In early June, Tim and I flew in to the flattest place on earth: Bristol Bay Alaska. To get there, Grandpa drove me to the ferry, I took the ferry off Whidbey Island to the mainland where Daniel and Amanda took me home with them over night then onward to the SeaTac airport for an early flight to Anchorage where I left security to board a small prop plane for the long flight to the base of the Aleutians. The small planes pass out ear plugs and alcohol when you get on board to make the trip bearable. From the King Salmon airport, it's another half hour or so in either an over-priced Taxi or an incredibly creatively repaired and maintained van from the '80s.
In King Salmon / Naknek, the world is a bit like America during the Great War; every job from baggage handler to hardware store clerk is done by young women while the "front lines" of fighting for the fish is nearly entirely men. At our company, Leader Creek, there are about 100 boats and only 2 are captained by women. We could only think of a handful of boats with any female crew members.
When we arrived in Naknek, our boat along with all 1200 others was up on blocks in one of the many parking lots full of winter boat storage. We spent a week getting the boat packed with groceries, finishing small projects, updates, and repairs, and moving the supplies and nets from storage to the boat to be ready to go.
The yard we're in has been under construction for the last few years, meaning boats piled together and a new arrangement at the end of every fishing season. This year we had power and water posts near the boat and were parked between our boat group - the three other boats we fish with and check in with to help each other out.
While we waited for reports of the fish coming in and worked on our projects, we also took the evenings off for tome R&R. We use shipping containers as storage lockers for our extra supplies, and with a few pushed together they also make an excellent picnic spot to get out of the dust and mud and share a potluck, listening to live music and grilling salmon burgers.
We also headed down to the beach for some great Alaskan bonfires and rousting games of Rock Pole: the game of trying to throw a rock into the top of the 20' metal piling on the beach. The world without TV, internet, or cell phones leads to more creative recreation.
My project for the preseason was to build a fish slide to ensure high quality fish. The idea is the fish land on the plastic and gently slide down rather than being bruised smacking into the hard aluminum deck. Tim installed a new autopilot.
After putting the boat in the water, we rafted together with all the other fishing boats tied off to a large tender boat (the ones who take the fish from our fleet of fishing boats to the processing plant on the shore) who was tied on to the dock for all the freedom of being able to walk to shore while being that much closer to read to fish. On a hot day we hid from the sun on the bows on the boat and waved to the movie stars on the Thunder (as seen on "Battle on the Bay" available from Amazon streaming video).
The view in Bristol Bay might be flat and monotonous, but the sunsets are stunning.
Once free from shore and heading south to our fishing district, life on the boat took on the bizarre routines of using a 5-gallon bucket on the deck for a toilet while waiving at all the other boats passing by and wearing clothes as long as possible as there are no more trips to shore for showers and laundry. Groceries are also whatever is on the boat and the company is limited to the captain and our crew of three, with the exception of the days we rafted together with the other boats in our small fishing radio group. Privacy and personal space will have to wait for the end of the season. While waiting for the fishing to get started, we didn't run the boat much which meant power was a limited commodity as well.
One day while waiting for the fish, we left a couple captains to tend the boats and the crews headed for shore leave in Egegik, a small fishing town with a dirt road and some fish processing facilities.
Another day we were left on the beach near Ugashik (smaller than Egegik by far and inaccessable for outsiders). The boys sat around and participated in my grass basket weaving lesson between nap time and a game of cork-ball.
Finally we were in position, reports were coming in of fish in the sea heading for their home streams to spawn, and we had openings to start fishing. We flaked our net out on the deck to make sure there were no snags for the first set of the year. Our net is 200 fathoms or about 600 feet, over a tenth of a mile long and hangs down 12 feet into the water. The top is held up by a line of corks while the bottom of the net is held down in the water by lead-line.
Each mesh is 5 1/8" diagonally, catching sockeye salmon while letting smaller critters through and letting larger animals bounce off. Occasionally the net catches a flounder, or a king salmon, or some jelly fish goo, but the seals are adapt at ripping fish out of the new without getting tangled and the pods of beluga whales passing close to our boats don't seem to have any interest in or problems with the nets.
Joe drives the boat and plans the sets.
Tim runs the hydraulics to reel in the net, picks fish, and repairs what breaks.
Zac worked hard on learning to pick fish out of the net for his first season on a boat and cooked our dinners.
I am in charge of bleeding each fish for best quality, counting and sorting all the fish into our refrigerated seawater tanks, and hosing off the deck after each set.
Kneeling in the blood and ripping the gills out of the fish tends to be a messy job and I never found a way to keep the scales and slime and blood off my face.
During heavy sets when we were struggling to get the net and fish on board before floating over the fishing district boundary line or running out of time for the fishing opening, all hands jumped to picking fish - bleeding and sorting fish into the hatches had to wait until the net was out of the water.
Navigating the ever changing and uncharted shallow channels between sandbars can be tricky. One of our friends was unfortunate in running aground around high tide and had to spend 12 hours 10 feet out of the water right in front of the jeering fleet.
At the end of each day, Joe drove us to the large tender boat to off load our catch while Zac got dinner going. After off loading, Tim and I wash the boat one last time and set everything up for the next day's fishing before heading in to our hot meal and a few hours of sleep.
We had a slight problem with our hydraulic system which runs the anchor, deck hose, and reel; but with one day in Naknek, Tim and Joe got new lines run and the boat back to working order for a few more openings.
As the fishing died off and windy weather came in, we headed for shore. By going far up the Naknek river, we give our boat a good rinse with fresh water then call to have our boat pulled out of the water and back to the yard for the winter.
After getting out of the water, we had one last week of living together in the cramped space of the boat while trying to get everything thoroughly cleaned and packed away for the freezing winter. Zac was charged with scrubbing all the grease out of the engine room and making it look better than it has in years, ans Tim passed on the duties of changing the oil of the Detroit diesel engine and generator to me.
All in all, we had a good season with nearly twice as many fish as last year, a good crew, good weather, and hopefully the price of fish will come up and we'l get a fair and reasonable price in the end. Do your part and go buy some Leader Creek high quality frozen fillets available at Costco!
No comments:
Post a Comment