bristol bay photo gallery
-- SOCKEYE SEASON 2016 --
The photo series is now over. Thank you so much for following us this season! To see more of photographer Chris Miller’s work, you can visit his website here: www.csmphotos.com or follow him on instagram.

Jason Kohlhase, right, and Burke Bohnsack, both from Juneau, AK, install a new five-bladed propeller onto the shaft of the F/V Icy Bay. Fishermen are constantly trying to gain efficiencies through upgrades and modifications of their vessels, either to give them advantage while fishing, decrease wear and tear on the boats, or preventative maintenance.

Carrying on a long-standing tradition, Skipper of the F/V Icy Bay, Jason Kohlhase, gives a good luck kiss to the first fish of the season.

Jennifer Strassel, from Ketchikan, AK, puts the finishing touches on a design and the F/V Bravo’s name.

Jonathan Adams of Roslyn, WA, leans into a stiff 35 knot wind as he overlooks the Naknek River and the Silver Bay Seafoods dock.

The F/V Sumo is launched by tractor into the Naknek River.

The F/V Icy Bay is trailered by tractor down to the Naknek River to be launched to start the 2016 Bristol Bay season.

The F/V Icy Bay tows on the net in the Ugashik district with the Aluetian Range on the horizon.

After 3 days of salting in the fridge we finally were able to bake and enjoy some of our catch.

(From left) Burke Bohnsack, Jonathan Adams, and Jason Kohlhase mend the net aboard the F/V Icy Bay, while anchored in Dago Creek during a fishing closure in Ugashik. Fishermen are constantly doing repairs during the season to keep their nets and boats in shape to catch the most fish they can during their short season.

Recreated an oldie but a goodie from years ago by writing Bristol Bay with sparklers to celebrate the 4th on the back deck of the F/V Icy Bay.

Happy 4th of July from the F/V Icy Bay!!

A rainbow adorns the horizon as tenders wait to take fish after an opener.

Abbey Knight, Coos Bay, OR, holds a sockeye.

The F/V Kahuna makes a set in front Mt. Peulik, a volcano in the Aleutian Range.

Alex Stewart, Portland, OR, holds a sockeye.

Jonathan Adams does the final cleanup for the day by hosing off brailers before they go back into the holds for the next day of fishing.

Abbey Knight, Coos Bay, OR, picks a sockeye aboard the F/V Selma as her uncle Chris Knight looks on. It is Abbey’s first season commercial fishing and she is a quick study at learning the ropes of being a deckhand in Bristol Bay.

The F/V Komiza makes a set on the Ugashik district west line.

The F/V Icy Bay picks a set with the Mt. Peulik Volcano on the horizon.

Three bright and beautiful sockeye rest on a bed of ice before going into the holds.

The F/V Selma and the Ugashik fishing fleet wait in line to deliver to tenders after an opener.

Alex Stewart, left, and Abbey Knight grab the end of the net to bring it aboard the F/V Selma.

The F/V Icy Bay's net is towed out of the water with Mt. Peulik on the horizon.

Buck Gibbons, a BBRSDA board member, and his crew hand haul the tail of the net aboard; so they can get it back in the water to catch the next set.

Alex Stewart, Portland, OR, picks a sockeye from the net as it comes aboard the F/V Selma.

A gillnetter crosses through the breakers to make it out to the fishing grounds. Bristol Bay is interweaved with many sandbars and shoals, and fishermen use the area's many channels to enter and exit protected waters to access the fishing grounds.

A sockeye is picked as it comes aboard the F/V Icy Bay.

A tenderman dumps a load of sockeye into the hold in the Ugashik District.

Kevin Courier on the F/V Deborah tows on a set on the North Ugashik line just south of Cape Grieg.
A pile of fresh sockeye rest on deck before being placed in the hold.
Once off the water fishermen still have plenty of work to do to prepare their boats for 11 months of storage. The F/V Fish Gun has its brailers drying over the side before being stored until next season.
Sockeye salmon attempt to jump over Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park.
Sockeye salmon attempt to jump over Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. Making it past hundreds of nets and hungry brown bears, millions of sockeye make it up river to the lakes and streams of Bristol Bay to spawn the next generation of salmon.
A raft of boats light off fireworks in Dago Creek after a long day of fishing in Ugashik.





























-- SOCKEYE SEASON 2015 --
To see more of photographer Chris Miller’s work, you can visit his website here: www.csmphotos.com or follow him on instagram.

The shiny new F/V Icy Bay steaming its way to Ugashik, with Cape Grieg in the background.

Earning every penny. Jonathan Adams and Aaron Opp duck spray from the wind and waves during a storm with gusts of 60 mph in Egegik.

