Fishing – Part 2

Winter fishing is over and I thought I would go into more detail about the fish we caught this season.  It turned into a two part season due to unseasonably warm spell right after I started fishing.  The warm weather wouldn’t allow the fish to freeze, and we had some coastal flooding from a strong storm system several hundred miles west pushing up through the Bering straights into the Beaufort Sea.

 

                Last Day Picking At The Net

The day I pulled my net I had to wade through 14” (35.5 cm) of sea water in the shallow river areas to get out to my net.  After six days of thawing temperatures and even a few rain showers, a strong wind storm moved in and gave us 4 days of snow and blowing snow. For two of those days, we had blizzard conditions with visibilities down to an 1/8 of a mile (.2 km) at times.

As soon as the storm had pasted, I reset my net and was able to finish getting the amount of fish needed for the winter in just five days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 A Nice Fat Arctic Cisco

It would have been nice to have caught a few more Arctic Cisco than we did, as they are the preferred fish for the table, a nice fat fish with firm white flesh.  Unfortunately their population numbers are in a down cycle this year and not many are in our area.

 This photo shows all species of fish taken during the fishing season, listed top to bottom.      

Fourhorn Sculpin

Hump-backed Whitefish

Least Cisco

Arctic Cisco

Broad Whitefish

Boreal Smelt

 

Species Descriptions:

Whitefishes  family Coregonidae  are related to salmonids (trout,char and salmon)

Broad Whitefish  Coregonus nasus
Only a small number of immature fish are caught in the winter fishery and weigh between .75 - 2.5 pounds, (0.3-1.1kg) but a large mature individual can reach 18 pounds (8.2kg). However, 4-8 pounds is more norm. The broad whitefish can be distinguished from the humpback, even when small, by its short, blunt snout.

Hump-back Whitefish  Coregonus pidschian
Our catch runs from 1-3 pounds (0.5-1.4kg) and includes immature and mature fish.  This year hump-back whitefish made up about 30% of the catch.

In both of the above  species the mouth is inferior, an adaptation for bottom feeding. Their diet consists mainly of small clams, snails, aquatic insects, larvae, and freshwater shrimp. In both species, the head is small and the body deep or wide from stomach to backbone.

Least Cisco   Coregonus sardinella
Least Cisco are a slender herring-like fish with a superior mouth, which means a weak lower jaw projecting beyond the upper. They are anadromous, spending the summer open water season in the coastal waters (brackish lagoons)of the Arctic Ocean, feeding primarily on amphipods.
Our catch averages  .75lb and around 12" (31 cm), but a large individual can reach 16.5" ( 42cm) and 2.5 pounds.  (0.3-1.1kg) Least Cisco made up 69% of our catch.

Arctic Cisco  Coregonus autumalis
These are also anadromous, spending part of the year in brackish waters of the Arctic Ocean  feeding on  invertebrates and to a lesser extent on other small fish. They are distinguishable from the least cisco by smaller eyes and scales, more silver color, white pectoral and pelvic fins, and terminal mouths (at the tip of the body).
The majority of our catch is made up of immature fish age 5-8, with a few older fish to age 11.  Once Arctic Cisco in our area reach maturity, they migrate back to the Mackenzie River drainage to spawn and after that they stay in that general area.  Our catch runs from 3/4 pound to 3 pounds (.03-1.4kg) and average around 13" ( 33cm) with a large specimen reaching 18" (46cm).  This year our catch was about 1% of the total, but in a good year Arctic’s will run 50-75% of the catch.

The following two species are caught in low numbers and incidental to the fishing operation.

Boreal Smelt "Osmerus eperlanus"
Size up to 16" (40 cm)  are anadromous in our area coming into fresh water in the spring to spawn. 
They have a very sweet tasting meat and are called sugar fish by some of the local inhabitants.

Fourhorn (Deepwater) Sculpin  Myoxocephalus quadricornis
These are incidental catch when they are around the net feeding on spent eggs from ripe fish heading up river or larger individuals feeding on smaller fish caught in the net.  They are mainly a food source for other fish and birds during the open water season.

Snow Buntings Gone For The Winter!

Even with the warmer than normal October weather, the last of our local snow buntings departed on time.  The last snow buntings have been departing around 10-13th of October for several years now, and the last five were seen on the afternoon of the 9th this year.

              Snow Bunting in bright fall plumage. 

My last banded Snow Bunting just before leaving for the winter.

That left the two Dark-eyed Junco’s (Slate-colored sub-species) coming into the feeder.  They showed up in early October hungry and spent lots of time at the feeder bulking up to continue their migration south.  The juncos departed two days after the snow buntings, having built up their reserves to feel ready to continue on. 

Dark-eyed Junco (sub-species  Slate-colored Junco) 

It was fun watching the juvenile snow buntings learn to land in the first snow that fell in late September.  At first they weren’t sure about landing in the white stuff.  They would hover and slowly letting their feet sink into the snow, acting like they thought they were going to get stuck, like happens when they misjudged earlier in the summer when they landed in water.  After a few days they were just plopping right down and letting their body stop them from sinking more, like a big snowshoe.  Once landed they could move about on the snow without sinking in, as they moved about in the yard feeding on the grass seed heads that were sticking above the snow.

    Snow Bunting napping during October snow squall.

 

Male Snow Bunting in bright spring plumage, showing contrast from when they arrive and then depart in the fall.

Fish and Foxes

It has been a warm freeze up season and the river ice took several days to become thick enough to safely walk on and set a fish net.  We used to fish commercially in the fall, sending fish to some of the local North Slope villages as well as several dog mushers and a fish processer in the Fairbanks area.  Our family ran the commercial operation for 56 years, but now it has been scaled down to one or two nets for a few fish for the family and pets.

                Picking the net in the early morning light.

 

 

Our winter catch is made up of  Arctic Cisco, Least Cisco, and Hump-back Whitefish.  Most run about a pound while some of the larger ones will go two and half pounds. All are white meat and very tasty.

 

 

 

Cisco's and Whitefish at net hole.

It didn’t take the Arctic Foxes long to smell fresh fish on the wind and within 20 minutes of picking my net yesterday the first fox showed up. 

                     Arctic Fox checking out the net!

Before I finished I had two at the net site and they keep me entertained with their antics.  They were a little shy at first and didn’t want to get to close, but they also didn’t want the other fox near the fish. 

    Arctic Fox heading for the fish pile with reflection in the ice.

They would chase the other fox away and then dash back to the fish pile looking to grab a fish for themselves.  They managed to get several fish each before I finished for the day and  hauled my catch home.  They each ate one fish right away then started carting fish off to bury for later.

                                                 Got One!!