Take the weather and shove it.

Dismal weather so far this spring.  It has been one storm after another and spring actually feels like a very distant prospect.  I got the skiff picked off, sent out to the storage yard, and picked up the jigging equipment.  It only took me about 5 or 6 hours to mount everything and wire it up.  Next is a trip to Fish and Game to register for the Kodiak area misc fin-fish jig fishery.  Each district in Alaska has it's own specific area which it controls and manages.  The permit card is "statewide", but you are only allowed to register and fish in one district.  It's called "super exclusive area registration".  Well, I'm setup and all I need to do is get groceries, bait and ice.  No more excuses, it's time to go out.  Weather permitting , of course.

To kill a Codfish or not to kill a Codfish?

The boat survived the winter without incident.  Everything started right up and ran fine.  I have to make a decision about jigging this year.  I'm only 8 months out from back fusion and while I feel pretty good, I'm not sure the back is ready.  I have plenty of boat work to keep me busy, but catching fish is what I do and I don't think the season is going to last much longer.  The seine skiff is still sitting on the back deck, so that's my first job.  Getting it lifted off and sent out to the yard.

I got locked out!

Technology is a wonderful thing (I think) I did something and haven't' been able to get into my site since June.  Anyway, I'm in now and I'll update historically,starting in June if I can remember everything.

It all worked, somehow.

I finally made it to Homer.  The rest of the trip was beautiful and uneventful!  I saw lots of wildlife, some of it almost too close. I saw lots of Moose butts (in Canada) in the camera lens, but never got a good shot until just before Homer.  Every time I stopped to take a picture the Moose would turn and head into the bush. This one stayed still for the shot and so did I until I noticed his/her ear position.  Oh boy, time to move!

It's Just Too Much Fun!

The new engine arrived and the shop has installed it. Oh boy, this is not good.  This engine has a very bad knock on the right hand side down low.  It sounds like a bad bearing or a bad connecting rod.  The shop is sending me to the supply yard where the engine came from.  It's about 70 miles north of here.  Both shops are watching me to make sure I get there ok.  I'm going very slow and easy to make sure this engine gets me there.
 I made it to 100 Mile New & Used.  The owner listened to the engine for about 5 seconds and said, there was no way he was going to let me drive off with that engine in the Exploder.  It will cost me another day on top of the 2&1/2 days I have already lost, but I don't see an alternative.
 I can't tell you how impressed I am with both of these shops.  They have both been 100 % on top of this mess.  I's real nice to see people who exhibit such a high level of integrity with their business practices.
 I'm sitting in the Imperial Hotel in 100 Mile waiting for the call from the shop.  I went out side to walk around and get a little exercise, but it's awfully cold outside.
Here we are, it's noon and the engine is installed and sounds terrific!  Joe Schweitzer, who is the owner of !00 Mile New & Used, apologized for the inconvenience.  I assured him I was most satisfied with his shop and his people.  I know he must have had a lot of ongoing work, but he made sure my engine got swapped out in under 24 hours, so I could get back on the road and not have to wait through the weekend.  Very impressive and heart warming.  Thanks to Joe and his staff for a super job!
Back on the road to Homer!

You gotta be kidding me!

I'm on the ALCAN, but I'm not moving an inch.  Of all the bummers, when traveling, breaking down is right up there at the top of the list.  I didn't even get 250 miles into British Columbia and the Ford's engine spun a rod bearing.  I wish I could say it was just a bad car, but I picked it out after weeks of searching. I'm a victim of my own thoroughness.  I picked a car that had lived on Vashon Island it's whole life.  Evidently a car which only does short trips to the store and whatnot can have a problem when put under a pretty good load like a long haul to Alaska.  It seems they build up a lot of junk in the oil ways and internal parts of the engine from being a short distance personal vehicle.  After years of easy driving and maybe stretching it's oil changes a bit, I buy the car, have it checked out by my mechanic, load up the old Ford Explorer and head for Alaska.  The short of it is, all the junk breaks loose and drops into the oil screen and plugs it up.  The engine doesn't get quite enough lubrication and bingo, you get a spun rod bearing!  I checked all my options and concluded I will be better off putting a "slightly" used engine in it and continuing my trek north.  It will take two and a half days to get it done and be on my way again.  I really really didn't need this!!!        PS: This is the view from the hotel room

The Halibut industry in disarray.

The international commission which manages Halibut from the lower 48 to the Bering Sea passed down its verdict on the catch limits for 2011 this week.  They aren't very pretty.  2A is up 12% - 2B is up 2% - 2C is lowered a whopping 47% - 3A is lowered 28% - 3B is lowered 24% - 4A,B,C,D all up a little bit.  The reason for the big downward adjustments in several area catch limits, we are led to believe, is smaller fish.  The scientists would have us believe that fish which used to be 100 lbs. at 12 to 15 years of age are now only 35 lbs.  They cite competition for food by Arrow tooth flounder as the culprit.  I don't know about you, but I doubt very much a 2 lb. flounder can out muscle a 35 lb. Halibut or almost any sized Halibut for that matter.  Where did all the Arrow Tooth, that are competing with the Halibut for food, come from? Are there really that many flounder in area 2C? Of course not, but they do have a problem or two. So do areas 3A & 3B.   There are several 800 lb. gorillas in the room here which have to be dealt with, once and for all, or Halibut will continue to be unmanageable.  The charter fleet must be brought into Federal and State compliance and there has to be 100% observer coverage in the trawl fleet.
To start with, you have to designate what sport and charter really are.  If it's sport, it's catch and release.  If the fish are harvested it's a commercial fishing enterprise and should be managed according to the State and Federal laws, already in place, for these "fully utilized" species of fish.  Only when you can account for every lb. of fish removed from the ocean, can you have a good enough data-set to manage a resource from.