Commercial Fishing

[Angry Perch]

Hey folks, just checking in, letting you know that @captkyle97 and I got it done on the Fairweather Grounds.

Good deal. I like hearing about the Fairweather Grounds once you're back safe!

[Boss .300 winmag]

http://hoaxes.org/af_database/permalink/the_eruption_of_mount_edgecumbe/

Now that’s funny.🤣

Could you just imagine the fines that would incur today.🤯

[Skillet]

Catching up a bit here, quick 2021 lingcod Dinglebar season story -

I decided to do dinglebar the Fairweather Grounds again this year.  The weather heading in was supposed to be really easy, and a lot of boats signed up to fish it.   For this fishery, anybody can do it - but you have to register with ADFG ahead of time and they want reports twice daily on our progress.  This is because our annual quota for the entire East Yakutat area (EYKT) is only 111,000 round pounds, and that can get caught up really fast in nice weather with a lot of boats working on it. 

Interestingly, the EYKT area that encompasses the offshore bank of the Grounds is primarily a north-south area, from the shore just East of Yakutat down to the Canadian Border.

[pianoman9701]

Catching up a bit here, quick 2021 lingcod Dinglebar season story -

I decided to do dinglebar the Fairweather Grounds again this year.  The weather heading in was supposed to be really easy, and a lot of boats signed up to fish it.   For this fishery, anybody can do it - but you have to register with ADFG ahead of time and they want reports twice daily on our progress.  This is because our annual quota for the entire East Yakutat area (EYKT) is only 111,000 round pounds, and that can get caught up really fast in nice weather with a lot of boats working on it. 

Interestingly, the EYKT area that encompasses the offshore bank of the Grounds is primarily a north-south area, from the shore just East of Yakutat down to the Canadian Border.

This is not a very good sea story. No white whales, no surprise squalls which threatened your very existence, no desperate battles with a bucket against a gaping leak in the hull. Instead, it's an area with a small quota and it's East of Yakutat. Skillet, you know I love you, man. But, you're never going to get a TV show with sea stories like that!

[Skillet]

I called up my old pard from HuntWa, @captkyle97 , and made him a deal he couldn't refuse to come up and fish with me.  Really had to twist that guy's arm, haha.  Kyle is a hard worker that loves to fish, so it was an easy deal.

It was going to be just Kyle and I, starting out on the Grounds for the opener on the morning of the 16th.  But one of my fishing partners' mother was killed by a drunk driver in Washington (please, don't drink and drive) and he had to take care of all of that.  So I adopted his stray deckhand, and the three of us set out for the grounds on the morning of the 15th.  It's typically a 20-22 hour run to get out there from Sitka.  That morning, however, the weather was starting to get a little snotty and the report started to grow, so we adopted a "let's get out there and see what she's doing" mentality. 

We got out of Neva Straits into Salisbury Sound and the swell was apparent.  It took a few hours to get out over deep water where the swell was not stacked up as much, but it was still pretty apparent.  I'd guess we were running beam-to in a 6-8 foot swell on 8 seconds.  Definitely noticeable.  There was a 15 knot westerly along with it, which added a foot or so of wind chop on top of the swell.  We were rolling pretty good, and the decks were definitely not staying dry.

At 4pm, with the new weather report indicating backing winds and what would probably be a sloppy sea, I decided to hold up on the Yakobi shore and wait to see what the weather was doing the next morning.  If it settled down, even a little, we'd shoot out to the Grounds first thing and get to work. If it didn't, we'd just work around the Cross Sound area until the next night, then run out overnight.   We anchored up in Takanis Bay under Cape Cross, made a nice dinner, then had some guitar and sing-along fun before hitting the rack.

[Skillet]

Catching up a bit here, quick 2021 lingcod Dinglebar season story -

I decided to do dinglebar the Fairweather Grounds again this year.  The weather heading in was supposed to be really easy, and a lot of boats signed up to fish it.   For this fishery, anybody can do it - but you have to register with ADFG ahead of time and they want reports twice daily on our progress.  This is because our annual quota for the entire East Yakutat area (EYKT) is only 111,000 round pounds, and that can get caught up really fast in nice weather with a lot of boats working on it. 

