April 14 and it's over!

I have been working on the boat and not paying much attention to Cod, but the 4/14 closure date got my attention. I should make a final trip.  Rumors are zipping around again about Cod going to an IFQ like program. I really doubt it, but stranger things have happened.  My friend Thor Olsen is done fishing his Halibut and two of his crew are interested in going for a short trip.  Game On!  Since I can't really work the deck, I'll cut bait and be the cook while  Brian and Calvin do the heavy lifting.  Groceries, bait, ice and away we go down the East Side to Ugak Bay. The weather looks as though it will cooperate, so if there are a few fish around, we should do OK.

When it's Hot and you're Not!

The Cod fishing is excellent and it looks like the jig quota will be caught before the end of April. I'm hearing some of the best boats are going to be in the 400,000 lb of fish caught range.  Wow! They deserve it.  They started January 1st and fished every day they possibly could.  By  the time I got to Kodiak and set up, almost half of the quota had been caught.  That's just the way it is.  I'm really not interested in starting that early.  Too much time away from home as it is.

Here we go

I have a pretty good recollection of the first trip.  It sucked!  The weather was bad and made it miserable for me.  My back is not up to the task yet and it may never be.  The bending over to pick up fish is too much strain on the fused vertebra.  The fishing is OK, but I need a crew to handle the deck for me.  I'm not happy about it, but that's the way it's going to be from now on.  So, back to town, deliver the catch and work on the boat as much as I can.  Poop!

Where to go, where to go?

Picking the destination for the first trip of the year is almost always a painful process. You don't want to go to a spot which may have been picked over already or has a bunch of boats working the area.  Or, you may go to a spot where the fishing is marginal.  Too many questions and not enough data.  It takes a trip or two to get a feel for what's happening. For my first trip, I've decided to go west through Whale Pass to the Shelikof Straits side of the Island.  It is a couple of hours more travel time than going down the East side, but I haven't been this way in a while and I'm curious.