One day this summer my dad and I did some commercial fishing. I was excited and very tired at the same time because before fishing started dad, mom and David had gone down to St. Mary's to pick me up.

We all made it back up just in time for commercial fishing. I cast the net into the smooth glassy looking Yukon with the hot sun beaming down on me and making me steam even more after rushing around for 30 minutes before fishing started.

As soon as I cast the net I sat down in relief that we made it in time.

Floats from the net started to move and my dad said, "I hope there's a lot of fish out there."

When we started pulling in the net I had the lead line and my dad had the floats. The net felt heavy as I pulled. And then up came a huge King. My dad shouted "KING!!" and went for the fish gaff and stuck it in his head, pulling it into the boat . I also pulled in a fish but it was a silver.

Our first drift was good. We caught almost a full tote, and this was a 6 hour chum opening. It took us 20 to 30 minutes to get the net into the boat. We only made 3 drifts and the boat was full of fish.Both my dad and I were wishing the fishing period was much longer.I had a lot of fun fishing but I ruined my good shirt getting fish blood and slime on it.

Next year I hope to make more money working in Anchorage doing what I love best which is photography. But if I can't get that job I'd be happy to go fishing with the good prices we had this year. Although prices were good, the Dept. of Fish & Game would open fishing at the wrong time. Well, what's fishing though without their help

Written by: Barbara Andrew