The Eyes Have It

It’s been a busy week, and I only have a short time this morning to put this out, so forgive the quality if it’s too bad.  If anyone is still reading this after the last two “Grossness” posts, you get a gold star for perseverance.  The grind is starting to get old, but the end is in view.  This morning feels like a bit of fall weather already – wind and rain have a colder edge to them, and we are getting wind from the East, which I haven’t seen much here. 

It’s Sunday morning, and we are anchored in our little edge of Mite Cove.  We got in here about 10 last night after unloading at the Shoreline scow, and were the only ones in the anchorage.  We try to take Sunday mornings off when we can – it was a wise plan that included that day of rest in the overall picture.  Last Sunday was an exception – it was the first day of the second king opening after a forced closure on all fishing, and was very limited in time.  We fished 2 days, then all the fleet in our area pulled back into harbor for 2 days due to weather.  We got 17 very nice kings in those two days, but also got a bit beat up by weather.  While in harbor on Tuesday we got the word that the retention of king salmon would close on Wednesday night, so that was the extent of our king season.  Back to cohoes, which are growing and so far still abundant.

The forecast on Monday was for 8-10 foot seas with a west wind(bad for us), building to 12 on Tuesday.  We were down off Surge Bay with a number of other boats when things began to turn on us.  I caught a good king, told Lovie we would make one more circle before going toward the relative calmness of the Sound, and wham! it was ugly.  The sixes became eights which became twelves, with a wind chop that was wicked.  I pointed Lovie quartering into them as best we could, and went back to pull gear.  I landed two more nice fish, but was getting thrown all over the pit due to waves.  Once I got gear in, we turned and clawed our way up the coast and around the bend into Lisianski Strait, where we unloaded and spent the night.  Steve came in his little boat and tied off to us on our anchor, as he didn’t trust his to hold in the gusty 35 knot wind that was in the cove.  We heard some of the guys that stayed over in Surge Bay for the night, and it wasn’t very comfortable for them!  By morning pretty much everyone had found some place to hole up, and most gravitated into Elfin Cove for the duration. 

During one session at the Cove, it was brought to my attention that safety glasses were a real good idea, especially as the fish get bigger.  Think about it – you have a 15 pound fish, full of fight, on the end of a 6 foot leader, with a hook attached, and are pulling him thru the water.  If something gives way, you are looking right down the trajectory of a speeding object, and don’t have time to blink.    I got a couple of thumps in the face from hooks pulling out, and got some glasses.  As always, they get splattered up, and I don’t always remember to put them back on.  A king was on a long leader, snapped the monofilament(but it didn’t break!) and the whip of the loop popped me across the eye before I could even think.  Luckily it only caught me across the eyelid, but you can see the result.  I pay a lot more attention to my glasses now!

Fog, fog, more fog.  Last Sunday we came in to anchor at Hoktaheen and to sell our fish to the tender, St. Jude, that we use a lot.  We could not see more than about 50 feet, and so we anchored next to the Jude. 

It was one of those times you have to trust your instruments implicitly.  The entrance to Hoktaheen is very tricky, the seas were large, and we couldn’t see a thing.  The illusion of moving waves visually seemed like we were turning to port, but the instruments all said we were going straight.  So, I followed the course on the gps, watched the radar, and was past the rocks before I could even see them.  Visual navigation would have had me in the middle of them. 

After we were back to coho fishing this week, I went to run my gear, and the line for the starboard heavy parted, sending 14 spreads (with some fish), the line, and my lead all to the bottom.  We went back into Elfin as it was the end of the day, and examined the remaining wire.  Must be some defect, as the stainless was all rusting in spots, and had numerous small breaks in the cable fibers.  We removed all the wire we had been using, and re-tooled with the wire remaining on the gurdy spools.  I bought some more flashers and snaps, and we went out again the next day.  Almost 24 hours after the first loss, the exact same thing happened – no strain, just bink! $400 gone, straight down, no recovery.  I called the supplier, and they said they had some problems earlier with a batch of wire, and would make good on replacement – a relief, but still a pain!  I bought 2 spools of new wire, $550, and a bunch more snaps, flashers, hoochies, spoons, and another lead, another $500.  As bad as farming or ranching, I would venture to guess!  So, back we went again. 

Saturday was absolutely beautiful, seas only about 3 feet and light wind, with actually some clear weather and sunshine.  Lovie was ecstatic, as she really misses the sunshine a lot!  Granted, it IS only 48 degrees in the sun, but the rays still feel good!  Back to rain this morning.  We took a shot of Mt. Fairweather, which we’ve only seen a few times in a month, and the glacier next to it. 

Better go, pancakes this morning! Then, back to the grind. 

Fish on!