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