I did something this year that I hadn’t done in the past… I bought a ticket for the PSEA Matsu Valley King Salmon Derby. If you’re not familiar with the concept of a fishing derby, the basic idea is you purchase a ticket (in advance) and then you check-in and weigh the fish you catch, and you are eligible for prizes.

In past years, I hadn’t purchased a derby ticket, and in most years I catch some pretty respectable fish. Last year I caught a fifty pounder, and the year before, a forty-eight pounder. These fish aren’t winners, but they’re close… I figured if I put the time in, and focused on catching a really big fish, I’d have a good shot at the top prizes.

What a mistake.

So I started fishing hard in June, and I caught four king salmon… But I released them all, because they were too small.

Then it happened… with three weeks left in the season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the rest of the king salmon season. The numbers of returning kings was so small, they were concerned about making sure that there were enough fish to spawn.

When fishing closed, I hadn’t kept a single fish… and I realized that I hadn’t really enjoyed fishing all that much. Fishing, when there is money (or prizes) on the line… and making a choice to compete for them, is a lot more like work than fishing.

Don’t get me wrong… fishing derbies can be fun, and in Alaska, they raise money for some great charities. But doing what I did was a mistake. I thought it would be fun, but it wasn’t near as much fun as just fishing would have been.

It is rather unusual – the number of bears that are in regular view of guests and residents alike here in Alaska this year.

I first moved to Alaska in 1986, and other than in places like Denali National Park, where the chances of seeing a bear are rather high*, I don’t think I saw more than one or two bears in my first twenty years here. Since then, the bear population seems to be either getting larger, or moving to town, because they are much more obvious than in the past. Already this year I have seen at least six bears, including one very close encounter.

The first picture was taken from about 30 yards. We came around a turn and found the bear and immediately turned back. The bear followed us down the trail and challenged us, looking for fish. We retreated down the trail, but he followed and came within 10 feet of us. We were finally able to negotiate some distance between the bear and us when I snapped the last two pictures.

Bear sightings and bear-people encounters have become a daily event. Even in Anchorage, which is urban by any standard, bears are seen with regularity. In the past, most of the bear sightings have been along the fringes of the city east of town, where the Chugach Mountains come down to the floor of the Anchorage Bowl. However, the bears are now traveling down the greenbelts that surround the creeks that come out of the mountains and flow into Cook Inlet. Just this morning, a male brown bear was hit by an SUV at 4 AM, on one of Anchorage’s major thoroughfares.

Alaskans are of two minds with all the bears on the loose. On one hand, I think we all like to see the large wild animals wander around the city, and a moose in our back yard or a bear running down the street is usually something that brings a smile to many Alaskans faces. On the other hand, the close calls, and especially, the serious injuries that have occurred in several bear-human confrontations have chased a lot of joggers and hikers out of the woods.

The problem with all of this is that often times, the losers are the bears. The frequency of bear-human confrontation, and the inadvertent positive reinforcement that goes with it (I saw a bear, so I threw my fish and ran – showing bears that they can intimidate humans into feeding them) teaches bears habits that ultimately lead to their destruction.

In a perfect world, we would see lots of bears… off in the distance, doing what bears do. Instead, we’re seeing bears as we drive to work at 4 AM, or when we’re cutting wood, or when we’re walking our dogs, or biking or jogging. The bears are, for the most part, doing what bears do. People should do what people do – think, and be careful, because our back yards are becoming bear country.

* Most visitors to Denali National Park see grizzly bears – but usually from quite a distance, and from the relative safety of a park shuttle bus.

I am a pretty hard-core fisherperson, and I fish a lot with my extended family. My girlfriend’s brother is a very active fisherman, and I spend a lot of time fishing with him.

He’s having a rough year fishing this year.

So far this year, I’ve landed four king salmon, and kept two. I’ve hooked and lost probably five more, and I don’t think I’ve had a day fishing where I didn’t fight at least one fish.

He’s had none. No fish landed, no fish on, no fish lost.

When we fish, we usually fish together, sharing fishing holes, etc. But he’s been rather magnanimous about letting me have what we would consider the favored spots. Ultimately, I don’t think that matters, and it certainly isn’t making a difference between me catching fish and him not catching fish. But I can’t help but think now that maybe I should make sure he gets the favored spots, at least for a while.

We’re going fishing this weekend… And perhaps before then. I’ll keep you posted.