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 Stikine River and catch hooligan. These would then be given out, first to elders and those unable to fish for themselves, then to everybody else.

"We try to get everybody that wants the hooligan first," she explained, before handing out second helpings.

"It's just a tradition we've done for many years," Churchill said. Her husband, Emil Churchill, passed away last January, but their son Daniel has continued taking his boat upriver to do the fishing.

"It was a much better run this year," Daniel said. Last year Churchill recalled he had caught about 600 pounds of hooligan. He thought the mild winter and lack of ice contributed to the higher numbers. "It makes a big difference."

Daniel Churchill went upriver Friday evening with Chuck and Derek Meissner, heading toward Shakes Glacier in their boats the following morning.

"We found a pocket of them there," he explained. Because the fish were too far offshore for seines, the three had to use cast nets instead. In all, Churchill said they caught about 1,400 pounds that morning.

With two pages worth of names to contact, the amount of fish they have to distribute varies from year to year. The Churchill's last weekend yielded four coolers' worth of hooligan to give out, with Janice filling gallon-sized bags and delivering them to people on the list with her son. Like the birds heading back from down south, from mid-March to early April people will migrate to her house looking to fill their buckets.

"It's almost like a sign that spring has sprung," Churchill said.

She said the first indication that the hooligan are back is the disappearance of Wrangell's gulls and eagles, which head upriver to meet the run. Churchill said orcas and other whales also make their appearance in the area.

"We knew definitely, 'yup, the hooligan are here.'" There are further signs up the river, with pollen in the air, the scent of seaweed and, of course, the hooligan themselves.

"It's all the signs that we know, that we look for," she said. "To know the river and to understand it is the key."

More than a sign of spring, Churchill explained the hooligan harvest is about community as well. "It's the sharing," she said.

While she and her son do not sell any of the fish they distribute, sometimes people will chip in for their fuel expenses or trade other seasonal favorites like herring roe on kelp or preserves.

With the hooligan Churchill continues other traditions as well, using the wooden smoker she received from her brother-in-law, August Schultz. She explained the smoker was originally built by Tommy Hardow, a local carver, and that she was taught how to use it by Harvey Gross.

"I learned my talent from him," she said.

The Stikine is one of the few rivers in Southeast whose hooligan-or eulachon-are open to subsistence fishing. Other rivers such as the Unuk have since been closed to the fishery due to declining numbers.

"There were quite a few years there where the count was down," Churchill said. For a while she was concerned traffic on the Stikine was disrupting the hooligan population, but this year's harvest seemed to be a positive sign to her. "It's building back up, I think."

"I just have fun doing it," Daniel Churchill said of the harvest.

"It's a regular part of my life," explained another fisherman, Einar Haaseth. "It's a way for people to get together up there. Just having a good time."

He also had a good catch this year, between 800 and 900 pounds. Haaseth said he plans to smoke them.