If wishes were fishes I’d have a lot of wishes. In my days as a Bristol Bay fisherman, I’ve caught thousands of pounds of salmon, as well as a few flounder.  Set netting on the Ugashik River is one of those jobs you either love or you hate. No one says it’s just okay. I am one of those who love it. I love being on the boat for hours at a time picking fish and getting covered in fish slime.
     This last summer I spent three weeks at fish camp, which consisted of about eight different camps spread out along the beach. Our camp, the Peterson camp, had three buildings: a kitchen building with a bedroom, a bunk house for the rest of the crew and a sauna. We had six crew members and the mom of the family who was the cook. There were two boats we fished from, three people to each boat. I fished on a boat with two older men: Chris, an old Alaskan who had done about everything there is to do in Alaska, from fishing on a crab boat to boating up the Yukon to hunt monster moose, and a big fella from Wisconsin named Brian. He had fished for a few years with the Petersons. He knew what he was doing which was why he was the captain of our boat.
    We usually fished for about ten hours each day, sometimes longer. We'd set our nets at the beginning of the opener, about an hour before low tide. This changed over the three weeks as the tides slowly changed. We'd fish anywhere from four in the morning to two in the afternoon, or from four in the afternoon to two in the morning.
    In the end, I wish I could have stayed out at fish camp longer and made more money.
I had a great time and I will be returning this summer to fish for the same family.