Catch as catch can

Some weeks are more crazy than others during the fishing season and this week is no.....shit, how does that phrase go?  Exception.  This week is no exception.  The grind of fishing has begun, along with that comes sleep deprivation and that 1000 yard stare.  I got both, I'm sure of it and, like I said, the grind has only started.  The worse is yet to come.  I stared at the computer screen for a good 2 minutes before I could remember what I was doing here.  Then I deleted the first 3 or 4 attempts at this week's blog.  Think I better just post some pix and shut up!  So, here goes.

Morning set at Egg Island

The tender anchorage at Egg

my view when we are running

The whistler, marking can at Egg Island.  Doe that can have a permit?

Das net, you can see a fish!

Sunset

Boat running south

Thea running east.  Go get 'em Thea!

crowded fishing grounds

Hey, its me.   Is it red right return or green right return?

Tenders at Whitsed buying fish

Fishin' the color change

The Cost of Fish

I started thinking of what to write about a few days ago when we were getting tossed around the Copper River Flats as it was blowing westerly, which makes for a lumpy ride.  I kicked around a few ideas in my head, jotted down some notes, as I frequently do.   And, as often the case, I started with one idea, then it took a life of its own and turned into something that I didn’t see coming.

What spurred this post was hearing buddy recall his weekend on the VHF radio.  He had gone out to eat at the Reluctant Fisherman, a restaurant here in Cordova, just to enjoy a nice meal.  But half way through his halibut he started getting pissed.

There were a couple of gentlemen at the table next to him lamenting that over the high price of fish, practically insulting fisherman. Typically a bad thing to do in a fishing town, but lucky for them my buddy isn’t the head-butting kind of fisherman.  He just quietly stewed as they went on and on about how expensive fish is, especially, compared to beef. 

I laid in my bunk that evening wondering if you could compare fish to beef.  Yeah, sure, farming is somewhat similar to fishing in that it is seasonal, dependent upon the weather and markets, guys are independently employed and the like.  Farmers, like fishermen, rely on their equipment to make their harvest, but, one difference I thought of at this point is while their ground remains mostly still, ours, the ocean, is ever in constant motion, bucking and surging.

Farming can be dangerous, growing up on one, I know this.  I knew a guy who lost his arm to an auger, another one got smashed when his tractor tipped over on him, my own Dad once kicked a pig and broke his toe (long story).   So yes, there are some similarities with farming and fishing, but still,  I’m not really sure you can compare the cost of beef to salmon. 

In a fisherman’s defense, let me just say a little about our costs.  For starters, if you wanted to buy into the gillnet fishery here on the Copper River, a permit would cost you about $180,000.  A boat would run you, oh, depends what you get, but anywhere from I’d say $75,000 to $150,000 to get a decent starter boat.  $300K + to have one built.  Then you need a net, $5,000 for that.  Hope you don’t need to replace it. Or an engine.  Or a jet or outdrive.  Fuel is around $5.00 a gallon, you need that.  Plus boat insurance, raingear, something to eat, to name a few.

Then there are other costs too, unforeseen costs, like, for example my buddy Dennis, who put a gaff hook through his foot by accidentally stepping on it.  Went right through.  Woke up in the morning, out on the fishing grounds, with that dreaded red line running up your leg, tell tale sign of blood poisoning.  Better get to hospital before that hits your heart. He was out a few fishing periods but is better now.  Though Dennis had another scare last opener when he broke down near the breakers.  The tender Saturn, a beautiful old 80’ wooden boat came to the rescue to tow him out. But somehow, as the towline went out from the Saturn to the Hang Fire, Dennis’ boat, the deckhand on the Saturn got caught in the bight of the line.  She went over with the towrope.  Into the 48 degrees ocean near the breakers.  Lucky for her, it wasn’t still blowing 40 knots at the time.  The wind was clocking around and was blowing about 10 out of the west, with 2-4 foot seas.

Dennis threw her a life ring, but missed.  She was able to reach the towline and walk her self up it, hand over hand.  Ralph, the skipper of the Saturn, ran to the stern to grab her and help her aboard.  He got there, clutched her jacket and yelled at the crew to take the boat out of gear. 

By this point, we heard something was going on and tuned into the VHF channel everyone listens to on the grounds, channel 6.  Just then we heard Dennis scream over the radio “Goddammit, she can’t hang on much longer!”  There was sheer panic in his voice.

Just then, the gal fell back into the water.  Turns out, the crew inadvertently hit the wrong lever and instead of pulling the boat out of gear, push the throttle forward to wide open.  Neither Ralph nor the gal could hold on and she fell back into the water.  She went under a few minutes this time and no one could see her.  She ended up travelling under water under the Hang Fire and popped up about 150 feet away.  Luckily, Dave on the Rocky Point had heard the commotion and started to run over there.   When she came up, he as able to scoop her up out of the water and bring her aboard his boat.  Though I’m sure a little banged up and shaken up, I heard the gal is OK.

