The Silver Salmon Award Goes To...

We did not watch the Olympics. This year, our free time was almost completely diverted to fishing. We have just completed our first full year here in Nome, becoming eligible for subsistence fishing and hunting. While The hunting might become a possibility in the future, fishing seemed like the better first step.

In my humble opinion, Silver salmon are the best to fish for. There are several types of fish including 5 types of salmon commonly seen in Alaska: Pink salmon, Silver salmon, Chum Salmon, King Salmon, and Red Salmon. The differences between them make them each a unique prize of the river.

Pinks or "humpys" are the most numerous. They are, however the least wanted. They are a bit smaller and are more fatty than some other types. They come up stream early in the summer and will bite almost any hook. They are the "practice fish" while you wait for the Silvers. Many people catch these for food themselves because it is possible to catch enough to feed a family for much of the year, however, some people catch them primarily for sport or dog food. Not a bad idea considering how much dogwood it takes to feed a team of sled dogs.


Chum salmon or "dog salmon" aren't ones that I have seen much and therefore don't know that much about. They are a decent sized fish that seemed to taste okay once grilled. I think they aren't in high numbers in the river.

King Salmon and the Red Salmon both are very desirable fish, as they have a very tasty meat and have a lot of it. Kings are usually the largest of the salmon types and reds are, in certain locations, in huge numbers. The problem with fishing for Kings or "Chinooks" and
Red's or "Sockeye salmon" is that they just don't bite a hook. To catch them you need a net. Dip netting is very popular, but can leave you with any where from 4 fish after a day, to 450 fish. You have to be able to deal with that many at a time.

Silvers or "Coho salmon" are the ones to fish for. They can get pretty large (I caught one about 22" last year) and are not nearly as common as the Pinks. They are a little pickier about the lures they go after and once they bite, they'll put up an amazing fight before you can bring one to shore. Silvers are the most fun of all the fish to fish for and are super tasty. 
Learning to fillet our own salmon has been an exciting part of this subsistence experience.

Joseph Balderas, Friend and Coworker

Nome has experienced a tough loss, one of our own went missing. Earlier this year, on Monday, June 26th, news went out that our coworker, Joseph Balderas, had taken a trip out into the backcountry on Saturday and had not shown up for work that day. Search and Rescue efforts were already underway and getting organized by the time the Community Center caught wind of his disappearance on Monday afternoon. If you've never experienced a friend going missing, it's an incredibly gut wrenching experience. As an organization, Nome Community Center immediately shut down all of our programs to join the search efforts. Kimberly and I found ourselves out hiking/ scouring the countryside for four of the nine long days that the search lasted.

Neither of us have taken part of an organized search and rescue effort before. This was also true for many people who came out the woodwork to try to help. Although the event caused many people to be anxious, something can surely be said for the organization of our local responders. Despite the obvious physical obstacles like the terrain challenges and dangerous wildlife (bears), the search was handled very well. However, those nine days of searching yielded no signs of Joseph.

The search was not some small group of volunteers trekking through the bushes near his truck, either. The Coast Guard had a Jayhawk helicopter with thermal imaging capabilities flying over a 30 mile radius of Joseph's truck. There were two additional R-44 helicopters supplied by Bering Air for several days of the search, and 5 total search and rescue dog teams brought in. There were well over 60 searchers who volunteered for the search. This included a team lead by the fire dept. and leadership from the Alaska State Troopers.

          
          
          

After the first day of searching, Kimberly and I found ourselves taking lead for several of the smaller search groups. However, after several long days of hiking, 4-wheeling and bushwhacking, we were spent. We did experience our first encounter with bears on one of our hikes. After about 4 miles of hiking along a nearby river path, our group spotted two large blonde colored bear cubs across the wide (yet shallow) river. They had been playing with each other and either heard us or caught our scent because they quickly stopped playing and started making their way down into the river to appease their curiosity. We were on the far bank of the river  (first picture) with a lot of willows between them and us so we kept a close eye on them. We decided that we didn't want their company and called in to the main search group and asked for the helicopter to make a pass nearby to scare the bears back up the hill where they came from.

Day after day of no news eats away at you. Having that recent memory of seeing Joseph in passing that Saturday morning, makes it feel like it's impossible to be true. How can he be gone. Is there more that I could have done. And of course, the thought of if I could only go back and convince him to spend that day differently, would he possibly be here with us now. I have to remember that Joseph is without a doubt in God's hands.