Well the 2010 Salmon is getting off to a decent start with a trip to the Copper River netting 48 salmon with 5 being kings. A couple fun trips ahead in the weeks to come... Looking up! The River was the lowest I've ever seen and fishing was slow but we did alright. Three days after returning to Fairbanks and having chartered down into the canyon, it was decided to go back down to the Copper for round two and some hiking out at Kennicott. I didn't bother going down into the canyon on this trip and went out to Salmon Point instead. Ironically, the water was worse at Salmon Point than the notoriously rough water in the canyon. Once it stopped raining and the water came up some, the fishing picked up and I ended up with 27 additional Sockeye to take home. With the permit filled, and rainy weather discouraging our hiking plans in Kennicott (which just made it entirely a fishing trip to Erin's discontent), I ended up heading back into Fairbanks. The hiking part was a bust but hey, we got fish. Enjoyed a few days around the river. We stopped at Liberty Falls and took a hike up to the water falls. Nothing spectacular but, definitely a nice little area. Erin's dad smoked some salmon up on Willow branches and lemon pepper and I enjoyed munching on it the during the ride home! This is a quick little video of the scenery at Salmon Point including the Copper River which is enormous at 60,000 - 360,000 cubic feet per second depending on weather.
Another little video of the Charter Jet boat ride down in the canyon on the Copper River.
