July 10 2016: Happy Birthday Debby, Happy Birthday Bruce, can you do something about these ebb fish?

Debby is my sister closest to me in age. She was always like my partner in the three legged-race. Today is both her birthday and her death day. She was a wonderful sister. I didn't realize how much she meant to me until she died... and then I really realized it. My only comfort is that she is the type of wonderful sister that probably knew perfectly well how much she meant to me and never did hold it against me that I could be (and can be) as dense as I could be/can be/am. It would just be one of those things that she knew and it didn't really matter whether I grasped it or not. I was about to write that I especially miss her fishing. That's true - it's one of the things we did as partners, even when the rest of the family wanted to fish independently. But I'm not sure that's when I especially miss her. It also when I'm wondering which book to read next, or how to treat this lump on my neck or how to make pot roast or how to get flowers to flourish in my yard or where that hand is that I'd like to hold as I find my way through life. That's when I especially miss her.

One thing about losing her when I didn't realize how much she meant is that I looked around at other sisters and my brother and other relatives and started to appreciated more explicitly how much they each mean to me. I know everyone says, "family first." But we really weren't that kind of family. From here, though, I'd say that that oversight doesn't really matter. Family really does. So the other Happy Birthday is to Bruce, the charmingly cantankerous husband of my beloved older sister, Trina. I think he's celebrating some anniversary of his 29th birthday today. Trina and Bruce will be visiting on July 16 this year. Yay! (And yes, I have every intention of putting them to work. Bruce knows how stuff works and he's creative. He's gonna get a list.)

Ack! We were out at 6:15 this morning for the flood pick. We are getting more fish. And of course, the wind has been blowing, though it calmed down a bit on the ebb. However, the fishing picked up on the ebb. I recall specifically hoping we would NOT have that circumstance this year. Ahem.

The powerpack for the hydraulics in the New Kid took water on yesterday evening's tide, so it's out of commission until that can be fixed. Sigh. (It's missing its exhaust, so the water can just pour right in.) I went looking for my turkey baster to suck the water out of the exhaust port and settled for a couple of fuel lines and the thing you check your antifreeze with.

It was a pretty good show of fish for a big tide and while I was on the hunt for something to sock out seawater, the crew was able to deliver to a tender (much easier on windy tides in general, especially with a couple thousand pounds of fish on). They returned from that, collected me, and we started going through the net again - more fish! The Ambi crew went through #1 and the inside while the New Kid crew transferred to the Bathtub and went through #3 and #4. We delivered at the last possible moment before the tide receded too far for the boat and the Gehl to meet safely. Then we went back out to try to stay ahead of the ebb fish.

The New Kid crew split up with Jeff and Oksanna in the Bathtub on the inside site (because it can go very shallow) and David and Inku on #1 in the power roller-less New Kid. David D (new nickname: Slinghand Duke) and Davey (new nickname: Blade) and Austin and I worked in the Ambi on #3 and #4. They fish just kept coming. Each time we went through it net, it was as if we hadn't picked it - several hundred more pounds, all on the leadline.

After we went through #3 for the umpteenth time, we were pretty sure we couldn't get through #4 and get back to #3 before it went dry. So we dropped Blade off with a small tote to pick out the late hitters while we went to #4 to try to fly through. Again, as if the net hadn't been picked. (I'm never sure whether we end up with more because we keep clearing it out. I mean, say we get 300 lbs per pass through each net on the ebb and maybe we can make 2 passes through. That's 600 lbs per net. If we waited till the last minute, would we get 600 on one pull through? Or would some of the fish that were caught between the first and second late ebb pick through not be caught? Maybe if we waited, we would get 450 per site. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure we don't get any fewer for going through it - unless we happen to have the net out of the water and in the boat just when a big school is swimming by.)

Jeff and Oksanna needed more help on the inside site and the net went dry under them. Argh! Mud fish. I guess that's not exactly "dry," more like "gooey." They had lots of late hitters and just didn't realize how many fish they had. I happen to be an expert in picking in the mud - I grew up doing it. So I went to help them with that very difficult task while David got the ranger and started the delivery process. I am very happy to report that the ranger is seeming more and more capable of pulling the Bathtub around and through the mud. That is an enormous relief with so many ebb fish!

After getting those mud fish picked, I didn't really have much more to contribute. So at 2 PM I came up to get lunch started and found that Matt and Pat (who had the tide off) and Sarah had started lunch (barbecue ribs and mashed potatoes). I mixed up some corn bread. Sitting back in my cabin, I can still hear the ranger running. I have complete faith that they'll get all those fish in and delivered.

Addendum: I hurried this post because I suddenly remembered that I hadn't set a timer on the cornbread. Yikes! I just ran over to see if I had created a fire in the stove... Patrick noticed and took it out.

It's now 3:30 pm and I think the crew is just about done getting the fish in. I am sorry to say that the tide is now coming back in and we'll need to be out again at 7 PM for the evening tide. My poor exhausted crew!