Salmon season is an annual event in my life, since we live relatively close to the American River, and The Big Guy is basically obsessed with catching and eating salmon rather than buying it at the supermarket. So every year — usually from late August through October — our normal schedule begins to revolve heavily around salmon fishing.

Native Americans brought their salmon to Sutter’s Fort, where the fish were smoked

I was reminded of salmon fishing again last week when I visited Sutter’s Fort in downtown Sacramento and noticed an interpretive sign stating that in the 1800s there were four salmon runs in the Sacramento River each year (sadly, these days we’re lucky to get one run per year). The sign continued, “The Gualacomne Miwok [Indian] group living at the “Fishing Rancheria” traded salmon to the fort. There, the fish were smoked and shipped to Yerba Buena [San Francisco] and as far as Hawaii.”

This episode of California’s Gold doesn’t actually have much salmon in it, but it does have beautiful Northern California scenery and some pretty cool demonstrations of Native American fishing techniques. I’m sure that any fish caught fresh from the ocean and cooked right on the beach must taste better than anything found in a supermarket!

Huell learns about Native American fishing techniques on a trip to Eureka with members from the Yurok tribe at the mouth of the Klamath river.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)