Hooligan haul signals start of Spring

The signs of spring are unmistakable. Migratory birds have begun their return to Wrangell's trees and shrubs, the days have grown longer and somewhat sunnier, and the smell of hooligan smoking and frying waft from residents' homes.

Continuing a local tradition, some families have been distributing the oily fish to friends, neighbors and most anybody who wants them. It's a tradition Janice Churchill and her family have been keeping for a long time.

"I have fished fifty-some years with my husband," she recalled. And, weather-permitting, at the beginning of every spring they would venture up the...