5 Days Fishing & Camping in Alaska - Cooking What We Catch

Luke here at the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel. Me and my family, we're spending the week traveling around Alaska fishing and camping. We're going to be dropped off on remote Alaskan rivers, cooking what we catch, exploring beautiful locations, eating amazing food, and having a great time as a family. Hi, good morning. Nice to meet you. Luke, this is Tom and Nate. Hi guys. The silver's in good? There's a few, there's more and more every day. I hear chums and pinks are hot. So this is the kind of spot we're looking for. You can see how silty the main channel is and how clear it is here. The fish come out of the silt to kind of clean their gills and rest and you'll get piles of salmon in here. Well, there we go. There goes our ride. It's on us now. Help me grab the gear. Let's go set up the tent and everything. Me and the boys did this about two, three years ago and had an absolute ball. Did a video on it. I'll put a link to that video in the description. Look at this. Isn't this just a gorgeous spot to fish? Now it's also a very popular spot. You can see there's a bunch of fishing guides right there at the mouth and almost all the fishing charters leave early in the morning. So probably here in the next hour or so, all those charters will be done and then we'll have this place to ourselves. Tommy, you excited to catch some fish? Yeah. Got a nice pink fly under a bobber. There you go. We'll get you another one. I think you've got a silver buddy. Yes. Yeah. We'll keep them. Hold that up. Can we get a picture? There you go. We need a stringer. All right. There we go. You can have that one if it bites. Hold on Nathan. Just leave it be unless there's a fish on it. This water is like 38, 40 degrees. So that'll keep the salmon nice and cool. Just get your net low. There you go. Scoop them. Okay. Keep them in the water. So that right there is a chum salmon. It's the second largest salmon. You can see here he's got some wounds, probably from a seal. Got these vertical stripes on them. That's his spawning colors. They go from silver to turning this color when they get ready to spawn. Oh, and we're going to let him go. There are five species of salmon here in Alaska, and that's probably the least popular one to eat. That's why they call them chum salmon or dog salmon because they're good for chum or feeding to your dogs. And if you're going to eat a chum salmon, you eat them when they're silver, not when they're that color. You want that one? Yep. There's a fish on there. There we go. Big old male pink salmon. They also call them humpies for obvious reasons. This is a pink salmon. They call them pink salmon because their meat is really pink. You can see here he's got kind of this grayed out stripe down his side. He's got these big spots on his tail. You could eat this one and it's not bad, but they're not as good as silver. So we're going to let him go. Chum salmon right there. There you go. You want one? Another nice chum salmon. Well, the salmon fishing kind of ebbs and flows as the schools of fish come up the river. One thing's kind of slowed down. That's a good time to set up the tent and get lunch out. Tommy, you hungry? Yeah. Here Nathan, come here. You got Dijon mustard, a spicy honey, red peppers, salami, ham, muenster cheese, gouda. That's a good sandwich. Lemon cookies or Oreos? Oh, just take one. Just take one. Found these big chunks of coal here on the beach. Going to burn those up. Here's a lot of fire started. Okay. Got ourselves some tinder here. This is the inner bark of a cottonwood tree. Take this bit of cotton ball, wrap it around a stick and it'll make like a little torch. Okay, it's on fire. Now put it underneath it. Yeah, we got up early today. Another nice chum salmon. There you go. Get it back in there. There he goes. Oh, that was a sockeye salmon. Nice little humpy. We caught a lot of fish, but I'm getting hungry. I think it's time to cook up that salmon. The seagulls took your fish? The seagulls took your fish? They took the whole entire thing. Is there anything left? I'm sorry Nathan. I hate seagulls. Nathan is really hating seagulls. Isn't this our fish? I think the seagull got his eyeball. Oh yeah, they picked a little hole in it, but I think they didn't get it. You feeling a little better? We still hate them on principle. Oh, Tommy's got a fish. The seagulls stole our salmon, but I think they dropped it when they saw Nathan coming. Wise move on the part of the seagull. Tommy hooked the fish and Nathan landed it all by himself. All right, there you go. Nice little pink salmon. Coarse salt on him. Lava butter right there. So I got that salmon stuffed with butter and brown sugar seasoned with salt and wrapped in tinfoil. Do you guys want salmon or hot dogs? Hot dogs. Well, let's catch you some hot dog sticks. All right, got some hot dog sticks. I'm sitting here cooking and the boys are down there and Tom's hooking