The little skiff that could and the brain dead bum who owns it.

Many years ago (1988), when I bought the Alchemist, I also bought a, new to me, power skiff. The size of the new skiff was about right for a 49 ft Delta, 16 ft long x 8 ft wide. The horsepower, alas, was woefully lacking. I limped along with the lack of towing power for a long time, well, until the engine blew up because of water in the fuel. It turns out I bought water for fuel one night at the tender. The young tender Captain turned the wrong valve. It seems he was more interested in boinking his girlfriend than he was in taking care of his fishing boats. Anyway, I got a new engine out of the deal, with a lot more horsepower. I then learned I needed to change the reduction gearing and the size of the propeller so that I could utilize the new horsepower. To do that I had to take the new engine out, cut the propeller shaft housing out, realign the shaft to allow for the bigger prop, glass a new shaft housing in, and rebuild the undercarriage to provide clearance for the bigger prop. When I finished all the upgrades, I was appalled at the amount of money I used to "fix" the skiff after the engine upgrade.
Wow! I couldn't believe how much towing power I now had. It was impressive to say the least. Screw how much money I had to spend, this was awesome! But I now had to be careful. If I towed too hard the stern sat down so far it didn't leave a lot of free-board. Rats, it's always something. Well, that's not as safe as I would have it, so this winter I raised the bulwarks of the skiff about a foot. Just like before, I now have a whole slew of modifications, expensive ones I might add, needed to bring the skiff up to speed with the new bulwarks. Sometimes I wish I could just leave things alone!

Bottom Trawling is a "dirty" fishery.

This actually happened last summer in Kodiak. A local dragger picked up about 40,000 lbs. of Tanner Crab in one tow off of Kodiak Island while he was dragging for "Flats". As much as the dragging industry would have us believe this is an isolated incident, it is not. Unfortunately it happens far too often. As much as I hate to say it, I think it is way past time we instituted full time observer coverage on all draggers operating in Alaska's waters. It is my understanding British Columbia has 100% observer coverage and this type of wanton waste very rarely occurs.

Boats!

Now that I'm home and life has done it's annual end of season realignment, it's time to start looking at next years needs. Even though the boat and equipment are winterized and stored, the maintenance program never stops. When tendering in the Bay, I couldn't get enough buoy coverage on the side of the boat. So I had a set of "pipe rails" welded to the aluminum "cap rails" on both sides of the boat. Now I can tie as many buoys as I want, wherever I want, to protect the side of the boat from nicks and dings. You can "never" have enough buoys when you're tendering. The pipe rails should work great!

I think I'm home?

Wow, it's October already. It's time to settle in for the winter season. The 2009 Cod, Salmon tendering, and Salmon fishing season is in the books. Done! It was a good season. There were no injuries, there was a fair amount of fish to catch, the equipment performed well and I brought home a nice batch of Coho for us to peddle. There weren't a lot of Coho in Kodiak this year, but the ones that did show up were beautiful.

Time moves FAST!

June , July, and August just flew by. Salmon is all over except for Cohos. We are just finishing up the "09" salmon season. For some strange reason I am able to get a wireless signal on my navigation computer and an update is long overdue. Tendering in Bristol Bay this year was all done in the Egegik River and was over before we got used to the new company (more later). Salmon was pretty good to us this year. We were blessed with a good run and terrific tender service (more later). We have quite a few stories to tell and pictures to show. I should be home in a few weeks and that is when I will sit down at my computer and update this blog properly. See you in a few.

What happened to the time?

I can't believe it has been a whole month since I arrived in Kodiak. The boat wintered real well this year. Usually there are a dozen little problems associated with a boat sitting idle during the winter months, but knock on wood, there was only one this year. The pressure sensor on the fresh water pump developed a hairline crack and had to be replaced. Other than that, all systems were operational from the get go. Putting a new cargo winch on the main boom is going to be easy, right? Famous last words. Boats have a way of mistreating you which is way out of the realm of normality. Projects which are easy and should be done in a few hours take days and projects which are much more complicated and should take days are done in a matter of hours. It's just the way of a fisherman's world. There is always a wicked wrinkle in the mix.

Jigging for Cod is next, once I'm sure all systems are good to go!

Do I have to go now?

48 hrs. and counting down to "D" day. Which means it is time to get my sorry butt in gear, get on a plane, and make my "departure" for the far North once again. I hate "D" day. It means no more getting up in the morning with my wife and the kids... Having coffee and reading the paper... A ten minute (hot) shower every morning! Clean underwear and socks. The list goes on, but I think the socks and underwear bit was too much information. Yes, I know I'm being cranky, but now that it's almost time to go to work... I don't wanna go, so there. I can totally relate to how my kids feel on a school day morning. It's hard to crawl out of a nice warm bed, put on your game face and get after it.

I do love catching fish though, so maybe it will be OK after I get over the enormous culture shock of shifting from one life style to another. I will admit, that after 20 years with the girl, there's no place like home! Too bad she gets seasick or I'd take her with me. The first month is the worst. Nothing but boat work, and more boat work, and then even more boat work. It's at about this point where I start to remember why I hate boats (I come out of the engine room feeling like a human Q-Tip). But, then I get to go fishing and that's the payoff. That's what keeps me going.

It was last year in the middle of September on a beautiful, sunny, fall morning. We were towing on the seine, on the point of land, just outside of Ruth Bay. Tyler was sitting in the chair on the other side of the bridge from me. He was looking around at the mountains, trees and water when he turned to me and said, "dude I just love looking out of your office windows". That pretty much sums it all up.

The next post will be from the boat which is currently in the Kodiak Boat Harbor, Slip C8.