Up here, "flossing" is a fishing technique for catching red salmon - which don't typically bite lures because they are plankton feeders. So here's how it works: The Red (Sockeye) Salmon come up many of the rivers; in this case, we fished the famous Kenai River because the fish are BIG - bigger than they get in most of the other rivers. Most fishermen watch online reports by other fishermen, or the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, to see estimates of the numbers of fish entering the river. It's a game, because there are many factors involved. For instance, commercial fishing takes precedence over sportfishing - so if AK Fish and Game opens up commercial fishing at the mouth - those guys will swoop in and block the entrance with their nets, and very few fish will actually get up the river. But last Thursday, commercial fishing was closed, and an estimated 33,000 Reds entered the river. Andrew (the guy from Duluth who went halibut fishing with me) called me and said he was doing good flossing, and that I should get up there - so Maria and I packed up the camper for the weekend and went up there.
When flossing, you basically stand on the shorline and make very short casts - more like flipping, because you don't actually use your reel until you hook a fish. It was the weekend, and the word is out, so hundreds and probably thousands of people have come from Anchorage and the rest of the state to dipnet and floss. So, this is "combat fishing" - where people line up on the banks where they can access the river, and you have your own little space. You can't really "play" a red salmon the way you would play a fish back home. If you try to use your drag, the fish will tear off a bunch of line downstream and get tangled up in everybody's line, wrap around their legs, etc. So, you lock down your drag, and you use a long/limber fishing pole and monofilament line, which is much more stretchy than braid. Then, you do your best to get that fish on the bank ASAP.
Back to flossing: you flip out fifteen feet of line upstream at the 10:00 position - and use weight to get your line down to the bottom. The theory is that the salmon are swimming upstream with their mouths open to breathe. As your line slips downstream, hopefully just a few inches off the bottom, the line goes through their mouths. Then, as they swim forward, your circle hook sticks in the corner of their mouth. Or, when you lift your pole to do your next flip, you feel resistance, and you set the hook into their mouth. So, the fish is not actually biting; it's getting snagged really, but it has to be in the mouth, or you have to throw it back. You also have to be using a fly, or, you have to tie some yarn onto your hook - so that you are "fishing" and not "snagging". Like MN, AK has all it's crazy rules.
There's definitely a learning curve to flossing. Too much weight, and your getting snagged in the rocks all the time. Too little, and you can't feel bottom, and your line is not in the money zone. Hook a fish, and your hook has to be sharp enough to penetrate and hold the fish tight. These Reds go berzerk! The first 8 fish I hooked either broke my line, ripped loose, or got too far downstream on me and got into other peoples business. And, though most fishermen are very friendly, they won't necessarily stop fishing to help you. You're kind of on your own. Anyway, the 9th and 10th fish, I got the hang of it. Enough hookset to embed the hook. Then, get them on the bank fast, before they rip loose. I used my musky tackle, which has a big disadvantage because the rod is too stiff. But it also has an advantage in that if I can keep them hooked, face downstream, and let the current swing them around to the bank - then one good heave and my rod has the power to launch them up onto the bank (most salmon rods could never do that). So, I got the 9th and 10th ones, lost the 11th and 12th, then got the 13th, 14th, and 15th. I'm getting better at this! Andrew really has "the touch". He stands in a group of guys, and gets 8 hookups before they get one. Some guys know what they are doing; some don't.
These fish are so powerful. When they feel they are hooked, they go nuts. They jump. They scream upstream and down. They try to do a power run straight out. But remember, if you have a good drag, you have it locked down tight, so you've got a tremendously feisty fish on a very short leash. You're counting on your pole not to break, your line to stretch and not break, and the hook to stay in the fish and not rip out.
Once you get them on shore, you beat their head in with a rock, and then rip their gills out so that they "bleed themselves out". It's common practice up here with all fish, including halibut - and it makes sense. Back home, we put fish in a livewell, and then take them out and clean them fresh, but the blood is still in the meat. Up here, if you're going to harvest a fish, you immediately kill it, cut the gills, and then get them cleaned before they get too nasty. Keeping them in the cold river really helps.
When I left, the commercial fishermen were back at it, but eventually here, there will be a closure, and another wave of fish will enter the river - hopefully more like 50-100,000. Then I'll go back up for another try.
One thing you wouldn't expect up here is that on summer weekends, just like MN, AK gets NUTS with tourists. All the people from Anchorage come down onto the Kenai Peninsula to camp and fish, and the highway system and all the campgrounds and beaches get super crowded. There's just not the road system here that MN has to disperse the crowds.
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