The end

Well, I figure that it is time to give this blog a formal ending. The trip is over, so the log must end too.

I will be going back at some point. I don't know about this summer but maybe the summer of 2009. We'll see what kind of schedule school will dictate.

So to everyone who read this over the past 4 months or so, thank you for paying attention, and I hope you were at least mildly entertained.

-Jack

Almost time

Less then 8 hours left now until liftoff. Everything other than my computer is packed and ready to be hauled off to the Cordova airport. I'm really hoping I don't have to recheck my bags in Anchorage, because I am only scheduled to have an hour layover. Oh well, we'll see soon enough I suppose.

It sounds like Ensley will be picking me up from the airport in Jacksonville and take me back to Gainesville to begin spending all of my newfound money. The trip will be sponsored by the parents, so the plan is to eat at a restaurant for every possible meal. What would be really great is if Ensley could manage to get her hands on an extra ticket for the Gators football game on Saturday so that we could go.

Sunday night she will return me to Jacksonville where the boat should be docked at the Navy Marina, waiting for my return. It will be nice to be home.

-Jack

I'm done

Yep, I'm done working for the summer. The last few days have been filled with scrubbing anything that needed it on the Jonathan S.

Megan came over from Cordova on the 7th and stayed with us. Andrew saw an opportunity to get some extra work done and put her on the payroll. So she and I got to take a romantic trip into the oily dirty engine bay to scrub it, and another voyage to clean out the skiff. Good times.

So Monday we caught the ferry back to Cordova and since then we've been tying up all the loose ends before we leave on tomorrow.

Yesterday I went to the bank with Carmen and she transferred something like $21800 into my bank account. It made me happy. Right now I'm about to go to the tax office here in town and get all of that business taken care of, and then I think all my tasks in Cordova will be done.

Less then 2 days now until I am flying out.

-Jack

Valdez again

Well it's all over. The whole season is done with.

We got done fishing silvers after only 1 day. The fish were already becoming flushed and old, so we decided to just call it quits and come into the harbor. Luke left the next morning to head back home, leaving me and Andrew to scrub, scrub, and scrub some more. That's seriously all we've been doing the past 2 days. I got to delve into the fish hold yesterday and scrub lovely fish residue out. My journey into the pits significantly improved when I came upon a 10 day old fish, rotting and brown in a tiny nook. The smell was less then fantastic, to say the least.

That was not the last rotting fish for me though, oh no. Today was went through the net, washing it out with a couple hoses. Along the way there were some truly excellent examples of dead rotting fish. Just so everyone knows, these carcasses are the remains of the Valdez run that ended in the middle of July, so they had some time to sit on the bottom and become really ripe. I could tell when we needed to stop and pick a fish out just by smell alone.

So tomorrow we will get the boat hauled out and get to work painting the bottom and doing some fiberglass repair. That's probably about all we will get done before I leave for Cordova on the 10th. I don't really know what all we need to do though, but I'm not sure Andrew does either. We'll see.

Ok well my battery is dying, so it's time for me to head back to the boat and take a stab at making hamburbers. I am making no promises.

-Jack

Back and mending

Well here we are back in town. We actually have been back for a few days at this point, because we decided to leave the Southwestern district and come back home.

The length of our trip was a bit absurd. We ran 12 hours over there on Friday, fished Saturday and then ran another 12 hours back to town on Sunday. I suppose it was still worth it because we did make some money, but that's just about the most inefficient fishing you can do.

Man the fish down there were so nasty. They are all very dark now with big humps on their heads, and are basically floppy sacks of eggs at this point. As they get closer to spawning, a salmon's body will consume it's internal organs to sustain itself rather feeding. That's why we try to catch them before they get dark, because as they age their bodies lose a lot of muscle. In fact, we were catching salmon in Southwest for their eggs instead of their meat.

The past few days seen us over on the net mending dock working on restoring our poor seine. We really haven't worked on it very much at all this summer, and you can tell. It is so beat up and pitiful-looking that it makes me sad.

As we are working on our net it seems like everyone else is putting theirs away. Not many boats fish for silvers, because at this point of the season everyone is so tired that they just want to quit. I find it amazing how fast some of these boats got put away for the winter.

Basically that has been it. We're just recuperating, waiting for silvers to start on the 4th. We will head over to Valdez on either Sunday or Monday, and then probably fish for 3-4 days, or until the fish disappear. Since Jonathan is leaving for college on the 2nd, I will be promoted to skiffman for silvers. Having responsibilities is a frightening prospect; I'll actually have to pay attention now instead of mindlessly stacking corks.

-Jack

Pics

Well here are the pictures that were promised last night.




Jonathan and I up on a mountain in Unakwik.


The view from that same mountain.


Megan and I.


A sunset in Unakwik

So anyways I jumped the gun a bit on the season being over, because tomorrow (Friday) around noon we are headed out for the southwestern district for a few more days. I am actually glad we are going, because I'd rather be out making money than in town being bored. Most of the people I've gotten to know are out there, so it'll be fun.

And then there were none

Well we are back from Unakwik. Man, that place is gorgeous. Jonathan, Megan and I hiked up one of the surrounding mountains during one closure and got some great pictures that I will put on here soon. The sets in Unakwik reminded me of Valdez a bit, because it was so deep even right next to shore. We would be right next to the rocky wall coming out of the water, staying maybe 25 feet from the shore, and it would be 100 feet deep. I still think that is amazing.

It was a really short stay this year, with us in that area for only 10 days before the fish dried up. There were just too many boats fishing up there to keep it going any longer.

We ran back to Gravina on the 20th and have been fishing here for the past few days. This wild fish run should have been done about 3 weeks ago, but it just keeps coming and coming. It is definitely dwindling though, for it is nothing like it was before we left for Unakwik. I think these past few days will end up being our last days of fishing before silvers in Valdez. That gives us about a week and a half to get the boat ready and fix various things before we have to fish again.

Yep, the pink salmon season is now over. It's strange to think that it is really over and that the summer is coming to end. Of course, it comes just as I am really starting to get really good at stacking corks and the rest of the deck work.

Usually the season runs on until around the end of the month, but this year the fish have run dry a bit earlier than usual. This is because there are more boats out on the sound fishing, and that the hatcheries have taken a much larger amount of fish for their cost-recovery. So it's not that there are less fish than projected, it's just that they have all been caught. Even with the year ending a week or so early, we have all made out like bandits this summer. 2005 was a record year, with the Smallwoods grossing around $220000. This year we are at something like $280000 before silvers, so it could get up to $290000 or even $300000 if there is a good silver run. I'm not too concerned about it though, because I have already made way more than I expected too, and I have more than enough to buy a car, computer and phone with plenty left over. Right now I think my crew share stands at a bit over $22000, but that will fluctuate as I add money from silvers and then take some off for taxes. Who knows what it will actually end up as, but whatever the final number is it will be big.

So we are back at the dock in Cordova now. Carmen was feeling ill for the past week or two, so a couple days ago she just hoped on a friends' boat and has been staying at a hotel here in town for a couple nights. So for the past few days it has just been us boys aboard to fend for ourselves. She claims to be feeling better already though, so it won't be too long until she joins us again. The boat certainly feels bigger and quieter in her absence though.

For the past couple weeks I've been starting to put together a movie comprised of videos and pictures I've taken during the summer. Hopefully I'll actually get it done at some point after the summer is over.

Tomorrow or the next day I will upload some pictures because it has been far too long since I have.

Anyways, that is the rundown of what's been going on. I decided to leave out the boring details this time. I'm not sure what we will be doing from now until silvers start on the 4th, but I'm sure we will stay busy. The net has so many holes that it will take us a few days just to get that back the way we want it.

-Jack

We're actually going

...And it's for real this time. We got the order from the boss himself that we are to leave Gravina and head out to Unakwik. We'll be out there for about 3 weeks, and from there we'll head to Valdez and fish for silvers. It's crazy how fast the season is progressing. Andrew and I were talking yesterday and he mentioned that we might only have 10 or so openers left in the pink season.

Well time to go.

-Jack

One last time

Aug 8th:

We ended up staying in town way longer than we expected, but it was for a good cause. Jonathan did some much-needed reconstruction on the boat end of the seine, so now hopefully fish won’t be able to run out of our net so easily.

Not much else went on. I went hiking with my girlfriend Megan and her friend Audrey up to the reservoir just for a quick bit before work began. I think she is planning on dragging me up a nearby mountain before the end of the year, which will be interesting.

-Jack

Aug 9th:

The fish just don’t want to end. I know by saying that, I have jinxed us and now they will run away never to be seen again.

But anyways the fishing is still extraordinary around here. We did 5 sets to get our limit for the day, and then had to run the last of our fish back to the cannery here in town. It kind of sucks to have to run for 3 hours and then deliver, but it means we get to come back to town every day, which is nice.

I did another set in the skiff yesterday, for our last one of the day. It would be nice to stick around Gravina for a little longer just so that I can get some more practice on these really easy sets before thing like snags and currents start becoming an issue. Oh well, I’ll have to deal with them eventually anyways.

