This river is literally teeming with thousands of pink salmon. It's a mesmerizing sight as seen from the air in this drone footage.
It's easy to see where the old saying about being able to "walk across the river on the backs of the fish without getting wet" came from when you see thousands of pink salmon returning to spawn.
Pink salmon or humpback salmon (or "humpies" as they're also called) are the smallest and most numerous of the Pacific salmon species.
They are an anadromous species, meaning that they are birthed in freshwater streams before migrating out to the ocean and living their lives in salt water. They then return to those same fresh water streams to spawn.
When returning to the rivers to spawn in the summer through autumn seasons, the males will develop a pronounced humped back, which gives them their nickname "humpies". The fish reach sexual maturity in two years, spawn and die, generally reaching an average size of around five pounds, although the largest recorded pink salmon was a fifteen pound, thirty inch specimen.
This drone footage was taken by Danny Sanford near Cordova, Alaska, a small town on the southern coast of the state on the east side of Prince William Sound.
Pink salmon are also a heavily stocked fish and a primary commercial fishing resource, with over 100 million fish harvested by commercial fishermen in Alaska. Interestingly, pink salmon roe is also a valuable commodity and is valued as a delicacy in Asia.
When you see hypnotic footage like this single river literally filled with fish, it's not difficult to imagine such a harvest.
Like what you see here? You can read more great articles by David Smith at his facebook page, Stumpjack Outdoors.
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