So I got to thinking, how do you figure that into the price of fish?

A few weeks ago the tender St. Joseph with a crew of 5 was crossing the Gulf of Alaska coming up from the Seattle area to Cordova to work the season.  In 20-foot seas the boat lost it’s steering and the crew had to abandon ship.   They had made the MAYDAY call with enough time for the Coast Guard chopper to come get them and bring them safely to town.  The boat though, washed up on shore some 80 miles southeast of here and is breaking apart with each wave.  The weather has been too severe to make a safe rescue of the ship.

How do you figure that into the cost of fish?

A few months ago, fellow fisherman and blogger Tele Aadsen who write Hooked (www.nerkasalmon.wordpress.com) posted an old article from the Portland Oregonian in one of her blog posts entitled the “the Price of Fish”.  I copied it here for you. 

The Price of Fish

“The deep sea fishing boat ‘Republic’ will never sail out for the tuna again, nor for the salmon – out of Astoria into the green swells from westward. Part of her bow has drifted ashore near Long Beach, and some of the forward deck – and where the hulk of her is, only the sea can tell. Her last port of call was the storm. And the fishermen who sailed her, and looked to her fishing gear, and harvested the sea? Where are they? Perhaps the gulls know, or the cormorants. Only this seems certain – that they and their boat will fish no more.

You walk through the market and glance at the fish stalls heaped with limp silver. Only a day or so ago these fish, most of them, were out where ‘the low sky mates with the sea.’ Now they bear price tags. Even fish, so we say, is high priced. That is true. Fish are high priced – and the least of the price is reckoned in coin.

Men who would rather fish at sea than work ashore sail out on the fishing boats to seek and follow the fish. It is a glad, hard life, and they love it well – but they stake their lives on the catch. It isn’t often that the boats don’t come back to port, for their oil-skinned skippers and crews to shout to their friends on the dock with word of their luck – but sometimes they don’t. The ‘Republic’ was one that didn’t. And how are you going to figure that into the price of a pound of fish?”


Good question, how do you factor men’s lives into the price of fish?

When we were out on this last one, we heard about the tragedy on the Northern Mariner, a boat that was making a long-line trip for halibut out of Cordova.  Among the crew was a young man of 34, Sean Johnson, on board.  I don’t know the whole story,  but sometime during the trip Sean had hit his head.  He complained of a headache and went below to sleep it off in his bunk.  When the crew tried to wake him a few hours later for his wheel watch, he was dead. 

Again, how do you figure that into the price of fish?  


My heart goes out to the friends, family, and loved ones of Sean Johnson and to all of those he left on shore.   The season's over, its time to go home.

All fisherman are liars

East coast fisherman Linda Greenlaw had it right when she stated, “All fisherman are liars.“  I tell you, fishermen are physically incapable of telling the truth, the whole truth and nothin’ but the truth, so help us cod. It’s in our DNA. Fisherman does two things.   We lie about the amount of fish we catch, the amount of fish we don’t catch.  We lie about where we caught them and when and how we caught them. We lie about how big it was…or wasn’t. We catch fish and we lie. 

So when asked if this blog is true, true to form, I answered, “as true as any fisherman can tell a tale.”  I stick to that.  Having said that, some names that I use in my blogs have been changed in order to protect the innocent, or the guilty, whichever the case may be.   Being that I’m talking about fisherman, the latter is probably more often the case.  Having said that, I want to revisit my disclaimer, which I wrote when I started this blog a few years ago, which is, as follows.  Here goes: NOT ALL THIS IS TRUE!  In fact, none of it may be true at all.  Or, a little may be true or true-ish. Or, it may have actually happened, but years ago.  You decide.  So, when I poke fun at the skipper or tell a story about a trip, or whatever, I may not be talking about the current trip, or even the current season.  You pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down?  This blog is for entertainment purposes only and the scuttlebutt is all in good fun.  OK, just needed to clarify since I live in a small town and rumors fly and someone just gave me a pillow that said, “Be nice to me or you’ll end up in my novel”. 

Having said that, I do really fish.  Honest.

In fact, fishing has been pretty good this year on the Copper River so far.  Near record runs have the counter going like crazy.   The count to date is 306,816 fish up the river verses and anticipated 129,500. The next opener is for 48 hours on Thursday, May 31.