Total poundage for the day: 50000

-Jack

...And we're still around

Aug 2nd:

It was typical town day. Running to an fro getting whatever supplies might be needed and jumping out in the afternoon. We actually got done pretty late and didn’t leave the harbor until about 6, which is much later then we usually leave.

-Jack

Aug 3rd:

Today was interesting, to be sure. We used our entire quota of stupid for the whole day in one set, although we didn’t stop there.

Our first set was incredible. Maybe a 15-18 thousand pound set to start off the day, which is just phenomenal for wild fish. Then came the second set, which was the unfortunate one. The whole time we were holding open, you could tell it was going to be a huge set. Fish were jumping everywhere, with more than one in the air several times. But as we were closing the net and about to pick it up, disaster struck. We got rocked down, which occurs when the net catches on the bottom and snags itself. It can usually be avoided or fixed by the skiff man being careful, but on this set Jonathan had towed too far forward and the snag was particularly bad. I knew what we would have to do at once, and I dreaded it. We had to pick the net up over the stern, serving to just get it back aboard and dump the set. This was probably going to be around a 20000 pound set, too. Needless to say, I was bitter for the rest of the day about it.

It still turned out to be a great day. We fell just short of the limit because at the end of the day we got caught in some long lineups, and didn’t get many sets in. Plus we got to the point where we could not physically fit any more fish into the boat, and our day was finished.

Total poundage for the day: 51000

-Jack

Aug 4th:

Ah, finally a lazy day. Since we delivered late last night, and because we stocked up on everything last time we were in town we decided against going back to town this closure. While we don’t get to see any of our friends when we do this, it is nice to have a day every now and then to just do nothing but sleep and watch movies. Since I only get about 4-5 hours of sleep in town and 5-6 hours the night before we fish, being able to get 9-10 hours is welcome. Hopefully when we are in the middle of nowhere our friends will be around us, and we can have both at once.

-Jack

Aug 5th:

Today was an average Gravina day, which means tons of fish were caught and money was made. I swear, I’m getting so spoiled this season with this huge mass of fish that is coming in. We were again on our limit of 55000 pounds which we got after 10 sets I think. The boat’s total gross rises pretty quickly when you put together these strings of 10000 dollar days. It’s getting to be absurd.

Afterwards we had to run the last of our fish to the cannery in town due to no tender service in the afternoon, which kind of sucked but at least we got to be back in town again.

During our delivery at the cannery dock, Jonathan decided that there was too much water in the fish hold and that we should take the return hose out for a pump or two (the return hose gives us back the water that the pump sucks out, because the fish need water to be pumped quickly). As he unties it from the pump hose, all of a sudden things go to hell and the hose goes crazy. It turns out this things is like a freaking fire hose. Jonathan puts himself between the open door cabin and the hose and wrestles it down to the deck. I told him that he looked like the crocodile hunter taking down a huge croc. Crikey!

Total poundage for the day: 55000

-Jack

Aug 6th:

Yet another town day that I think is our last. We’ve had a lot of ‘last days in town’, but we seem to keep coming back. I thought we would already be in the Northwest district by now, but we may as well stick around here if the fish are here. Plus, since there are only about 6 or 7 boats fishing in our area, you don’t get cut off by people fishing above or below you because everyone is so spread out. It’s great, because there are no lineups and no competition for the fish.

-Jack

Aug 7th:

Wow today was incredible fishing. It’s almost as if the run is still building, not dying off. We had a higher limit at 62000 pounds, which we were able to get after only 6 sets. It’s amazing, the amount of fish around here. I wonder how I will react to having a normal job at some point, with good pay being $9 an hour.

What was really fun about to was that I got to alf our sets in the skiff while Jonathan stacked corks. It was a win-win, because I got to do the skiff and Jonathan was able to get a workout. We were both happy. So the skiff wasn’t too difficult, although the set we were doing was extremely easy; a gravel beach with no snags on the bottom. It is a perfect set to start on. Towing the boat around while we pick the net up is challenging but fun. That’s definitely where you have to have the finesse.

So hopefully now on long days Jonathan and I could switch off stacking and skiffing as needed to give each other a break. He is most definitely still the skiffman though, at least for the next 3 weeks or so until he leaves for school.

Total poundage for the day: 62000

-Jack

Back once more

July 30th:

Man today was incredible fishing. By 11 we had filled the hold for the first time after 5 sets. We delivered and went back to work for another 9 sets and managed to fill the boat up to the brim on our last possible set of the day. It was our best day of the year so far, with me clearing over $800 and the boat getting just over $10000. Sure, it took 14 sets but that is an absurd amount of money for 14 hours of work. That comes out to $59 an hour. Something tells me I wouldn’t be doing that well if I was working at Burger King.

We didn’t get done delivering until 2 in the morning. Geez, the lines at the tenders were hellishly long. At least we didn’t have t get up and fish though.

It was funny, for a few sets Jonathan ran the big boat and Andrew did the skiff. It gave him an immense amount of joy to look out and see his dad in the skiff while Jonathan stayed in the cozy top house. I suppose that soon enough it will be me who is banished to the skiff while the Smallwood clan handles the deck work.

Total poundage for the day: 55000

Total poundage sold: 666000

-Jack

July 31st:

Well today was an actually day off. We spent the night in the little bay where we delivered yesterday’s fish, and at about 10 ran back to our set so that we could be the first boat up the next day. The day mostly consisted of movies and TV shows on the laptop, and was nice for recuperating from the 14 sets we did yesterday.

-Jack

Aug 1st:

Wow today was incredible. Another exceptional day of fishing, and we only did like 11 sets. We actually got done early, because sometime right after noon there was an announcement for our fleet that we all had a limit of 55000 pounds for the day. By 6 pm we had our fish and took off for the tender. By 10 we were back in town to socialize. A very good day.

The money I've been making lately is absurd, but I'm not complaining because it is an absurdly large amount. I definitely picked a year to come up here. This season should end up setting a lot of records in terms of the amount of fish.

So I think that this trip to town may be our last for quite some time. Soon we should be heading out to the middle of nowhere to fish near a salmon hatchery for about a month. After that we will be back in Valdez for a few days to fish silvers, and then I'll be done. I can't believe the season has gotten this far already. I only have like 6 weeks until I am sitting back at home aboard the boat.

But anyways, like last time, no news is probably good news once we make it out there. I'm not sure if we are going to run out there today and fish tomorrow or stick in Gravina tomorrow and then run out afterwards.

Total poundage for the day: 55000

-Jack

It could be awhile

Well the past few days I have been lazy on recording what has been going on around here, but there really isn't much to report. We got our chores done and the boat put back together during our long closure, and fished yesterday. The fishing is still pretty good around here and we got 37000 pounds, which brings our total poundage sold to 611000 pounds. We actually have caught over a million pounds for the year so far, but a lot of that was during the co-op and we didn't get paid for everything we caught. Oh well, we've still made a lot of money.

I drove us almost all the way back into town last night because the autopilot is on the fritz again. Driving can be tiring when you have to stand up the whole time. We are actually about to head out again to be ready for tomorrow's opener, and I think we will be back tomorrow night, because we need another day in town to fix things seeing as how it is Sunday today and everything is closed. The next closure might be our last time in Cordova for awhile though, because I'm pretty sure afterwards we will be heading off to fish in the middle of nowhere for about a month. We may find ourselves in another co-op, although hopefully it would be more organized than the one in Valdez. I also assume that I will being my training in the skiff soon, to take over when Jonathan leaves for college.

So once that month is done the pink salmon season will be over and the only fishing left will be a few days in Valdez to fish for silver salmon. I can't believe that it is almost August already.

So this could be the last post for quite a while, and it should probably be assumed that no news is good news, although if I have the opportunity to update I will.

-Jack

Scrub scrub scrub

So today was the first opener that we have skipped so far. We decided that it would probably be better in the long run to stay in town and get things fixed rather than fish, seeing as how this is considered the lull of the season and if we have to miss out on fishing, now is the time. The main issue is that since Chalmers we have to go into the engine bay and use a crowbar to engage or disengage the hydraulic system.

So while Andrew worked on the main engine and steering and Jonathan worked on the skiff, I gave the boat exterior an incredibly thorough cleaning. It is beautiful, as it should be after I work on it for over 3 hours.

Other than that it was been a pretty laid back day. One thing I am excited about it the fact that I was able to download a copy of the new Harry Potter book from the internet. I figure my free time over the next couple days will be dedicated to reading that.

-Jack

Drunk skippers cause nothing but problems

July 21st:

Hmm today was mostly just a busy blur; laundry, groceries, etc. We headed back out of the harbor around 4:30 so we could fuel up and that was it.

