Alaska Commercial fishing

[oilboy123]

Rope getting ripped along by tide and river current, 7 knots?

My Brother on right with deckhand picking Salmon from the net.

My third plane ride from Seattle to the fishing area. It was a small single prop plane.

Me holding a King salmon we caught. I probably have not had a shower in a week or so, I normally don't look like I just got dragged onto the boat by the net..........

Sunset or maybe a sunrise? I think it was setting though....

A bird that got caught in a dense fog on the water. It was tired and this second time it landed. It was so tired it let me put my hand right up to it. It finally flied away, hope it made it back to shore about a mile away.....

Brothers boat after the season. He is in a high Bear area of the Cannery........So you need to pay attention anytime but at night is the most important.

 

[oilboy123]

Did too many edits and got locked out....I am 5 ft 8 inches tall and about 165 lbs. Just so you know the proportion of the King Salmon.

 

[moribundman]

Thanks for sharing those pictures.

 

[crinkles]

awesome photos. you'd be having cold, short days up there right?

 

[Shannow]

First time I've seen firsthand pics of fishing like that.

Thanks for that.

How long were you out there for ?

Ever seen "Blue Fin" ?

An Aussie movie (fiction) about the tuna fishing boats in the '70s.

 

[duaneb9729]

Thank you for sharing!

those are wonderful pictures and sounds like quite the adventure!

 

[Pablo]

What area is this? Cool.

 

[Kestas]

The time stamp on those pictures are close to the summer solstice.

That sunset shot... was it midnight?

 

[eljefino]

So was this sort of a working vacation? Is salmon a ridiculously short season so you just work 100%?

 

[oilboy123]

Still learning to post pics properly, made this one too small. This is Time Bandit that buys salmon in the summer.

I have not seen Blue Fin. I will check it out. I grew up in Hawaii and lived near Kona on the Big Island for a few years. I remember seeing the Marlin and Tuna they used to catch and bring on the pier. When our family moved to Seattle I remember thinking wow they think these 20 lb Salmon are big???

It was a job. It is the third time I have done it. June 20th to about July 26th. Long days........sunset was at about midnight.

We fished in Ugashik, Eggigik, and Nanknek. They are all rivers in the smaller part of the southern V area in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

I thought it seemed kind of cold this summer and rainy. Which is normal, but this year put the others to shame. Some of the older guys said it's the coldest summer they can remember.

Reminds of the the Mark Twain quote: The coldest winter I ever saw was a summer in San Francisco.

Yes my Brother keeps it exciting......when it gets stormy and half the fleet is anchored up we are out fishing, rolling around with stuff flying around the boat. It seems like you can stuff your face with all kinds of cookies and food with no regard for weight gain. I think by my estimates that I burned 2 times the calories I normally do.

My Brother said that fighting the motion of the water uses a lot of energy. He is not kidding on that.

I have lots of pictures from this season. I will post more.

 

[oilboy123]

No you don't work 100% of the time. They have openings, then they can impose limits.

So if you hit your limit then you are done for that 12hr, 24hr opening etc. Between openings you sleep, mend nets, fix stuff or Switch nets off the barge.

You can sleep on sets but you better be careful. We had 3 shackles get chopped in half by another boat. This was while sleeping on a set. My brother was flaming on that one.

 

[oilboy123]

Time Bandit

 

[Pablo]

How cool is that?!

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Time Bandit. Wasn't that one of the boats featured in those crab fishing episodes on the discovery channel?

Thanks for the pics, way cool...

 

[tom slick]

Thanks for the photos.
That is Time Bandit from "Deadliest Catch"

I go to school with a guy who spends his summer in AK fishing for sockeye. He owns his own boat.

 

[crinkles]

i was considering doing these things when i left school. never became serious though.

 

[oilboy123]

Re-posting the picture of river/tide ripping along that got removed. The rope would snap back towards the right of the picture then get pulled over to the left. This would repeat every few seconds.

 

[Gary Allan]

That's not a job ..that's truly an adventure.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[leaves and lawns]

pics are gone.

 

[oilboy123]

I was going to post another Alaska 2 post with more pics, but why?

If they are just going to be deleted? Why is my post being singled out?????

I did another post awhile back that had full size pics, so I can understand those being deleted....

But these are not any bigger than the Vitamin D pics by Shannow?
I guess I would not feel so bad if I was at least given a reason?

Am I not wanted on this board or what. I am starting to wonder......