Headed Home

Well we're sitting in the Anchorage airport waiting for the gate agents to show up so we can check all of our luggage. Jackson and I both decided when we were packing that we brought entirely too much stuff. It's hard to believe we've been in Alaska for two months. We ended the season by fishing non-stop from 7am Monday morning until 10pm Wednesday night, and then fishing again at 7am Thursday. Needless to say, the last week of the season wasn't quite as relaxing as I expected/hoped, but the work made the week go fairly quickly, so that was nice. Our flight doesn't leave until 9:10pm local time, so we have a while. Jackson is napping on the seats beside me. We're both pretty excited to be home, even though we checked the weather and saw that the forecast for the next few days is mid-90's. Little warmer than mid-50's... This summer was an amazing experience, and I'm sure I speak for Jackson when I say that the Chase's could not have been better hosts/bosses. Thanks so much guys, and we look forward to seeing you again, whether it's next year or further in the future.

Halibut Fishing

Friday and Saturday we weren't commercial fishing, so we went halibut fishing and camping on the family's 28 foot bayliner which slept 7 of us comfortably. It was a blast, and we ended up keeping 13 halibut between 7 and 20 lbs. We also dropped a crab pot and caught 5 tanner crabs which we ate for dinner along with the halibut...sooo good.

We are fishing again today. The morning pick was surprisingly good for being so close to the end of the season, though not many were reds. We are catching more off-species (silver and pink salmon).

We have pulled some of our fishing buoys already and will be pulling some more in the next couple of days - another sign that the end of the season is near. We only anticipate one more regular day of fishing after today. David and I had our plane tickets rescheduled for this coming Saturday, a week earlier than we were planning on.

I added some photos to my picasa album.

30 Hour Opener

This will have to be a quick post, since we are heading out in 15 minutes to pull our nets by midnight, so excuse the lack of flow from sentence to sentence.

We haven't had a 24 hour opener (where fish and game allow us to leave our nets in the whole time) yet, which has been very surprising, especially since it is so late in the season already. We just found out that we will be fishing every tide for 30 hours starting at 1 pm tomorrow. It seems that this is a sign that our season is wrapping up, as the past few days we have seen a lot fewer fish, and fish and game is trying to give us a last minute chance to finish our season with some good time in the water.

Yesterday, David and I went to Seward, 2 and a half hours away, with Hannah and Matt to deliver fish to one of our buyers, go hiking, and go out to eat.

I updated my picasa album. See link in post below.

gotta run. the tide waits for nobody.

Fish and Logs

Hello all. Sorry for the lack of updates lately. We have gotten into the groove of things and are working hard and often. We do have breaks and even an occasional day off, but during the down times we try to rest as much as possible...sort of. Often even our breaks and days off are full of adventure and "work." Tuesday, for example, we went razor clamming in Ninilchik in the morning and I went dip-netting at the mouth of the Kasilof River with Aaron and Anna in the evening. I got to drive the boat since Aaron was the only one of us who was an Alaskan resident and therefore the only one who is allowed to hold the net. We caught around 15 reds (sockeye) so it was a successful trip. We saw several seals. One had a fish in it's mouth, another we got so close to we could see the whites of his eyes.

The fish came in pretty strong this past Monday, when we got more fish in the morning pick than we had on any other full day of fishing this season...almost 3,000 lbs in the first pick alone. Yesterday we didn't catch a lot of fish, and the ones we caught were mostly smashed by debris. A storm had occurred somewhere down the inlet, and that, in conjunction with a twenty something foot tide (vertical feet between high and low) made for a difficult pick and pull yesterday. ("pick" referring to picking fish, and in this case trees, logs, branches, and stumps, out of the nets, and "pull" referring to pulling the nets out of the water and stacking them into tarps in the boat). David and I were in a boat with Aaron and we spent the whole time, about 2 hours, on picking and pulling one net. The only thing that allowed the other two boats to pick up our slack was that the raging current and debris had flagged (broken the net at one end and therefore caused it to wave like a flag in the current) several of our nets. It was not a pleasant evening. We went out this morning to set nets, but we could see so many logs still floating around that Mike decided not to set the nets. Even if we had set and had caught fish, the damage that the logs would have done to the nets (15 of them at $1,500 each) would not be worth it.

ps - i added some photos to my picasa photo album. the new ones are from the shooting competition we had on the 4th of July, dip netting, and one is of a 61 lb King Salmon (3 lbs smaller than the one i caught on a hook and line) next to the family's granddaughter, Elise.