July 22nd:

Well this morning was interesting. I guess it was really late last night, but whatever. So we were anchored on our set and Jonathan and I were mending the net quickly when all of a sudden Andrew says that there is a boat on the rocks near us and saw a big black cloud of smoke come from the area. So we pulled the anchor and jumped over to the ship, which turned out to be one of our tenders, named the Nordic Viking. It was run up on a huge flat rock and the bow of the boat was nearly in the trees on the small island it hit. The engine room was flooded, and they had lost power onboard. The worst part however, was that the skipper was drunk when the boat crashed. I don’t know what it is with this year, but drunk skippers seem to be an issue. It hasn’t been like this before though.

So eventually we got the crew off the boat and onto another, while Andrew, myself and Peter (the buyer of our fish) tried to get the boat sorted out. We tried to contain the oil leaking into the water temporarily until the Coast Guard could contain it, and then we got off the boat ourselves. It was a crazy night.

The really annoying part though, is that the Coast Guard didn’t contain the spilled diesel, and now that particular fjord is closed because of it. It isn’t a huge spill, but it is enough to contaminate the fish in the area, because as soon as the bag of fish is brought to the surface they will be covered in diesel. So now more boats will be crammed into a smaller area, and we won’t be able to fish our spot.

Anyways, the fishing was routine for the most part, we caught a couple sharks, but that was the extent of the issues for the day. The fish slowed down a bit which was unfortunate, but we still did alright.

Total poundage for the day: 25000

Total poundage sold: 564000

-Jack

July 23rd:

Geez today was nasty. This summer, the weather on the sound has been really nice, with some sunny days but mostly overcast weather, which is good for fishing. As soon as we get in the general vicinity of Cordova though, the rain starts to come down. Of course, Jonathan and I got to be out in the elements mending the net, but we were able to procrastinate our way out of most of the work. We will have to finish it tomorrow though. Our poor net is so beat up at this point. With it snagging on the boat as well as dragging along the bottom when we set and the occasional shark, the poor thing is filled with holes. I claim it’s so holey that it’s the seine Jesus would’ve used. Aren’t I clever?

So after weaseling out of that task, we were free for the night and proceeded to gather up some friends and hit the town.

-Jack

Back home

July 17th:

We actually had to do a bit of work today. We slapped out 6 sets before it was all over, which is more than we’ve done in a while. It was all fairly meager though, because there aren’t really any fish left in the Valdez arm. The run has progressed enough that pretty much all of the fish have made it up to the hatchery near Valdez, leaving the waters leading up the Valdez pretty dry. I mean, we can still consistently get 3000-4000 pound sets, but that’s nothing compared to what it was.

I think our time here is pretty much over now. I have been saying that for awhile, but I think it’s for real this time. Tomorrow we have another opener here in Valdez, but I bet afterwards we will run over to Gravina, our next fishing grounds.

Yesterday evening our fleet got a little smaller. One of our boats, the Pagan, was at anchor when the skipper, Steve, got a phone call regarding today’s opener. As Steve was talking he noticed another boat, the Kanak, coming towards him. Initially, Steve thought that the Kanak was just coming over to say a quick word before he anchored up for the night. However, as the distance between the boats was shrinking, Steve noticed that the Kanak wasn’t slowing down at all, and coming towards him at full blast, around 7-8 knots. Steve yelled to his crew to get out on deck and brace themselves, and the Kanak rammed dead into the side of the Pagan. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt in the crash, but the Pagan was smashed up pretty badly. We found out today that it is damaged enough to prevent it from fishing anymore this season. The Kanak escaped with minor damage, but the skipper was lead off from the scene in handcuffs after he was determined to be drunk at the helm, and was charged with a DUI. So right now we have no idea when the Kanak might be back in action. It just shows how fast things can change, and how your season can end in the blink of an eye.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 26000/?

Total poundage bought from us: ?

-Jack

July 18th:

Man today was crazy. We started off fishing at the hatchery didn’t do too well the first couple of sets. But then came the third set; holy crap it was a monster. When it was all pumped off, we had caught 141000 pounds of fish in the set. We got lucky with a huge school of fish running straight into our net, but luck still counts. It was a new record for the Jonathan S, beating the previous record of about 118000 lbs.

Unfortunately since we had to hold the set for so long, the tide changed on us and the it wouldn’t have been worth the effort to throw out another set at the hatchery. We headed up the Valdez arm and made one set at the narrows for about 3000-4000 pounds, and then decided to call it a day, find the tender, and head to Gravina.

The run to Gravina was uneventful. I manned the helm for about 2 hours along the way, and we didn’t even hit anything. I’m guessing that I’m the only corkman who gets to drive the boat. In fact, I’m probably one of the only non-skippers to drive a boat. Other might see it as a liability, but Andrew sees it as a chance to take a nap.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 145000

Total poundage bought from us: ?

-Jack

July 19th:

Well, we are certainly back at work now. After 3 weeks of setting 2-3 times a day in Valdez, we did 10 sets today. I think during our time In Valdez I lost some of the shoulder muscle I had built up, because it takes a bit more effort to stack now than it did before. Oh well, at this pace I should regain what I might have lost and add some more in no time.

We have no limit now, at least for the time being. If the fish start pouring in, then we will maybe get one but right now there is no need. On average the sets are 3-5 thousand pounds each, and Andrew says it is very early for this area so it might even pick up some. Valdez spoils people; sets like we are getting now are pretty good, but after the 60 and 80 thousand pound sets we were getting a couple weeks ago, they seem meager. I really can’t complain at all though, because supposedly there are at least twice as many fish here as last year, and the Smallwoods believe that there may even be more fish than 2005, which was a monster year. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Total poundage for the day: 40000

Total poundage sold: 489000

-Jack

July 20th:

Today was both a good and bad day. Good, because we caught a lot of fish; bad because we were very sloppy. In 12 sets we had 8 lead line flips, which is an unfortunate record for the day. A lead line happens when the lead line on the bottom of the net flips over the corks while the net is setting out, causing the corks to sink and making a huge door for the fish to exit our net. There were some that weren’t my fault, but I think most of them were. I was stacking too far back which caused my corks to get too close to the lead and purse lines. Oh well, hopefully I adapted my technique enough throughout the day to prevent it in the future.

So we have tomorrow off, and maybe Sunday too. I wouldn’t mind getting a 2-day break, because fishing 4 days in a row is tiring. We have work to make the money though I suppose.

Tonight we are running back to Cordova for the first time in over a month. It will be nice to get back because it is the closest thing to a home port for me up here, and hopefully we can see all of our friends who stayed behind.

Total poundage for the day: 50000

Total poundage sold: 539000

-Jack

I want a mulligan

July 14th:

We spent the day in Valdez relaxing. Instead of leaving in the afternoon to anchor on a set, we just spent the night in town. It didn’t really matter, because the next day we were just going right outside the harbor to fish anyways.

-Jack

July 15th:

I think we should get a mulligan for today. It was just a poorly thought out, nonproductive day for us. It was a good day for the co-op, with us hitting our limit again, but so far today was our worst Valdez opener. Only 2 sets, and one of them was a screw up so we didn’t get any fish. We didn’t even get our net into the water until about 10 am or so, because most of the morning was spent running around the Valdez arm is a flutter, which is something we usually avoid. Thankfully other people were able to get some fish and save the day.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 7800/750000

Total poundage bought from us: 428291

-Jack

July 16th:

Today was actually a non-boring day in Valdez. At about 2:30 in the afternoon several of our boat friends and I decided to go hiking up the fairly steep base of a mountain. We didn’t hike all the way up the mountain, but we made it to a ridge over halfway up, and it was the hard part anyways. The trail was so steep that at some points you had to use a rope that ran along it to pull yourself up. It was hard, to say the least. The bad part was that we didn’t think to bring any water with us, so we couldn’t really go any farther than we did. It would have been cool to get all the way up the mountain, if our bodies had allowed it. We were all exhausted, but it was pretty fun.

Tomorrow we go out for what might be the first of the last 2 openers we have here in Valdez. The next one will be on Wednesday.

-Jack

It's running out

July 9th:

Another typical Valdez day. Boat chores, spend too much money on food, and use the phone/internet. On the plus side we did end up getting the go-ahead to fish tomorrow, so we took off from the dock in the afternoon.

-Jack

July 10th:

Ok, it is becoming extremely difficult not to gloat too much. Once again we were the high boat of the co-op. We did a mere 3 sets and came up with an extremely massive amount of fish. During the 5 openers of the co-op, we have been high boat 4 times now. Considering how this boat is dwarfed by some of the boats around it, that is superb. We are fishing on the second-smallest boat in the fleet and are the most productive and maybe the hardest working, although there are some friends of ours in the fleet who work very hard as well.

Anyways, the fish are rolling in but our limit remained at its previous level. I thought one of the absent cannery ships would be back in action by now, but it must need an extra day or 2. Once it is functioning properly our buyer will be about to handle a much larger capacity of fish, and our daily limits should rise. We will see.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 145000/780000

Total poundage bought from us: 311000

-Jack

July 11th:

I’m not sure I really want to write much about today, because that would be a reminder that it actually occurred. We did 3 sets, but had to drop 2 of them because they were not big enough for the tender go out of its way to come over and pump it out.

