Mid Season Grind

  I rolled another page on my log book. Day 76.
  My hands are swollen, my arms are sore, I'm getting out of a chair like an old duffer. I seem to be sore all over my body.
  The guides are walking around like zombies. We greet each other with hollow eyes and smiles that just don't reach into the eyes.
  I've had three days off since starting on the 15th of May, it is now the first of August. A typical "day off" means you haul the boat out of the water, pressure wash the bottom, change the engine oil, change the lower unit oil, repair anything that is not function properly, like downriggers, reels, wash down pumps on the boat... the list seems endless. Of course, there is also a list of projects at home that need attention.
  I raced into the hardware store for some parts and was greeted by Joann, "Hey Earl, a day off?"
  "You got it," I replied sagging against the counter in exhaustion.
  "Hey Joann, do you come back into the store here on your day off to fix the computer and stock shelves?" I asked.
  She shot me a look that would have taken my head off but I was sagging so low it went right over me.
  "Ha! she snorted, "this is the last place I come to on my day off!"
  "Yeah, I thought so," I mumbled, grabbing my bag of parts and heading back into the rain to go fix the boat on my day off.
  We are in the mid season grind. Half the summer behind us and still facing half a summer to go.  I tell the new guides, "When you feel the most tired, you have to be the toughest!"
  I was heading to the fuel dock the other evening and passed a Bering Sea crab boat. The crabbers leave the deadly waters of the Bering sea each summer to pack fish for the commercial salmon fleet.
  We see some of the boats in Sitka that you see on the Deadliest Catch.
  This beautiful crab boat named the Handler looked so calm and peaceful tied to the dock, but I know the brutal danger they face each winter.
  I idled past and could see some writing on the side of the wheel house. I grabbed my binoculars to read this little quote:
  "The only easy day was yesterday" - Handler
  I chewed over that little saying for some days. I even read it to my wife.
  I have been through some very tough times, having a fish hook take the sight from my eye, crashing my boat onto a rock, and just the grind of trying to finish a fishing season. Running on empty day after day.
  The mindset of that crab boat, my easiest day might have been yesterday. I know each day is a battle with the wind and the ocean. Jelly fish is swarming our waters, and fish seem very hard to find. Clients relentlessly push for more and more, all of my equipment seems to fail around this time of the season due to daily abuse, and the endless rain that never seems to stop driving into your very being.
  Yes, it is the mid season grind. I know I will make it. I just need to toughen up a bit. When I am the most tired, I need to be the strongest.

"The only easy day was Yesterday"  thank you, Handler

Warm Water Brings Strangeness to Alaska Waters

South East Alaska is heading into another El Nino summer.
  I can remember years ago when the big warm El Nino hit and all the strange fish showed up with the warm water.
  Yesterday is the first day for me to start seeing the new El Nino strange fish begin showing.
  July first, the commercial salmon boats swarmed the ocean to share the harvest with the charter and sport boats. As far as we could see troll poles dotted the horizon in all directions.
  "I think I'll just start outside the main troll drag and try not to get us ran over," I told the clients, as I throttled back the big outboards and began dropping troll lines.
  The Silver Salmon were hungry but not around in great numbers. We caught a few, but the little Pink Salmon (Humpies) started driving us crazy. Each time I put the lines down the tip of the rod started jiggling.
  "Bite.... get ready... as soon as the line snaps out of the down rigger clip start reeling," I encouraged the clients who were alread poised at the ready. No snap... another humpie.
  "Ok, give it a tug to help the humpie," I kept repeating over and over. "Hey, at least we have fresh halibut bait."
  Humpeis are a soft meat fish and not desired by the clients to eat. Once frozen and thawed they become very mushy. When the airlines are charging for each fish box flown it is not worth the money to crowd out better fish with humpie meat.
  I throttled the kicker motor back and saw one of the lines snap out of the down rigger clip.
  "Fish on! get it, get it, get it!" I shouted.
  The client raced to the rod and started reeling. When the slack was taken up I was looking for the signs of a silver Salmon racing for the surface and pulling harder than a humpie.
  Not to be.
  "It looks like another humpie," I said to the groan of all four clients.
  I put the net back on the boat and readied the gaff hook to release the humpie.
  "What in the world?" I exclaimed as I saw a strange form coming up on the hook.
  It was not silver at all like the salmon we catch ever day.  I held the line to see if it were a big wad of kelp or jelly fish.
  "It's a fish," I said as I hoisted it on board.
  "Oh cool! It's a Pompano!" I shouted.
  The clients just stood looking at the strange fish lying on the deck.
  "I have not seen a Pompano since the years ago El Nino," I informed them.
  We laid it on deck and took many pictures of it.
  Back home I looked it up on line to find that it is a Pacific Pompano that is found along the coast of Baja California and the lower two-thirds of the Sea of Cortez.
  I guess this little guy was a bit lost!  He made his grand voyage all the way to the coast of South East Alaska only to bite the hook of someone looking for Salmon.
  I'm sure we will start catching more of them as the water continues on its overly warm course.
  The Jelly fish are thick just like the last time the water warmed like this, and the salmon seem more difficult to catch as they hug the bottom looking for their preferred cooler waters.
  In spite of the warmer temperatures we are still managing to catch our fish each day.
  I'll keep you posted if we find other such creatures roaming about.

                                                 Pacific Pompano

                                      The clients with a mornings catch