Alaskan Salmon Trolling: We’ll Take a Cup of Kindness Yet…

             We two have paddled in the stream,
                 from morning sun till dine;
            But seas between us broad have roared
               since auld lang syne.

There’s a standard fisherman’s term about sacred waste that seems right to preface the question, “Where did the year go??”, but I won’t add it here. The trips and holidays have flashed by like the kids on their snowboards do on Big Mountain, leaving me shaking my head and wondering what in the world just happened. It’s almost time to sing Auld Lang Syne again, if we wake up for it; I better chronicle some details of the past few months as promised before I forget everything.

As you might have noticed by now, the sea, the boats, the scenery, the work – all have blended together to give us a wild and unparalleled experience since starting this journey. But far and away, the people we’ve come to know are the absolute highlight of this venture. I’ve said so many times before what a grand group of friends we’ve gained, and I’ll trumpet it again – you are the best. If you read this and can put yourself into any scene I’ve written about (and many I haven’t!), thank you again for being part of our lives.

I want to dedicate this post to the special people that came and crewed for us this year. We desperately needed a year where nothing broke, no harrowing storms or tides roared, there were no close calls to write about, and enough fish were caught to not go backwards on the books. That all came true, and as a bonus, we got a great lift from each set of “crew” that spent time with us.

Emery and Todd – you guys are great to have every year! You lift us out of the doldrums every time with your enthusiastic embrace of the whole trolling thing. But if you ever think seriously about buying your own boat, I’ll toss you overboard!

Although they didn’t spend time on our boat, Jake and Lois from Sitka were part of a memorable night in the Forest Service cabin at Samsing Cove, just out of Sitka a ways. The acoustics in the cabin are awesome for the old Gibson. If you ever want a cool place to stay, check out renting it for a few days. You won’t regret it. And, thanks to Jake’s little sideshow, the bears all stayed away… !

Then came the “Pirates of the Inside Passage”, Philip and Simon – headed for the lower 48 the long way, in a 22 foot boat, with no previous serious Alaskan sea-time. It was a real treat to have you detour over to Sitka just to see our operation – glad we got to be a little part of your experience. I love showing people what we do, and how it all works – you guys were great to have aboard, even if only for a day! Check out their blog at http://piratesoftheinsidepassage.wordpress.com/

And last, but by no means least, came nephew James, from White Rock, BC. Never on the ocean before, but game to learn, he helped us remember the good parts of having a teenager around. You can come back any time, James – we just might have to work on that fish-cleaning speed, but a couple of thousand fish should get you there…!