The truly unfortunate part of the day was the general lack of fish around. We still managed to get our limit, but the run of fish has significantly dropped off. You can tell how far along the run is by the percentage of females. As the female percentage rises above 30%-40%, it shows that the run is dropping off. A few days ago it went from 35% to 55% overnight; yesterday it rose up to 69%. The evidence is pointing to the Valdez run ending soon, and us moving to a different location. We might end up fishing about 3 hours out of Cordova, so every now and then we would be able to run back into town. All I know right now is that we will be back out fishing in the Valdez arm again tomorrow, and we will see where the fish take us from there.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 10000/760000

Total poundage bought from us: 351000

-Jack

July 12th:

It was another just day in Valdez. We headed out of the harbor in the early afternoon and did some work on the net before we called it a day.

-Jack

July 13th:

We managed to survive Friday the 13th without any big problems. I though after our first set that it was going to be a rough day, but it turned out alright. The first set of the day-which is usually a good one because of the buildup of fish overnight-came up with like 6000 pounds of fish. Sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when the co-op is trying to reach 700000 for the day. The next set was an improvement, and the third was our best of the day. After that we were told by our great leader to go anchor up and eat lunch, so we obliged.

At maybe 3:30 we pulled the hook and started constantly getting new information which sent us running back and forth across the Valdez arm looking important but not doing anything. The waves had picked up to a 2-3 foot chop when we set again, which made the whole process very bumpy. We did another 2 sets in the waves, dumping one of them and keeping the other that was a meager 5400 pounds. It was all we could do though, because the opener had ended and we couldn’t set again if we had wanted to.

After watching a few waves come over the stern while we were picking the net up, I decided that we should have a TV show following the seine fleet called Slightly Unsafe Catch. It would be way more extreme than Deadliest Catch.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 55000/700000

Total poundage bought from us: 388818

-Jack

Off again

We should be leaving the Valdez harbor within the hour to get back out on the water. Tomorrow we have an opener and there will be another one on Wednesday, but after that I have no idea. We might end up running back into town or we could find ourselves fishing some more. I'd really rather stay out on the water and get some fishing in; I came up here to fish, not sit in Valdez.

Anyways, time to run.

-Jack

Four in a row

July 7th:

Well today was meager, at best. We woke up at about 7 in town and got some quick shopping done, then swiftly ran back out to fish. We didn’t get our net wet until late again, this time about 3 pm or so, and it wasn’t even a very good set. It was merely average. For the first time in the co-op so far we were not heroes of the day, with a big clutch set. The group didn’t end up needing a huge one from us though, because the boiler on our cannery ship was acting up and they lowered our limit to 675000 pounds for the day. I wish we could get all of these issues worked out with the cannery ships, because once they are all up and running our buyer will be able to purchase substantially larger amounts of fish, making $800-$1000 days not too improbable.

In the end, it was still an extremely easy day, with us making only one set and still pulling in over $6500 for the boat.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 23000/675000

Total pounds bought from us: 230628

July 8th:

It was another slow-paced, boring, and yet profitable day. 2 big sets probably made us high boat for the day, which would be the second time now already. I can’t complain about making the money I am by just laying around, napping, watching movies and TV shows and making 2 sets a day. It is the definition of easy money. If we can hit our limit for another 4 or 5 openers then we will gross $100000 for the boat before even leaving Valdez, which is pretty much unheard of. Andrew believes that there aren’t as many fish as the huge season 2 years ago, but the price per pound is 19 cents now instead of 10 cents back then. That’s a pretty huge difference.

So tomorrow we will hang out in Valdez and get some boat chores done and maybe gish again on Tuesday, but that is still up in the air right now.

Total poundage for us/co-op: 112000/750000

Total pounds bought from us: 270101

-Jack

Pit stop

The last few days:

------------------------

July 2nd:

We sat in Valdez for the morning, then left to anchor on our set. Once we rested for a while, it was time to once again work on the net. I swear, it seems like during every closure (the time between openers) I find myself working on that thing.

Anyways, not much to say about the day; it was fairly straightforward.

-Jack

July 3rd:

Today was smooth sailing. We woke up at our usual opener time, around 5 am, and prepared ourselves. Unfortunately we were not the first on our set, so we didn’t get our net in the water until around 6:20. It really didn’t matter though; there was a mass amount of fish. In fact, we ended up with extra fish in our net, because fish were sinking the corks and escaping from the net of the guy in front of us. We probably had around 100000 pounds in the net before we picked up, and then lost some while we brought the net in. I think once the bag was up alongside the boat it still contained about 60000-70000 pounds of fish. It was really too bad that our limit was still at 40000, because we really could have cleaned up.

Anyways, the tender ended up taking over an hour to get to us, but our day still ended up being done by 9. Later on we went back through the net AGAIN, this time to put on our new purse line that the tender delivered to us in the morning. The purpose of the purse line is fairly obvious; you bring it in to purse up the bottom of the net and trap the fish inside.

So I figured up some numbers in terms of my hourly wage if I was being paid on those terms. Every time we get our limit of 40000 in on set, I actually work about 15-20 minutes. Since I get $608 for hitting limit, I am working at an hourly wage of about $1824-$2432 an hour. The only problem is that on days like this I only get to work that 15-20 minutes and then quit. I wish this is what the season would be like until the end, but the reality is that I will probably end up having more 10-12 set days than 1 set days.

However, the really good news of the day is that we are going to start a co-op with the other boats in our cannery’s fleet. Basically what happens with a co-op is that all the boats in our fleet are divided up in 3 or 4 sub fleets, who each take turns fishing different days. Each day the sub fleet that goes out is fishing to hit the limit for the entire fleet, not just the individual boats. So right now our co-op limit might be something like 880000-1000000 pounds of fish a day. The great part about this is that since each sub fleet is fishing for every boat in the cannery’s group, you make money whether it is your day to fish or not. As long as fishing is open you are making money. On days off I might end up making $500 for sleeping in and watching movies.

The next opener is on Thursday, but since that is when the co-p will begin, I have no idea if we will end up fishing at all. Supposedly Friday is going to be open and Saturday is also a possibility.

Jonathan and I had a bonfire on the beach with some of our neighbor boats tonight. I assume there will be another one tomorrow night, and I hope that someone had enough sense to buy some fireworks because we didn’t. The only thing that sucks is that since we are fishing on the 5th, we will be unable to stay up late tomorrow. I suppose it is alright though, because we are getting the whole day off. I think we might spend it hiking and exploring the area surrounding the bay.

Total poundage for the day: 40000

Total poundage for pinks: 111313

-Jack

July 4th:

Well, that was a letdown. We didn’t do anything special for the Independence Day, because eat some heart-stopping American food. The weather didn’t really allow us to. It was nice in the morning but eventually the rain started coming down steadily, and continued for the whole afternoon. The rain, coupled with us having to anchor off on our set by ourselves, made the 4th very uneventful. Not even any fireworks.

July 5th:

Well today was the first day of our co-op. My first impression of it wasn’t very good, because while we did get to keep our extra fish it also allowed the lazier members of the fleet to just wander around all day and do nothing. Plus it greatly increases the time between sets and restricts our freedom of how often we want to set, because we have to wait for our group leader to tell us to set. For example, we were out from 6 am to 3 pm, and we only did 2 sets. The rest of the time we were just drifting around, waiting for our time. The entire fleet of about 2o boats was out, so it was difficult to keep everybody informed and there was a general confusion about the day. While I do enjoy the glory of being able to catch huge amounts of salmon, I hate doing the work for somebody else. It should become more organized once we split the fleet into 2 smaller groups, and hopefully it will get some of the freeloaders to contribute more.

After the workday finished up, Jonathan and I gathered some friends up and went for a short hike. The only reason it was short was because we reached a point on the mountain were we kind of ran out of a path. So we just sat on the ridge and hung out for a little bit, and headed back to the skiff.

That’s when the activities really began, though. Some of us decided to go swimming, so we ran back to our respective boats to change clothes, and headed back to the beach. Man that water was cold. We swam along the beach briefly, and then washed off in a stream that flows down the mountain. We probably didn’t even need to rinse off, because with all of the snow runoff and the nearby glacier the water on the river is pretty close to fresh. The surface of the water might’ve been about 50 degrees, max. As you get farther down it gets even colder, and it doesn’t take too much depth to notice a difference. Anyways that was my new experience for the day.

So we should have an opener tomorrow and the next day. I just hope this frequency of openers keeps up, because if it does then there will be some serious money to be made.

Total poundage for the day for us/co-op: 110000/800000

Total poundage for pinks: 151313

July 6th:

Man, today was weird. The co-op was horribly unorganized. We had about 9 boats fishing on a point one at a time. It took forever and didn’t produce many fish. One reason for this set up was that we only had one tender working the co-op, and it was a slow one at that so it got pretty behind on pumping out boats. We actually didn’t get our net in the water until about 4 pm, although we had been cruising around since 8 in the morning. It turns out that the system we are on has the fleet split up working morning and afternoon shifts. The morning shift didn’t due very well, which is partly due to the tender being slow but also because most of them are hopeless at fishing. Once again we only got in 2 sets, with our first being a total failure due to a tangle and the second being very good at about 68000 pounds. It’s frustrating just sitting around all day while other boats are struggling and then having to swoop in late and try to save the day by making limit. If we hadn’t of had so many boats working one set in the morning and had them instead working 2 or 3 at the same time it would’ve been much better.

