June 19: Bob's birthday begins "free week"

Even if Bob isn't here this year, he has been in our thoughts several times - like when the Ambi had the sticky choke problem. We think he diagnosed that last year and we just didn't remember until Roy diagnosed it again. And today we finally brought down the freight that had the box that Bob sent in the middle of the winter with perfect, wonderful little tie off lines and v-lines to hold the leadline down. We're using two of them tomorrow. Chris recently said, "Bob's still the MVP and he's not even here this year."

Today was another day of getting ready - every day up until the fish start running hard will be a day of getting ready as long as we can keep thinking of things to do. So far, it's easy. Roger, Jeff, Trevor, and Yin went into town to do many errands and to change the fuel filter on the New Boat so that as soon as the new gas tank arrives, we can pop it on, get in the water, and go. Alas, in taking the fuel filter off, it was broken and SeaMar didn't have another. Dang. Boo. But... I bought a back up filter for the Ambi - it's smaller, but Roy says it'll push enough fuel so Roger will install that one and we'll be almost back in business.

I've become a little superstitious of trying to bake bread - for a few years there, every time I got it started, something urgent would happen and then the bread would just go its own way, which doesn't turn out as well as when it gets some guidance. But I tried today anyway and it came out fine. Even made cinnamon rolls...


Meanwhile, Jake, Chris, Hugh, and Evan stayed around camp and repaired my walkway (yippee!!) and worked on the two water-related projects. The most important is getting the pump running to pull water from the lake behind the cabin (actually, it's a giant mud puddle, but it has been home to a pair of swans and one time I was out at the lake not paying much attention to my surroundings when I looked up and found myself in the middle of a few caribou. So it may be a glorified mud puddle, but at least it's glorified) That water project is almost ready. Roger contributed the photo to the left of Jake and Hugh putting together the line draining the water from the reservoir tank at the top of the cliff to where it's needed for washdown at the bottom of the cliff. They're also making progress in getting the cabin waste water (from doing dishes and washing hands is about all we have) to run all the way over the cliff instead of just in front of the cabins.

We have a fishing opening (aka "an opener") in the morning at 9 am. We'll be allowed to fish straight through until 9 am Thursday when "free week" ends and the emergency period begins. At that time, we will become devout radio listeners at 9 am, noon, 3 pm, 6 pm, and 8 pm, when Fish and Game announcement are read letting us know whether we'll be allowed to fish and if so, when. (Actually, since I now have Internet access at my cabin, I just get the info via email. I don't exactly miss the old days of listening for announcements, except that I miss the hominess of the local public radio station - with polka hour, rock hour, country hour, space music, jazz, birthday announcements, the trading post, job opportunities, the Bristol Bay messenger (relays messages over the radio for people who can't be reached any other way.))

Since free week begins just after high water, I had decided that this early in the season, we won't fight with a high water set and instead just wait till the afternoon tide to set our nets out. The crew isn't experienced enough to add much to the discussion of decisions like that (though they do get lots of credit for gamely trying), so in the process of thinking it through, I often end up making a decision and then thinking more about it and making a different decision. It's a way of being indecisive that wouldn't appear indecisive if it were part of a dialogue. Decisions really are better when they're informed by multiple perspectives, and I think there are some people who immediately see and weigh all the factors and considerations and come up with the right course of action the first time because it started out clear for them. Not me. For me, it's a process.

On one side - the crew is pretty new - even the experienced guys are pretty new and doing a high water set is difficult and puts the gear at risk of getting caught in a prop, which of course risks not only the gear but it turns the stern of the skiff to the weather and pins it down, which is never a good thing and as things sometimes unfold, you can imagine where that cascade of events could lead. So, there probably won't be many fish to make the risk worth it... we should just sit it out and wait. Sound reasoning.

But then more thoughts trickled in...

Everyone is saying it'll be an early season,
We've had a southwest wind,
In one other year of the 40 seasons I've been paying close attention we've had a good showing on June 20,
And in one other year since we've had skiffs (since 1982) we participated in a high water set and the inside sites did great (and the outside sites did almost nothing),
If we wait till the afternoon, the drift fleet that may be fishing will have been fishing so we'll have missed the advantage of a long window of fish distributing throughout the district, free from nets.

So finally, I decided that we should set our inside site and since the neighbors are showing no sign of fishing their inside site tomorrow morning, we'll throw a net on their site too. What the heck. We'll fish the ebb and at least I hope we'll get a fish for my birthday dinner. Then, as the tide falls, we'll pick the net up on the borrowed site and put it where it belongs - about 900' seaward. And the crew will get practice at doing at least one type of deep water set. I hope we'll be close enough to high water that the current won't be running much yet. But it won't be that fast - going out to a 4' hold up.

So after Evan and I anchored the skiff at the outside of the outside site and then rowed in against the current and the wind, Jake and Chris went out and brought the Bathtub in so we can use it to set out of in the morning. Even though the skiff is anchored in, we'll still need to row out to it. Here is our port-a-bote, and beyond it are the four-wheelers and the stairs and beyond that our fleet of trucks, too far away to see the chewing gum and bailing wire that holds them together.



Trevor gave me his photos - he shares my taste for sunsets. This darker one is about as dark as it gets this time of year. And though it may seem pretty light, it's hard to pick a fish using mood lighting.

In today's final news: Trevor got a job on a neighboring setnet site - about two sites down, I think. So he'll stay with us and commute about 900' to work. I think that will help David in his quest for large kings, and of course, it will help Trevor. He's not 100% certain whose site it is, but I think she's a member of the Aspelund family, and that says a lot for them.