Commercial Fishing

[Sitka_Blacktail]

On nice days, it's the best job in the world. On a bad day, you just try to hang on and survive.  This year's silver season, my oldest son and I were fishing together and we anchored inside Little Sof Tuk hoping to get outside the next day to fish in spite of a storm heading our way. It hit in the middle of the night with 80 kt winds. Even though we were in protected waters and anchored next to a cut bank which sheltered us from the wind, we were soon dragging anchor as were many of the other 14 boats anchored with us. So out into the teeth of the storm we went and I started the boat and ran up on the anchor line as my son pulled it in. It was pitch black and starting to ebb and we didn't want to ebb out the bar. so up the channel we ran to set the anchor again. Over the course of the sleepless night we had to reset the anchor 4 times until the wind slacked off to 50 kts and low tide changed the direction of the tide.  By the next high tide it was fishable inside and we made a paycheck but there was no crossing the bar that day. A tender who had anchored outside that night near the Martin Islands snapped their anchor line and they had to run 10 miles to get behind Kanak Island where they jogged all night.  Luckily they had a good mark where they lost their anchor and later drug it up with a grapple.

Here's a shot a fisherman buddy of mine took of another friend's boat during a bar crossing. It shows the breakers we face way better than any picture I have taken. Bob is a world class photographer besides being a lifelong Copper River fisherman. He's won every award for photography there is in Alaska and has been published in National Geographic and had a variety of photos make the AP Photowire. If you have time, check out his whole gallery. It is worth the time.

http://bobmartinson.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Seascapes-and-Boats/G0000UjcYu2nmAPo/I00005MX0o75jwEA

[WAcoueshunter]

I hope this answered your question Wacoushunter?

Yes, great stuff.  So much more to the business side than just catching fish, cool to hear about it.   

[Skillet]

Great stuff Sitka BT, thanks for posting it up 

[jmscon]

Great write up Sitka!
Hey, do you know Lou Barclay? I fished with him in Bristol Bay a couple years back, heck of a nice guy!

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Great write up Sitka!
Hey, do you know Lou Barclay? I fished with him in Bristol Bay a couple years back, heck of a nice guy!

Yes I know Lou. Don't see him around any more.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Just thinking of some of the disasters friends have been involved in reminded me of others. The first year I fished with my dad, there was a fellow who got  little too greedy and paid for it with his life. He was from the Hoquiam area and I went to school with his nephew and niece and his kids are friends to this day. It happened the week before I got up there as I was finishing up the school year.  A big storm hit and as is often the case, a huge shot of fish came with it. A lot of guys lost their nets in that storm, but Dean was a tough old cob and he loaded his skiff twice and made it back to the tender. The third time he wasn't so lucky and filled his boat with fish, but took too many waves and went down. The day after the storm my dad and a couple friends used one of the friends' seine boat to recover as many of the lost nets as they could. They kept the fish and returned the nets to the guys who lost them. Made a pretty good start to the season for them. But losing Dean put a damper on the rest of the season.

Then about 8 years later a young gal came to town and got a job fishing with Jon. They were fishing out on Egg Island Point when a breaker swept Jon overboard and into the net where he drowned. It was the young gal's first time on a boat and she had no idea how to run it and the boat was pounded by waves as she figured out how to use the radio to call for help. Luckily, she was rescued, but she never went out on the Flats again. She did however stay in Cordova for many years.

I lived for six years in the 80s in Kodiak and didn't fish in Cordova then. But while I was there a huge storm hit and caught the fleet by surprise. Two friends were caught out on the ocean. One had water in his fuel which clogged his fuel filter. He was a relative novice and didn't realize what had happened at first and was pushed close to the breakers before he dropped his anchor on the outside edge of the breakers. He called in a mayday and a Coast Guard helo came from Kodiak to rescue him, but somehow as they were approaching him, a down draft pushed them low enough that a wave clipped the chopper and it went down right in front of him with the loss of the whole crew. There were 4 or 5 onboard that day if I remember right. Someone eventually talked to Skip on the radio and told him to check his filter and he drained it and changed the filter and made it to town on his own power. He was so traumatized he sold out and moved to California. The other friend broke down out in the ocean. He either lost his electricity or didn't have a good radio on board as he couldn't call anyone for help. We had a lot smaller plywood skiffs mostly in those days that weren't suited for bad seas which is why we mostly fished inside then. Anyway, Jack floated in huge seas for two days before he was pushed up onto Montague Island about 40 miles from where he started. His boat was smashed on the rocks, but he survived a couple more days before he was spotted by a plane and rescued.  He told me he made his peace and was preparing himself to die, but miraculously he is still with us.  Not much bothers him now, as he saw first hand how precious and tenuous life is.