We didn’t hit our limit today, but the co-op as a whole was only 8000 pounds under (we had 792000 of our 800000 pound limit) which doesn’t make too big of a difference. We were saved at the end by our big set and another boat’s huge 93000 pound set.

After fishing closed for the day we ran quickly back into Valdez for some fuel and supplies, and will be heading back out in the morning to fish the afternoon and then Sunday. We are getting a lot of openers all of a sudden; Sunday will be the 4th day in a row. You won’t hear me complaining though, because in the last 2 days I have made over $1200. I like how I made 630 bucks today for napping until noon, watching TV shows on my computer, and doing only 2 sets.

Total poundage for the day for us/co-op: 68000/792000

Total poundage for pinks: 195102

-Jack

------------------------

And here are some more pictures:


This is how we cool our drinks in Alaska; with glacier ice.


I thought this looked cool. It's a nice backdrop.


This is one of the many waterfalls in the area. They are fed by a big ice field on the mountain.


A side view of the Jonathan S taken by a friend of ours in his skiff.


That's me on the corks and fully encased in rain gear as we're picking up the end of the net.


The boat while we are rolling a bag of fish onboard. It can lean a lot more than that, trust me.

Well that is it for the past few days. Hopefully the next two days will be as profitable as the past 2 have been.

-Jack

Another opener

And it was a good one. Friday morning we ran around town collecting some last minute supplies, and then at around 2 pm pulled out of the harbor and anchored on our set the for the opener Saturday morning.

Saturday's opener was a good one, although the pound limit was fairly low at 40000 pounds. For those who may not know, an opener is a period of 12-14 hours when the waters are open for fishing. Otherwise it is illegal to have your net in the water. Anyways, our buyer is having problems with his cannery ships, but once we gets the issues worked out we should get higher limits and thus make more money every opener.

Anyways, about the fishing itself. Saturday really should have been done after our first set. Our net came up with about 60000 pounds of pinks in it, so we called the tender to come and pump the fish out of our net. When we get more than about 10000 fish in a set we will call the tender over to pump them directly out of the net instead of rolling them onboard and putting them into our fish hold. Anyways, the tender eventually gets to us and ties up. However, the captain is pretty new at this tendering business, and he starts towing us out into the middle of the river to get away from the shore. Bad idea. Our net starts flowing out behind the boat, and part of the bottom edge falls off of our deck, letting the fish swim out. We managed to fix the problem before all of the fish ran out, but our 60000 pound set was reduced to a 23000 pound one. I was pissed.

After that catastrophe, we had no choice but to keep fishing. It only took us 4 more sets to make our limit for the day, but I still wish it could've been done after the first one, mostly for the bragging rights. Around here, bragging rights are about as valuable as the money itself. The entire profession revolves around it.

So we delivered and ended up back in Valdez around 2 pm or so. Valdez is pretty boring. There is nothing to do around here, and it is not laid out well for people who don't have cars. Basically the only activities are to walk around and buy food at the store. Super lame. I'm actually looking forward to getting less time off on the day-on day-off schedule I imagine we will be going on soon, when the run of fish really picks up.

Today we got up at 12 and did some random chores and then groceries and laundry. It is nice to have clean clothes again, but I really didn't have many dirty ones after 3 weeks out. You realize that it doesn't really matter when everyone else wears their clothes forever too.

So tomorrow we should be heading out again to be ready to fish on Tuesday. I'm not sure of what our limit might be for this opener but I would imagine it would be at least 40000 if not more. More would be good.

-Jack

Huge post

Ok well We are in Valdez. Chalmers wasn't too bad, although it was beginning to get old by the end. I have learned my tasks fairly well I think, which was what I was hoping to accomplish by the time we got here.

I kept a log of every day that we were fishing, which I will now paste on to here. I wouldn't blame anyone of they got bored while reading it, but I'm sure some people will find it interesting. Here we go:

------------------------------------------

June 14th:

We made it.

The Jonathan S pulled in Chalmers (our fishing grounds) at about 1 am last night. Once anchored, we began filling the fish hold with water to avoid doing it in the morning. After a while we thought that a new problem had popped up. Water had stopped flowing into the fish hold. At first Andrew thought that a bad pump was the cause, which would demand another return to Cordova and waiting for a new pump to arrive in the mail. We ended up being lucky though, because it turns out that we inadvertently anchored on top of a huge piece of kelp which had clogged the intake. All four of us breathed huge sighs of relief, and went to bed.

We got up this morning about 9 or so and prepared to fish. I think the net finally hit the water around 11 or so, and I officially became a fisherman. The day consisted of setting the net out, holding it, closing it and finally bringing it back onboard. We did 5 sets, which is about half of what a usual day will end up being. I am really looking forward to building up some endurance in my shoulders, because about 3/4s of the way through stacking the corks I begin to get fatigued. It’s odd though, because once was done stacking wasn’t tired anymore. Andrew says in about a week I should have some endurance built up, which makes sense because I am definitely hitting the ground running in terms of this.

Anyways right now we are fishing for chum, or dog, salmon, which we sell to our buyer for somewhere between 35-40 cents per pound. 100-fish sets at this point means you are doing something right, because there are not many fish running at this point. When we start fishing for pink salmon is when we sill start pulling in large numbers of fish. Our total poundage for the first day was 1692, which is pretty good considering when we started and how many sets we ended up doing.

At some point in time I will try and explain the entire operation, but now is not that time because I don’t fully understand it myself.

Total poundage for the day: 1692

Total poundage for Chalmers: 1692

-Jack

June 15th:

Today wasn’t very productive. We got up late again, and during our first set the insides of the skiff caught fire, and we managed to get a twist in our net. Thus we dumped the few fish which made their way into our net, because it would not have been worth it to deliver that tiny of a load. We called it quits and anchored after we dumped that set. It turns out that the skiff’s issue was fairly minor; it was just a short which managed to catch the battery switch on fire. That was quickly fixed, so Jonathan and I took the skiff over to another boat where our friend Megan is working, and the three of us took a trip to a nearby island for about an hour or 2.

Upon returning, we untwisted the net, and that was about it for the day.

-Jack

June 16th:

We woke up about 3 am today and got to work. Our first set was a big one, with around 200 fish in it. After that the numbers dwindled a bit, falling to 80 for the next and maybe 40 for the third. The fourth set was terrible, being mostly kelp with about 4 fish. After pulling the net back onboard, we headed into the bay to anchor for a few hours, and wait for the rising tide to resume fishing.

At about 2 pm we got up again. Our return to work succeeded, with us managing to catch a fair amount of fish setting into the incoming tide. We delivered to the tender around 6 pm and were back anchored around 7. So today constituted my first 16-hour day from start to finish, although we did take a break so it’s kind of cheating.

Tonight I felt a lot more confident in myself being here when Carmen and Jonathan both told me how they had already noticed I was growing better at stacking the corks. I’m glad that I am showing improvement after only 2 days of real fishing and maybe just about 13-14 sets. Hopefully more development will follow.

Total poundage for the day: 3265

Total poundage for Chalmers: 4957

-Jack

June 17th:

Today was a good day; not very eventful but productive nonetheless. We roused out of our bunks around 2:30 am, and set off. We were sneaky and didn’t raise the anchor all the way just to keep other boats in the vicinity from hearing us get up and leave. We managed to get one really good set in before another boat came in, although we did have some complications during the set. The combination of the impediment and the second boat cost us from setting one more time before everyone else showed up, though we did manage to do well on all of our sets except one. On that horrible on the purse of the net came up with only 5 fish in it. It was at that point, at about 10 or 11 o’clock that we decided to wait for the return of the incoming tide and that it was nap time. Around 2 we set again and then delivered. Everyone was excited that we had such a good day with minimal effort; we doubled our total for Chalmers so far. Jonathan says that if the boat could gross $12,000 over the course of Chalmers that would be great. Already we have made over $3,500 and we are just getting warmed up.

There was talk after dinner of me getting some experience in the skiff, and Jonathan taking over some of the skipper’s duties like he had described before the season. It would definitely be interesting to find myself out in the skiff, but I could see it happening. A good friend of the Smallwood’s is selling his boat after this season, and has already told Jonathan that he was in mind when the decision to sell it was made. There is a very good chance that next summer Jonathan will have his own boat, so him receiving experience in the skipper department might be a very good idea. Also if I returned in a future season, having skiff experience would be beneficial to me and him, because I would most likely stick to crewing with Jonathan and he would probably need a skiffman. We shall see how it all unfolds.

