{"id":20098,"date":"2019-05-26T01:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T08:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=20098"},"modified":"2019-05-30T09:40:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T16:40:48","slug":"fishing-alaskas-class-v-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2019\/05\/26\/fishing-alaskas-class-v-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishing Alaska’s Class V Rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Areas with class V rapids generally don\u2019t have the type of habitat or the easy access needed for quality spawning grounds for fish. Typically, salmon and trout are abundant where the flow of water opens up from the constricted canyons it cut through the mountains over millennia. These calm stretches are the preferred habitat for fish to be conceived, born and raised. And for whitewater kayakers, these are less-preferred stretches that we generally try to avoid.<\/p>\n

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However, Alaskan salmon and trout have no choice. Raging glacial rivers, that don\u2019t let up until they freeze over in winter, guard much of their desired habitat and spawning grounds. Northern salmon have evolved with the mountains and rivers and are born for the task of running Class V, both swimming down it as two-year-old fry and back up <\/em>through the whitewater come adulthood. That gives a whitewater-kayaker-turned-fisherman\u2014like me\u2014a seldom, but fortunate, chance to chase both obsessions.<\/p>\n