Commercial Fishing

[Skillet]

July 1 is our traditional summer king opener, and I planned to start out on the Fairweather Grounds again.  I made my usual preparations of tying up the gear, organizing the boat for ocean running, taking on a load of fuel*.  I was going to be fishing solo this time, and icing fish in totes on deck, not freezing them.  I never thought I'd be out on the Grounds solo again after losing those windows in that freak storm in 2016, but the weather was relatively tame (no more than 20 knots and 6 feet), so June 28th found me untying the boat to start the 120 nm journey to my preferred starting spot out on the grounds.  Leaving town to the north took my by the new Halibut Point cruise ship dock, and there was a monster Norweigian Cruise Lines boat tied up.  This is the new reality for Sitka, I'm afraid... we had escaped the tourist trap town deal because we were so far off the "track" and there was no way for the bigger boats to get the passengers to shore, but now they can tie up and 3-5K people per boat can decend on the town of 8K people in a matter of hours.  When 2 or more big ships are in town, it's like what I imagine the cicadas are like every 17 years in the Southeast US.

Anyway, I put the cruise ships and about 100 miles in my wake over the next 15 hours with the help of a little bit of Black Rifle Coffee Co mud.  Good stuff.  The throttle work this year has been very specific - slower is better.  I've been cruising a lot more at lower speeds, and it has helped significantly reduce my fuel burn.  I run my engine at about 1450 rpm in calm water, and get 6.3-6.5 knots out of it with little wake.  I believe I'm burning just over 2 GPH at that point, not bad at all for a boat my size.  When I was well out into the ocean and about 30 miles from the nearest rock, I shut it down about the time I thought it was getting dark (midnight), and slept for a luxurious 7 hours on the drift. Got up, made a nice big breakfast, and pointed the bow towards the West Bank of the Fairweather grounds for the final run.

[Skillet]

I arrived at the Grounds and drove around for half a day looking for bait, whales, birds, etc.  The Fairweather Grounds are usually full of life, with a marked increase in activity when you come up on them from the deep water.  Not really the case this year. I knew I was on the grounds, there were a lot of the usual signs - but some of the normal ones were missing.  No Dahl porpoises, no fur seals, no humpbacks.  Normally you can't make a full 360 without seeing a humpback spout in late June on the Grounds.  The bait in the water was thinner for sure as well.  One of my coding partner was checking the East Bank and reporting the same.  He decided to run out to start with me on the West Bank, as unless there's a strong Southeast wind it's always easier to come off the Grounds if needed than run out to them.  Very few people fish farther west than where we started, so if we moved it would be back to the east, making any decision easier.

Another coding partner was checking what we call the Inner Bank, a 50 fathom bar about 8 miles out of the mouth of Lituya Bay.  He reported much the same, but with a lot more boat activity. He decided he would stay there for the opener and we'd compare notes as we went.

[Skillet]

The July 1 opener had me starting out with 40 fathoms of gear in the water on flat calm seas under clear blue skies.  Not bad living!  But the catching was seriously lacking.  Comparing notes with my coding partner, we were both sucking hind teat out there and resolved to move.  Reports started coming in about mid day from the Inner Bank, and it was fishing really well.  That is about a 45 mile run, so I just started trolling that way and hit some structure along the way.  Caught a few that justified a turn-around, but mostly just made as much easterly as I could headed for the Inner Bank.  By the end of the day my coding partner that started there had me and my other partner tripled.  At a place called the "hambone", named for the shape of the 50 fathom line on its perimeter, I caught a few and turned to take another pass.  Went up top and took a video of the Fairweather Mountain Range at that point, and it shows just how nice of a day it was - even if the fish weren't cooperating.  The highest mountain in that range, Mt. Fairweather, is 15,325 feet tall and its peak is the boundary between the US and Canada.  That peak was right about 50 miles from where I was at when I took the vid. 

*(Note - all the miles I talk about here are Nautical miles, 6000 feet long.  Normal road miles, ie., Statute miles, are 5280 feet, so a Nautical mile is 13.6% longer than a Statute mile, and a knot of boat speed is 13.6 faster than a car's MPH)

(One thing I have to admit is I'm getting pretty bad at taking pics and video of the day-to-day of fishing anymore.  Part of it has to do with my crappy phone camera (Moto G7, can't recommend it for pics/vid), and part of it is most of this just seems like a regular day to me anymore.  When I'm writing these up, I always wish I had a few more pics and vids for you guys, but it is what it is.)

[Dan-o]

Awesome 👌

[Whitpirate]

when the Lil is up for maintenance, we should look at some gopro mounts for you and some memory cards.  I'll find some GoPro's for the project.

How's the fleet taking the news that all crab is closed?  King and Opies as I understand are out.

[Skillet]

Bringing this thread back from the dead - I'm a little busy these days,  especially these first few days of July - but thought I'd check in with a quick vid.

https://youtube.com/shorts/PKh08w9y0XE

[ctwiggs1]

Yo homie that video is private.  Why the tease??😛

[Skillet]

Fixed it,  I think

[92xj]

I told my heart doc you quit on me, he was disappointed. 


I’m totally kidding!!  Glad to see you’re busy and catching fish.  Continue to post photos and videos please.   

[CP]

  Nice

[Skillet]

I told my heart doc you quit on me, he was disappointed. 


I’m totally kidding!!  Glad to see you’re busy and catching fish.  Continue to post photos and videos please.

Oof, hahaha!

OK, here's another quick one from my commute yesterday morning.

[Taco280AI]

That sure beats my commute!

Had a buddy who lived out there years ago have a humpback come too close for his comfort, kind of used his boat as a scratching post, very gently. Sent me the video.

[7mmfan]

I love the videos. I can hear it, feel it, smell it even though its been 16 year since I've been there.

[CP]

Looks like fun, but then I remember it’s a lot of work and I get seasick in the rolls.   

[bearpaw]

Glad to see you are hard at it!