Total poundage for the day: 5128

Total poundage for Chalmers: 10085

-Jack

June 18th

The fishing was fairly feeble today. We did about 7 sets I think, although none of them were very good. The problem was that nobody could start until 6 am, which is about 3-4 hours after we usually do. Therefore, the fish had mostly run by time we get our net in the water. Then we had to wait in line to deliver to the tender, and didn’t get anchored until about 9 pm.

Total poundage for the day: 2529

Total poundage for Chalmers: 12614

-Jack

June 19th:

Today seemed like a counterbalance to yesterday’s feebleness. We started out at 2 am and had 2 very lame sets, but then we moved to a different location and our luck changed. We had one of the biggest sets that the Smallwood’s have ever had here in Chalmers. After that we had some above-average sets, and took naps.

We rose with the tide, and managed have a good afternoon fishing to follow our great morning. All in all 9 sets were done, which was a new high for me. I can feel it in my shoulders, but thankfully not as much as I thought I would.

Total poundage for the day: 9356

Total poundage for Chalmers: 21970

-Jack

June 20th

Another 9 sets were done today, with no major complications. It seems that there are always minor complications, but I think one reason for that is because everyone else onboard is kind of rusty in terms of fishing. Once we start fishing for pinks we should have all the kinks worked out.

We started at 1 am, did 4 sets, and napped for a few hours. Then in the afternoon 5 the crew managed another 5 sets. All in all it was a fairly productive day, for I actually managed to finish paying off my plane ticket and started making money.

I’m excited because there is a rumor that we might be getting $0.45 per pound for chum salmon instead of $0.35. It is just a rumor though.

Total poundage for the day: 5342

Total poundage for Chalmers: 27312

-Jack

June 21st:

We got to sleep in all the way to 3:30 this morning. One hardly knows what to do when you can sleep that late. So our first set began at about 4, and then 16 hours and 11 sets later we quit for the day. Fortunately for me there was a wait about 40 minutes to an hour between most of our sets, so they were fairly spread out over the day. I am definitely able to stack more sets though. Part of it is that I have become physically stronger, but I think the big part is that I am not nervous about stacking anymore. The lack of mental fatigue has helped a lot.

Almost hit the $1000 mark. Never have I possessed the amount of money I’ve made so far, and the cash flow should only increase in the next month.

I think the thing I miss most about being in the middle of nowhere is not being able to check on the Red Sox and the rest of baseball. Not being able to communicate with friends does suck, but having no idea how my Sox are doing is killing me.

Total poundage for the day: 7363

Total poundage for Chalmers: 34675

-Jack

June 22nd

Today was incredibly laid back. We worked extremely little-only 5 sets-and spread it out over the whole day. Not that there weren’t complications though.

As we were beginning to pull in the second set of the day, the block suddenly stops rolling. We look around and realize that we have lost all hydraulics. Eventually some friends of ours came and helped us out by positioning their boom over our back deck and letting us use their block as if it was ours. After the sets Jonathan and Andrew jumped into the engine bay and checked out the problem. It turns out that the clutch on the hydraulic pump broke, keeping us from engaging the system. They managed to figure out how to switch the system on and off from the engine bay, so will just always have our hydraulics on from now on, except when we are traveling. It should work until we get to Valdez and are able to find a replacement clutch.

After that whole debacle, we escaped into the bay and anchored for a few hours. Jonathan and I watched a movie, and at about 1:30 or so we pulled up the hook and got back to work for a few hours. The problem with today was that there were too many boats fishing the same set, so there was a long wait in between sets. Eventually we gave up and delivered, deciding to let it pass as a feeble day.

Total poundage for the day: 2700

Total poundage for Chalmers: 37375

-Jack

June 23rd:

Another 9 set day. It was fairly uneventful and is getting to be routine.

Total poundage for the day: 3590

Total poundage for Chalmers: 40965

-Jack

June 24th:

What a lazy day. We arose around 4, but the incredible shortage of fish in our net (8 of them in all) and the progressively worsening weather convinced us to anchor up again. We dumped that set, because we did not want to commit to delivering with only 8 fish, and proceeded to nap.

I awoke at 11, which amazed me because I had back gone to sleep at 6. The really strange thing was that I had woken several times when I had dreamt that we were fishing again. I swear that I dreamt that Andrew was beckoning us to get out of bed, and then I woke up and as I was about to roll out of my bunk I saw him sitting at the table, just reading. He hadn’t said anything; it had been all in my head. Let’s hope this isn’t the first sign of impending madness.

So after waking up for the second time, we moved to another bay and decided to skip fishing for the day and just mend the net where we had been dragging it across the bottom and catching rocks. I wouldn’t mind getting some mending training, because I would like to get better at it. It’s hard to get much practice when we are mending the net itself, because usually we are trying to get it done quickly. At some point I will grab a scrap piece of webbing, cut it up and get some practice in.

Total poundage for the day: 0

Total poundage for Chalmers: 40965

-Jack

June 25th:

The day started at maybe 5:30 today, because starting Sunday night at 6 pm fishing is closed until Monday at 6 am. Our first 2 sets were horribly screwed up because how we rolled the net yesterday to mend it. Somehow the purse line (the line which closes the bottom of the net) manages to get loops in it after you backhaul it, so we had to suffer with that through the first couple of sets.

The later ones were not much better though. Although the net ran in and out just fine, the main problem was that when it came back in there were very few fish in it. Another issue was the long line we had to wait in to set. Early on it was an 80 minute wait, but once other people noticed the lack of fish and left it shortened.

Somewhere around midday we received word that the fleet might get an opener for pink salmon in Valdez on Wednesday. We will find out tomorrow for sure, but it was enough to send us fleeing from Chalmers back to civilization after we delivered.

The way the pink salmon (or humpies, because of the odd hump on their back) season works is that the waters are open for fishing for 12-hour periods usually everyday. Something like 7 to 7 or 8 to 8. It will be nice getting some regular hours, instead of waking up at 1 a particular morning and then waiting until 4 or 5 the next. Also we should make a much larger amount of money even though pinks sell for a bit more then half of what chums do. It’s just that there are such a vast number of pinks compared to chums that even with the lower sell price we will have a higher yield. I’m looking forward to it, and I seem to be already deciding what to spend my money on. I’m thinking maybe first springing for a nice watch. All I’ve ever owned have been the little 8 dollar Timex watches, so a change would be nice. Definitely wouldn’t wear it fishing though.

Anyways, I bid farewell to Chalmers. It was nice while it lasted, but I am not sad to see you go, for I shall find greater wealth elsewhere. Everyone else certainly seems glad to be done with it.

Total poundage for the day: 1644

Total poundage for Chalmers: 42609

My earnings at Chalmers: $1193.05 at $0.35/lb; $1533.92 at $0.45/lb.

Not bad for 11 days of work. On to Valdez!

-Jack

June 26th:

Not much was going on today. We mostly had a leisurely day with some random boat fixes mixed in. In the afternoon we drove to our set for the opener in the morning and anchored on it, preparing ourselves for the next day.

-Jack

June 27th:

Wow. Today was a lot of work, but it didn’t feel like it until after we were done. One of those days where you’re working the whole time so you don’t even think about it, but once you sit down afterwards you are amazed at what was accomplished.

We did 14 sets today; a new record for me, and almost for the Jonathan S too. The current record for number of sets in an opener is 15. I almost wanted to do 2 more, just to break the old record. We would have done those 2 sets if were able to, but by that time our fish hold was full and our cannery ordered all of its boat’s nets out of the water.

All in all we had a pretty good day. All of us were so pumped for the first set. Needless to say, when it came up completely empty you could almost taste the disappointment. The day got progressively better from there though, with each set being a little bigger than the last. We still had to grind it out though, doing 14 sets. I don’t really care though, because it ended up being a 400 dollar day for me.

Total poundage for the day: 28240

Total poundage for pinks: 28240

--------------------------------------------

Ok so that's what we've been up to. We might get another opener on Saturday, but I wouldn't be surprised if it got pushed back a day or two.

Here are some pictures:


This is just of the fog rolling over the mountains around Cordova. I thought it looked neat.


On the way to Chalmers we saw some sea otters laying on a buoy.


Cheeky on high alert. He probably smelled food of some sort.


The Katie K, one of our tenders. In the winter they are used to crab out on the Bering Sea. The boat next to it is about the same size as us, so you can see the size difference.


This is what I get to gaze upon when I wake up in the morning. Beautiful country up here.


This is our fish hold yesterday as we were getting the pinks pumped out. Not too shabby.

And that's it for now. Since we will be around Valdez for the next few weeks I will try and update when I can.

-Jack

Another try

Ok it took me awhile but I finally uploaded some pictures of the skiff. Here they are:


The skiff while we were taking it to protected waters. It was knocking against the hull roughly due to the steep chop we were in, and I wouldn't be surprised if we have to do some minor fiberglassing on that area this season.


Jonathan working while we are pulling the skiff out. You can see water pouring out aft port corner.


