We're Off!

Tales of the True North… sounds pretty much like a novel of some sort, doesn’t it?!  The reality is, it seems much that way in real life.  Here’s the story to date –

After a month of working from stem to stern on the boat, learning the systems, finding the places that needed repairing, and pouring money into the hole that a boat makes in the water, we finally have gone out for 2 days.  Keith, my fishing tutor, arrived last Thursday morning at 2 AM on the ferry from Petersburg, and we began the process of getting geared up for fishing.  We reviewed all the rigging and gear together, and went to the store to contribute yet more of the dwindling funds to the local economy.  One small shopping basket (the hand-held kind!) was over 1200 bucks, and that just got us enough stuff to make the basic sets.  This is for a bunch of odd-colored, shiny pieces of metal, gooey, bizarre-colored glow in the dark blobs of plastic with eyes, assorted hooks, lines, crimps, snaps, and a package of herring  -- the herring were the only thing that made any sense at all to me, but then, I’m not a salmon…

I was quite nervous about the maiden run, since there are so many things that can go wrong on an older boat, and I am somewhat of a Nervous Nellie.  I woke up at 4 am on Friday, worrying.  By the time we got everything lined out and ready, it was nearly 1pm, and we fired the 353 Detroit Diesel up and pulled away from the dock.  The fourth opening of the herring roe fishery opened at one just to the south of the harbor, so we went up the channel to the north to stay clear.  It was quite a zoo listening to the seiners on their final chance to get rich on herring – tempers were up, with lots of threats back and forth as they set their nets alongside each other, each jockeying for the biggest amount of fish.  Lawsuits and all sorts of legal actions will come from this one, with a couple of boats colliding, charges of deliberate ramming, and all sorts of lesser evils occurring. 

We got clear of the harbors with our trolling poles up, and the boat began to roll in the swell.  We have 35 foot aluminum poles, along with a 25 foot aluminum mast sticking straight up, so the boat rolls a bit with them straight up.  Once we lowered them to their 45 degree position, the roll slowed a bit.  When we put the stabilizers in the water, it was solid as a rock.  Stabilizers are 2 foot wide pieces of wood with a lead weight, that hang from a chain located about midway out the pole.  They ride 20 feet or so down into the water, and provide a resistance to the rolling motion of the boat.  Willie, the Labrador, was a bit disconcerted by the motion of the boat.  He stayed out on deck, looking rather forlorn for most of the trip!  We made it up to the fuel dock at Halibut Point, about 45 minutes after leaving and put 80 gallons in the tanks.  We then headed around some of the inside islands, and put the fishing gear in the water.  It takes about an hour to get it all out, and then we trolled for a couple of hours, just checking things out.  No fish, but we learned a lot about the boat’s behavior.   

By the time we decided to come home, we realized we didn’t have a great deal of margin on the daylight factor, which is not real smart on the first run of a boat!  We came back in thru the middle part of the Sound, and got some of the larger swells abeam.  The little boat just purred along, with a great ride.  I slept better that night!

On Saturday, we decided to head out toward Cape Edgecumbe, where the good fishing is.  We left the dock around 8 am, and went over to Sitka Sound Seafoods, one of the main fish processing facilities here, and had about 1000 pounds of ice pumped into our fish hold.  We figured it would give us a little more ballast, as well as preserve any fish that we might catch.  There was a breeze blowing, and I had to make to passes at tying up to the pilings before I got it.  Being the new kid in town, I was pretty self-conscious about it, but made it happen, and we got our ice. We jockeyed our way out of the main harbor around little hand trollers, big tenders, big herring seiners, the huge Fish and Game boat (Kestrel), as well as a float plane taxiing down the channel to take off.  Once we cleared the congestion, the poles came down with the stabilizers, and we headed southwest toward the Sound.   Waves were 4-6 feet as we rounded the end of the runway for the airport on Japonski Island, and we headed straight into them to get out to a fishing area.  About an hour later, we were clear of Surf Rock, looking back at the impressive power of the water breaking over the rocks, so we began putting gear in the water.  As time wore on, the waves grew, as did the breeze.  We passed one, then two, then three bigger trollers heading the opposite direction, back to the harbors.   

Once the gear was all set, Keith came in to warm up.  We ran this way for about an hour, with the waves steadily growing, as well as the choppy surface generated by the wind.  Forecast was for 20 knot winds with seas 4-6 feet.  We began encountering steady 10 foot seas with gusts to 30 or so.  As time went by, more trollers passed, all with gear onboard and heading for home.  When the seas began to hit 15 feet occasionally, and still no sign of fish, we decided to join the crowd and head for home.  We turned with the seas and wind coming over our starboard stern, and Keith was once again banished to the trolling pit to pull gear aboard.  I tried to keep a steady course, which was a bit difficult.  The sound of waves breaking behind the boat, and gaining on us was not uncommon.  We had the deck washed off nicely by a couple that broke on the side, but by and large, the little vessel handled like a dream!  The engine ran well, the equipment worked, and the ride was nice.  It’s been a lot of years since I looked out the back door of a pilot house and saw 15 feet of windswept water bearing down on me!  We made it back with no further ado, and even got checked out by an Alaskan State Trooper when we got docked.  Nice young man, very helpful.  Today is our day off – tomorrow we hope to head North up the inside channel and fish for a couple of days before Em and Todd arrive on Wednesday.  And that’s the beginning….!