Looked out the window this morning and saw nervous water on the lake. Skipped breakfast. Three hens and a buck. I’ll cure eggs for ikura later today. Shioyaki salmon for dinner tonight. Beginning of our second week in Chignik Lake, Alaska.
CutterLight
living well off the beaten path
CutterLight 
Yummy… J
😉
Loved your article about ikura. Made it last year. It was amazing. I did not know you can freeze the eggs. A lot of people just toss the eggs…
Thanks bearly. Checked out your site. Very cool. Hope you’ll visit again. JD
Sounds good!
I went back in the evening, caught one more, then lost my jig when a hooked salmon leaped and fell on the line. Ordered more. Good to hear from you.
Babette! Are you back in AK for good or just on vacation???
Hi Kat! Jack here. Yes, we are back in Alaska for good! We now live in Chignik Lake – a tiny village on the Alaska Peninsula. Barbra left on Sunday for a week-long series of district-wide back-to-school meetings at a fancy lodge in Katmai. This is the place where you see all those nature film documentaries featuring brown bears standing on the lip of the Brooks Falls catching Sockeye salmon in mid air as they ascend the cascade. Yesterday they set a net for salmon and had their catch for dinner. In my opinion, That’s the way to do meetings in Alaska.
Meanwhile, back here at Chignik Lake, we got all moved in just before Barbra flew out. We’ve already picked a gallon of wild raspberries and put five red salmon of our own, plus four sets of salmon roe, in the freezer. Both the berries and the salmon fishing spot are a 10-minute walk from our front door. From the window of our house, we have a beautiful view of wildflowers, Chignik Lake itself, and the incredibly green hills and granite, snow-patched peaks beyond. We’re constantly looking out the window, checking out the leaping salmon in the lake, loons, eagles, kingfishers and other birds as well as seals. No bears yet, but we’ve seen tracks and other signs. Lots and lots of salmon berries and lots and lots of clean air and quiet. Bar will be teaching the whole elementary school – six students in all. I’m sure she’ll want to catch up, Kat, so I’ll let her know you checked in. Thanks! JD
Can I say I’m jealous, without seeming juvenile?!! There must not be anything quite like salmon fresh out of the water. My husband got to experience it on a backwoods fishing trip – if any fish got hurt, they got to eat it. I guess it didn’t happen often enough, but at least he had that experience a couple of times!!!
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Alaska’s fisheries biologists have forecast a return of nearly 3 million Chignik River system Sockeye this year, which, to me, is mind-boggling. I can see fish going by almost all day long. Lots of well-fed eagles, seals and bears around here, too!
again, WOW!
Give me one I wanna BBq it 🙂
Definitely on of our favorite fish. Thanks for leaving a comment!