- Morning fog hovered over
the surface of Chilkat Lake as I stepped to the
edge and looked out. Somewhere beyond the haze this
body of water was the stage for a final act in the life of
one truly magnificent animal. A creature that had
traveled thousands of miles. And defied all odds of survival just to make it back
to this very lake. The place from which it was born and the same place
where it would die. We finished strapping
our gear to the kayaks, deployed onto the water, and
began to cut across the lake. This was about to be one
of the most daring episodes of Breaking Trail
we would ever film, and there was no turning back. (intense drum music) The Alaskan wilderness is home to some of the most incredible
animals in North America. As we kayaked
across Chilkat Lake, I tried to envision
life as a grizzly, lumbering along
the water's edge, and searching for my next meal. That is definitely a fresh
bear kill right there. And it's just eaten out
the back of the salmon and its innards. And you can see all the blood still
on my fingers there. If there's one thing that
proves you are in bear country it is dead salmon. Alright, just be careful as
we're moving through here. Watch your back. What if I had been born
to see this wild place from an eagle's eye view: soaring above the
water's surface and hunting for shadows
in the ripples below? To be a bear or a
bird would be awesome. But today, I am a human. However, the crew and I were
on a very similar mission to both the grizzly
and the eagle, as our target was
one and the same: sockeye salmon. We filmed this episode during
the last weeks of July, which is also the heart
of spawning season. Thousands of these
magnificent fish were migrating in
from the ocean, up the rivers and ending
their incredible journey as they reach
these inland lakes. (water splashing) Okay, so you see this water coming off the side
of the mountain? Where that stream meets the lake the water will be
incredibly clear. The perfect place to
look for some salmon. Let's head over there and try
to find ourselves some fish. (water splashing) It's in these clear
pockets of water where the females will
build their nests. Here they will lay their eggs just before a courting male
arrives to fertilize them. Well, it's definitely
raining out here on the lake. Nothing like searching
for salmon in a rainstorm. That's alright, we
are several miles out on the lake at this point. No fish yet. But we're gonna find them. Oh, we're gonna find them. Chilkat Lake spans just over three and a half
miles in length. And while there are
likely thousands of salmon beneath the surface, our search would still
be rather difficult. Here, fishy, fishy,
fishy, fishy! Most of the water was murky, so our best bet when
it came to finding fish was to scan near the banks. Searching for crystal
clear glacial melt water that was pouring down
from the mountains. - [Mark] See any salmon? - Nothing here. - [Mark] Ouch! Hit a spine in the eye. - This is exactly the kind of
spot that we're looking for. We've got water flowing off
the side of the mountain and into the lake. Unfortunately it's
a bit too rough and the water is
very murky and deep. If I can't see the fish I can't catch 'em. Let's keep moving up
the side of the mountain and see if we can
find something better. Suddenly, from the
far side of the lake I heard the unmistakable
call of a bald eagle. These predatory
raptors had one thing, and one thing only,
on their minds: fish. And I immediately knew if we
followed the call of this bird there was a good chance it would lead us
right to the salmon. There are like, four eagles
in the tree right there. The eagles have led us
straight to the fish because right in this cove I can see a bunch of
dorsal fins splashing. There are about a hundred salmon
tucked back into this cove. Sweet! Dude, guys, we
have found salmon. We have been rowing
this entire lake, and low and behold, it was finding eagles that
brought us to the fish. Which, of course, makes sense, because the eagles
are here feeding. But we also have to be careful because this is a prime
spot for grizzlies to come down to the
water and feast. Alright, we're gonna
set up a base camp, and then strategize how we're
gonna catch one of these fish. - Dude, good spot. - Pow! This was it. After hours of searching in
the harsh Alaskan elements we had finally found
what appeared to be
nearly 100 salmon. They were beautiful, their brilliant, crimson bodies slippery and streamlined as
they darted back and forth beneath the surface. Excitement was in the air. We had finally found some fish. Okay. This spot's pretty perfect. But be aware that
we are definitely in bear territory right now. I gave it a quick
scout, made some noise, shouted "Yo, bear, yo bear!" Clapped my hands. (hands clapping) Yo bear! Just try to alert any
animals in the area that we are now here. If there's salmon,
there are bears. Nothing is more nerve wracking
then setting base camp in an area that is clearly
trafficked by bears. And as we quietly snuck
through the dense forest to get a stealthy look
at the salmon cove it was obvious that the bears
had the exact same mindset that we did. Wow. You know what that is? That's one big pile
of you know what: bear droppings. And they're still warm. What the bear did is he lumbered up along
the edge, like this, and you can see where
he placed his paws, right there on the edge, waited for fish to swim up close and then probably pounced
down into the water. Look at all those fish
swimming down there. And that bear's got the
same idea that I have. Only I'm gonna use a
net, and not my claws. Alright, let's go get set up. - [Mark] Alright,
Coyote, there's your net. I think we're getting pretty
close to being ready here with all the gear. What do you think your
chances really are of getting the sockeye? - I have a 75% chance
of actually netting one of these animals. - [Mark] What's gonna
be your technique? - Basically I wanna try
to work one of the fish into a corner. The shallower the water, the more it will
kinda be disoriented, and I think I'll be able to scoop down and get
it into the net. I know there's some overhangs. And those overhangs they may
also hunker up underneath there and feel comfortable. And then I'd be able to get
the net up underneath that. So, like I said, I
think about 75% chance that I'ma land one of
these on the first attempt. - [Mark] Alright,
well, let's do it. - Let's catch a fish. This was it: time to catch a salmon. We had been given
special permission by
Alaska Fish and Game to use the primitive
method of dip netting to capture one of these fish. Typically they are caught
