The summer fishing season in Southeast Alaska proved to be too busy for me to do much blogging.  That's a good thing.  Now I am drowning in a new teaching job, even though I am not a new teacher.  It was a good move, but I now have no spare time.  That'll improve down the road....

More improvements

Shawn added some mounts for the stabilizers and for the weights as well. The boat is really going to be in good shape by the time I fly in!

Home Sweet Home

Itsuro in her summer spot in Craig.

June 18 Launch

Itsuro's launch in Craig for the 2011 season

The reliable Bukh engine

Photos from Shawn

Shawn in front of his tent on the deck of the AMH Ferry Columbia.

Bottom paint and primer coat for Itsuro. June 2011.

Itsuro 2011 will soon be underway

Due to my mother being very sick during Spring 2011, our annual northerly trek to Alaska for the commercial salmon season was in question. But the news is now good. Mom has recovered nicely, and Shawn is already in Craig, having finished the bottom paint job on Itsuro. I am headed up on June 27.

Life is good!

An eventful week

It's been an eventful week! On our way to Hydaburg, just as we cleared Tlevak Narrows, we got the announcement of the birth of our grand-niece, Lyla. She was born just about a half hour earlier, as we were transiting from Ulloa Channel through Tlevak Narrows on July 30. We are thrilled!



The next day, we partcipated in a totem raising in Hydaburg. Shawn help haul a totem across town for about a mile. It's an arduous journey. Part way through, little kids get to ride on top of the totem, adding to the total weight. These are the same totems we watched carvers work on a couple of weeks before. I took several videos of the whole process, which I'll upload with a faster connection in the Lower 48. The totem raisings were followed by a fabulous dinner and a night filled with traditional dances from Massett, Ketchikan, and Hydaburg. The whole day and evening was magical! Every time we visit Hydaburg, we meet wonderful people and we have a great time. Howaa!
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The starting point, in the carving shed.




Shawn, before he realizes how heavy this is gonna get.





The pole with kids on top.




Shawn pets a puppy on a quick rest stop along the way. People carry A-frame sawhorses along the march, so that the haulers can rest the pole (and themselves) at certain intervals.




Finally there!




Turning the pole over.




Raising the pole with ropes.




The end result.




Jessie Natkong (from Jeff and Cheryl's 2006 wedding in Pelican), and her dad. Really cool to run into then in Hydaburg!



Colorguard ceremony with Hydaburg war veterans, including Jessie and Rhodie's dad.




One of many dances.

Sustainable seafood

Wild, line-caught coho salmon; nothing artificial. These are the kind to choose at your favorite seafood restaurant or supermarket.

I couldn't get the video of the offload to upload, so here is a collection of stills. Good thing we're resting today (don't leave port on Friday). Muscles are a bit sore.

Suiting up:



Shawn faces the drippy ladder with his camera:


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Holding a fish for the camera:





Guiding the bin up so it doesn't bang around.











The fish get sorted in the cold storage plant:




View of the boat from above:


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Back from the far side of the Moon

Fishing east of Dall Island was wonderful. Not very many boats go to that part of Southeast Alaska. Tlevak Narrows can be tricky, but with proper tde consideration, it's very do-able. We had wonderful weather and anchorage at Dunbar Inlet all to ourselves.











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On the grid

The tides in Southeast Alaska vary enough for boats to pull up to what's called a tidal grid. When the tide recedes, work can be done on the underside of a boat, such as bottom paint, replacing zincs, etc. The trick is getting the work done before the tide comes back in!

So today we showed up at 5:00 am to help some friends work on the bottom of their 80 foot wood boat, the Cape Mark. The experience made me grateful for the smallness of our own boat. It can be tricky to work on a grid!





-Cape Mark on the grid, as the tide recedes.






A lot of barnacles had to be scraped off.








Shawn is power-washing the bottom.








Ray Jay is using a blow torch to dry the bottom so it can be painted.







Tonie getting some paint, and almost in over her head.







Painting while trying to keep my balance on the slippery grid was not easy.















I feel so small!


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Location:Craig

Hydaburg

We spent the afternoon in one of my favorite places: Hydaburg. We went to the carving shed and we were lucky to Dave there. They showed us their work. These poles will be raised at the end of this month. I also really like the music they had playing in the background as they were working. We also saw a bear on our way home. What a good day for us!



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King Season closure

The commercial king season closure has been announced for midnight tonight. After this point, we can focus our gear on cohos.
Today was a good day to offload here in Craig.

For rookies, we're happy. Our fuel costs are less than 10% (actually 7%) of our gross.

And we had a good time doing it.

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Offload in Craig

First paychecks for fish:




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July 6 salmon catch

7 silvers; one king. Sea lion issues. It was like a Monterey Bay salmon day. Fun, if not overly profitable!




Bonus halibut dinner!


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Sunny day on Southeast

On our second trip we caught a few coho and one king, which we're headed to offload in Craig. Today's weather was so nice, that we just lollygagged on the boat while anchored in Cape Ulitka. Fishing was slow, so we just stayed out of the fog and enjoyed the scenery instead. The whales kept us company,







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Day of Kings

Our second day of fishing was even better than the first. We caught enough kings and a few more coho to finish filling our fish holds. Not having enough hold space is a good rookie problem to have. The weather on the Gulf of Alaska was calm!


We offloaded our fish at Hole-in-the-Wall to a tender. The crew gave us some helpful tips about cleaning our catch.

The offload process is fascinating. Boats pull up to the tender on a first come, first served basis. It got a little hectic for us, because we lost our transmission just as we were trying to position ourselves to the tender. Fortunately we had our kicker motor to get us in there, and later to anchor. It was very rewarding to get our first paycheck for our catch!



The problem with the transmission was due to two bolts that attach the transmission to the shaft had sheared off. Fortunately Shawn was able to put it back together with some temporary bolts to get us back to town. That's why we're back in town earlier than expected. We've made the trip to the hardware store and now have plenty of replacement bolts. We had a similar problem with the bolts shearing two years ago. We think it may be due to the stress we put on them when we change gears. We know to keep an eye on it now. It cost us another day of fishing, but better safe than sorry. It's good it didn't happen while we were off Cape Addington!


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