Commercial Fishing

[Dhoey07]

Good to see you back out there fishing my friend 

[Angry Perch]

Wanted to throw a quick update out there -

I'm back in the saddle!   

FINALLY got my parts all correct and in one place (long story there I don't want to rehash), and got the boat up and running.  Just in time for the re-opening of our winter king season here in AK, which lasts through the end of April.

Many thanks to @3boys who came up and braved the shakedown cruise with me.  We went out and bonked 21 kings in a couple of days, and he was nice enough to catch me running the gear once on video.  First time ever someone has video'd me running gear, I am stoked about that!

I'll keep posting more on this as things progress, now that the long days of having a broken boat are over.

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Is that a planer board or ? running behind you?

[Machias]

Awesome, glad you are back at it!!  Stay safe!

[pianoman9701]

Nice video, Chris. Linda says you're cute even with wet gear on.

[Skillet]

Thanks fellas -

Pman, I always knew Linda was a woman of high class and refined taste! 

AP - of course a walleye guy would spot that!  It's called a "float bag," even though it's a foam board with plywood top and bottom and bronze hardware. They clip onto the wire after I've run it out and set all the gear, then I let them out behind the boat. The float bag supports the 60# cannonball and all the wire and gear, and I just pull the bag along behind the boat. It helps spread the gear out around the boat, and you can get them set up to shear the gear away from the boat as well ( mine do that) to spread gear out even more.

[Angry Perch]

Got it. Like a giant bobber with a keel.

[92xj]

Got it. Like a giant bobber strike indicator with a keel.

Fixed that for you.  You gotta remember the uppity ups you're dealing with....


 

[NRA4LIFE]

Remember when they were just called corks?

[rainshadow1]

The SuperPig!

[Skillet]

Took a quick vid on very calm water yesterday.  This is the port float bag, after I'd attached it to the wire with the brass hardware you can see on the top. 

[RB]

Took a quick vid on very calm water yesterday.  This is the port float bag, after I'd attached it to the wire with the brass hardware you can see on the top. 

Nice! Think I have turned a circle or two on that spot 

[Caseknife]

Good video, Chris, you handle those lines like you've done it a time or two

Wife and I are headed to SE Alaska on our first cruise second week of May, hope the weather is as nice as that.

[Dhoey07]

What’s the word on them spot shrimp this year??

[Angry Perch]

Got it. Like a giant bobber strike indicator with a keel.

Fixed that for you.  You gotta remember the uppity ups you're dealing with....


 

Words matter, and those guys are sensitive!

[Skillet]

Been a while boys and girls, thought I'd catch you all up to date on the 2022 season.

Good experienced crew is always tough, but it was definitely tougher this year.  Seems like the big money being made out in Bristol Bay has completely sucked the experienced troll deckhands out of Southeast.  I can't say that I blame them - they can make as much in 6-8 week out in the Bay as they can on my boat in 12 weeks.  Some of the highliners can make much more.  Bristol Bay is a very cyclical fishery, though.  They'll be back... maybe.

I actually had a great guy from here really interested, but I had to pass for a few reasons.  Nothing against him at all, just wouldn't work out with my crew insurance.  He ended up going out west to longline for black cod, and we kept in touch a bit throughout the season.  I'm hoping to get the whole story from him on his first year up here sometime this winter - it's always interesting to see this industry through a fresh pair of eyes.

My last post was of my spring fishing for kings, just basically shaking the boat down.  I did that for a few more weeks, but the fish were really thin for the whole fleet - no big scores reported, just basically "scratch" fishing.  That means we ended up profiting about the same as we would if we had a towney job.  It was a harbinger of things to come...

Being solo, I knew cooking while fishing was going to be hard.  So I took a few days and made a ton of freezer meals in small aluminum trays.  Burritos, lasagna, soups (with homemade stock from the beef bones I got from @whitpirate in the 1/4 I bought), chicken fried rice, pork chops and veggies, etc.  Anything I could think of that I could premake and freeze, then just throw in the diesel stove's oven when I got hungry. I will do this from now on, no matter if I have crew or not.  Made life so much easier, and some of the meals were great.  Some... weren't