using rod and reel. However, we wanted to
put as little stress on the animal as possible, and felt that using a net
would insure that the animal was captured without harm. It certainly wasn't
going to be easy, but I was confident
that if I could corner one of these giants
in shallow water I could make the catch. Hopefully, Mario gets the shot. - [Mark] Mario, we're counting on you, buddy. - By sitting up
front with the net, Mark was able to slowly
row me in toward the cove. While Mario, rode by
Austin in the other kayak, did his best to capture all
of the action on camera. We slowly crept in, as just the slightest
disturbance in the water cause salmon to dart
around us left and right. My original plan
was to hang the net off the side of the kayak, and to have a fish
swim right into it. However, we quickly
realized that this plan was not going to work. So it was time that
we switched to plan B. Coyote, was going in. I carefully stepped out and
into the freezing cold water. It sent chills up my spine and nearly took my breath away. Yet, I stayed focused. We had one shot
at landing a fish. And I was going to give
it everything I had. (water splashing)
(dramatic orchestral music) Got one! Got one! - [Mario] Got one? Right here. - There we go! There we go, got one! Man, it's cold. It's strong, it's heavy. Get the buzz back. That's a pretty good one. With an enormous fish in the net Mark quickly rode his
kayak back to base camp, grab the main camera, and race back to the cove
so we could film the scene. (Coyote yells excitedly) Yes! Holy cow! Can't believe I got one. Man, is that a good
fish right there? Wanna keep the fish
as calm as I can. You see it there? Swimming down in the water. There ya go, buddy. - [Mark] That's a big one. - That's a big one. Played it absolutely perfect. They were darting left to right. There was no way I
was going to be able to get one in the deep water. I played up underneath the
embankment there, and that's how I
was able to nab it. - [Mark] Let me
see it, lift it up. - Full grown male. I don't think we
could have landed a more perfect fish. Oh man! Yes! Got one! - Got one, dude. That is a beautiful salmon. - [Coyote] Beautiful salmon. - Alright, got our gear. - Fish on set. Look at that. That is one strong fish. Let me get my pack off here. (fish splashing) I wanna keep the fish as
comfortable as possible and put as little
stress on it as I can. Look at that salmon. How unbelievably
gorgeous is that animal? Now the way that you can
immediately identify this as a dominant male is you'll
notice the quintessential green head, that hook jaw,
with those massive teeth, and this large ridge
on the top of the back which develops as
these fish mature. Now you may be
wondering to yourself, is this fish real scaly? It's not. It's incredibly smooth, and very difficult to hold onto, which is why I'm keeping
it partially in the net. These fish are so
fast and so strong the way that they
make it from the ocean and then moving up the rivers to get to the spawning grounds. In my opinion, probably the
most beautiful salmon species in the world. Now there is some important
work that we need to do today. I need to get the
biometrics of this fish for Alaska Fish and Game, and I wanna do that quickly to put as little stress
on the fish as possible. So I'ma set it back
down into the water. There ya go, buddy. And kinda prop the
net here, like this. I have a measuring
tape in my pocket and a scale. I wanna be as accurate
as I possibly can here. Tip of the snout down to right where the tail
fin connects to the body. Wow, 24 inches! That is a two foot
salmon right there. Alright, I'm gonna do this. One, two, three. Hanging up the fish. He is at nine pounds. Nine pounds. - [Mark] That's a
pretty good salmon. - Pretty good size salmon. Alright, we're gonna come-- Whoa, buddy, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa. Holy cow, this fish
does still have quite a bit of fight in it. Now these fish are at the
end of their life cycle. Let me show you something
really interesting here. Look at the tail. You see how it's much
lighter in coloration? These fish actually
begin to deteriorate as they're moving upstream. I can see there's kinda
some gnarled areas on the back of the tail. But really what's distinct
is the very light coloration as compared to the
rest of the body. It's kinda gross and kinda sad, but these fish almost
disintegrate in the water as they age and eventually die. Now this fish is at the
end of its life cycle and when it does pass away it
will eventually become food for a bear or an eagle and then return to this
amazing Alaskan wilderness in the form of nutrients for
the animals that are out here. And look at that fin. And this is one distinct
sign that we looked for when we'd been
searching for fish. It's just this, this dorsal
fin breaching on the surface. You can be several hundred
yards out in the water and see these fins up
above just doing that as they're trying to get close to the mouths of these streams. We've got fish all splashing
over here around us. And their natural
instinct is so strong it doesn't matter that we're
here in the water right now. All of these fish are
continuing to move up river. If something as big
as a grizzly bear doesn't stop these
fish, trust me, a camera crew isn't
gonna slow them down. Let's take one more look
at this amazing animal. Wow! How awesome was this? Braving the wilds of Alaska and actually netting
a sockeye salmon. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see ya on
the next adventure. Alright, we'll see
ya later, buddy. As the fish swam
from my fingertips and returned to the cove, I found myself
filled with emotions. A wave of happiness
blanketed my being as our mission was an
incredible success. A part of me felt sorrow, knowing that this
beautiful animal was at the end of its life. I found my heart
overflowing with gratitude as the universe had
allowed me to spend time with such a brave
and traveled soul. And as he slowly
disappeared into the shadows I knew this was a
moment in my life that I would never forget. If you thought this
adventure was epic, make sure to go back
and watch our journey deep into the heart
of the rainforest. Where we got up close with a poison dart frog. And don't forget, subscribe so you can
join me and the crew on this season of
Breaking Trail. I'm pretty safe right now. I'm sure you're all watching
this thinking to yourselves, "Oh boy, Coyote,
here you go again, "handling another
dangerous animal." Trust me, I'm in no danger
as long as I don't lick or eat this little, tiny frog. (birds chirping)
(coyote howling)
Cool!