Another friend and I were the last two boats fishing inside Grass Island one period about 15 years ago. It was rough on the bar and  but pretty uneventful inside the bar that day. It was just before high water with only a couple hours left in the opener, I ran over to him and told him I was heading to town as I had a unit boat then and not a jet boat and I wanted to run the inside with plenty of water. He said he was going to make a high water set and then head in himself. After I left, another friend came through Grass Island from Kokenhenic and stopped when the first friend waved him down and asked for a cigarette. Bill said Tim had his net in the eddy set and it was high tide slack when he left for town himself. Nobody knows for sure what happened next. Tim either fell asleep and ebbed out the bar when the tide changed, or he let it ebb too far when the tide changed, maybe because he was getting hits??? But a few hours later someone running to town out on the ocean and noticed a net wrapped around the Grass Island can which is a mile or so outside the bar. and Tim's boat was still hooked up to it but floating upside down. Evidently he flipped going over the bar. He was found tangled in his net.

Another young man fell asleep (possibly due to carbon monoxide) while running across the Sound and ran into an island and broke his neck and died.

There are many more, but you get the picture. Now days, with our much larger boats it's not as common as it was when I started out, but we still lose people. The last I remember was two years ago.

[jmscon]

Great write up Sitka!
Hey, do you know Lou Barclay? I fished with him in Bristol Bay a couple years back, heck of a nice guy!

Yes I know Lou. Don't see him around any more.

We fished on the same boat in 2015, he was talking about getting his AB card and working with his cousin towing down here. 

[Camo]

Sitka, great post, I was riveted throughout. My grandfather trolled down here when I was a kid and of no use on the boat, but I remember his pickled salmon and have never been able to replicate it.

[Night goat]

Anybody need a deckhand or engineer?

I love my job here, but, I'm kinda getting bored.

12+ years in marine trades, full time marine diesel mechanic, worked as a boat builder too, seined, gillnetted, opies, dungies, tendered, been all over AK, experienced with all sorts of boats and equipment, drug free, good attitude.

That gillnettin in Cordova looks fun, been there a few times, always enjoyed watching the guys race those boats, bright colored boats, hotrodded big block 500s with jet drives..... Jet is the only way to go, we had to tow a guy back to Cordova from AFK after he blew his out drive. Cordova is easily one of my favorite Alaskan towns

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I'll pass the word around Night Goat. A good engineer/mechanic is worth his weight in gold.

In the mean time, here's a FaceBook page that fishermen in Cordova use for everything from looking for crewmen to selling parts or gear. Anything commercial fishing related. You might place an ad with your background and see if anyone's interested. If you do get some hits, pm me and I'll let you know what I know about the boat and owner. As you know, there's good ones and not so good ones.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=cordova%20fishermen%20classifieds

[Fl0und3rz]

Be safe my friend.

  Stay safe, guys.

I just saw news of a missing boat out of St. George, the Destination, and thought of this thread.

[jmscon]

The F/V Destination was the boat that went down. 6 crewmen are missing.
They tendered for the company we sold our fish to in Bristol Bay. I don't remember ever delivering to them but I remember hearing them on the radio all the time.
I can only hope that they find survivors! Sad sad day

[Duckslayer89]

I always salt fish up to bring home and pickle.  Here's a few shots of that and a couple more from the fishery.

