May + June On the Water
Hey there friends! Happy June! We are in the midst of chasing lingcod around the frigid, blue waters surrounding Yakutat -- and salmon season is only three weeks away! Between boat projects, shrimping, and lingcod-ing, these early summer months aways seem to always fly by.
Our five month fishing season officially began on May 15th, with our spot prawn opener! For this shrimp season, we were lucky enough to have our returning crew member, Danya, along for the ride -- plus Caleb's sister LaDonn as our #4. All girls (with the exception on Caleb and Monti), yeehaw!
We cut lines on the night of May 10th to begin on 30+ hour trip down the coastline from Sitka to Ketchikan, where we were picking up LaDonn. The first time cutting lines each season is always nerve wracking. Did anything deteriorate over the winter? Will the boat run smoothly? Caleb aways does his diligence in the engine room before starting a trip, but we don't exhale for the first twelve hours regardless.
Even if all does run well, there's still the ocean to contend with. Of our thirty hour run, the first thirteen hours are spent on the open ocean, before we tuck into inside waters at Cape Decision. A spring's worth of projects scattered around the deck and wheelhouse, waiting to crash to the floor if they're not tucked away in their proper place. Not to mention the 140 shrimp pots, 10+ trash cans full of line, 30+ buoys, thousands of pounds of bait, plus packaging materials, all of which need securely stored or lashed down before we hit the big, wavy water.
And the most precious cargo of all: Monti! How will he do on the ocean season? As parents, some days it's impossible to tell if we're sick with sea sickness or just sick with worry. Along with the usual pre-departure chores, we have a new one: towels laid out on the bunk, and towels + bowls set out and ready in the stateroom, galley, and top house. Always hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
About an hour into the run, feeling confident in the ocean's gentle roll, I took Monti to bed while Caleb watched the wheel. And another hour after that, woke up to a pile of oozy warm wetness. Oops, wrong choice! We headed up to the top house for one very, very long night of snuggles. Everyone on team Fairweather battled some seasickness that night, and even Danya - undoubtedly the saltiest of any of us - said she spent the night laying in her bunk contemplating why she volunteered for another season of this.
But, like everything else in this wild and precious life: the morning comes, and the night's feelings pass. And a few exciting days of fishing later, the rough journey feels like a distant memory.
He's too little to understand right now, but one day I hope Monti knows: it's okay to be momentarily uncomfortable. There's a line somewhere between discomfort and true suffering, and if it ever seems that we're erring into suffering territory, we're going to reevaulate our family plan immediately. But a few uncomfortable nights each season still feels like a fair exchange for the freedom of our lifestyle and togetherness.
In many ways, fishing is the easy part! It's the journey to get there that's the most exhausting.
On the morning of May 15th, we were allowed to begin setting our shrimp pots! "Dump day" is always a fire drill - especially when (to our surprise) our small area had three other boats setting their 100+ pots, too. Once you account for buoy line and plain courtesy, things get crowded fast!
We set all 140 of our pots in record time, finished by 10:30 a.m. And luckily, we were able to snag most of the "sets" that Caleb was vying for.
Once the gear's in the water, we settle into a comfortable routine. Set the alarm for 5:30 am, drink coffee, box up the previous day's shrimp, and cut the coming day's bait. Eat breakfast, then start hauling gear at 8 a.m. sharp. Finish hauling by 2:30 pm, pluck the remaining shrimp heads, wash and box the shrimp tails, and inside for dinner by 7 p.m. Repeat until Alaska Department of Fish and Game tells us otherwise!
For the Southeast Alaska Pot Shrimp Fishery, Southeast Alaska is separated into multiple districts (and sub-districts), each with their own allowable quota, to be caught on a first come first served basis (also known as "derby" style fishing). Our district had a lower quota this year than in previous years, and coupled with the increased number of boats on the horizon, our expectations were quite low.
We did not catch as many shrimp this season as we have in previous seasons. But we are proud of the effort we gave, and number of pounds we put in compared the overall quota and number of other vessels! All said and done, our district was open for twelve days, and most importantly: we had SO much fun. It was such a joy to have Calebs sister aboard, and Monti loved getting extra attention from his Auntie. We all put in long days of good, hard work -- and we didn't even get sea sick on the rolls ride back up to Sitka.
As we send this off, we've already turned over from shrimping and are four days into our lingcod fishery. More lingcod updates to come next Sunday, but for now: thank you for being here.