The last opener, which was Monday, though a bit slower than the rest, was still pretty good, even if the weather did turn to shit.  East 35.  Rain. .  “A hair parter” according to my buddy Philbert.  The forecast isn’t any nicer for this next one, either.  E 45 seas 13 feet. I ran into my other buddy Lyle and said, “Yeah, did you hear the forecast?  45.”  “45 degrees?”  Asked Lyle.   Valid question being that is been hovering around the mid- 40s for the past few days. “Both.”  I said,  “It is 45 out right now but its supposed to blow 45”.  That’s not going to be much fun.  Its never a good time when the temperature is the same as the wind speed.  A good diet plan though.  It will be too sloppy to cook, might be too sloppy to eat and what you do eat might re-visit ya anyhow.  That South Beach diets got nothing on the Copper River Flats diet.  Between that and the cold weather, the pounds should fall right off.  I know I’ve been freezing my butt off lately, though more figuratively than literally.  45 degrees is colder than I experienced all winter!  I’m not acclimatized being that I spent my winter sailing in Florida.  As a matter of fact it’s colder in this house than it was all winter in Florida.   My emergency Patagonia order arrived just in time.  I had to order a warm vest, ski socks and fleece hoody, then I trotted down to Copper River Fleece (http://www.copperriverfleece.com/hoodiefemale.html) and picked up another spare fleece hoody just in case to go with my long johns, hat, multiple jackets and liners for my gloves.  I think I’ll get some of those hand warmers, too.   Yes, it is that cold out there.  Between the wind and the rain and the cold fish and the cold ocean. Brrr.  I know it’s been hot around the country and has been in the 90s in Ohio so it probably hard to imagine that we still have snow and did I mention cold? There’s nothing too much worse than picking cold fish with ice-cold hands.  Kind of makes the process a bit more unpleasant.  Honestly.

What do fish prices and anvils have in common?

With three openers under our belts the fishing season here is starting off with a bang.  The first opener, which was 12 hours, the fleet caught 155,000 sockeye salmon verses an anticipated
32, 000 according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) www.adfg.alaska.gov and the price was pretty high at $4.00 a pound!  Not as many kings as anticipated were caught, 1,100 verses an anticipated of 2,100, but at $6.50 a pound, we’ll take it!  The sonar is clicking away steady, counting fish up stream that are returning home.   The cumulative count, as of May 23^rd is more-less on track at 17,184 with an anticipated count of 18,418 fish. 

Tender and gillnetters out on the fishing grounds

Monday’s opener turned out to be a good one, too, except for the fact that the price dropped like an anvil in a Road Runner Cartoon.  But the weather was nice and there were a few fish around.  The fleet caught 219,000 reds.  That is huge!  The anticipated catch was 94,000 reds.  1,300 kings were caught verses an anticipated of 3,455. The price is still shaking out and there are a few discrepancies between canneries, like one offering $3.10 a pound for sockeye and the other offering $1.75.  That’s a big price difference.  We’re still waiting to see if the low ballers are going to come up on price or how on that. 

Tender out on the fishing grounds

I just got in from another 12-hour opener, our third of the season.  It started out pretty sloppy out there, not much wind but tide running against the current, seemingly both against the wind.  Just made it lumpy.  My guts took a beating when we ran.  Nothing too bad, but you certainly couldn’t make Eggs Benedict.   That’s how I gauge how bad the weather is out there.  Is it a peanut butter and jelly day or can I make an actual sandwich?  Can I fry an egg or will it end up paper thin and the complete diameter of the pan?  Crepes are probably a good thing to cook out there on a snotty day, the thinner the better, right?  I was working on a tender one summer and tried to bake a cake.  For some reason or another, we had a port list.  And the cake, you guessed it.  Lemon list cake.  One side was about a half in high and the other was 3.  Anyway, I digress. Like I said, I'm writing this after the fishing opener.  I'm still rocking.

The price dropped again for reds (sockeye) to $1.30 a pound! I think that's lower than it went last year and this is only the 3rd period!  Wouch!  That is what I heard anyhow maybe it will come up.  But I’m curious.  What are you guys paying a pound at the store?  And where?  Do tell!

Rain-gear blowout.  I thought I felt a draft....

Copper River's first opener of 2012

Copper River Salmon Opener #1, 2012.  Cordova Alaska

After much anticipation and lots of excitement, the Copper River opened yesterday!  TV cameras, salmon buyers, chefs, and foodies alike were all a buzz about town wait for the first fish of the season to arrive.   My buddy Lyle and his son were interviewed on KTUU News out of Juneau.  You can check it out here: http://www.ktuu.com/news/alaska-copper-river-salmon-season-begins-cordova-king-cordova-20120517,0,4033003.story

I just came in last night from fishing.   We fished 12 hours from 7AM to 7 PM Thursday, May 17^th out on the Copper River near Cordova, Alaska.  We ran out to the grounds on Wednesday, the day before, the opener, with equal parts enthusiasm and anxiety.  Wondering where this fish will be.  Wondering if we are starting in the right spot.  Wondering where that west wind will blow the fish.  Wondering how much the channels have changed and if track lines on the GPS are still good or will run you dry.  Wondering what kind of price we will get this season.   Wondering how much ice is flowing out of the Copper.  And wondering if we’ll load up on either fish or ice, but hoping fish. 