Day Off

We had the day off today after four straight days of fishing. We fished from 7am to 7pm on Monday, 5am to 7pm on Tuesday, 5am to 8pm on Wednesday, and 7am to 7pm on Thursday. It was rough not only because we weren't getting a ton of sleep but also because there were way less fish than the authorities expected there to be, so we weren't catching a lot. We had a 36 hour closure from last night at 7pm until tomorrow morning at 7am, when we just heard we'll be fishing again. We expect the next two weeks or so to be pretty busy, with a few 24 hour fishing days probable, so I think Jackson and I will be heading back to the cabin soon for some preemptive sleep.

Salmon, Salmon, and More Salmon

On Monday fishing was open from 7am to 7pm, so we got up at 5am to put nets in the water. 5am came really early considering we got to bed around 2am the night before. The water was much smoother than it was on Sunday, which was nice. There was no fishing on Tuesday, which meant the crew had the day off. Jackson and I were up at 4:30 to meet a guide on the Kenai River. The guide trip was great, and Jackson caught a 64 lb, 47 inch King Salmon with a 33 inch girth. Unfortunately King from 46 to 55 inches in length must be released, so we couldn't keep it. There are, however, pictures on Jackson's Picasa site. Enjoy!

A Humbling Experience - Explained

Yeah, sorry guys. I know that was a little confusing. I got cut short and had to go and didn't get a chance to proofread or anything. The ocean was really rough - mainly that was the humbling experience, but also just fishing for the first day and not really knowing what to do or how things work. On top of all that, everything seemed to go wrong, and finally, after I volunteered to go out in the boat and find the missing net, we ran out of gas over a mile offshore and it was over an hour before somebody came to tow us back in. We finally all ate dinner at midnight, went to bed at 1:30, and had to be up and at the house by 5:30am this morning to fish again. Thank goodness, David and I more or less have the day off tomorrow, however we are getting up by 4:30 to go on a free guided King Salmon trip down the Kenai River with a guy that used to teach at the same school as Mike. Hopefully we will have some pictures of big fish up on the blog in the next couple of days.

A Humbling Experience

Today was our first day of real fishing. The Fish and Game opened us up for fishing this morning at 11am. We got out on the beach at 10 to set up the beach nets and get the boats in the water. There were three boats and we set twelve 210 feet long nets. As soon as we had finished setting them, we immediately went to the first nets that had been set and started picking. I was in Elliot's boat. The first net we picked only had 6 fish. The second, however, had probably around 20, and each one after had more. We stopped fishing around 2:00, came back to the house, and pitched fish into big totes full of ice water that were sitting on the scales to weigh the fish. We had 793 lbs of fish and altogether that was about 250 fish. All were sockeyes, aka red salmon, except one king salmon that weighed 11 lbs. We had a wonderful lunch of salmon salad sandwiches, grilled cheese, and tomato soup. It was incredible after the cold, wet, rainy morning on the water. k gotta run. we about to go back out at 6pm to do it all again. we have to have the nets out of the water by 11pm tonight and then we fish again tomorrow morning when they open us up at 7am.

nets, nets, and more nets

We've spent the last few days mending old nets and hanging new nets, and we'll be spending the next few days doing the exact same thing. Nothing really exciting to report. We processed (fancy word for gutted, beheaded, filleted, and froze) the fish we caught yesterday today, so that was a new experience, at least for me. Next Tuesday we are going on a guided fishing trip on the Kenai River to try and finally catch a King. Mike knows a guide up here and he hooked us up. We're really excited about it. That's about it.

