June 24: *That* was refreshing!

We had a 6 am opener today. We were out there 30 minutes before time to set. I had the chance to remind everyone that we don't always have the opportunity to prepare - untangle the anchor line and v-line, check knots, check for frays, check shackles and carabiners... just check everything. But when we do have that 30 minutes to prepare, use it.

It was a very slow tide. No wind, little current, few fish. This photo shows what happens when there are few fish. Before coming in, we all pile into one boat and go through the last net, fighting over the fish.


And actually, it was slow for everybody. When we finished our first net, I checked over for the other boat and saw a big drifter motoring in between the sites. That doesn't happen much - they were asking how our fishing was and whether we got any fish at high water. That drifter must not have known very much about setnetters. We don't usually like drifters to come and set their nets right in front of ours so we'd be unlikely to tell him to be sure to set right off us just after high water when the fish are running through here hard. We don't want to invite competition. Another thing to notice is that everything was the same color of gray today... kind of cold and still.

After the set, mending the running line that was severed ... was it just last week? ... with a splice, and going through the nets once (about 25 fish so far), we came in to wait for the just-prior-to-tide-turning pick, except Jeff, Roger, and Hugh went into town to try to get the New Boat running (probably with Roy's help). Part of the reason for being early into AGS is to be first in Roy's line, sort of like lining up for a rock concert. (If Roy ever sees this, I wonder what he'll think of being likened to a rock concert.)

When I looked at the outboard last night with my infantile mechanical skills, I noticed that gas was leaking from around the fuel filter. I tightened the clamps, but it still leaked from other places in that vicinity and wouldn't start anyway. Toolkit empty, Josh, Evan, and I came home on the three wheeler - very slowly. Now the mechanically inclined are going in for another run at it.

We went out again for our last pick of the flood - one red and one king. Our next trip to the nets will be the last one of the tide. We're not expecting many fish on the ebb (though last year we were surprised by that just about every tide), so we want to go at sort of the last minute, run through the nets and pick them up, stacking them into the boats for the next set, whenever that will be (probably tomorrow). But we won't know till 3 this afternoon. Before the last pick through, the goal is to anchor as deeply as possible (so the boat will still be floating after the tide has dropped) but still be shallow enough to walk in without getting wet. So we run the skiff in, estimate the depth 50' toward the shore from where we'll drop the anchor (try to figure out where 50' forward is), call the anchor drop, continue to run until we reach the end of the anchor line and spin around, getting us another 20' closer to shore. Now very quickly, before we start drifting into deeper water, someone must test the depth usually using a fairlead or a gaff hook and if shallow enough, jump out and hold the boat so the others can get out. I thought it was probably shallow enough for me in the dry suit so I quickly moved to the stern and jumped over. I was surprised to find that my feet didn't reach the bottom, and happy to find that my dry suit actually does have enough floatation to keep my head above water.

I didn't waste any time trying to get back into the boat and instead started kicking my way toward shore. I've been struggling with the zipper on the dry suit for several days now so except for the shock of the cold, I wasn't surprised (but was unhappy) to feel the very cold leak seeping water over my right shoulder and down my back. Brrrr. On the bright side, I was
still floating and after a few more teeth chattering minutes, was in shallow enough water to stand. After the crew knew I was safe, they decided it was funny. It sort of was. A perverse combination of funny and cold. They just reanchored the boat a little shallower. Here's what happens next with that sort of adventure. Wish the cabin were warmer so these would actually dry. Heater has stopped working.

Well, that was a slow tide - a total of 165 lbs. Harry called to say it was his worst day of fishing ever. He got 2 fish; one to eat and the other to send home with Hannah tomorrow. I'm going with the still-early theory.

The New Boat is not coming down any time soon unless a real Roy-miracle occurs. He thinks it's the Capacity Discharge Ignition. (I think that's a brain box for the outboard). So we're ordering a CDI ($$$) and I'm hoping that'll be just a few days. Uh... plus the weekend. Sigh. But really, we've fished plenty of successful seasons with the Ambi and the Bathtub. Plus, the Grayling's outboard is ready! Yippee!

Yin took this beautiful photo a couple of nights ago.

We go again tomorrow from 7am to 3:30 pm. I won't be there for the ebb - going to King Salmon to collect David and Sarah, put Hannah on the plane home, and swing by Charlie's Sport Shop to pick up the Grayling's outboard.