if wishes were fishes...

More photos as promised.


Up above here is a shot of a troller tied up to the dock at SPC where we unload our fish and at left is a shot of that boat as they pull a load of fish out of the hold with one of those yellow cranes you see above. For those of you wondering that it is how we get the fish out of the hold. After we do that we move the boat down to other end of the dock to load up on ice with the chute you see below.

Despite the fleets best efforts, we trollers are just not catching as many fish as most would like. Our boat is actually doing better than most so I can't complain about my paychecks, but it seems the Salmon are just not here this year in the numbers that can sustain much more fishing. This might result in only one more week of fishing if the things don't improve. As of right now they have shut us down for five more days and we will see what it looks like after that. Apparently September can bring in a lot of fish. The problem seems to be a really dry year they had a few years ago which when figuring in the three year life cycle for Coho's could explain the lack of Salmon running this year.

This could be a bitter sweet ending to the summer for me. On one hand I am anxious to meet up with my father, begin the journey south, get back to the Bay, and go on from there, but on the other I am really enjoying the fishing life up here and I could use another couple good catches to keep my travels up a bit longer. The fact remains that I will eventually need to get another real job and start pursuing some career, but to delay this as long as possible is the game I am playing right now. Hopefully I can make it through January before the gig is up. After that it seems some major life decisions loom before me, but there is no need to delve into that quagmire just yet.

On the way back into Sitka, I began reading To the Lighthouse. Virginia Woolf is quite a change from Hemingway and at this point a much needed one. Hemingway romanticizes a sort of manliness that makes for good storytelling but unfortunately at the expense of objectifying women to a point which is downright offensive as Alex more or less put it. In her role as a major figure in the women's movements of the 20th century Woolf provides a sort of antidote to this chauvinism. The radical difference in style comes at a good time as well, as although the manic pace at which you can devour Hemingway is exhilarating the come down after his abrupt and rather tragic endings was beginning to wear me down emotionally. With Woolf I feel I can take my time and get to know the characters more intimately than Hemingway would ever allow. The range of emotions Woolf lays out for the reader tends to reflect more accurately the ups and downs of human relations than Hemingway's stoic heroes. More true to life and in many ways more therapeutic for me at this time in my life. Sorry to bore you folks not into my literary criticism, but its on my mind so in the blog it goes. There is only so much talk of fishing I can sustain.

One facet of this fishing life that leaves something to be desired as the near impossibility of making a date. Sure I have a few days off here and there that I could probably sneak an evening with a girl in town, but as my luck would have it I fell for a female deckhand. As she is not on a troller the chances of us tying up in Sitka at the same time are slim to none. The isolation of life at sea is as beautiful and romantic (as well as gritty and exhausting) if not more so than I ever imagined, but leaves at least a few things to be desired. I knew this would be the case but it is always a shame to see a potentially good thing pass you by. I suppose some things are made even more sweet in that flirting transience in which the sheer impossibility is perhaps better than what the outcome would be if circumstances allowed. In short-it's nice to have a crush.

Now for Pete who claims he never reads my blog, which is just wrong with all the time he spends on the computer at work, I promised something just for him, although those of you who know Pete will probably appreciate this.
Knifey-spooney anyone? This is what I use to clean fish. I keep the blade as sharp as possible to make my job easier. With the knife end I cut out the gills, slice the fish up the belly, and cut around the membrane separating the guts from the neck. After ripping out the guts and tossing them overboard for the gulls I flip the thing around and use the spoon to scrape out the membrane covering the flesh away and then the kidney that runs along the backbone. I can clean a Coho in abut 45 seconds. This is no record but a far cry better than the 2 minutes it took me a month ago. A shame they should cut me off when I am just getting the hang of it.

This blog would not be complete without a bit of moaning and groaning. So here goes. On the first day out last time the stove broke. This particular one here. Please note the impeccable cleanliness of it as I just scrubbed that thing like it had never been scrubbed before.

It had some issues before we left town, but Ron had thought the problem fixed. Unfortunately this was not the case and we were left with only a hot plate to cook on for our ten plus days at sea. Now a hot plate is always annoying to cook on and as I have been spoilt with fine gas burning four banger ranges for the last several years, and I had just gotten used to cooking on a diesel stove this was a real pain in the ass. It probably would not have even been so bad if not for the fact that it seriously interfered with my daily caffeine intake. I know it is probably not too great to depend on coffee for my mental well being, but I swear I wouldn't need it if I wasn't working ten plus hours a day. As it is however, woe to the man or beast who stands in the way of me and my morning cup.

As it is we have a couple more days in town due to the closure and now some inclement weather. I have not made it out much this time as we have got some issues with the boat that Ron needs my hand with and the time had come for me to clean the decks again, which involves a couple hours of serious scrubbing. Now it is the weekend here so I suppose I will go out and mingle with the bar crowd a bit (at that bar over there). I have managed a few acquaintances in town now so that I have some folks to shoot the shit with. I am beginning, however, to get more than a little desperate for the company of my friends. There is really only so much companionship that you can get over the telephone, but damn if I haven't tried.

I could go on but I won't. My time here is growing short so if any of you people out there have any specific information you want to know about salmon trolling in southeastern Alaska, now is your time to pry me for information. I plan to get a few more pictures up here before I post this, but with the incessant rain we have been having I am not sure the camera will make it out of the bag.


Well I did so here up above here is a photo of my office if you were wondering what it looked like on my end. I know it is not exactly the executive sweet but the view ain't half bad.There have been some interesting developments and occurrences in the time spanning the rough draft for this one and the actual posting, so this is not exactly current anymore. I don't have the time or energy to catch up right now but check back in a couple weeks and I hope to have some fresh grain for the rumor mill.