fish and Nathan's netting them for him. Those boys are growing up so fast. There we go. Fresh salmon, blueberries, and sweet cornbread. I love the flavor of blueberries and salmon. Well, we've caught a lot of fish. We've got a lot of food in us and we're just kind of relaxing and the boys are just hanging out and we're having a good time. Kind of my favorite part of the campouts when everything just kind of gets low key. Hey, why don't you take off all your dirty clothes and start getting your air mattresses pumped up. Okay, buds. And I'm going to eat Tommy while he sleeps. Do you guys want to watch the show? Yeah. Well, good morning guys. Salmon fishing is best early in the morning. So it's about a quarter to six. Nice little chump salmon to wake me up. Nice little pink salmon there. Oh, look at this. Look at that. That's a little silver. Look, he took it right in the corner of the mouth. You see silvers when they start to turn their spawning colors, they turn all red. Sockeyes get a green head and a red body. That's cool. Usually this place is crawling with silvers, but it's a little early in the run. So we're just getting the little guys first. There we go. There's a cooler. All right. This is starting to click. Three species of salmon and three calves. Another little pink salmon. There you go. Nice feisty pink. There we go. I actually designed this fishing rod. It's made from carbon fiber. It's the Catfishing Carp Maglite series by Whisker Seeker. Love this fishing rod. Man, that thing hit. Oh, it is a nice one. That is a nice male silver starting to take his spawning colors. Look at the size comparison. Oh, beautiful chump salmon. Oh, I had a silver take it right at my feet. Oh, beautiful silver. That's my three for the day. Look at this. I'll let you guys catch them. Tom, you want to catch some fish? You go get one. You get one. Beautiful silver. I call this scrambled French toast. What happens when you forget to bring your bowl to make French toasted? You want some maple syrup on there? Yes. Oh, that was delicious. If you've ever want to come up to Alaska and have a big salmon fishing adventure, this is the cheapest way to do it. If you want, you can take one of their guided charters to learn exactly how to do what they're doing, get some confidence catching salmon, and then you can come out and do their drop-off service and do it yourself. Then you're going to... If you guys are ever in Talkeetna, Alaska and want to do this too, make sure you check out Phantom Tri River Charters. I'll put a link in the video description below. All right, I'll see you, Cole. Day three. All right, so we're heading off on a three-day camping trip with the family, but before we go, we've got to stop and get Japanese food. You know, because it's camping. They also have a falafel truck. Hi, guys. Who wants a soda? Oh, nice. Ooh, Japanese octopus balls. It's like an unsweetened pancake batter with a chunk of octopus inside. You like that? Cucumber and pineapple. All right. That's a lemon pistachio cake. That's a falafel. Is that good? Now we got some food in us, we're going to keep heading down the road. We're going to try to do some salmon fishing, and salmon fishing is not complicated. It's all about timing. So let's see if we're in the right place at the right time. Dozens of them right there. Every one of these salmon are about to die. They're all heading upstream to lay their eggs, and as soon as they do, then they die. Even though there's hundreds and hundreds of pink salmon here, they're near the end of their life, and they're not in a feeding mood. You're really just harassing them into eating. There you go. That's a pink salmon. Here, Tom, you want to give it a go? Yeah. There you go. Keep that rod tip up. The males and the females start out slender and silver when they're in the ocean, and then when they get close to spawn, they look like this. Been doodling them? Love you too, bud. Hi, Mom. Hi. Hey, guys. So this week, we're doing a big family camp out. It's kind of a tradition. Once a year, my parents and siblings, we all get together and go camping. Nathan, are you going swimming? Yes. Awesome. Me and my boys caught some huge lean cod down at Dutch Harbor, so I brought some of the flays, and we're going to make a curry out of those. Nathan, did you have fun in the lake? Kind of. You want the carrots? Too bad. Okay. Got some coconut milk. Got some ginger slices, lime leaves. I got my ploy curry paste here. Some brown sugar. Here's the lean cod. Me and Becca learned how to make this in Hawaii. We had a Thai chef come to our condo and teach us. It was really fun. There we go. A red Thai coconut curry with lean cod. Who eats curry with a bowl? You put it in a plate. There we go. Look at that. What do you think, Dad? You like it? It was good. It was really good. This is incredible. What did you think? Did you like the curry? No, you didn't have any, did you? You just weren't looking. We got some fancy marshmallows, and