Caught a beaver dipnetting at Chitina!!!

[cubecove]

Went to Chitina Tuesday 17 June 2014, with my daughter, a co-worker and his two teenage boys. We were dipping down below the tunnel and doing OK catching fish. We heard some rocks falling off the bluff near us and heard a large splash and within just a couple minutes we saw a full grown beaver swimming around near where we were fishing. At first we thought it was a seal, but it went under water and ended up in one of our dipnetts! We pulled the net up and there is this beaver looking at us! We quickly flipped the net over and released the beaver before it went crazy in the net and it swam around and went down river from where we were. All in all we ended up with 53 sockeye in about 15 hours of fishing. Weirdest thing I have ever experienced down at Chitina!

Eric

[colonel00]

Funny story. Sadly, I know there is a joke here somewhere about a beaver and fish nets but I think I will leave that alone.

[uhldwm]

Went to Chitina Tuesday 17 June 2014, with my daughter, a co-worker and his two teenage boys. We were dipping down below the tunnel and doing OK catching fish. We heard some rocks falling off the bluff near us and heard a large splash and within just a couple minutes we saw a full grown beaver swimming around near where we were fishing. At first we thought it was a seal, but it went under water and ended up in one of our dipnetts! We pulled the net up and there is this beaver looking at us! We quickly flipped the net over and released the beaver before it went crazy in the net and it swam around and went down river from where we were. All in all we ended up with 53 sockeye in about 15 hours of fishing. Weirdest thing I have ever experienced down at Chitina!

Eric

When I was younger and stupider, I caught a muskrat by the tail with hook and line. Well, I had to get the sucker off of there, so I reeled it in and HOWEE KWAP !, all hell broke loose and that mean, nasty, little som***** chased me all over the place before I was able to brake the line and get away. Muskrats are aggressive and purediddly mean as hell. If there were relatively quiet streams abound with good trees I might think this was a bank beaver, but at this time of year the adolescents are darned near full grown and get kicked out of the house to find their own territory and with those waters, this may well have been what you encountered. I don't know how aggressive beavers can be as a general rule, probably more defensive than aggressive from what I have seen, but you did the right thing by getting it out of the net and on it's way ASAP. What an experience ! :topjob:

[Tearbear]

I would rather deal with a defensive beaver vs an aggressive one any ole day!

[fishtales]

About 35 years ago my wife and I were fishing near the cable about 1am I decided to carry a load of salmon back to our van and get them under ice. As I was walking back I spotted my wife running on the trail back toward me she was a little rattled and said she had caught a beaver in her net. I used to trap beaver when I was much younger and had to move some live beaver from a water supply for the town of Troy NH and can assure you they can be very nasty.

[sayak]

So you caught a beaver dip netting...

I think as long as the beaver has a fishing license and a permit he/she can dip net just like a human. But next time you catch one dip netting, please get a picture!

Can't help it... I'm an English teacher. I would correct this sentence thusly: "I caught a beaver while I was dip netting at Chitina.".

[Garyak]

I wasn't quite as lucky as cubcove...the big one I dipped came out of the water plum crazy and all hung up in the net. I finally shook it loose but almost lost my footing a couple times. This was 1990 ish and Hickel had a cat working above on the road. Between the beaver and the cascading boulders, I decided this was not the place for me to be. Figured I was lucky to get away with a few fish and my hide.

[cubecove]

It does make for quite an experience. I am sure this story will be told several times over the years. By the way, we name the beaver "Justin" just to annoy our teenagers...:nyanya:

[JR2]

They put up a better fight on a rod and reel... don't ask how I know.

[Sobie2]

"If you have ever had a nipple bitten off by a beaver, you might be a redneck." - Jeff Foxworthy

[AlaskaHippie]

Here's another Beaver Tail (pun!!!).

Man, after a lifetime dedicated to catching the perfect Beaver, I now have to wonder if it's a worthwhile endeavor.....

-grin-