The poor little skiff floating again, about 2 1/2 hours after it sank. You can see the damage to the console, how it doesn't fit against the deck anymore.

Andrew and Jonathan have, over the past 3 days, repaired the skiff and it is now in working order. Some improvements were even made. I think we will be heading out to fish later today, so we will arrive at the fishing grounds tomorrow morning and begin out fishing season. Finally some money will be made. I have been here for almost a month now, and I have yet to make a cent. Hopefully tomorrow we will fix that.

I was able to play some volleyball the day before yesterday. It was very casual, but it felt good to play nonetheless. There are a few girls in our group here who play on the varsity team during the school year, so there were actually other people who knew how to play fairly well. It was fun; me and two other friends were out there for about 4 hours while other players drifted in and out.

So hopefully next time I post will be from the library in Valdez. I have no idea how long that will be, because I have no idea when we will actually be heading over there to fish, but it should be sometime later in the month.

-Jack

We made it all of 2 hours out of the harbor

Until something broke. It happened like this: We were motoring along to our fishing grounds into a fairly steep 2-foot chop. I myself was exhausted for some reason, so I was laying down in bed when I felt the boat turn sharply to the right. I didn't get up, but I started to listen to try and determine if it was significant. When I heard the engine throttle back I knew something was going on. I got up stepped up into the main cabin, where out the door I saw the nose of the skiff bobbing up and down in the water.

Yes, we rolled the skiff. What happened was 2 of our tow lines snapped, which turned the skiff sideways. As soon as it got sideways it rolled over because the entire process lasted only about 10 seconds. We managed to attach the bow of the skiff to the main boat and hoist it up partially out of the water. We realized that it would be impossible for us to attempt to get the skiff floating again in the waves, so we headed for a bay off the river. Here is where our luck began to improve. Anchored in the harbor were some friends of ours on their fishing boat. So with their help, we were able to make the skiff float again.

Everything important in the skiff, such as the engine and wiring, was all submerged in salt water for about a hour. After the skiff was floating again we immediately headed back to Cordova. We pulled into the slip around 8 pm, and worked until about midnight, trying to find every part of the engine which water penetrated. Fortunately for us the damage is not bad. We washed everything well in fresh water as soon as we could, and we will just order spares for the suspicious engine parts, and replace them when the originals fail. The worst damage was to the steering console, where think we severely bent the aluminum when we tried to originally hoist the skiff out of the water. Tomorrow will be filled with a lot of wiring work too, because I think pretty much all of it needs to be replaced. All of that will be made difficult by the fact that tomorrow is Sunday and buying replacement parts might be tough, depending on what we need. I will upload some pictures of the whole ordeal tomorrow hopefully, so everyone can see what I'm talking about.

Anyways I am beat so I think it is time for bed.

-Jack

Finally

Ok well I think today is the day. We just woke up and it is nice outside, so once we finish up our last remaining chores we will be out of here. It is about a 12-hour trip to where we will be fishing so I think we will try to head out fairly soon, although with the extended daylight up here I don't think it matters too much.

Ok well anyways I will update when I can. Hopefully it will be from Valdez next time, because if I'm updating from Cordova that means we will have broken something.

Time to make some money.

-Jack

Still here

Ok so leaving today didn't really work. The weather ended up being so bad that our trip would have been an extremely unpleasant one. At the dock the wind was howling and the rain was coming down pretty hard. Eventually some of that rain became hail, for even more fun. We did manage to finish a few simple chores though, like cleaning up the deck and the dock around our slip. I even got to try on my survival suit for use in the emergency of our ship sinking. I will display a picture in a second. It basically makes me look very similar to Gumby.

I have no idea when we will actually end up leaving. Supposedly today's weather is going to hold up through Saturday, but who knows. All I know is that once we get good enough weather to leave, we will.

Anyways the point of this post was for pictures, so without further ado:


My boat the Jonathan S. Note the rainy-looking clouds in the background, which have come to be a familiar sight.


My bunk.


Our personal watchdog. He is never satisfied with any amount of attention or petting. He shoots yearning beams out of his eyes when food is present, and the power of these beams must not be underestimated.


My very first cork stack, done while loading the net back onboard after mending it. Supposedly it will get shorter as I get better at my job.


In the survival suit looking good.

Well that's about it for now. I will try and post more pictures when I can, and hopefully the next ones will have freshly-caught fish in them. I'll definitely post again before we leave the dock.

-Jack

Almost there

Wow it's been awhile since I updated. The truth is that we have been working like crazy on the net and I haven't had much down time. I am glad to see that more people are starting to visit my page even in my absence.

So the last 3 days Jonathan and I have been working primarily on the net, patching up the holes left over from last season. I learned the basics of mending net with twine over the first 2 days of mending, and I think that I made a lot of progress in terms of the technique involved. Jonathan is the master though. He could make a living working as a net mender if he wanted to. Today he did all the work while I just held up the spots he was fixing, because it is much easier to work on the net when there is tension on the web. It was so nasty out while we were working. The day started off raining hard, and in the afternoon the wind decided to pick up, causing the rain to come down at about a 45-degree angle to the ground. Good stuff.

I think we are heading out Wednesday. Tomorrow we will finish up all of the small jobs that are left, provision at the grocery store and pick up our crew permits. I'm excited that it's finally time to get out on the water, make some money and see what it's really all about. I've heard Andrew, Carmen and Jonathan talk about fishing for the past 2 and a half weeks, and soon I will finally be able to experience it. I am really looking forward to it.

Tonight Jonathan and I went over to the house of our friends Carolyn and Victoria. Our whole group was over there, but most eventually left around midnight and I ended up just talking baseball with Victoria and then volleyball with her and my friend Bri for awhile while we watched baseball on their insanely large TV. At some point during the night Bri got me to eat their leftover rice which I am still recovering from. It was the largest amount of rice I have ever had and hopefully it will remain that way forever. Anyways, it was a great time. I like being able to hang out around a couple people at a time so that I really have a chance to get to know them. That's the one thing that will suck about fishing; I will have to leave all of the friends I have just made for maybe the entire summer. Who knows though, I'm sure we will make it back here a few times during the season at least.

Anyways it's 2:30 in the morning and I desperately need some sleep. I will post again before we leave the dock, and I will upload some more pictures when I do.

-Jack

Flying glass, glaciers and tons of rain

Ok lets see Sunday night Jonathan and I went camping with a big group of people. I was kind of drizzly all night, but besides that it was a lot of fun. We mostly sat around eating marshmallows and talking, but occasionally some people would ride off on four-wheelers. We also went down Boulder Alley again, which was once again great. We packed 4 people into Jonathan's two-seater F-150. Somehow along the way we managed to bust out the passenger side window on the truck. We still have no idea how it happened, because there were no obvious branches behind us that would have done the damage. Right now we think it was either the mass amount of vibrations from the road or the side mirror getting knocked into the window. Either way, we all got showered in safety glass, although I got the worst of it because I was sitting next to the passenger side door. Even Jonathan thought it was hilarious. So right now he is riding around in style with a black plastic trash bag covering the window.

So we hung around the campfire until early morning, and then we decided to all drive out to the glacier at the end of the highway. Once again we jammed more bodies into a truck than we should have. I think we had 8 in a 5 seater, with one person laying across the others in the backseat. It wasn't the most comfortable ride I've ever had, but it was fun. We eventually got to the end of the road and the Million Dollar Bridge, which is a bridge that now serves no function but use to allow workers to get to the big copper mine that operated around here. After a few pictures were taken, our group headed down to the glacier. I thought the glacier was fairly large, but everyone else was saying how much smaller it had gotten. You could see how much higher the river was going to get when the glacier melted by the mud left on the rocks. In the next couple months I would expect that glacier to lose a lot of it's mass.

As for fishing, we are making more progress towards it. Yesterday Andrew finished installing the hydraulic pump which runs the refrigeration for the fish hold. We still need to finish fiberglassing the fish hold combing, attach the new backstays, mend the net, and give the entire boat a good scrubbing. Going to try and get out of here in the next few days.

Last night the shore power terminals failed, so I spent my morning rewiring the fitting on the boat and on the cable itself. Hopefully I'll learn more about electrical while I'm up here, because it would be nice to have that skill set even if it ends up being limited.

It has seriously been raining for about a week at this point. I am starting to get used to it at this point though. The only time that the temperatures are bad is when I have to get out of my sleeping bag in the morning. Besides that I haven't minded it being chilly at all. It's a nice alternative to Florida, because here I don't step outside and instantly start sweating.

The winds are supposed to be around 35-40 knots tonight, which could prove to be interesting.

-Jack

Progress on the social front

Man I have been busy the last few days, in terms of both work and social life. I am really getting to the point where people know who I am and I can be comfortable hanging out with them if Jonathan isn't around. Thursday night I went and played Frisbee with a group while Jonathan was at the gym, and we eventually get enough people together to play Ultimate Frisbee. It had been raining just about the whole day before we went out there, so the field was incredibly slick and of you tried to change direction quickly you ended up sliding. The conditions and the game itself were a lot of fun. That night we went out to a bonfire with a different group of friends. Jonathan, our friend Cody and I ended up walking out to a nearby glacier and checking it out. Cody is pretty cool and is going to be out fishing on a different boat this summer, so hopefully we'll be able to hang out a good bit. The only issue with making friends here in Cordova is that once we leave, the next time I will see them will be at the end up the summer.

