Salmon Fishing In Alaska’s Copper River

I am excited to share this video of my family’s annual salmon fishing trip to the Copper River. The first time I can remember fishing the Copper was in 1969. I was 5 years old. Today the river is essentially unchanged. When I go there with my children and grandchildren I don’t have to tell them stories of what it used to be like when I was a boy, it is still the same. The Copper River Basin is full of a sandy silt which the constant wind blows into your tent, sleeping bag, food supply and fishing gear. The river itself is heavy with silt making it impossible to see into more than a few inches. In the place where we fish it is about 6 to 10 feet deep. We drag our nets along the bottom where the migrating salmon travel and hope to find them. We take very good care of our fish. At our campsite, we clean the fillets in a freshwater stream and immediately pack them on ice for the trip home. After the long drive back home we all work together to vacuum pack the fish and get it into the freez