Sock-a-Nee? (O. nerka)
The sockeye (Kokanee in landlocked form) is my favorite salmon to illustrate due to its brilliant palette and snaggle-toothed visage (at least once it gets into the fresh). It is such a symbol of wild places to me, and of angling memories that stretch back many years. What would Alaska, or really the whole Pacific salmon world, be without the Sockeye?
I distinctly remember the first sockeye that I ever caught. I was by myself on a quiet back-channel of a remote river, where I felt as if I were the only person alive. The big salmon was just parked by itself, holding quietly in the thin water. I made a cast and the fish simply turned and mouthed my offering. I was probably as surprised as the fish when I found myself firmly attached.
I was using a light rod that I had brought for grayling, so the salmon felt like a warbling sheet of bright-red siding as it swam, but I just lowered the tip and pulled. In the small water, the fight was short, and after a few pix with my old Olympus (yes, the kind that shot that crazy stuff called “film”), the fish gave a surge and was back in the river.
I’ll never forget that fish, and I’ll never forget that place. Maybe someday I’ll return to that river and make my way back to that same quiet braid. Maybe somewhere there, waiting for me, will be another crimson salmon. And perhaps, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to relive that long-past day once again…
Jason,
Personally, I have enjoyed your artwork online and in books, but I wanted to express directly to you my appreciation. Thanks for putting these several pieces up on the website. Surely these are a lasting contribution to the world of fish and fly fishing art.
Blessings,
Dan
Dan—Thanks for the kind note about the artwork. I have been away from the art world for a while (a long while, actually). These little images are 13 years old, and my work since then has been, shall we say, scarce. I’ve done a fair number of basic illustrations over the last decade—a few hundred—but very little in the way of “artistic” work. I’ve felt like a part of my fishing life has been missing as a result. Perhaps I needed this little run of vignettes to get a bit of motivation back. Time will tell…