we're going to do a s'more bar. We got marshmallows filled with chocolate and marshmallows filled with salted caramel, and once you've roasted your marshmallow, we got various toppings you can dip it in. Crushed up graham crackers, peanuts, coconut shavings, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and caramel. I'm going to make a couple for Mama. Oh, thank you. Yes. That's really good. Oh, that looks incredible. Thank you. There you go. Well, it's getting late. I think it's time to clean up. Don't want to attract bears. Sister of the King, and that's why she watches all the time. I love that movie. All right. I think it's time to start getting kids ready for bed. There we go. Got all the beds set up. Most of us are going to be sleeping in there, and Tom and my nephew are going to be sleeping over there. Hi, Jake. You all tucked in? Nathan, you warm? A bit too. You're a bit too warm? All right. You having a good day, babe? Great day. Good. Where do you sleep well? I sleep comfortably. That's very diplomatic. Hey, Rebecca, there is now a campfire. It is safe to get up. All right. Who wants hot chocolate? All right. There we go. We got little raspberry turnovers, and we got some chocolate croissants too. Hi, Jake. How are you doing? There's hot water in there. Chocolate croissant in hot chocolate. Very Parisian. Tired. It's tiring. So that they were just, we brought the small portable. So I wasn't the one. This butter has quite a bit of water. Then you hook it up. It's I was always in. You like that babe? Is it good? Love it. That's good. Really good. You think that maybe. The thing about it was. What are you looking for? Get to know. All right. Go catch some fish, Tommy. Oh yeah. There's the fish jumping right down there. No, Tommy. You want some ice cream? You guys do any good? Yeah. Dan and Tom are having a great time. Got to get a ham pie for Becca. Okay. Thank you. Get your ice cream, Calvin. Yes. Very nice. Good cousins. They're Mary and Barry. Aunt Melanie. Becca and some of the other ladies went painting. I'm gonna go check on her, see how she's doing. How's it going, Becca? I heard mom forgot an easel. I'll go see what I can do. That work? You want a snack? Okay. Yeah. We're going to do a little bit of prosciutto and a white cheddar there. You can't go camping in Alaska without imported cheeses and meats. It's good for me to take a break. Is this your idea of a good camp out? Having a great time. Thanks to you. Stuff makes great fire starter. I didn't finish, but it was fun. Yeah. The rain kind of came in and kicked you out, didn't it? Yeah. Since the kids didn't eat lunch, do you want me to just make an early dinner? Sounds good to me. Got the leftover bacon grease here. I got a bunch of figs, a little tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. Got everything. Some naan bread here. Serve it up, Dan. Thanks, Dan. Thanks, dude. That's enough? That is so much. There you go. There's some apricots. You like it, babe? Oh, good. Because there's a lot of it to eat. Portion control is a problem for me. Becca, do you like the food? Loved it. Went down fast. Thank you. No, no. It's a rice pudding. Becca, did you want me to take you out on the kayak? Yeah. All right, let's do it. My dad used to take me and my brother fishing here when we were younger. The lake's got a lot of trout and goldenfin in it. Yeah, you enjoyed that? I did. More family showed up. We got mac and cheese or some weird Moroccan dish. Can I mix the two together? Yes. Oh, what you got there? What are you guys up to? Tommy, we're going fishing. Did you just make a fishing rod? Yeah, we were fishing and my rod broke. He's got swivels on it for eyelets. Dan, you're the boss, man. Well, we're going to see if we can catch anything. Here, Tommy. Becca, do you like the rice pudding? I love it. Tommy, come here. Did you guys catch anything? No. Did you have fun? Yeah. Are you cold? Okay, stand right there. You good? All right, it's getting late, people. It's time to get these kids to bed. Love you guys. Go to sleep. Well, good morning, guys. How are you doing? I can hear my dad getting up and making breakfast. I think that's a good sign. It sounds really rainy out here. I think we've got slugs climbing on the tent. Oh, that looks pretty good, dad. It looks even tastier when I don't have to cook it. Typical Alaskan weather. You got to get out there, even if it's raining because the summers are so short. I was going to say, actually. We got chocolate pancakes now. There you go. He was afraid of my womanly ways. Well, despite the lovely weather, we've got to pack up and go home. All right, got the tents hung up. Well, it's been a wet but fun adventure, and I hope you guys enjoyed watching this as much as we enjoyed filming it. If you guys want to see more adventures from the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel, make sure to click subscribe. Thanks for watching. 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