Chalmers Update #2

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Oh man that skiff is going to be the death of us. Yesterday and today it has been overheating because of a coolant leak and a bad water pump on the engine. That and the electrical system seem to be getting screwier every day. At this point the skiff is working on a set-by-set basis, and after every set Jamel has to check the fluids to see what he has to do to make sure it will get through the next tow. It’s pretty bad.

Today was nice because we actually did nap for a bit. That doesn’t happen much on the Jonathan S, so when it does you have to take full advantage of it.

The good news is that Valdez is creeping up on us. We have probably a week until we head over there, maybe less if the chum run here in Chalmers dies. It is already showing signs of dying off, with the catch rate falling, the fish size increasing, and the fish showing signs of maturity. I actually won’t be too sad when we leave here, because we have done the same set here in Stockdale Harbor so many times now that we are all getting bored. Jamel and I estimate that we’ve set here about 200 times so far this year. That’s about as many, if not more than, the number of sets that we did all of last year. We probably have at least another 400 sets ahead of us before the season is out, so by the end of the season we should be really good at what we do. Either that or we will be so sick of it that we just don’t care anymore. Pink season will be really nice though, with the 12 hour openers and the days off. It gives the crew and equipment a day to recuperate, whereas here in Chalmers there is no such luxury. Every time you go to sleep here you do so knowing that in about 5 or 6 hours you will wake up and start fishing in the cold morning. You have no idea how long you will be fishing or when you will deliver or eat or sleep. It all just kind of happens with no planning ahead. Pink season has a structure to it that is very nice in comparison.

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Well it seems to have come to an end. We got word today that Valdez is opening on Tuesday, so at most we will fish here tomorrow morning and then run to Valdez in the afternoon or night. I’m so excited that pink season is about to start; fishing here in Stockdale harbor for the past 32 days has made me a bit weary of it, and the really scary part is that we have already done a season’s worth of sets. We estimate that we have done somewhere between 200-250 sets already, which is more than I ever did last summer, and we still have the whole pink season ahead of us. That plus fishing every day has worn on all of us. I’m fairly sure that in the past month I haven’t slept more than 5-6 hours a night. So basically I have been tired for a month.

The last week has actually been really good fishing here in Chalmers. Yesterday we managed to get 12000 pounds, while we were getting around 4000 before that. With that delivery the boat’s gross exceeded 50000 dollars, which means that I’ve made $5000 already. Not bad, considering that the lucrative part of the season is just about to begin.

The Valdez run might be a bit bigger than expected this year. It is still anticipated to be well below last year’s but they are opening it a few days earlier than expected; the first opener is scheduled for the 1st of July, and we didn’t think that we would be fishing there until the 4th or later. It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but it’s only opening 3 or 4 days later than it did on the big year last summer. The price has been posted as 27 cents per pound, which isn’t as high as we had been hearing but is still a good step up from last year. The only problem is that the price increase barely keeps up with fuel prices rising and inflation, if really it does at all.

So now we have to decide whether or not we are going to fish tomorrow or not. We could fish in the morning and early afternoon, then run to Valdez during the night and fish the opener, or we could simply leave for Valdez tomorrow and mend net after we get there, which is something that we really need to do because pinks can fit through a lot smaller holes than chums can. We shall see, but if I had to guess I’d think that we will mend our gear and run to Valdez, because if we fish some more then we have to deliver again. We shall see.

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Well, Chalmers is done. We fished this morning from 8:00 until about 2:30 in the afternoon and called it quits. The morning was really good actually; we got some pretty big sets because of the buildup overnight and the lack of boats in the area. It is amazing the difference that having little or no competition makes. It means that no one is fishing ahead of you and cutting you off and that you don’t have to sit in lines all day for a set.

In the afternoon the fish dropped off, however, so we decided to deliver, get fueled up and get a move on for Valdez. I can’t say that I’m very sad to see Chalmers disappear, although we did make a nice chunk of money while we were here. Our total poundage ended up at 106000 for our 35 days here, which at fifty-five cents a pound means that I made just under six grand; pretty nice pay for the beginning of the summer.

We might actually be coming back to Chalmers during Valdez closures and fishing if we feel up to it and if the money would be worth it. So while we are leaving for now, we could be back in a short amount of time. Either way, our extended stay here is over and I am saying goodbye to Stockdale harbor and chum salmon. Time for pinks!