P.S.
Happy Birthday Catherine!

Usta and Jude's request

I only have a few minutes before we hit the water and throw in our first nets for the season, but I will try to satisfy your request.

The Chase family (the one who owns the house, cabin, fishing sites and permits):

Mike - the dad.
Liz - the mom, and incredible cook.
Brian (with wife, Annika, and daughter, Elise) - the oldest son. We don't see them very often as they live in Homer.
Caleb - 2nd oldest son. haven't met him yet.
Hannah - only daughter in the family. Has boyfriend, Matt, who is with us until early July, and hopefully longer, as he is very strong and helps out quite a bit.
Aaron - youngest son. His girlfriend Anna who is staying at the house for the summer.
Grandma - Liz's mother. Just met her this morning.

Crew:

Me
David
Elliot - from Anchorage, AK. This is his 3rd season of fishing with the Chase family. Knows his stuff.
Preston - from Virginia. Goes to Virginia Tech.
Landon - Preston's friend. AKA Cripple or Gimp. Broke his arm the first day on the job.

The dinner photo:

starting with David on the far right and going to the left: David, Mike, Liz, Matt, Hannah, Anna, Aaron.

Day Off Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we have the day off, so I think Jackson and I are going to take another crack at catching a King. Yesterday we dropped some more sandbags and finished up almost all of the low-water work. Today Jackson and I built a brand new net, tying around 400+ knots each over the course of the day. Hopefully we'll have some pictures of a big King salmon to post after tomorrow.

A Happy Birthday...and possibly a new favorite food.

Today I turned 22. And it has been a fantastic birthday. Today was the first full day off we have had since we started work. Last night and into today we saw the first real rain (other than an occasional, brief sprinkle). The sound of the rain on the steel paneled roof of the cabin, along with the crashing of small waves on the beach lulled us to sleep on the early side last night. This morning we slept in until about 9:30 before we headed over to the house to gear up in our boots, bibs, and raincoats to go clamming near the Ninilchik. Three of the crew went into town for the day while the Chase family, David, and I went clamming for razor clams. We got pretty wet and dirty, but it was a lot of fun...and boy was it rewarding. Altogether we got probably around 80 or 90 clams, ranging in size from two to seven inches. (if you want to get a better idea of the process of digging razor clams, just search "razor clamming" on youtube). We fried them up for dinner and they were incredible. I've always thought of clams as a rubbery, chewy food, cut into tiny little thin strips, but these were big, juicy, tender things fried to perfection. We even had enough for David and I to pack a few into a freezer bag to hopefully bring home with us. Well, it's late and I have to go now to get a ride back to the cabin. Otherwise David and I will be walking back to the cabin tonight. so...until later!

-Jackson

ps - i updated my picasa album. see the link below (in an earlier post).

Now that we finally have Internet again I guess I should let everybody in our latest adventures. On Thursday, after about 20 combined hours of fishing, I finally hooked into an Alaskan King Salmon. I fought the fish for about 10 minutes, then handed the rod to Jackson since it was clear whoever had the rod was going to have to get wet and he was wearing more appropriate clothing. Jackson fought the fish for the next 50 minutes or so, and in that 50 minutes both of us were forced to cross the river, on foot, and Jackson was basically swimming and reeling simultaneously. Jackson finally landed the fish about a half-mile down the river from where I hooked it, and on the opposite side. We were unable to keep the fish not only because we were not licensed to keep King Salmon, but also because the fish was wild as opposed to hatched in a hatchery and because I snagged the fish on the back instead of hooking it in the mouth. Regardless, it was a pretty incredible experience.

