.the joys of dipnetting.

on an invite from a friend, we went down to kasilof (cuhSEEloff) to catch some sockeyes, or so we thought...

we scurried to get our dipnetting permit, dipnets, waders, etc. etc. where we hoped to catch salmon swimming down the river in our large net. of course, being as we're late to everything our hopeful arrival of 8 or 9PM became later.

well. we got in at 11PM friday night, hoping to catch our 55-fish max catch over the course of the night. it was cold. there were holes in the waders. the fish were running slow. long story short, we drank some beer, sarah caught a bottom-feeding flounder (that we threw back), then shoved ourselves (4 of us) in a two-person tent for a few hours of napping, then tried again.

no luck. people around us caught salmon, of course.

eight hours. cold bodies. cramped necks. no fish.

we're going back. and we're catching fish, dammit. but it was good experience. :)

the best part: when the tide came in around 4AM, we awoke to people rapping on our tent warning us that the water was getting close. we could hear it, but we look out and it's literally feet from lapping up our tent. mind you, our tent was at least 15 yards from the short during low tide when we decided to take a nap. we moan and groan, move the tent, then cram back in, lying on top of one another for a few more zzzs. :)