It combines fishing, it combines hunting, and it combines a lot of athleticism.

To spearfish, a salmon is different than a lot of other saltwater fish.

They're very suspicious and they will dart if they even see a shadow.

We spook them and they go somewhere and then they hug certain features underwater and you get to like, see how they move and then you can set yourself up for a better shot.

So this weekend we went out into Prince William Sound to chase the sockeye run.

We are on the Bear Valley side of the Whittier Tunnel waiting to cross into Whittier.

So the Whittier tunnel is a one-way system and so we have to wait until all the cars coming this way and so we could go in the other direction.

On the taxi ride out, we stopped because we saw a dead baby humpback.

It's sad.

It's a big animal.

Our water taxi, you know, it was his thought that it could have been a cruise ship that hit it.

So we sort of have, you know, a lot of interplay of like recreators and, you know, the tourism industry, which we want to support and in the middle of all that are also sports fishermen like us.

And a small niche subset of sports fishermen that are unusual to Alaska are spear fishermen.

I just think we got to go find out where they're schooling and hop in out of the kayak.

Ok.

I can describe spearfishing as probably the most challenging and sometimes uncomfortable sport on purpose.

It's just so cool to see the underwater landscape.

Alaska's beautiful.

You see the mountains and underwater is also pretty amazing.

And I don't think a lot of people get to see that.

And we get to target the fish.

So there are small fish and big fish and there's chum mixed in with the sockeye so we can pick which fish to try and target.

So like it's fun on so many levels.

So I hold the world record for silver salmon caught on a pole spear.

A pole spear is different than a spear gun.

It doesn't have a trigger, right?

It doesn't look like sort of a rifle.

It is a pole with a bungee on the end and you put the bungee on your hand and you crank up the pole until you get about midway.

And then you can point it and release.

If a fish is hit through the brain, then they're instantly dead.

But if the fish is not dead, you might have a struggle on your hands.

Woo!

Not the greatest shot... right through the middle.

But she'll do.

You know, if you told me nine years ago when I was in Hawaii and doing a dinky tourist free diving spearfishing day, that nine years later it would be like a really big sport in my life, up here in Alaska, of all places, where it's freezing cold and super dark and scary down there, I wouldn't have believed you.

My home life was very unusual and nontraditional, and I left home early in my teenage years and chose to live out of my car and crash at friends' houses with their parents until I graduated high school and went to college.

And I think early independence sort of paved the way for jumping into any hobbies or sports that I was completely out of my element in because I've sort of always felt completely out of my element in everything.

So it made no difference whether I was good at something or not for me to try it.

The first time I ever caught a fish, I was five and it was a flounder and it was in Russia where I'm originally from.

I was so scared as a five year old that I would lose this fish because it was flopping around on the deck, that I laid down on top of it to make sure that everybody saw that I was going to keep this fish and I think that early core childhood memory of a positive fishing experience has led to my adult life now where I still like to lay on top of fish.

I also like taking pictures of just smooching fish.

Nice, fresh one.

Yeah.

I think that expressing gratitude to the resources that are here is really important.

Whether you're taking one fish or you are fishing on the land of the Denaina people or other Indigenous communities who have preserved this ecosystem to allow you to be on it and be fruitful in your meat collection and fish collection, berry collection now.

So I think it's really important to recognize that, you know, these resources are not just yours to take as much of as you can, that they are something that is part of a larger cycle.