Mid-June is a scramble as some 1,650 fishermen and their crews ready for launch. Here, Corey Potter, of Vermont, tightens the last couple bolts on his rudder after replacing his prop on the F/V Melody.

Fast Hands. Kalah Statz uses a net needle to attach corks and the corkline to a gillnet at Watzituya Nets in Naknek.

Marcia Dale, of Watzituya Nets, builds a gillnet. Each fishing vessel will go through multiple nets in the rough-and-tumble of a high volume Bristol Bay season, so Marcia’s shop is very busy this time of year!

The fishing vessel Shrike gets launched into the Naknek River at the Lummi Fisheries launch ramp, while the F/V Miss Carolyn waits for the tide to come back in. The combination of shallow waters and very large tides makes for interesting logistics in Bristol Bay.

Jason Kohlhase pilots the brand new F/V Icy Bay to its first anchorage in Egegik.

On the F/V Icy Bay, Aaron Opp continues the tradition of kissing the first sockeye of the season.

Brandon Mulholland on the F/V Pura Vida sets the net on the Egegik district’s south line with Mt. Peulik on the horizon, one of the many volcanoes that dot the skyline of the Alaska Peninsula.

A scene from earlier this season, as a raft of boats at anchor waits in the Egegik River for escapement to climb and fishing time to commence. Crews appreciate the time to socialize. In our fishery, some 1,800 permit holders hail from 37 states. Each Bristol Bay boat represents a private, independent business, and each skipper employs an additional 2-4 crew members, meaning that Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery – on the catching side – is some 7,000 people strong. The processing and support industries employ thousands more!

The female skipper of the F/V Szenta cruises the Egegik district’s south line looking for some open water to lay out her net. More and more women operate driftnet boats in Bristol Bay, a trend that has been increasing for the last decade or two. Across Alaska’s fishing industry as a whole, a general “graying of the fleet” has raised concerns, but natural turnover continues to provide opportunities for new entrants, whether they come up through fishing families or start a new tradition from scratch.

Aaron Opp picks a fish as the sun sets and the fishing period wraps up for the evening. The days are long in Alaska this time of year. Today (June 30th), first light was at 4:14 AM and last light will be at 12:51 AM tomorrow!

Lots of fish mean long tender lines as offloads can take awhile. The tender Brittany has eleven boats waiting to deliver the days catch in Ugashik.

At the Naknek city dock, the F/V Casi Jo is dwarfed by a sea of refrigerated containers that will carry Bristol Bay sockeye to domestic and world markets. In recent years, Bristol Bay communities and support industries have invested heavily in logistical facilities and equipment that support the fishery. These investments ensure that the very highest-quality sockeye are available not just as the season is underway, but throughout the year.

Fishing has picked up!! Ugashik typically intercepts fish headed to other districts and the fishing here has been pretty good the last few days, hence our transfer to the most southern fishing district in Bristol Bay. Pictured, two sockeye hitting the end of the net.

Powered by sockeye! We eat A LOT of sockeye while fishing, as it is our main source of fresh protein… and it’s delicious. These tasty red treats are bound for a boat favorite Cioppino.

The back deck of the Icy Bay – lots of nice, big sockeye that just came aboard, ready to be bled and placed in refrigerated seawater to keep them at 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

An aerial view over some of the boatyards that line the Naknek River. Each of the 32′ boats you see represents a small business and a lot of work! The boats anchored in the river are the ones who have already “splashed.” In a few more days, the boatyards will empty out as salmon enter the Bay and the fleet launches.

Careful handling ensures that Bristol Bay’s salmon retain absolute peak flavor. In this photo, a deckhand makes a quick incision to allow the sockeye to bleed out prior to dropping it through the deck hatch into a holding tank of refrigerated seawater. A “best practice” in seafood care and handling, bleeding is now widespread in the Bristol Bay fleet.

The F/V Erin sits along the edge of the Alaska Peninsula Highway near Naknek as a testament to years of fishing past. She represents a different generation, evolution, and style of fishing that preceded the modern era of refrigeration and quality.

Saved a couple of nice fish to enjoy ourselves!

The F/V Lady America picks up a stuffer of a set in Ugashik. The fishing has been breaking all kinds of records for catch this late in the season on the east side of Bristol Bay.

A closer view of the Lady America picking a huge set of fish. A set like this one might yield 10 to 15,000 pounds of salmon, enough to fill the hatches of many Bristol Bay boats.

Things can get a little crowded along fishing district boundary lines because that’s where the fish enter legal catching territory. Here, three boats have deployed their nets parallel to the Egegik district’s north line and each other as the ebb tide sweeps them slowly south.