Do you have a pickling recipe? I love picked salmon probably my favorite food I just don't know how to do it

[Sitka_Blacktail]

For basic pickled salmon I salt the fish at least two weeks in a five gallon plastic bucket. I cut fillets into two or three pieces and put in a layer of salt, and a layer of fish and keep repeating. I start with the fish skin side down, then the second layer is meat side down and so on so it's always meat to meat and skin to skin. When I want to make a batch of pickled fish, I take out what I think I need and first peel the skin off it. Then cut it in to cubes about 1 inch square. Then it goes in a big bowl in the sink where I "freshen" it. I fill the bowl with water, then leave the tap on so that water still drizzles into the bowl at a slow rate. Every half hour I stir the bowl up and pour all the water out and start with fresh. I couldn't really tell you how long I soak it for. but after a few hours I taste a small bit to see how salty it is. I like to soak it until I can't taste the salt.

Then I put a layer of fish, a layer of onions and a couple slices of lemon and some pickling spice. I may add a little sliced garlic too, then repeat until the jar is almost full.  Then I fill the jar with distilled vinegar. If you like it sweeter, you can add some sugar or brown sugar to taste.

When I want to get fancy, I use the same method, but add sliced limes and oranges to the layers, then make a mixture that is 1/5 - 1/4 C*censored*nay wine and the rest distilled vinegar for the brine and add sugar for sweetening. Makes a nice fruity pickled fish.  It takes about three days in the fridge for it to cure up, at a minimum, but I find it best after 10-14 days. Keep what you aren't eating refrigerated. Otherwise the meat will get mushy and fall apart.

My other fancy version is to use Burgundy wine instead of C*censored*nay and brown sugar instead of white. I usually only ad lemons to this version and not the limes and oranges.

Here's a few pix of the process.

I use old pickle jars or artichoke jars and put a few layers of cellophane under the lid for a seal as I like to turn the jar upside down in the fridge at least once a day for the first few days.

Hope this gives you some ideas. Some people like to add other veggies like cauliflower or broccoli or peppers, hot or not.

[Duckslayer89]

For basic pickled salmon I salt the fish at least two weeks in a five gallon plastic bucket. I cut fillets into two or three pieces and put in a layer of salt, and a layer of fish and keep repeating. I start with the fish skin side down, then the second layer is meat side down and so on so it's always meat to meat and skin to skin. When I want to make a batch of pickled fish, I take out what I think I need and first peel the skin off it. Then cut it in to cubes about 1 inch square. Then it goes in a big bowl in the sink where I "freshen" it. I fill the bowl with water, then leave the tap on so that water still drizzles into the bowl at a slow rate. Every half hour I stir the bowl up and pour all the water out and start with fresh. I couldn't really tell you how long I soak it for. but after a few hours I taste a small bit to see how salty it is. I like to soak it until I can't taste the salt.

Then I put a layer of fish, a layer of onions and a couple slices of lemon and some pickling spice. I may add a little sliced garlic too, then repeat until the jar is almost full.  Then I fill the jar with distilled vinegar. If you like it sweeter, you can add some sugar or brown sugar to taste.

When I want to get fancy, I use the same method, but add sliced limes and oranges to the layers, then make a mixture that is 1/5 - 1/4 C*censored*nay wine and the rest distilled vinegar for the brine and add sugar for sweetening. Makes a nice fruity pickled fish.  It takes about three days in the fridge for it to cure up, at a minimum, but I find it best after 10-14 days. Keep what you aren't eating refrigerated. Otherwise the meat will get mushy and fall apart.

My other fancy version is to use Burgundy wine instead of C*censored*nay and brown sugar instead of white. I usually only ad lemons to this version and not the limes and oranges.

Here's a few pix of the process.

I use old pickle jars or artichoke jars and put a few layers of cellophane under the lid for a seal as I like to turn the jar upside down in the fridge at least once a day for the first few days.

Hope this gives you some ideas. Some people like to add other veggies like cauliflower or broccoli or peppers, hot or not.

Man that looks good! So when you go to salt he fish how heavy do you need to salt it and do you keep the fish refrigerated while salting or does the salt protect it?