The weather outside is frightful

Brutal is a good word for what's happening, weather-wise, in Kodiak right now.
Sub-zero temps and high winds seem to be the norm.  Lost two boats the other day.  One grounding and a roll-over.  Had it not been for the Coast Guard, 11 people could have been lost.  The margin of error when trying to make a living on the water is pretty skinny to begin with.  But try it in the winter, in these kind of conditions and, well, there isn't one. Any small failure or anomaly can and will kill you, or try it's best to do so.  This is the grounded boat as she sits in Jute Bay on the Mainland.  It happens pretty fast. without much warning, and usually in the middle of the night.  When the doodoo hit the fan, these people had to do everything exactly right and so did the CG or it would have been a far different result.  Man, that is a scary picture!

The Skiff

Well, I'm still working on the instrument console wiring and installation of the console onto the engine cover.  I'm very lucky NW Diesel Power is letting me camp in their shop. Dry and warm suits me just fine.  Sooner or later I must finish up. One thing bears mentioning,  I was installing the downsounder in the console and I broke off the data pin plugin.  It stuck out too far and pressed against the back wall of the console.  Never saw that one coming. I think I'm to the point where I can bring the skiff home and finish up.  This is what we came up with for the instrument panel and positioning it in the skiff.

Halibut - 2011

After a lousy salmon experience, Halibut was a dream.  I do my IFQs in the fall, so I have Halibut to distribute after the season closes down in November.  I have been doing them on the Viking Star with my friend's (Thorvold Olsen) crew.  What can I say,  We went out for a day, had a good day fishing and came in with all the "But" I was allowed this year.  Perfect!

There was a Salmon season in there somewhere?

I would love to avoid it, but that's not how I do things.  Salmon season 2011 is one I would like to forget.  It stunk from the start of day two clear through the whole season.  Day one was good.  We were on the "Mainland" chasing early Reds.  We had a pretty good day and then the liquid line on the refrigeration system ruptured in the fish hold.  That allowed a significant amount of seawater to enter the the refrigerant lines, compressor, condenser, and chiller tubes.  Needless to say, none of those things like salt water.  It took 30 seconds to do over $30 thousand dollars worth of damage and shut us down for the entire month of June. Not my idea of a good time. After that incident, the salmon season turned into a series of personnel problems.  I got through them and managed to learn a little bit.  That is all I'm going to say about the 2011 Salmon season.  It's over, I survived, Amen!

Smaller Pink Salmon returns.

The fall and winter weather is a big factor in the survival of Pink Salmon smolt.  If it freezes too early and stays cold, there is poor survival.  The same, if there is too much rain or not enough water in the streams.  The scientists are touting a 30 year ocean cycle shift to colder winters and I think they are right.  While this bodes ill for the Pinks, the other species, especially the Sockeye, will do better. I hope.

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.