The Challenges and Rewards

A summer at Leader Creek Fisheries is full of hard work, including tasks such as cleaning fish, trimming fillets and how to package and freeze the final product. If one thing is for certain, you will get cold, tired and your muscles will ache beyond all belief. The work is challenging, but at the end of the season there is not just one, but many rewards to take home.

Once the fish arrive and you begin processing, it will feel like you are living in a fridge, and most days a freezer. I recommend packing no less than 7 pairs of wool socks, a beanie or scarf, but most importantly a light waterproof jacket which will help you keep dry throughout your shift.

All the muscles in your body will be sore and painful. Processing fish is one of the toughest workouts you will ever experience. To avoid pain and muscle dehydration, drink lots of water. Be sure to take care of your body. Before you go to work stretch to warm up your muscles, and after work get as much sleep as you can.

Fatigue is one of the biggest challenges you will face. It will be hard to wake up to your alarm clock when you feel like you have only slept for an hour, but avoid pushing snooze. Once you get up, start moving, and begin conversation with the many friends you will make, you will feel better. Although it seems like an oversimplification, you just have to keep going until you reach the end of the season.

Returning home from Alaska at the end of the season leaves you with many rewards, one of course being a great paycheck to use for tuition, buying a car or traveling the world. The other rewards, those that are intangible, are for many the most important of all. They include the opportunity to live and work in Alaska, a land filled with wild salmon you will come to know very well, and beautiful brown bear that occasionally walk through camp. You will also build character, gain strength, patience and an amazing amount of endurance, all while building some of the greatest friendships with people you would have never otherwise met. This reward is by far the greatest. Creating friendships and memories you will carry with you for a lifetime. Working at Leader Creek Fisheries is worth it.