This story is about fishing with my younger sister Monica. It describes a typical long day fishing and the different tasks involved. Also, it addresses what we see while fishing as well as how we prepare to fish and the strength it takes to fish alone as fisher women.
(1) tun’ni’ tsun ’u tthu tsetsul’ulhtun’ mustimuhw.
I come from a fishing family.
(2) kwunus hwun’ stl’i’tl’qulh ’i’ sht’es kwunus hwu ’un’nehw mustimuhw ’i’ nilh kwthunu men ni’ hw’iiw’stsustal’hw sht’es kws yu tsetsul’ulhtun’tst tse’.
From when I was younger until I was older, my dad has taught us the ways of fishing.
(3) nu stl’i’ kwunus qwul’qwul’ ’u tthu sht’es kwuts yu tsetsul’ulhtun’ kwun’atul’ ’u lhunu sqe’uq ni’ ’u tthey’ hun’utum’ Fraser River.
I am going to tell you what we do on a day fishing on the Fraser River.
(4) sht’es yu they’t-s ’u tthu skweyul kws nem’ tst tseelhtun ’i’ tun’ne.e.etulh kwutst ’umut.
To prepare for a day of fishing, we get up really early in the morning.
(5) ’i’ nilh they’ kusulin pout hakwushut, yuw’en’ kws luts’ut tst ’u tthu keselin thu pout tst.
We use our gasoline boat and we fill our boat with gas.
(6) sutst nem’ ’uw’ ’aalhstuhw thu swultun ’u tthu kusulin pout.
We load the gill net on the boat.
(7) ni’ tst thuyt tthu swultun ni’ hwu sthuthi’.
We make sure it is ready to set.
(8) ni’ tst tun’ni’ ’u kwthey’ hun’utum’ Steveston.
We start off at Steveston.
(9) sutst nem’ ’uw’ tus ’u kwthu ni’ tse’ shni’ kws tst nem’ tst tseelhtun.
We arrive at our fishing area.
(10) sutst ’uw’ xwte’ ’u kwthu sxeyumulh hun’utum’ New Westminster tus ’u tthu ’i’lathun ’u tthu sta’luw’.
We go from New Westminster to the mouth of the Fraser River.
(11) ni’ tun’ni’ ’u tthu q’lhan kwun’s ni’ yu kwukwe’t tthu swultun ’i’ ni’ yu sxexutl’ ’u tthu sta’luw’ kwun’s ni’ yu lhelhuq’ut.
The net is set at the bow of the boat and it is laid out at an angle from the boat.
(12) yu huy’uthut tthu snuhwulh.
The boat is going backwards.
(13) yu hwukw’ustum’ tthu swultun yu lhi’a’uqwt.
The net is being dragged behind.
(14) sutst ’uw’ hiil’ukw kws quxs tse’ stseelhtun shun’tsu tst.
We are happy that we will catch a lot of salmon.
(15) thuqi’ tthu ni’ yu stsetsul’ulhtun’ tst, hay ’ul’ hwun’a’ hwiwul ’u tthey’ sil’anum ni’ ’u kwthey’ hun’utum’ Fraser River.
On this day we are fishing for sockeye, early sockeye—first ones of the year to go up the Fraser River.
(16) tthey’ stseelhtun nilh wulh m’i hwiwul ’u tthu tum’qwe’un.
These salmon are the ones in August.
(17) ts’uhwle’ ’i’ nuw’ lhsuq’ ’ul’ tintun wuwa’ ni’ nuts’a’ tintun ’uw’ niis hith kwun’s ni’ sqwuqwisstuhw tthun’ swultun.
Sometimes you leave your net for thirty minutes or an hour.
(18) ’i’ ts’uhwle’ ’i’ nuw’ ’apun munut ’ul’ ’i’ ni’ wulh luts’ matuqwul tthu swultun.
But sometimes after just ten minutes you can see the net bobbing and that’s how you know it is full of fish.
(19) ni’ tst hwkw’at thu swultun ’i’ thunu sqe’uq kwun’atul’.
My sister and I pulled the net in together.
(20) nilh thunu sqe’uq ni’ hwkw’at tthu stslhal’we’lh, xut’ustum’ qwunqwun.
She pulls in the corkline (the floating top part of the net).
(21) ’i’ nilh tthu stl’pal’we’lh ni’ hwkw’ateen’.
And the bottom is what I pulled on.
(22) nilh they’ swultun hay ’ul’ hwutus kwus sul’its’ ’u tthu stseelhtun.
And that net is really heavy when it is full of fish.
(23) ’i tst yu kwun’atul’ kwutst m’i hwkw’at they’ swultun.
And we both pull the net together.
(24) sutst ’uw’ hwkw’at they’ swultun ’aalhstuhw ’u tthu snuhwulh.
And we haul the net onto the boat.
(25) sutst ’uw’ yu hum’ush tthu stseelhtun tun’ni’ ’u thu swultun.
We are taking the fish out as we go.
(26) hwsxwumul’ kwutst yu hunum’ustuhw ’u tthu shni’stewut.
We work as fast as we can, putting them then in containers.
(27) yelh sutst yu hunum’ustuhw ’u tthu hun’utum’ totes, t’ul’t’ul’exun’ t’umuw’luch, sun’iw’ ’u tthu sthima’, suw’ ’uwus qulqul’ulus tthu stseelhtun.
We put the salmon into the totes (square barrels) full of ice to keep them cool so they don’t spoil.
(28) ts’uhwule’ ’i’ ni’ tst wuqw’ilum, kw’unelh kwutst wulh yu lhelhuq’ut tthu swultun.
So as we float downstream, we sometimes set the net several times.
(29) kwutst tus ’u tthu ’i’lathuns tthu sta’luw’, sutst ’uw’ ts’ulqun ’i’ nem’ tst ni’ hwi’ tuyul ’u tthu sta’luw’.
When get to the mouth of the river, we turn around and head upstream.
(30) ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ni’ tst ’uw’ tseelhtun ’u kwus wulh hwtuytiim tthu qa’.
Sometimes we can fish as we are going upstream, if the tide is turning.
(31) ha’ tst ni’ tus ’utl’ sxeyumulh, ’i’ ni’ tst tl’e’ wulh wuqw’ilum.
When we get to New Westminster, we float downstream again.
(32) kwus wulh ’usup’ tthu nuts’a’ skweyul, ’i’ hay ’ul’ qux tthu stseelhtun, ’i’ st’eekw’ lhihw tawsun tthu sht’es kws hwutusth.
At the end of the day, we have a lot of salmon, about 3000 pounds of fish.
(33) tl’lim’ tsun hay ’ul’ ’uw’ ts’iiy’ulhnamut ’u kwthunu men, kwus hw’uw’tsustalum kws tsetsul’ulhtun’ tst.
I’m really thankful for all the teachings my father has shown us.
(34) ’i’ nilh ni’ tse’ s’ulhtuns tthu siiye’yu tst.
And that will be food for our family.
(35) ni’ sul’e’stum’ tthu s’ulhtun nem’ ’uw’ ’usup’ ’u tthu nuts’a’ sil’anum’
The food is stored and used throughout the year.
(36) hay ch q’a’ kwun’s ni’ hwiinem’ ’u tthunu sqwul’qwul’ tthu ni’ sul’uthut tst ni’ ’u tthu sta’luw’ st kwutst tsetsul’ulhtun’.
Thank you for listening to my story about what we do on a day on the river.
(37) ni’ hay. hay ch q’a’.
The end. Thank you.
The PDF for this story can be downloaded here.
