Dipnetting

Dipnetting can be a ton of fun.  It can also be a ton of work.  This year, like last, Paul went without us.  Go ahead, judge me if you must, but I am not yet willing to take two (that's the key...TWO) 18 month old crazy people to the Copper River where I would need to keep them alive while Paul took care of the fishing.  I decided to keep them alive at home while Paul took care of the fishing.  Like I always say...I have learned that I am not nearly as hardcore as I thought I was.  And I'm okay with that as long as it means I don't have to go dipnetting with these two.  

 

Paul went with Johnnie and a bunch of people.  Johnnie has a boat so he would drop people off at pretty great fishing spots.  Paul was perfectly successful.  And they had perfect weather.  How about that?  Most often we are all bundled up in winter gear under our chest waders when dipnetting.  Not this year.  Dipnetting in shorts!  Whoever heard of such a thing?

This was the haul! 

And this was the result of dipnetting in shorts on a beautiful sunny summer day!

We are all stocked up for another year.  We bought another canner on craigslist this year so we could have two going at once.  Not until it was time to start canning (of course...very late the day Paul gets back from fishing...) did we realize this canner didn't have the weight thingy that it needs to build the pressure.  After a few fruitless calls around to see if anyone had a canner we could use, I made a midnight Wal-Mart run to get a new one because it really takes all night even with two going at once.  Don't worry...as the last batch was coming out of the canner, early in the morning, we found the weight thingy from the craigslist one on the windowsill where I placed it.  Now we are the proud owners of three functioning canners. 

Thanks for all the fishies, Paul!