The Icy Bay offloads its catch at the end of another fishing day in Egegik. Here, two brailer bags, each containing hundreds of pounds of sockeye, are lifted with the tender vessel’s hydraulic crane. The fish are weighed, then lowered and spilled into the tender’s hold, which is filled with refrigerated sea water. From Egegik the fish are transported to a shore plant in Naknek where they will be filleted and frozen, or canned, so they can be enjoyed year-round.

The crew of the Fantasea, a veteran vessel of the Egegik district’s north line fishery, pick sockeye as they come aboard on a calm, misty day.

In Bristol Bay, salmon fishermen use drift nets, but they bear no resemblance to the “curtains of death” that stretch for miles and indiscriminately sweep up marine life in high-seas foreign fleet operations. Bristol Bay’s nets are short and shallow, while the huge tides and currents created by the Bay and the Bering Sea prevent anything but the most determined, strongest swimmers – meaning salmon! – from being caught on these fishing grounds.

We could not imagine a more beautiful or appropriate photo for the 4th than this stunning photo of a gillnetter underway with a flag at the masthead. Remember to grill Bristol Bay sockeye this weekend, and have a safe, happy Independence Day!

Wild times. The crew of the F/V Seahawk braves 60 mph gusts to put a few more sockeye aboard in Egegik.

The sun sets over Coffee Point on the bank of the Egegik River as a brief shower moves through. To the left of the point in this photo is the major anchorage in the Egegik district, where the majority of the fleet “drops the hook” between openings. This entire area is intertidal, as you can see from the wide exposed mudflats stretching out to the main river channel.

As the season winds down, an Arctic tern perches atop the fairlead of a stern roller, and a boat lies at anchor in Ugashik.

Another day on the north line at Egegik, as the Vixen lays out her net across the bow of the Pegasus, whose net is already in the water. In the foreground, a crewman aboard the Rachel watches for his skipper’s signal to “let ‘er go.” He will then toss the red buoy astern, and it will pull the Rachel’s net over the stern roller and into the water.

Mount Peulik is one of the many active volcanoes on the Alaska Peninsula, and it serves as a striking backdrop for fishermen in the Ugashik District – even though they do stay focused on their nets!

The F/V Icy Bay has transferred from the Egegik District to the Ugashik District, further down the Alaska Peninsula. Here, Aaron Opp and Jonathan Adams take advantage of the mandated 48-hour “down time” transfer period — their first time on land in 3 weeks — to walk around and explore Pilot Point for a quick one-hour walk.


































-- SOCKEYE SEASON 2014 --
To see more of photographer Chris Miller’s work, you can visit his website here: www.csmphotos.com or follow him on instagram.

Like the old song says, the waiting is the hardest part. When we aren’t fishing we’re on anchor, or tied up in rafts like these, around the Bay. This was taken a few days ago on the shore of the Naknek River.

We fixed the boat; Jonathan Adams tosses the buoy to celebrate the start of the next opener on the South line with two shackles on deck, after missing a solid day of fishing.

Network

Jason Kohlhase and Jonathan Adams of the F/V Icy Bay work on their nets while the crew of the F/V Ghostrider does boat projects in the upper Lummi Yard in Naknek. Bristol Bay gillnets are typically hung in four separate shackles, sections of net, so that damaged or old shackles can be easily replaced and to rotate through the nets faster when they are full of sockeye. Nets are 150 fathoms, 900 feet, in length for a single permit; boats with two permit holders onboard get an extra 50 fathoms.

It has been pouring rain here for the last few days, but overall it’s been a dry spring in Southwest, Alaska. The lupines are blooming on the banks of the Naknek River.

Bristol Bay drift gillnet boats come in all shapes and sizes, but they can’t be any longer than 32-feet by regulation…this is not one of them :). There are a couple amphibious drift boats in the Egegik fishing district, however; should be seeing them soon.

Quiet moments.

The life.

Prep.

Jonathan Adams kisses the F/V Icy Bay’s first sockeye during the first opener of the season in Egegik, Alaska. Millions more of these beauties are on the way.

The F/V Yao and the F/V Miss Dory deliver their fish to Leader Creek Processing’s tender Akemi, while the F/V Dreamboat waits to pitch off its fish. The sheer volume of fish in Bristol Bay requires that each processor retain a fleet of tenders to move fish from the fishing grounds to the processing plants. Not only does this help keep the fish fresh, the tenders act as support vessels for the smaller gillnetters, supplying them with groceries, fuel, water, the occasional shower, and (if they’re lucky) a load or two of laundry.

Gillnetters sit in a line waiting to deliver to the tender Valiant in the Egegik river mouth.

Aaron Opp, left, and Jonathan Adams, right, clean the net, while Jason Kohlhase watches the shape of the net.

