![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() (In 1949, near Petersburg, Alaska, a 126‐pounder was caught in a fish trap, the upper limit of a featherweight boxer.) Now, a good fish was 20 pounds. One of the chinook’s nicknames had once been the June hog 80-pounders were not uncommon. Their elders had been telling them for years that something was happening to their fish, and it had reached a point where no one could ignore that not just their overall numbers, but also their individual size, were dramatically in decline. Twenty years ago, the First Nations of Teslin decided to stop fishing for chinook. Fish were roasted on open fires fish were cut and dried and smoked and packed away for the coming winter of 40 below.īut that was then. A time for swapping stories, for catching up with friends, for teaching the youngsters how to fish and how to respect the water. Unlike moose hunting or muskrat trapping, this annual influx of protein was reliable, and arrived on cue at fishing spots that had been used for generations.įish camp is often remembered as a happy time, full of abundance. The people here, along with the others who line the river’s banks from Teslin to the sea, could stock enough fish in their caches to make it through the coming winter. For as long as anyone could remember, the Tlingit of Teslin would make fish camps along the lake each summer as the salmon neared their village, setting nets or drifting them from boats, harvesting this annual bounty. ![]()
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