Subsistence Fishing in Lake Clark
Text by Intern Kristy Balluta of Nondalton
Photos by Carol Ann Woody

Sockeye salmon fishing is very important to local people around the Iliamna/Lake Clark area. Salmon is a main source of food throughout the long cold winter. Salmon are dried, canned, and frozen during the summer months, usually July to August. Many people depend on the salmon for food, not only for the great taste but because it is rich in vitamins and proteins. Salmon are usually processed at the local fish camps around Nondalton. Here I describe how the people of Nondalton capture and prepare their salmon harvest.

1. Local subsistence fishers capture fish in a gillnet.

2. Salmon inside a local family’s fish bin in Nondalton; ready to be cut and filleted.

3. Usually the men’s job is to go out and catch the fish, they usually set their gillnets perpendicular to the shore and leave them overnight. Then after they catch enough to process they bring them back. The women take over then, cutting and processing the fish.

4. Olga Balluta and Sophie Vasak cutting the fish and getting them ready to be hung on the drying racks.

5. Cutting or filletting the fish just right is important. If you are preparing fish to be dried in the smoke house and you cut the strips too thick, the strips could go sour. You want the strips to be about an inch thick.

6. After the salmon is cut, the fish bones are set aside and the bugs and gulls that are usually close by when the fish are being processed, jump in. If any bones are left, they are dumped back into the lake.

7. I interviewed June Tracey of Nondalton about how she prepares rotten fish heads to be eaten. The picture below shows a bunch of fish heads hung on a string in the water. She leaves the fish heads in the water for about a week to ten days or until they are floating. Then after that she takes it out of the water cleans it thoroughly and eats the nose part of the fish with salt.

8. June Tracey of Nondalton hanging her salmon on her fish racks to dry.

9. Sophie Vasak of Nondalton cuts the fish so they can be hung inside the smokehouse to dry.

10. Here are well-prepared salmon hung on drying racks at a local fish camp. After salmon are cut, they are put on their racks outside to dry a little, usually 12-24 hours. Then they are placed into a bucket of brine usually water, salt, and brown sugar. After that they are hung inside the smoke house with a smoky fire of alder or birch underneath. The salmon are usually left in the smokehouse for a few days.

11. A smoke house in Nondalton that is used to dry the salmon. The birch poles on the side of the smokehouse were gathered by the men. The wood will be burned to flavor and dry the fish in the smokehouse.

12. Here are salmon strips in a smokehouse above an alder fire.

13. Half dried salmon hanging inside the smokehouse.

14. June and Anna Rose Tracey of Nondalton are canning partially dried salmon. The half dried salmon inside the smoke house are taken down then cut into thin strips for canning.

15. The fish strips are put into jars and sometimes seasoned. They are then cooked inside of a pressure cooker.

16. Fresh salmon is also canned.