THE CASE OF THE MISSING CAMERA

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Author Scott Haugen holds an Egegik River coho caught from the same hole where a fish broke his line and swam away with his new underwater camera. In a remarkable coincidence, three days later and on a di erent stretch of the river, the same fish was caught and the camera recovered. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

THE COHO (AND CAMERA) THAT DIDN’T GET AWAY

EGEGIK RIVER TRIP NETS QUITE A CATCH – AND INTERESTING INSIGHTS ON SALMON BEHAVIOR

BY SCOTT HAUGEN

“Hey, did you lose a little underwater camera?” shouted a man over the rumble of his boat motor. My heart rate shot up as I yelled a resounding, “Yes!”

Three days prior I’d tied a little underwater camera to my braided fishing line. On the other end was a Flash Glo Squid Spinner. I hooked a hefty, hardfighting coho right away. It kept diving into a deep hole, raking the braided line over a sharp volcanic rock. Then, about 10 feet above the camera, my line broke.

I was dejected, not because of the cost of the camera I’d just lost, but because it was only day two of a sevenday fishing trip on Alaska’s Egegik River. I was looking forward to gathering lots of video footage to study. Then, when it was recovered, I thought to myself, “That’s impossible; with hundreds of thousands of salmon now in the river, there’s no way!”

I was wrong.

“I CAUGHT IT RIGHT out there,” Jerry Nielson pointed after handing me the camera. “The thing attacked my fly and put up one heckuva fight! I thought it was a bobber hanging on the line. I just

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GIVE SHANKS FOR THIS BIG GAME RECIPE

BY TIFFANY HAUGEN

Last month we looked at smoking and cooking what are considered some of the prime cuts of big game meat. This month we’re continuing the theme, but with what are considered the most flavorful cuts of big game meat.

Wild game shanks, or lower leg muscles, are some of the tastiest parts of an animal. The key is not letting the looks of this cut intimidate you and using the proper cooking method.

Slow cooking in a Crockpot is the key to breaking down all the connective tissues in the shanks, resulting in tender, pull-apart and flavorful meat that can be used in virtually any recipe. Smoking the shanks for a few hours prior to slow cooking adds even more to the final product, and it smells amazing while cooking.

Smoked and slow-cooked shanks make a great sandwich that resembles an Alaska-style “pulled pork” sammy. The meat can also be used in tacos, tossed into pasta, topped on a salad, mixed with cream cheese or mayonnaise and minced into a pâté or sandwich filling, or even added to a favorite soup, stew or chili.

SLOW-COOKED WILD GAME SHANKS Two to four wild game shanks, cut from bone 1 to 2 tablespoons black pepper or seasoning of choice One 13-ounce can full-fat coconut milk Wood chips of choice

Sprinkle pepper or seasoning rub on wild game shanks. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature 30 for 60 minutes.

Prepare your smoker for smoking by filling smoker pan with chips of choice. Place shanks on smoker racks, leaving space between to allow for proper smoke flow. Smoke two to three hours, refreshing the chip pan two or three times, depending on how cold the temperature is where you live.

Pour half of the can of coconut milk in the bottom of a slow cooker/Crockpot, then add smoked shanks and cover the meat with the rest of the coconut milk.

Slow cook on high for five to seven hours or until shank meat pulls apart with a fork. If the shanks ball up, they can be sliced in half or into chunks and nestled back into the coconut milk to continue cooking.

Pull cooked shanks apart or chop into chunks. Serve on a bun or add to your dish of choice.

Slow cooking big game shanks can make your meat fork-tender, giving you a delicious meal from that moose or other animal you harvest this fall. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)

Editor’s note: For signed copies of Ti any Haugen's popular book, Cooking Big Game, send a check for $20 to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489 or visit scotthaugen.com for this and other titles.

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The author was surprised by how often schools of coho held atop rises in the river bottom, in very shallow water, usually when there were deeper holes on each side that remained void of fish. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

unhooked my fly, tossed the salmon on the bank and kept fishing; it still had your spinner in its mouth. Not until a buddy came over and looked at it closer did we see it was an underwater camera.”

Jerry caught the salmon 3 miles downstream from where I had lost it. The coho weighed 15 pounds and Jerry said it was the biggest fish of the trip for him. The fact the coho bit a fly, with a big lure still in its mouth, amazed me.