Friday night we went and had a bonfire with yet another group of friends. This group is probably my favorite and the ones I will hang out with the most. It was out in this place called the gravel pit, so some people brought four-wheelers and everyone was riding around on them the whole time. After that we all headed back into town to drop off most of the group, but then some of us headed back out to car trail called Boulder Alley. Basically Boulder Alley is a narrow trail in the brush riddled with bumps and sharp turns. It makes for a really fun truck ride.

Then last night was the local high school's graduation ceremony. I skipped the actual ceremony, but then Jonathan picked me up and we went and hung out at the after party. Then at about 10:30 we went to this thing called Safe and Sober, an event for seniors and a guest of their choice. Most of the group from the gravel pit was there, and it was a lot of fun. We stayed until about 5 am, when they kicked everyone out. So Jonathan and I headed back to the boat and passed out for awhile. I actually just woke up now, so who knows what work will be like today. Hopefully we can manage to go camping with everyone tonight though.

The people who ran it were giving out prizes to the seniors, which included laptops. These were not bad laptops either; these were pretty nice. Supposedly the people running the event had been doing fund-raisers all year for this. Jonathan actually ended up winning one, which kills me. I have already tried to offer a trade for his which would include my current computer and money on my part. He is going to use it as a navigation computer onboard this summer, because they believe that the computer they have been using for navigation has been corrupted by the internet. So the plan for the new on is to be strictly a nav computer, and keep it offline permanently Man, I really want that computer, but I don't want to be annoying about it. I do think that my current one would serve their needs, and I could even wipe all traces of the internet off of it by restoring it to factory settings. We'll see, I don't want to push it too much.

As for work lately, it's been mostly a bunch of odd jobs, so there's not really much to talk about. The biggest thing is that I set up a large cover with a tarp over the work area on deck so we can fiberglass when it is raining. There aren't many projects left, but they are all big ones. I think we can all see the light at the end of the tunnel, though.

Our departure date has slid to the 4th of June, so we will be at the dock for more then a week. I want to get done with all of these boat projects and actually get fishing, because I don't get paid for doing boat projects. Jonathan and his parents have all said that this is the worst part, and that our first fishing area will be the worst of the summer. I'm kind of happy about that because it lets us get the worst out of the way early and then have good fishing for the rest of the time. Once the season is over I will have to help them put the boat to sleep for the winter, but it will be much easier than what we are doing now.

-Jack

Living up to it's reputation

In terms of rain, that is. It rained here all day yesterday. Not hard rain, but it was a constant shower. I can see how they get 180 inches of rain a year up here. I had the grand pleasure of hacksawing through steel cable out in the rain, which was naturally a lot of fun.

Yesterday was pretty easy. Not much really got done because Jonathan kept having to be at the school for seemed to be throughout the entire day. He graduates tomorrow though, although it is all formalities at this point. He's not actually graduating from this school district, but he has to finish up his singing classes.

That was about it for yesterday. It was really quite uneventful, but since I have the time now I figured I would update. I think my homesickness is getting a bit better, but it is still prominent. I can't blame any of my hosts here for it, they have all been great and figured I would miss home. I figure once we get fishing, and I am able to get myself into a sort of rhythm I will be fine. It's just that the last few days I haven't been working too much and it has given me a lot of time to sit and think about things, which is never good when you're homesick. I am trying to keep my mind busy in my off time by reading and things like that.

-Jack

After a week

Cordova is still working for me. I'm about to hit the 1-week mark. It seems like I have been here longer than that, but I suppose it is just because the days here are so long and you end up doing much more every day when the sun is up for 19 or so hours.

Work on the Jonathan S (the boat I'm crewing on) is progressing well. We have been doing bottom work, rigging work, and more scrubbing. There are still remains from the soot explosion, most of which are in the fur of the boat dog, Cheeky. Poor little dog; with his filthiness and the fact that one of his hind legs is not running well, he looks rather abused. He has been promised a bath for at least the past 3 days, but so far it has not happened. The bath is going to have to come before the deck gets a final wash down, because this morning I noticed many paw-shaped black footprints at Cheeky's post on the bow of the ship. It is where he sits for periods during the day to watch and bark at people who come by, and to look adorable enough to be scratched by those same people.

Monday we went on what is called 'the grid'. Is it a series of large wooden rectangles which serve as temporary method of hauling one's boat out. What happens is that 'the grid' is high and dry at low tide, but underwater at high tide because of the 15-20 foot tide difference up here. So you wait for high tide, go tie up, and wait for the water to run out, leaving your vessel high enough above the mud to allow you you to work its underside. All we had to do Monday on the grid was clean a bit of growth off and replace some zincs.

Andrew (the captain and Jonathan's dad) and Jonathan have also been cutting into the boat, attempting to make it easier for us to get the fish aboard. I would explain what they are doing, but I myself don't entirely understand what is being done so I doubt I could explain it at all. What I do know is that the end result will make it much easier for us to transfer the fish from the net to the fish hold, making my job on deck simpler. Sounds good to me.

Right now the wind is howling and it is raining, so who knows what we will get done tomorrow. If the day ends up being clear, I'm sure some fiberglassing will be in store. Gel coating and painting are also possibilities.

Last night Jonathan and I watched a movie with a couple friends. I am starting to be recognized and people are actually remembering my name, so things are going well on that front. Tonight we had a bonfire with several other people. I swear, some of these people are a confederate flag bumper sticker away from belonging in the South. Trucks and guns are popular topics of conversation. It's funny to see the parallels between some of the locals here and some Southern 'hicks' (for lack of a nicer word), but I have yet to meet a mean person here which makes it irrelevant.

Only 9 days until we leave port!

-Jack

The first few days

Alaska is great. Having been here for a few days now, I can rally say that. For one, just having those snow-covered mountains around is incredible. Plus the weather has been great in terms of temperature (highs in the low 50s with lows in the mid 30s), and it is only going to get warmer for the next couple of months.

I have been working a lot, that is for sure. Pretty much as soon as I got here on Wednesday I was put to work. It seems that the oven onboard has been acting up lately, and the morning before I arrived it had produced an soot explosion which had covered the inside as well as the outside of the boat with soot. By time I got in, the inside was clean except for the floor, but the deck was far from it. Jonathan and myself have been involved in the task of cleanup the last few days, as well as a fair amount of other chores including changing the engine oil, retrieving the extremely large fishing net out of storage, loading the net onto the boat, removing the old and torn net OFF the boat, replacing the anchor chain and cable, replacing rigging lines, greasing various deck hardware, and installing the huge block which the net runs through. Tomorrow we get a day off though, so that will be nice.

The kids here seem pretty cool, and I believe that they feel the same about me. There are several different groups which hang out together, and I've interacted with a few of them already. Right now I am still just trying to meet everybody, then I'll attempt to become more familiar with them. I'm not sure how much I will really end up hanging out with them, it depends on how often we have to return to Cordova due to breaking something on the boat.

As we were landing in Juneau I snapped a few pictures before my batteries died on me. Here are a couple:





Only 12 days until the fishing season opens for the first species of salmon. It turns out that there are something like 3-4 different species which we will fish for during the summer. So while we won't be fishing for one species throughout the summer, we will be busy with some sort of salmon the whole time.

Anyways that is my trip so far. More to come in the next few days.

-Jack

From Seattle

The flight from Atlanta was a long one. The only issue was that I slept about 30 minutes, which is definitely not enough. The massive roar of the 767's engines is heard pretty clearly when you're seated close behind them. That coupled with the stewardesses bumping my knee every time they passed made it hard to fall asleep.

Only 2 hours are remaining from my 7 and 1/2 hour layover in Seattle at this point. After arriving, I had to get to baggage claim and grab my bags, because I guess Delta doesn't transfer them onto Alaska Air, or maybe they just hate me. And because the check-in counter for Alaska Air didn't open for another four hours at this point, I had the extreme pleasure of carting my stuff around the airport.

After all of that I proceeded to pay an exorbitant amount of money for internet service, which I am kind of regretting. I would not have bought it if I had been tired at all, but of course after 18 busy hours my body was wide awake. I did manage to get eventually get another 45 minutes of sleep, which wasn't too bad and brings my total for the trip up to 1 hour and 15 minutes so far. After sleeping on the floor I woke up with involuntary shakes all over my body which, to say the least, were very annoying. I bet I looked like I was having a freaking seizure as I walked up to the check-in counter.

But anyways the shakes have quit, my bags are checked again and I've gone through security, so pretty much all of my work is done. I only have to make one more connection to get to Cordova, where I will undoubtedly pass out as soon as I sit down on anything remotely comfortable.