We battled the ocean like never before.
At the start of the season we had weeks of north west winds blasting us with 20 knots or more daily. In town, it was beautiful hot and sunny. The ocean, on the other hand, was rough, windy, and foggy cold.
El nino was working its magic. Warm water flooded the North Pacific Ocean. Our cold water fish reacted in strange ways. They spread out and moved deep. Only on heavy rain days would the fish school up like normal years.
Jelly fish moved in clouding the ocean in heavy slime. The salmon would have to position themselves either above or below the mass of stinging tentacles.
It seemed the only normal was our halibut fishing. The halibut were thick and hungry day after day.
On storm days we usually duck in behind islands and catch salmon. Not to be this year. The warmer water kept the fish out on open ocean, away from the reach of our storm day efforts.
Year after year we have pounded the fish around Sitka with results non failing... until this summer. Clients who have been here for the past ten to twenty years found this unacceptable, blaming us as guides, for not finding fish every day. Nasty storm days was unacceptable for not filling out limits of fish. We found ourselves pushing weather we have never fished through. Late in the grinding season we fished on the edge of our safety, pushing our little boats to the limits of their design. I have to tip my hat to the skills of the guides in piloting our boats through such dangerous water and bringing clients back to the dock each day.
Some lodges opted to burn fuel to find fish in calm water. They would make runs of three to four hours one way to catch a hand full of salmon. Hundreds of gallons of fuel burned for just a tad bit of fish. I think I would have offered to park the boat and use fuel money to purchase more fish, but I guess the experience is part of the trip.
August found swarms of blue sharks moving into our area. Normally, they come through for a week or two, this summer they hovered around for more than a month. Many of our silver salmon and last kings came aboard with huge shark bite gashes on them.
We would have to clean our salmon in ares where we did not halibut fish, wash out every bit of blood, and pour bleach in the bilge of the boat once anchored. We would get one free drop of halibut bait, after that it was like playing shark Russian roulette to get bait to the bottom before the blues bit it off.
Many of our halibut came up with shark bite marks.
Those who got careless with the blood draining out of the boat and into the ocean would be bitten off so many times that it would end the day of halibut fishing.
All of the above was mixed with constantly swirling winds. One day it would blow 20 NW, then next day would be calm, only to ramp up the following day with SE 25. Around and around the winds chased themselves all summer. It made us guides nervous to even click on the weather link. One calm day would make us gun shy for the next day, knowing it would probably be blowing.
Day after day, week after week, and then month after month the grind wore down the guides. By mid August we were zombies walking around in a daze. We performed our duties, to collapse at home in weariness. I could hear the numbness in the radio conversations, sometimes talking but not making sense.
We smiled at the nasty jabs of clients unhappy with fishing conditions or lack of fish, we dodged the commercial fleet who were also struggling and looking for someone to take out their frustrations.
We made it. We can hang up our hats with pride. We pushed through the toughest season on record and did our best.
I'm glad it is over.
shark bit halibut
client with a blue shark
