Journal 4

a.fishermans.journal

first opener.june.9.2011

So over a two day period was the first opener for commercial salmon fishing. In the span of 48 hours we worked for at least 40 of them. Its not all super hard work but you have to be awake.

It basically is wait.wait.wait, then work.work.work, over and over again. When its time to work its really time to work. I would explain it as this. for about 30 minutes while bringing in the nets(sain) your body hates you. about half way through bringing in the net you just want to give up and go home cause it is so hard. Now keep in mind you do this about 10-20 times a day in good fishing. But as you get to the end of the sain, you start to see fish coming in and that makes it all worth it cause each fish you catch is money in your pocket. But with the fish come jelly fish which come flying at you and sting you and just make you angry cause it hurts so bad. But at least there are fish in the net, sometimes there is nothing but sticks, kelp, holes in the net from seals and larger creatures. If you have real bad luck a whale will hit the net and destroy it making it so you have to stop fishing and fix the nets.

Once the boat is full of fish, its time to find the tender(where the fish is delivered). It may be close by or it may be hours away. Or there may be boats in front of you so you have to wait. This can be good and bad.  If there is tons of fish running you just want to unload and get back to it cause its good money. But it also can be a good time to catch up on sleep that you have not received for days.

This is just a quick explanation about fishing. I will write more later. I have only had a few hours of sleep in the last couple days and its time for me to catch up.