Russian River Blackies

So, every year since I've been in Alaska we fish the opener for Red Salmon on the Russian River. On more than one occasion, Shayne's dad, Dana, has been here to fish it as well. He usually comes up with friends or family. This year was no exception. Another experience that was no exeception was coming into contact with bears on the Russian. However, it was nice that they were Black bears as opposed to Brown bears, which are the larger version of Grizzly bears. Shayne and our guests fished on the Russian 3 or 4 times the week they were here, and ran into Black bears every time. I only fished the one day, and it was later in the afternoon, and I didn't see the bears. I don't mind though...I've seen plenty of bears on the river.

The nice thing about Black bears, is they are more timid and intimidated by people than Brown bears. If there's a lot of Black bears on the river, it means that the Brown bears haven't moved into that area yet. However, I do know that they've moved in by now...heard of plenty of experiences from others in that area since that first week of fishing. I must admit, it's fun to see bears while you're fishing...as long as they are on the other side of the river...and a ways down. I've had my share of close encounters with both black and brown bears to not want them any closer than that! :)

The rest of the pics are of Dana, Dennis and Pat with their first limit of Red Salmon...they limited out all but one day of fishing on the Russian. Then there's Shayne and I with my limit of Reds...it's tradition for us to take a pic of our first Reds of the year. This year's pic is better than last year's when I was 6 months pregnant! :)