During the summer of 1997 my summer went by too fast. Not long after school got out I went over to the Kuskokwim River. I flew from Marshall to Akiachak by plane. At Bethel I saw my cousins, Tobby Jackson and Shawn George at Swansons. They came in from Akiachak in a little boat. I asked Tobby if he had room for one more passenger. He told me that he had only one person who rode with him from Akiachak. So he brought my baggage down to his boat and went out shopping with his friends at the bigger and better stores. About an hour later he told me that he was going down to the boat to head up to Akiachak. A short forty-five minute ride and there we were at Akiachak. The first place I stopped was my uncle's house. He wasn't home but his kids were. They made me feel at home by letting me have my own room with my own bed. After unpacking I went over to Mark Kassayuli's house and asked him a few questions about where the old hang-outs were. Then I went to the pool hall where I saw my old buddies.

The next day Mark and I went over to his fish camp and got his nets ready for the first commercial fishing opening. We had to mend the nets and take out all the sticks he got caught in the net. We also had to paint his license number on the side of his boat and write it on all his fishing equipment. Then we went out on the river and made a short drift. While we were pulling in the net we hit a snag. For a while I thought that it wouldn't be too bad, but when we hit the snag we had a really hard time taking out the net. We were stuck on the snag for about a half-hour. After we finally got the net out we brought it back to his fish camp where we had to mend it all over again.

When we finally went out commercial fishing we didn't catch much fish. We only made about $150 profit. Altogether we made about $350. I thought that the fish buyers would buy for a better price but they bought kings for only .40 a pound and chums for .20 a pound. They bought reds for $1.00 per pound. I only fished a few other times and then told Mark that I was going home to fish with my dad. He said it was O.K. because he had someone to help him. So the next day I came home to Marshall and fished with my dad.

Joel Isaac