July 9: arrival of fish, maybe; internet up, maybe; vehicle apocalypse, definitely

This is the day after this post was written. Again, internet problems prevent prompt posting. Sigh.

We are in for about an hour waiting for the tide to drop. We have moved into around-the-clock fishing, probably. The Naknek River and the Kvichak River have both clawed their way to their minimum escapement goals, though with remarkably little harvesting by the fishing fleet in the process. Today's tide might change that. We were pretty busy for the first pass through the nets, then it dropped off markedly, then surprisingly, it picked back up just after the tide turned. We'll go out to finish up just past midnight. We've arrived at the place in the season where, if it's 10 o'clock, we can't be sure if it's AM or PM because of our goofy sleeping schedule. That's the arrival of fish part.

A Mifi (a wifi device that is also a router that can accept up to 10 devices connected to it) from GCI (a telecommunications company out of Alaska) arrived two days ago and we are trying it out. So far, so good. Not completely reliable, not blazingly fast, but whereas we sort of gave up trying to do anything requiring more than a few minutes of access with the old system, with this new system, we expect to be able to connect sometime that day, maybe even the first time we try. That's such an improvement we're pretty satisfied.

The vehicle apocalypse. Oh my. We have three hefty 4 WD pickup trucks, each with a different function (and with different weaknesses). The oldest is The Red Truck, a Chevy from 1976. I think I brought that up in 1995. It is a hearty 3/4 ton beach truck. It's had the front end rebuilt, the brakes reinstalled, the exhaust replaced - starting from engine itself, the door re-hung, the fuel line repaired, and the bed is just about rusted out. But that's the truck that I know will be able to dig its way through the sticky mud and get us where we need to go. The White/Canopy Truck is a 1990 3/4 ton Ford that Allen Tibbetts brought over from Anchorage in 2008 (I think), along with the New Boat on his then-tender, the Sally N. It's more of a gentleman's truck. I expected to remove the canopy as soon as it got here, but we never did. It's convenient. The crew and various things that need to remain dry can ride in the back in relative comfort. The rust isn't too bad yet, it doesn't make much noise - I think the heater and the radio even work. And we have The Crane Truck, a 1986 1 ton Ford with dualies (a double set of tires in the back) and a hydraulic crane. I bought it from a propane company in Seattle in 2007 eo enable us to offload our own fish should we get in a jam like we found ourselves in in 2006. This truck has required some work, especially the process of converting it back to gas after the propane company had converted it to propane. David is quite an expert in using the crane and he has been using it to offload brailers of salmon for our ambitious home pack goals and our modest iced fish goals.

When challenged for having more than one market - and AGS is definitely the market that has my loyalty - I realized that it is in our best interests and the best interests of our little industry here to encourage the right little guy processors. AGS, with its size and accompanying somewhat cumbersome bureaucracy, couldn't continue to try to work out how to pay setnetters for iced fish. I don't think we are the only ones to realize that overall, setnet fish are the highest quality, yet we are paid consistently and systematically less for them than are the drifters that have RSW (refrigerated sea water) systems or ice slush bags. The little guy processors have the flexibility to think about what quality actually is, recognizing that the standard of 39 degrees might be appropriate and reasonable for held fish, but it is the wrong way to think about fresh fish. The challenges to quality are different for held and fresh fish. So we have started selling a small amount of our catch to Copper River Seafoods and together, we are figuring out how to improve the quality even beyond our already high level.

On the day of the vehicle apocalypse, as David tried to position The Red Truck to take delivery of fish from The Crane Truck, he shouted out to us that he couldn't get the key to turn. I thought it was just the steering lock, but that wasn't it. Roger went in to see if he could shake it loose - no luck. So he used the White truck to pull it out of harm's way (meaning up above where we expect the next tide to rise). I tried to find a way to get it towed off the beach - none of our trucks are really up to the task of towing another for that distance through the sticky mud and over the rocks. The folks at Pen Auto said they could fix the ignition, but we would need to get it off the beach, at least. They were ready to meet us at the end of the beach access road. But we didn't have a way to get it that far. We called AGS, our fish buyer to see if they could pull it with one of their big deuce-and-a-halfs and they said it would be possible. Meanwhile, at my request, Jeff looked online to see if he could learn how to hotwire it. At about the same time, we got a call from the shop saying that the mechanic (Kirk) was waiting at the end of the beach access road with all his tools to try to fix it. I asked if I could run up there in one of our trucks and bring him and his tools back so he could do the work on the beach. Yes, that would work. So I went to The White Truck. It started right up. I put it into gear and... nothing happened! I tried 4 high, 4 low, 2 high... nothing happened. Roger, help!!! Two trucks, out of commission.

Meanwhile, Jeff was able to hotwire The Red Truck (and only after that did I realize that we didn't have a way to turn it off - whoops!), so David and I drove it up to the beach access road. When AGS called to make plans about towing the Red Truck, I explained about hotwiring it but asked if they could come anyway to tow The White Truck, which they did. (Thank you, thank you, thank you).

Kirk was able to repair the ignition on The Red Truck so that is functioning again. AGS towed The White Truck at the end of a chain, with Roger steering and braking about 6 miles to the shop. Roger used the term "harrowing," when describing how the brakes had ceased functioning because they had become so hot with the use, yet he had to stop anyway. Somehow.

I followed that procession into town and waited for them to get back to AGS so Roger and I could return to the cabins on a four-wheeler. We were able to nap for a couple of hours before heading out for the tide. As we were gearing up, I got a call from Harry saying that all the boats out there were loading up and we were going to have fish. That is today's report.

I don't know if I'll be able to upload photos. If anyone is interested, here is the dropbox link to where they are being stored. They are not completely up to date, the crew's contributions especially. But they do give an idea. Let me know if this works. https://www.dropbox.com/l/EOO82RDkeyKGTOIs4PQhlp

(Post script: good news! The problem with The White Truck was that the transmission fluid was waaaay too low due to a leak Roger discovered and maybe others he hadn't yet noticed. Embarrassingly, when we thought we checked the level of the transmission fluid, we were actually checking the level of the power steering fluid (we have to label those things better!) However, the embarrassment is nothing next to the relief of not having to replace the transmission. Whew!)