The crew of the F/V Seaquill set their net on the north line of the Egegik fishing district where the fish are moving across. Each of the Bay’s fishing districts is bound by a set of lines that define the area where it is legal to set our nets. Fishing outside of these areas results in stiff fines and penalties. This is just one of many measures that the fishery’s managers and enforcement personnel employ to make this one of the highest regulated but healthiest salmon fisheries on earth.

The F/V Yao and F/V Barbara J race to get their nets in the water as fishing heats up on Egegik’s north line. Bristol Bay is considered a combat fishery, as fishermen jockey and fight to get their nets in the water to catch the walls of fish that flood into the districts.

No space on the boat is ever safe from grease and grime; our galley table is turned into a workspace as Aaron Opp, left, examines our broken spicer coupling with Jason Kohlhase. Without the coupling we have no hydraulics; which means no power for our steering, refrigeration, anchor winch, and drum to bring in and set the net. We are broken down until we get the replacement part. Fishing picked up yesterday so our fingers are crossed for the part to arrive ASAP.

The season is beginning to wind down and the first few boats are starting to come out of the water. It was a surprisingly large run this year, but there is always the appeal of grabbing maybe just a few more fish.


Handle with care.

The estimate for the overall catch in Bristol Bay was recently revised to upwards of 38 million total sockeye salmon. Here you can see them coming in like grapes on a vine.

The drift gillnet fishermen of Bristol Bay have near-zero bycatch in in their nets. This is due to a combination of factors including the extreme currents that discourage species other than salmon from heading up-Bay, and the size of the net’s meshes. During the body of the salmon run it is very unusual for fishermen to catch anything other than sockeye. Bristol Bay driftnets are about two fathoms deep and 150-200 fathoms long. Translation: 12′ X 900′-1,200′.

Happy belated 4th of July from the bay! Jason Kohlhase takes a moment to celebrate Independence Day before a 5 AM opener.

The total run prediction for this year now exceeds 40 million sockeye. With their work cut out for them, the crew of the F/V Mighty Loetta sets out the net to start an early morning opener on Egegik’s South line.

The life.

Aaron Opp holds up a 3-foot dogfish, after carefully extracting him from the net. Despite the millions of Salmon that are getting caught every day, the amount of other fish harmed is virtually zero. Aaron released this guy and watched him happily swim away.

Dance.

Jonathan Adams proudly holds a 10 lb sockeye, a bit bigger than the average of 5-6 pounds. Fishermen take pride in the health and vitality of the Bristol Bay sockeye run.

Feast.

Sometimes it feels like we are fishing on top of each other… because we are. The crews of the of the F/V Deborah R., at right, and F/V Miss Jean wait to make a set on the Egegik South line, as the F/V Sea Jay makes a set in the background.

Chris Knight, on the F/V Selma, makes a set at night on Egegik’s South line illuminated by moonlight. The beautiful sockeye he was catching when this picture was taken are headed to America’s dinner plates as we speak. Maybe yours!

After almost four straight weeks on the water, the view of the tractor hauling us to the yard is a welcome sight. The 2014 Bristol Bay season is over for the F/V Icy Bay! Now its time to strip nets, the usual end of season boat maintenance, and fix all of the things we broke during the season. Thanks for spending the season with us; let’s do it again next year!

Leader Creek Fisheries was gracious enough to let Chris take some shots on their processor floor. While you can still get Bristol Bay sockeye in a can, processors like Leader Creek have led the way to more beautiful fillets like these. Here they get cut, de-boned, blast frozen, then vacuum sealed; sometimes only hours after getting caught. Never before have consumers had access to such high quality and fresh sockeye.

Once we are in the water this is our gangway to shore. The Leader Creek Seafoods shore pumping station, aka “the Boomer,” docks the tenders and pumps the fish almost a quarter-mile from the Naknek River to the processing plant.

“Tractor Bob” launches the F/V Chilkat into the Naknek River. Boats can only be launched during high tide this far up the river. Once most boats launch, the crews don’t touch dry land until the season is over 4 to 5 weeks later.

With the Egegik fishing district closed down for July 3rd, the crew of the F/V Icy Bay takes advantage of some rare sunny weather to do a little laundry.

$10/gallon for milk! Bristol Bay is a remote area, and everything is more expensive up here due to the long shipping distances by barge. Gas is at $6.68/gallon.

The F/V Shadow sits on anchor on the west bank of the Naknek River.

The F/V Miss Dory and her crew wait to deliver their fish after an opener in Egegik, along with the rest of the fleet. If you ever wondered how the crabbing boats on the TV show “Deadliest Catch” spend their summers… Bristol Bay is where many of them work. In the background you can see the Farwest Leader with a raft of fishermen tied off its stern.





