Interestingly, the EYKT area that encompasses the offshore bank of the Grounds is primarily a north-south area, from the shore just East of Yakutat down to the Canadian Border.

This is not a very good sea story. No white whales, no surprise squalls which threatened your very existence, no desperate battles with a bucket against a gaping leak in the hull. Instead, it's an area with a small quota and it's East of Yakutat. Skillet, you know I love you, man. But, you're never going to get a TV show with sea stories like that!

 
Could you imagine me welcoming a TV crew on my boat??

[Skillet]

3:30 am wake up call to get the weather.  It's pretty bright out at that time of morning these days. 

NOAA weather radio report had the Grounds at 15 knots and 7 feet, so we hoisted the anchor and headed offshore.  I knew we'd lose a few hours of fishing, but I figured with these two tough young guys on the boat we could catch up with hard work.

Once we got out on the Grounds, it was pretty mellow.  Very light wind, easy swell.  I've since learned that the weather was really choppy between the Chichigof shore and the Grounds, but out past 40 miles it was really easy.  Probably should have pushed through overnight on the 15th, but... the few of you who remember my Fairweather Grounds butt kicking of 2016 will probably understand why I do not trust that place in quickly changing weather patterns.

Gear went in early afternoon, targeting a nice 50 fathom (300 feet) edge on the ocean side of the Southeast Bank. We lost a little gear getting everybody on point, and decided to fish shallower the next day.  We didn't put up a lot of pounds, but I was encouraged by the crew's quickness learning the dinglebar game and had high hopes for the following day.  After all, we'd have two or three more days at least to get the fish we needed...

[Skillet]

We drifted about 4 miles overnight and got a little out of position, so the guys had a few minutes to wake up before the gear went in the water.  We started a little slow, but once I found the fish we started picking up steam.  I set a goal for 200 fish this first day, but we only had 60 by noon - and then the bad news came.  Via my inReach, the biologist said that out of an abundance of caution he was going to close the EYKT area at midnight that night - making it a 48 hour opener!  Not good for my bottom line, but it is what it is. I shared the news with the crew, and we focused on making the most of the rest of the day.

With only a few minutes of time to eat a quick sandwich, the guys put on a total of 151 lings for the day.  That's a light bit of work for two crew, but the fishing wasn't red-how where we were and the only reason we got that much was Kyle and RJ (orphaned crew) never let up while I stayed focused on keeping us over fish.  I definitely wouldn't have gotten that much myself.

The next day we moved inshore and tried our luck in NSEO, but the fish were less dense and much smaller.  After a half-day's effort for not many fish, I called it and started in towards town.  We offloaded the next morning and started focusing on the next thing.  It was a good trip to shake the cobwebs off the ol' Diamond Lil, even if it wasn't very productive.  Always good to get back out on the ocean.

Here's a few more shots, and a pic of a nice little king we caught out there on our trailing spoon.  Kings aren't open for retention, so it didn't come home with us.  Forgive the trashed deck - I had a lot of steel work done back there this winter, and it is getting done before salmon season. Freshly painting my deck before longline and dinglebar season is like putting on a brand-new hoodie to go tuna fishing in.

Thanks for checking in fellas, hope to have some more pics and better stories in the next few months!

[Skillet]

By the way, if any of you Bristol Bay captains need a hand this year I can't recommend Kyle enough.  He's a "get it done with no complaints" guy that is always welcome back on my boat.  Doesn't smoke, drink or do drugs, and I'd never worry about him quitting on me.  Kyle is down for the fishing and can grind as good or better than any I've had.

Our schedules don't align this year, otherwise I'd have him chained to my deck for salmon and shrimping season. 

Feel free to PM me for a recommendation or PM him on here - he's @captkyle97

Good fishin!

[NRA4LIFE]

Dang that's awesome.  And I thought I had the greatest first mate of all time.

[h20hunter]

Nice.  Love reading the recaps and seeing dead fish and a bloody deck.

[Taco280AI]

Nice pics 

[bearpaw]

@Skillet
Hope you are having a great season?