Matt Marinkovich’s weekly At Sea Diary entry is a popular feature of the National Fisherman Web site, and now you can post your own reflections on Matt’s experiences fishing in the Pacific Northwest and North Pacific.
October 30 to November 1 — This week was a bit of a goat-roper show. The call was to fish Hood Canal, since the gillnetters had first start (before the purse seiners), there were good canal tides, and there were more fish than on the Seattle side. But I self-restricted to fish only Seattle, since it was Halloween the next day and I have three daughters of trick-or-treating age (well, only ONE really, but the others just go for the candy) and I wouldn't miss that for ANYTHING!
I started out fishing in Seattle at 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 30. After only 20 fish for my first two sets, I coaxed my friend and relief skipper, Fawn John, to run her over to Hood Canal in the wee hours of the morning to capitalize on the 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. opening. Like a fishing-addicted zombie, he did as instructed. With Linda staying on to serve as John's crew, they wound up fishing Hood Canal with a strong start, but a piddley finish, with a beautiful slack-water/change-of-light set at the bridge for only five fish. RATS!
I came back with guns ablazin' on the evening of Tuesday, November 1, leaving San Juan Island to run the boat over to Hood Canal. Linda spent Tuesday riding the boat bike around Ballard, and had a great time of it. My canal effort would have been the same as John's, if it weren't for a lucky evening set that brought me more than 50 fish.
After a quick delivery I ran the boat around to the Seattle side for a one-hour set the caught us about 30 fish before it closed in Seattle's Area 10 at midnight.
The part that made all this goat-roping feasible was an outstanding $1.40 per pound that we were paid for chums, but there was a buyer paying $1.50! We haven't seen prices like these since 1989, and the chum price has NEVER gone up as the season gets later. I guess changing the name to KETA did some good after all!
TO BE CONTINUED…
Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
National Fisherman has been the industry standard for over 50 years. Readers from coast to coast depend on it to stay up to date on news, regulations, fish stocks, to research purchasing decisions and to stay informed of the newest vessel and product technology.
