September 4th

The Pink Salmon are defiantly dieing out. There are still hundreds of them swimming up the Indian River but not in the thousands as seen in previous weeks. There dead body's line the waters edge and rivers floor. Their stench also fills the air. You can smell the decaying flesh from just about anywhere in Sitka if the wind is blowing right.


-Dead salmon line the banks of the Indian River.

I have been observing the salmon lately at the mouth of Indian River where Dad and I had fished the previous month. Along with the continuously running Pinks you can also see a few Kings, Silvers and Dog Salmon making there way on their last great journey. While watching this amazing event one night I caught a glimpse of a Halibut swimming among the others. What a weird looking fish, I was confused at what I was seeing when I first laid eyes on it. The fished moved so strange through the water with its large flat body. Kind of looked like a clumsy stingray of some sort. One of the fishermen there told me that the halibut have a tenancy to grab the dead salmon carcases from the rivers bed. This same guy pointed out to me the many different types of salmon in the river and how to identify them.