Putting all the puzzle pieces together

Hi Y'all,

Almost stepped on that damn porcupine again!

Well fishing hasn't started yet. Hearing "dock talk" from various people that salmon have begun to appear early throughout Southeast Alaska. I'm starting to feel the excitement in the air.

Another insanely beautiful day here. I picked up the captain yesterday from the airport and our other crew mate big Henry (he looks kind of like shrek) arrived today from Thailand. He lives there half the time and spends the other half commuting between Alaska and the squid fishing grounds of California. Talk about living in a constant culture shock.

We will spend the next week or so working on fixing the nets. No simplicity in repairing nets. Various pieces need to come together in perfect harmony for things to work. If a piece of the net lays to tight or loose, it can rip and you can say goodbye to all your salmon swimming one by one out of the hole. A million things can go wrong with a net.
We fish with 3 different nets, all which have different lengths, density, and purpose. For example the middle net stretch's out roughly 300 hundred fathoms (1 fathom=6 feet) and at one point sinks 70 + fathoms below the surface.
Big hunkers, these nets.
In the rare moments of clarity in where I understand how all the pieces fit together, I actually enjoy the work. However, those moments happen about 5 percent of the time. Mostly, I run around like a chicken with a chopped off head.

I just ran across these videos. They represent the Sitka herring fishery that happens around March every year (I fished it 3 years ago). The season can last literally minutes sometimes. Last year a boat caught record 1500 tons in a matter of seconds. That equates to a million dollar profit, so you can see why people go ballistic when fishing opens up. Pretty exciting stuff.



When they actually call for the season to open, try and visualize the Spanish Armada leaving all at once from town. Hundreds of boats (all different sizes, dozens of spotter planes, helicopters, and people sprint to the fishing grounds. The air becomes thick with smoke. Water in the harbor swirls and thrashes around from all the roaring boat propellors. An intense static hangs in the atmosphere.
The whole thing is insanely exciting and crazy at the same time.

Fast forward this video to around a minute.