I held the camera and wondered what information it might have, if any. It had obviously been through a lot, as evidenced by the many salmon teeth marks on it, plus the rocks it had slammed into. I’d just charged the camera battery before I lost it.

When I removed the mini SD card and plugged it into my laptop back at camp, I was elated when it showed four hours of video footage captured. That night I looked at footage until 2 a.m.

Once home, I continued pouring over the video clips, eager to learn all I could. WHEN THE COHO FIRST broke o , it went right back to where I’d originally hooked it. I know this because I could see the lures from my buddy and I, who kept fishing that hole, as they hit in front of the camera lens. One time the camera actually caught another coho striking a lure.

During the four hours of video, the hooked coho moved a lot, both up- and downstream. What happened every time the salmon stopped disproved what I thought was a rule; that when pink salmon were in a river with coho, the coho held tight to the bottom and the pinks stacked above them.

Here, every time the coho rested, it – along with all the other coho – was atop the stacks of pink salmon that held tight to the bottom. There were hundreds of pinks in every hole. Often the coho held barely a foot under the surface, even in 5 to 6 feet of water.

Usually, the schools of coho would hold on high points o the bottom, while the pink salmon crammed into the depressions, something else that surprised me. In fact, the deep holes rarely held a coho, even when direct sunlight hit the water.

When the bottom varied between large rocks and gravel, the coho always held over the big rocks. It was interesting, for when the camera rested on the bottom of sandy areas, a lot of silt passed by. The coho didn’t like this and held high, but the pinks didn’t mind and stuck to the bottom.

When coho were in their own schools, holding over small gravel, it was almost always on the leading edge and along the sides, never behind it in a tailout, likely due to the sand pushing through.

Schools of coho also held tight behind and in front of big boulders, like steelhead often do. They could be seen riding the currents and upwellings in front of, to the side and behind big rocks, where the water was less taxing. In turbulent water they got moved around a lot, but stayed in the same general part of the hole.

Whenever the coho with the camera moved, it first elevated near the surface, then swam. It did this when with silvers

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or pinks – it didn’t matter.

On the big computer, I studied the footage closely where the camera caught my buddy and I casting lures for more coho, in the hole where I’d initially broken o the fish. It recorded dozens of casts, and a number coho being hooked.

More than 90 percent of the time the first silvers to follow the spinner were the ones closest to the surface. While they may have eventually struck the spinner, it was faster fish moving from below that almost always got to it first. No matter whether the school numbered 10 or 50 salmon, the results were almost always the same: shallow fish would start to follow the spinner, then a salmon laying below reacted to the movement of the fish and the spinner above, speeding ahead as fast as it could to attack the spinner.

It proved what aggressive, tenacious feeders coho can be, and how the movement of one fish can trigger a feeding frenzy.

The lesson here: When your buddy hooks a salmon, quickly cast into the same spot. This explains why you’ll often see double hookups on salmon in one hole, proving that a bite can be “turned on” by anglers.

Haugen was so happy to have his underwater camera back thanks to fellow angler Jerry Nielson (left), who caught the fish and the camera three days later and 3 miles downstream from where Haugen had

been broken o . (SCOTT HAUGEN)

I’VE BEEN FORTUNATE TO fish for salmon and steelhead for over 50 years, and it never ceases to amaze me how much there still is to learn. If you stop and think about it, what we believe we know and what we actually know are two very di erent things, largely based on speculation. Unless you’re underwater observing how fish move, act and react, you can’t say for sure what’s truly happening.

Underwater cameras reveal a lot and studying footage with an open mind has greatly educated me over the years. Never before, however, have I had a camera actually follow a salmon around for hours, like this one.

As I shook Jerry’s hand, I thanked him for returning my camera and suggested he go buy a lottery ticket as soon as he got home, because hooking that coho was one-in-a-million odds. ASJ

Editor’s note: For signed copies of Scott Haugen's popular book, Bank Fishing For Steelhead & Salmon, and other titles, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott’s adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

After Haugen’s mainline was broken and this coho swam o with his camera still attached to the leader, the device recorded four hours of footage, providing unique insights into salmon behavior in freshwater. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

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