on the pick, waiting for the opener

boats chatting the night before the opener

Yesterday morning at 7 AM when it opened, it was total pea soup.  It was so foggy I could hardly see the far end of the net.  I guess it was kind of nice though in a way,  couldn’t see all the boats that were right next to us, so it was almost like having the set all to ourselves.   But once the fog lifted, we could see that it seemed like the whole fleet was there!  Anyway, we scrapped up a few then decided to head out and look for more fish.

morning fog

It was a relatively nice day on the Flats.  It started a bit lumpy, the current running against the wind but once the tide changed, it laid down and wasn’t too bad.  The sun was out the whole time, which makes for a beautiful backdrop in which to pick fish. 

Sheridan Glacier

Fishing the color change

The price was announced on the VHF radio early in the morning.  It started around 2 or 3 bucks a pound for sockeye and 6 bucks for kings and inched its way up, though out the day in 15 cent increments to 4 and 6.50 bucks a pound.  A great price that won’t last long enough.   With a price like that, even a little bit of fish adds up and everyone get to put a little coin in their pockets. 

I also managed to scrape up a few photos to share with you all.  I hope you enjoy.  

the fleet running out to the grounds from Cordova

tenders buying fish at Whitshed

boats running in after the opener (at 10 PM!)

iced sockeyes on the dock

boat delivering to Ocean Beauty

otter near the T-dock, hoping for a fish to go over

I drove through the Yukon and all I got was this lousy metal shard in my tire

Metal shard in my tire

 Lucky for me, I stopped and got it fixed before I had a flat tire in the middle of the Yukon in the middle of the near blizzard I was driving in.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Yukon, near the AK border, May 7, 2012

Fishing season is upon us!  It starts next week actually, we got a 12 hour opener May 17th for the Copper River.  Fish on!  The fish buzz is in the air as we all gear up for yet another season.

It was time to make my way back up to Alaska after visiting family in Ohio.  I packed up the car and headed north.  Well, west first, around Chicago then north. 

I entered Canada from North Dakota, drove across the plains with their lovely old wooden grain elevators and their old farm equipment turned into statues and endless fields.  And, of course, their larger than life statues of Paul Bunyan and a disturbingly large beaver statue about 25 feet tall.

Once I hit Edmonton, the road goes more north again and skirts the mountains.  The landscape become more rustic along with the buildings.

Camp ground in Fort Nelson where it costs $37.00 to pitch a tent.  Showers are extra.

Who knew they even allowed guns in Canada

Rustic justice. 

 I also saw a picture of a revolver that said "we don't call 911". 

 Soon, if you are not shot first, you are passing more wildlife of the roads than cars.

Stone Sheep in BC & Yukon

Caribou, aka Boo

Stone sheep 

Ewe

Wild bison littered along the highway

Boo

Moo

Little black bear in the Yukon

More boo outside my window

In between dodging wild animals on the road, snow storms and metal shards, I did get to enjoy some local R&R at Liard Hot Springs in BC and local sign post forests like this one outside of Whitehorse.

Sign Post Forest of the Yukon

Liard Hot Springs

Some of the drive was just breath-taking, like this lake the just disappears into the mountains and the road, that goes right through it.

BC

After 4000 miles and about 8 straight days of driving, I made it to Alaska.  Ah, it was good to be home where there are glaciers along the side of the road.  And planes parked at rest stops, also along side of the road.  How did it get there?

plane parked on turn-out along the Glenn Highway

Matanuska glacier

Tune in next week to hear all about the Copper River's first opener of the season.

Until then, eat fish, live longer.

When a fisherman loses her mother

As some of you may know I have some sad news.  After a year long battle with a rare form of kidney cancer, my mom, Jeanne Pickett passed away.   I was blessed with being able to be by her side, holding her hand, along with my sister, as she passed.  This was a blessing to me because I feared I would be out fishing and not have a chance to say goodbye.  Needless to say, this was a hard storm to weather.  I turned to poetry to express my emotions.  I wrote this for last week for the service.  Its called:

One Single Tear

I will miss you mom,

I always looked up to you.

You were my first role model

and always knew what to do.

You taught me to be brave

to follow my heart.

To  carry my own weight

and always do my part.

You taught my to be strong,

to do what is right

to always soldier on

and that sometimes, you have to fight.

You always were a fighter

a strong woman through and through

but there was just one battle

that was too much, even for you.

We got to hold your hand

when death came it was clear

that you weren't ready to go

when you shed that single tear.

But your struggle is over

it was hard to let you go.

You are in a better place now,

that much, I now.

So its goodbye for now 

but don't be surprised

when we meet again

east of the sunrise.

In loving memory of 

Jeanne F Pickett

Born 

November 27, 1938

Laid to rest

April 21, 2012