On the water

We launched the Sashimi, my old boat, and went to the wood river to stake out a claim in the last bastion of the wild west left in this fishery. There were a few tents and lots of signs on both sides of the bank. I found the site i fished last year and nobody put up a sign so I staked it. Dad and Eric's sites were still open and we got those too. I have mixed feelings about posting where I fish since having a sign doesn't actually guarantee a spot but hopefully it won't be a problem. There were other lone sites without signs around. Ill have to wait and see what develops. Talking to the biologist, Tim Sands, indicated that we would start fishing in the district where we have fish camp and then move to the Wood river after a deficit is reached in the amount of escapement between the Nushagak river and the Wood river in order to protect the Nushagak fish. Sorry techinical stuff I know but it means a difference of me staying in a cabin on the slough for the summer and fishing my sites or sleeping in a container in the boatyard and fighting drifters and other fishermen. The trade off is that the Wood is good for catching fish usually but not always. Its a gamble and I'm the captain. We will see how it plays out.

Where I Fish

I fish right at the mouth of the slough. It's low tide in this picture so my nets would be right at the edge of the water about 2/3rds from the right of this pic. Another nice day on the bay and I didn't cause the plane to crash even though I might have been using a portable electronic device at the wrong time.

I'm too tired for this now.

I'm exhausted. It's about as dismal as it can get without getting interesting outside. I think I'm gonna go crawl into the container and take a nap. The cat is still alive. Got a few things done yesterday and I took a shower today. I'll write more later.

I am a fisherman.

The season has started. Last Friday was the first day of regular season and we hit it hard. Pulled in 10,000 lbs in 18 straight hours of fishing. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were pretty much the same with less fish but we are at 26,000 as of Wednesday. I finally got some sleep last night after pretty much fishing around the clock. I am tired but we are doing well and the sleep helped. A closure tonight means we will probably do pretty well tomorrow and possibly hit our goal of forty thousand by the weekend. Hands are thrashed and my back is sore. The weather turned from sun to cold and gray on Tuesday. I am always thinking of thing to say when I am on the boat but I can't remember them all now. We havent been able to get the internet up at the cabin and I don't know if that project is canned or not. The power roller on my boat went down within five minutes of starting it and it won't start again. Otherwise things have been good and I should be sending fish down soon.

Pins and Needles

We are waiting with great expectations of a lot of salmon coming in soon. I picked up Micheal Perry my third crew member today and the boat should be finished tonight. Subsistence nets have been catching sockeye and beluga have been sighted all over. Even when you get out of the boat you can feel them hit your legs. It will be soon.

Internet Issues

In this town there are only a two places where you can use the internet. The university extension and the library. The university password protected theirs two days ago and so now all the cannery workers and fishermen are crammed into the small library and using what once was a medium fast connection. Needless to say it has become super slow to the point that uploading pictures to the blog is impossible. Hopefully we will have something at the cabin although this is never been attempted before that I know of in the bay so if it works I'll be surprised and very happy. For now I will try to type this blog and you will eventually get a bunch of photos that are not as timely.

Mug-up

So there is such a thing as free lunch in this mythical land of igloos and northern lights and midnight sun. A long standing tradition in this hard working town is "mug up" which began in the early years of the canneries. In those days the cannery would have hot coffee and sometimes donuts for the fishermen. Now it is a break for the cannery workers that the fisher-peoples are invited to as well. there are generally three a day at the standard break times 10am, 3pm, and 9pm. Coffee and pastries are standard as well as juice and sometimes there are other things offered as well. A few days ago there was fish and chips and what one worker called a McYukkie; essentially breaded fish fillet with american cheese and a seeded bun. It is a good time to socialize with other fishermen and cannery people. A wonderful tradition.