Fishing in Nome Adventures in Alaska
I must tell you about the native fishing in Nome.
In the spring the locals go out on the ice and mama digs a hole through the ice. Then papa takes over and starts fishing and mama digs another hole. They don't use a reel, they use two sticks about 15 to 20 inches long. When they catch a fish they wind it in with the two sticks faster than you could wind a reel in. It was fun to watch them. They caught mostly ling cod. In the summer they fish with nets for salmon and dry them on racks. When it gets hard some cut it into strips and it is very good.
The summer that I was there the state decided to try crab fishing and hired a crab boat fisherman to see about making it a commercial venture. He did not have any place to sell them and he would give them away on the street. I would get a bunch and take them out to camp. They were huge king crab and very good.
The road we were building the bridge on went to Council. It was established in 1897 and at the peak of the gold rush it had around 15,000 people. When we were there it was only a few native people that mostly fished in the summer. I think in the winter it only contained several.
The road to Teller was 72 miles northwest of Nome. We took a trip there one Sunday. It was a mission started by the Lutheran church. It was incorporated as a town in 1900 when the Bluestone mine was started 15 miles to the south. There were about 250 people when we were there.
The Taylor Highway runs northwest of Nome 89 miles to the Kougarok River bridge. We took another trip there and the scenery is very colorful in the fall when the fireweed is blooming. The road ends at the bridge, and its only a winter trail after that to Taylor. I have heard that you can get to Taylor now with an ATV. But they were not around when we were there. Next week the start at Fairbanks.
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