got to use the hitch on my machine. We packed it with our gear and extra gas. When filled it was pretty damn heavy but even still, those 120 horses had no problem pulling it around. Mike rode on the back of Alisha's machine since it's a 2-seater and mine isn't. Originally it was going to be just me and Mike. But last minute Alisha got her snowmachine up and running, so she joined us. This was nice since I didn't have to spoon with Mike for 3 hours on a bumpy trail. However, we did worry that perhaps her snowmachine would break down, which would really suck.


Finally we get out on the river. Perhaps I didn't notice it earlier, but when we actually got on the river I noticed that it was very foggy. It wasn't so bad that you couldn't see in front of you, but it was bad enough that you could easily lose sight of the shoreline if the trail went too far toward the middle of the river. At one point, the river road for trucks turned up a tributary of the Kuskokwim river, the Johnson river. We followed the road for a while but then realized we were going the wrong way and quickly turned around and met up with the main trunk of the Kusko.


After the Johnson river, we followed snowmachine tracks that stayed near the shoreline. Basically, we knew that if you followed the western shoreline of the Kusko, there should be a used trail and that we should stick to the trail that looked most used. So we did. It was really cool following, by Michigan standards, a very light trail through the foggy wilderness. In fact, between the Johnson river and Tuntutuliak, on the trail, we didn't see a single other person. Also, did I mention that there was a nice thick layer of Horfrost (fog frost).

Then, abruptly, the trail turned toward the shore and we found ourselves on a land trail. This one was well defined, which means the path has pressed down the tundra significantly, which typically means it's an old trail. We followed the trail, which in turn followed, more or less, stick tripods with reflector tape. The trail went over and used as many lakes, rivers, and streams as possible, because they are always smoother than riding on the tundra. Sometimes the lakes can be very large and they mark the trail with willow branches. Since it was still foggy, we'd be cruising on a huge lake following willow branches and unable to see the shoreline. The whole experience was quite surreal, eerie, and comforting, all at the same time.

Eventually, 3 hours later, we noticed a large building to our left and figured that must be Tuntutuliak. As we approached we noticed that it was the airport so we followed a road back to the village. And by road, I mean raised wooden boardwalk on steel pilings road. We guess-worked our way through the house and finally came upon the school. We called the principle of the school, who met us outside and opened the conex which held our friends snowmachine. Now, if your wondering what a conex is, you are like me and have never heard of this word. One of the most interesting things about living in the Delta is that one of the most useful building structures are barge containers (a conex). They have the huge big rig doors and are sturdily made. People convert them into sheds and storage facilities all the time because they are so damn tough.

We got into the conex and in only 4 or 5 pulls got the machine up and running. It had been well kept and store properly so that was nice to see. It was a Ski Doo 550 Expedition; it was a nice machine and I couldn't believe how tight the turning radius was. My Yamaha turns like a fatty compared to that thing. But before we could leave, I wanted to adjust my track. I spent some time in a friends shop Saturday night adjusting the track and about halfway to Tunt I felt that my track wasn't in the proper alignment. My stock tool kit had all the proper tools but the wrench to loosen the rear axle nut was too short to get the proper leverage needed. Luckily, this little 4th grader, named Jesse, was hanging around telling us how cool our machines were. We asked him to go ask his dad for a longer 19mm wrench. He returned speedily with the right tool and then proceeded to help us lift my snowmachine onto a plank of wood so as to lift the track off the ground. The four of us then ate lunch in the conex to escape the cold and wind. Without the help from our little friend, fixing my track would have been a much longer and painful problem.

As we geared up to leave Tunt, the sun very suddenly burned the fog away. This made the ride back to Bethel feel like an entirely different and new adventure. This time, we got to see everything the fog had previously concealed. The veiled landscape from before was revealed to be one of flat, frost laced beauty. The near nothingness was grand. As always on a trip like this, the ride back feels much shorter than the ride there. I didn't really think about it until the ride back but I travel the whole way to Tunt and back with my visor open. It struck me that our entire ride had been a pretty warm one.

(Turn Volume DOWN/OFF)


That morning we left around 10am and we arrived back in Bethel around 6pm or so. The whole trip was a great experience and we successfully brought back our friends snowmachine. We all learned how to get to Tuntutuliak. I learned how to adjust and tighten my track. I also reached 500 miles on my machine so I'm bringing it in on Wednesday for it's initial service. After that, the engine is pretty well considered broken in. All in all, this was an ending to a very successful and wonderful weekend.