Former local fisherman Myron Salo sent in his reminiscences about fishing in Alaska, and a photo (pictured). Here’s a condensed version:

“Fifty years ago, Bumble Bee Cannery would hire many local fishermen to man their fleet of gillnet boats stored at the cannery (on Bristol Bay) in South Naknek, Alaska. Most of the boats were built at Astoria’s Bumble Bee shipyard, located in Youngs Bay …

“(The men) were quartered in a two-story fishermen’s bunkhouse, four men to a room with two bunk beds. All company boats were a two-man operation … The fishermen split into two work groups, the beach gang and the net gang. The beach gang was responsible for getting the gillnet boats from storage and launching them … The net gang worked in the net loft hanging new 50 fathom shackles of red salmon gear … The nets were distributed through a drawing … then loaded into the individual boats along with boat stores (food supplies) obtained at the company store.

“Once the fishing season opened, you delivered to the company tender … None of the boats had refrigeration. If time allowed when you delivered, you could eat on the skow, get some more boat stores and take a shower (if you were lucky).

“At season’s end, it was the reverse, with nets being stripped and boats cleaned and hauled out. An

‘end-of-the-season’ trip to Johnson’s Bar was usually in order by that time.”

The full text of his story, and a list of the names of local fishermen who participated, including Jack Marincovich, Nils Norgaard, Albert Viuhkola and Weino Takalo can be found at http://tinyurl.com/myronsalo

“Looking over the list brought back many memories for me, and I’m sure some of your readers will recognize names, and be taken back 50 years.”

— Elleda Wilson