Alaska News

Western Alaskans line the river to scoop up smelt, the first fish run of the season

BETHEL -- For days now, Bethel residents have been watching the Kuskokwim River and Facebook, checking with friends and testing the waters for any sign of smelt, the first run of summer.

On Monday, the sparkly little fish started hitting Bethel. That's right on schedule, says Michael Pavilla, originally from the tundra village of Atmauluak and a Bethel resident for years.

"Every single year, it's Memorial Day for Bethel," Pavilla said. No matter when Memorial Day hits on the calendar, he said, it's a good day for catching rainbow smelt, the small fish that move up river in big schools each year to spawn. "Never fail."

Pavilla, who has six daughters, was with his son-in-law Andrew Steven and son-in-law to-be Jared Nicolai on the rock riprap at the end of Standard Oil Road in Bethel. The younger men took turns sweeping against the current with a small dipnet. Part of the long metal pole broke off earlier in the day and they had to wrestle the net down to the river bottom, maneuvering along the rocks.

Some people love fresh-caught smelt fried whole. Most will freeze some, jar some and dry some. Steven flew in from Atmautluak and planned to take fish home to share.

"I am here to smelt," he said. They could feel the bump when fish hit the net, sometimes just one or two, sometimes six or more all at once. The men filled buckets and a cooler.

Sheila Waters, fishing with friend Broyline Ligow and their two young daughters, said she wanted to give the girls the experience, to show them how to catch food themselves. "It's fun!" She likes to cook some with ginger, vinegar, garlic and onion. "It's really yummy."

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Waters is from the Philippines and Ligow, from the islands of Micronesia. "We're a long way from home," Ligow said.

The women tossed the smelt into a small grocery bag that Ligow's daughter, Marcellina Fagaltinmad, 7, held open.

"How do fish jump?" the little girl asked. "They don't even have legs!" After a while, she set down the bag. She and Waters' daughter, Breanna, 5, found a stick bent to look like a fishing pole. "Let's pretend a leaf is a fish and catch it!" Marcellina said.

Boulders shoring up the riverbank provided fishermen with a stable place to stand. Most didn't need rubber boots. But when boats motored past, the fishermen scrambled up to higher rocks to avoid getting soaked by the wake.

As the tide came in, fishing slowed down. The little fish were getting too deep to catch.

"We are almost done," Waters said. "Our bag is almost full."

After days of clouds and drizzle, the sun came out. The rush of smelt signals a change in season, the turn from spring to summer. People were grinning as they lugged their smelt buckets home.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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