Whatever else is (or isn't) happening, it is definitely beautiful here. We have a lot of sky and it does some really interesting things. Someone told me these stripes are related to ice in the atmosphere?
We are still fishing around the clock - two tides a day. It's hard to tell what's happening with the fish. In some heavy years, there's just a mass of fish out there and whenever we dip our nets into the water, they fill up. This year, they seem more spotty. And elusive. Many fish are still going up the river, despite the best efforts of the fishing fleet. As of July 11, almost one million salmon had escaped up the Naknek and 2.2 million had escaped up the Kvichak, a number growing by nearly 200,000 salmon a day. By this date, the catch in the Naknek/Kvichak district was estimated at 5 million and seems to be growing at a rate of about a million a day.
Instead of rotating out two crew members every tide so they can catch up on their sleep (or wash some dishes, prepare a meal for the rest of us, run errands in town), we're starting each tide with all hands on deck: four in the Ambi and in the New Kid and two in the Bathtub. Then if fishing slows down on the ebb (except for the late hitters), the two crew members who are scheduled to rotate out can leave after the flood and the rest of the crew will mop it up.
We usually get kings only when there aren't many reds. I'm glad for that because we like to keep the kings and we really don't have time to process them when we're really busy with the actual business of fishing. We got these three kings on Monday - one was pretty big for the kings we get. Probably more than 30 lbs (Jeff is holding it). The other one was pretty good sized too, around 20, I suppose (held by David D). The third (held by Matt) is probably around 8 lbs and one or two of those is just about right for dinner for the crew - or today, it would be breakfast.
Inku is considering just eating it in a very sushi state, with Matt's help, while he holds the other two. That's David D to the left of Inku and you might be able to see Jeff's head poking up behind Inku. It was David N's tide to rotate out - and he had a solar meeting in town to attend.
Instead of eating the salmon raw, we usually fillet them, brine the fillets for about 30 minutes in very salty water (about 1 cup of rock salt dissolved in 1 gallon of water). Then we dry it off and rub the flesh with olive oil and grind lemon pepper from Trader Joe's on it. I like to grill it on a hot grill starting with the flesh side down. When it's cooked long enough for the meat to let go of the grill (usually a few minutes), I flip it over and after a few minutes, poke it gently to see if it is beginning to firm up. Once it does, I'll put the spatula under it and lift gently to see if the meat flakes... and what color the flesh is inside. I take it off just a little before it's done because it'll keep cooking after it's off the flame.
Because the tide was pretty slow and we were low on fuel that I trust in the outboards, we cut Patrick loose early so he could run into town for gas, driving the Carry. It can carry a load and is easy on the fuel budget. I had driven the Carry through some salty sticky mud recently, so, in an uncharacteristic fit of maintenance concern, I asked him to take the time to use one of the fire hoses at AGS to wash it down. As he left AGS, it started to make a bad grinding noise, so he parked it at the library and called David to come help him. The good people at Naknek Engine, just across the street from the library, diagnosed and cleaned the grit out of the brakes. I think this means that I should not try to turn over a new leaf in the maintenance department. It just seems to make things worse.
David was back on for the next tide. You can tell the slower days because we have time for photos. Here are Inku and Davey on the port gunnel, David N looking like a pirate who owns the beef jerky and Jeff, looking innocent but possibly plotting for the beef jerky.
Over on the Ambi, here is Austin looking intellectual and thoughtful. Probably considering his next meal.
And Oksanna and me, in our relaxed-but-alert-and-ready-for-action pose.
Matt and Jeff have been doing great in the Bathtub, powering their way through the inside site and finishing not far behind the Ambi crew finishing the outside site with four people and a power roller. They are good!
Fishing slowed down on the ebb, so we took advantage of having a camera on board and the most beautiful sunset all around us. Here is an almost-silhouette of the Hawaii contingent, David D and Oksanna.
And here is the New Kid, basking in the setting sun.
We have noticed that Oksanna isn't in many of the photos... because she's often the one with the camera!
Good tide tonight - but again, mostly on the flood.
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