 So that's the fish. We only got one picture because it's not legal to take the fish out of the water. That was the only really exciting thing that happened on our three day camping trip, and work started officially on Friday. We filled 120 sand bags on Friday, and on Saturday we got on the water for the first time, dropping sand bags and setting up lines. On Saturday night dinner was not provided, so the crew set off into the woods with a pair of .22 rifles to find some dinner. I spotted a rabbit, chased it, and when it stopped about 20 feet a way I took aim and dropped it with one shot. Dinner Saturday night was delicious.

On Sunday a lot of stuff went wrong, starting with a crew member breaking his arm while lowering a boat from a trailer. The trend continued when the transmission on one of the two beach trucks failed. The surf was pretty rough today, and it effectively prevented us from completing any water work today. The crew member is back from the hospital with a cast and is pretty optimistic about his chances of staying on. We should have another update sometime soon, no promises though.

P.S.
Jackson wanted me to post a link to his photo album. So here it is.

Something Big

Big update is coming soon, but not tonight. It'll be exciting though! Just so our faithful readers aren't left with nothing, I'll tell you we caught our first Alaskan salmon today!

The first day of work is over, and I really cannot believe that it is already after 10:30pm local time. Looking out the window right now at the Chase family's home, it looks like it should be maybe 5:00. We don't technically begin our work (per our signed contract) until Friday, but the rule is: you work, you eat free. If not, you're on your own. So today we opted to work, and spent most of the day working on the cabin that we will be sleeping in for the summer. It is mostly assembled already. We did some insulation work to fill in large cracks and holes, added some tin (or aluminum?) paneling to the roof and built the loft by laying out, leveling, screwing, and painting plywood and OSB. We also worked on installing the windows, but they were too big and need to be sized down and finished up tomorrow. Eventually (possibly not before our summer here is over) there will be a propane stove, kitchen area, wood stove, and couches on the lower level of the cabin.

The cabin is rustic, but very nice, and a little larger than I had expected. Even better than the cabin itself, is the location. It is set right at the edge of a bluff, maybe 30 or 40 feet, that drops down to a sandy, gravel beach. It looks out over Cooke Inlet, and beyond that is a long range of huge snow-capped mountains. It looks fake, it is so beautiful and different from any other view I have witnessed in person. There are bald eagles everywhere - I saw a brown juvenile today flying so close to me at eye level as I was looking out over the bluff, I could have hit it with a rock.

We were working hard today. Didn't break for lunch until 3:30 and didn't have time for picture taking. I snapped some pictures yesterday during the drive from the airport in Anchorage to Kasilof. I will post those and try to get some of the cabin in the next couple of days.

The food has been awesome. Liz (the mother of the Chase family) is a great cook. We had grilled cheese (made w/ home made bread), tomato soup, and crackers with salmon dip. For dinner we had salad, rice, and fresh halibut that was brought up today from Homer where the oldest son, Brian, his wife Anika, and his one and a half year old daughter, Elise are from.

Tomorrow we are hopefully finishing up the cabin by early afternoon, and then heading to town with Liz to buy our fishing licenses, crew licenses, fishing bibs, groceries, etc. Then we will be on our own for a few days. I'm encouraged by what I've heard about the sport fishing in the area. The Kasilof (Kuh-SEE-Lof) River is supposed to be great for salmon fishing and is only a two mile hike up the beach from the cabin. There have also been rumors that in the next couple of weeks we may be going to visit the town of Homer, about an hour and a half south of here, to take their big boat out off the coast to catch some halibut!

We Made It!

It's 1:15am local time, which means it's 5:15am back home and Jackson and I have been awake for about 20 hours. The flights were uneventful and Liz was waiting for us at the airport. Jackson started snapping pictures during our initial descent into Anchorage and didn't stop until we'd settled down on the couch in Liz's home in Kasilof. I can still see yellow sky out the living room window, which makes me think we'll have to get used to sleeping with the light on this summer. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to show you a picture of our sleeping quarters for the summer, we here they have a beautiful view. Breakfast is at 9 so I should get some sleep.

T-minus 13 hours

This is Catherine wishing David and Jackson a great summer in Alaska! Don't forget to blog for everyone you're leaving at home!