Rub A Dub Dub

Ready for another rousing high-seas adventure?  Everyone knows the story of Rub a Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tub, right?  One fine evening in Elfin Cove, one of the residents came by, recruiting able bodies to assist in lifting a skiff on to a floating work dock for winter storage.  Being a fellow of advanced years, he couldn’t quite manage the task by himself, so he set out to find enough power to do the job.  A couple of 25 year olds would have done nicely, but all he could scrape up was a collection of gents over 30 to do the job.  The Marines and their few good men…  this was a real collection.  Some of us piled into the skiff, which was tied to a large floating pallet he called a barge – a sinking collection of boards, styrofoam, and lines, powered by a small outboard.  Then Harv, the man in charge, and Kurt manned the barge, and off we went across the cove.  Lovie happened to snap this shot of the crew, just before the outboard died. 

As we were in the middle of the cove,  barbs of all sorts being flung at us from interested bystanders on their boats, we began to look (in vain) for oars.  Kurt luckily was able to get the thing going again, but not before we all volubly  wondered how far the onlookers would let us go before assisting, whether we could make it to Japan if the tides were right, how many fish we could catch with the gear at hand, who would get eaten first if we had to resort to desperate measures, and so forth.  A few minutes later, the float was reached, the boat lifted aboard, and all returned happily to their vessels.  Just a little snapshot of life on the fringes…!

We are back in for what seems to be a weekly happening – storms.  Predictions have 14 foot seas on the outside this evening and tomorrow, so much of the fleet is holed up.  We had a really good day last week, over 130 fish, then back to 40-50.  The size is noticeably larger, so overall poundage is staying up, as is the price.  We are going to try to  tough it out as long as fishing holds up, as we can make or break the season’s income in the next stretch of days.  We've decided to reassess things on the 15th, and if weather is going worse and the fish count down, we’ll head for Sitka a little early.  If the fishing is good, we’ll try to last for the final push – season may be extended through the end of the month is the rumor – I sort of hope that it isn’t, as home is starting to sound pretty good right now.  We’ll see. 

Fall is only a few days away technically, but the colors and temperatures are hinting at winter already.  There have been some beautiful days, and the fog has pretty much become a thing of the summer.  Some boats are leaving already, and others are just showing up for the last push,  and the Sound has really been crowded.  Last night was the big annual Christmas party over at the Shoreline Scow – it’s fame preceded the event, so we stayed as far away as possible.  Just heard that 3 guys are in critical condition, one may have died already – returning home to Pelican in the middle of the night in a skiff, they ran into a rock at high speed.  No more details yet, but it’s why I stay away from alcoholic parties involving boats and wild men.

Steve’s dad left on the float plane last week, and Scott from California became his new deckhand. 

The saga continues – he caught 250 fish in his little boat, almost swamped it – they pitched fish into the bunks up forward to keep it level in the building seas, then eased into Mite Cove to sell.  They anchored overnight, and as they left the next morning, the transmission seized up, again, just off Column Point.  Myrth towed them back to Elfin, yet another towing job for the little tub.  The exhaust leak that nearly did them in 2 days before recurred, and they found it in the process of pulling the tranny.  Looks like they almost have the engine pulled out over on their side of the dock, and will throw in the one off the Point Amelia.  Steve is glad for the stormy weather, it makes him feel better about taking time off from catching fish! 

One computer is  on the fritz, so hope I can continue to post things. 

Fish on!