THESE ARE THE DAYS OF SALMON’S LIVES BY BJORN DIHLE
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n July 22, news broke that Bristol Bay was having its biggest sockeye salmon return since records were first kept in 1893. More than 63 million sockeye had returned to the bay’s different watersheds and fish were still running. By the time the run was complete, almost 66 million fish had returned. A few days later, I left town to guide a natural history brown bear film shoot in Southeast Alaska. One of the sequences we were trying to get was of a bear chasing salmon underwater. We had a camera in
underwater housing submerged near the base of a raging waterfall. It could be operated from 100 yards away with an iPad. On its screen, I watched dozens of pinks and small darting and feasting Dolly Varden. In the middle of the frenzy was a salmon with a crimson body and green head – a male sockeye. It was swimming in place beneath the falls and waiting for the right moment to attempt climbing them so it could spawn in the small lake above. Bristol Bay has the largest sockeye
run – not to mention the biggest wild salmon fishery – in the world. But in Southeast Alaska, especially where I was guiding on Chichagof Island, sockeye are far and few between.
I’VE GUIDED A HANDFUL of other bear film projects on salmon streams. Some, like this one, had me in the field for a month. The main camera operator on this shoot paid homage to a spawned-out salmon by gently stroking its slimy flesh as it twitched in its final moments.
Guiding a brown bear film shoot allowed author Bjorn Dihle to spend a few days also studying Southeast Alaska sockeye and how they behave. It was quite a fascinating experience to see how these remarkable salmon act. (KRISTINE SOWL/USFWS) aksportingjournal.com | NOVEMBER 2021
ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL
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