‘The buffet is open’: Hooligan, and spring, return to Haines

Gulls feeding on hooligan in April, 2025. (Avery Ellfedlt/KHNS)
By high tide on Monday, the sky was overcast and spitting rain. Birds circled cacophonously above the Chilkoot River, and sea lions bellowed downstream. Haines resident Sonny Williams was there, too – posted up on the bridge that straddles the river nine miles outside of town.
They were all there for the same reason: hordes of small black fish wriggling through the current below, a telltale sign of spring. Williams pointed as