Fishing for Dogs

Obviously this post isn't about the four legged kind of dog we all know and mostly love. I say mostly because my neighbor has decided to dog sit for a friend of theirs whose dog is unruly and loves to stick his big mouth out the window and bark-for hours on end. I so wish I could live on my own private little estate away from unruly dogs, neighbors and other riff-raff. However, I digress. This post is about fishing for chum, or dog salmon as they're known. It's about the only game in town right now. The king season is closing tonight, and it has been poor, and so far the humpies and cohos haven't shown, even out on the ocean. I'm not sure what to make of it. The upside of such poor fishing is that the price to the fishermen is good. The downside is that there are few fish, and the consumer is going to pay a lot more.The second picture shows the difference between ocean bright chum, and one that is ready for the creek. The closer they get to fresh water, the more pronounced the purple and green stripes on their bodies becomes. They are tremendous fighters, and are a lot of fun to catch, but they can be a challenge. For one, you have to troll R E A L L Y slow for them, like one to one and half knots. They seem to prefer a smaller hoochie since they are primarily plankton eaters, although I've caught them on bait before, and just the other day I caught four or five on a spoon that I was running for kings. I caught some really big ones this year, several over fourteen or fifteen pounds, and my friend Kevin said he caught one that weighed 24 pounds on his hand held scale. I was landing one the other day that I thought was going to tear my arm from the socket. It was like being attached to a paint mixer- holy crow! In the third picture you can see the canine teeth that the males develop as they get near the fresh water. All the better to fight over females I guess. I don't know if that's why they're called dog salmon or if it's because they're  the primary food that the mushers feed their dogs up north. Fortunately the cold storage is buying these fish in the round, which means we don't have to clean them, and of course with the guts and gills intact, they weigh more. Just land them, bleed them and toss them in the slush. The eggs of dog salmon are the largest of all the salmon and are desired by the Japanese, although I don't think that the younger folks have the same desire as their elders. Too much Western influence I guess. Anyway, if you're out fishing, keep your hooks sharp and your lines in the water. If you're not fishing, then I guess I feel sorry for you.