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
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
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
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
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
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
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
Saturday, July 21, 2007
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
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
Monday, July 16, 2007
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
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
Saturday, July 14, 2007
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
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
Monday, July 9, 2007
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
Anyways, time to run.
-Jack
Sunday, July 8, 2007
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
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
Saturday, July 7, 2007
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
------------------------
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
Monday, July 2, 2007
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
