Slim Pickin's

  As I had mentioned earlier in the season, I have to actually do something (fishing) that in theory will make me a few bucks. As a result, I haven't had too much time or energy to donate to this blog. So sorry, but as I age I find myself with less and less stamina. At the end of the day, and especially if I've been out on the water all day, I'm really drained, so I don't have much to give to writing. However, it's been a few days since I last fished, so I thought I would take a few minutes and try to put something out for the faithful few who have been reading this. The summer king opening started on July 1, which meant that the outside coast was  open for fishing. The difference is like night and day between fishing out on the ocean and fishing on the inside in the bays and inlets of the Inside Passage. On June 30th, I started on my way out to the coast. I was fighting the tide all the way out, figuring I would make it to South Pass right about the time the tide started going out, thus avoiding all the current and tide rips that typically occur on the ebb tide at the Pass. The wind was supposed to be blowing out of the East at ten knots, which normally would be almost flat calm. Frankly, I don't know if the folks at the National Weather Service just throw dice at a board and announce whatever they happen to land on and call it a forecast or what, but it was NOT blowing ten easterly. I was watching the charter and whale watch boats trying to get back into the dock to pick up the next unlucky batch of landlubbers and most of them were burying their bows in the steep waves and whitecaps. I had the wind pushing me along, so it wasn't quite so bad, until I reached Point Adolphus. Then it was a white knuckle ride for the next thirty minutes of so. If my hair wasn't already white for the most part, it would have been by the time I was through that washing machine ride. Once I got on the back side of the point where the wind wasn't so much of a factor, the fog started in. Oh Joy! Fortunately the radar was working, as well as the GPS, which makes all the difference in the world when traveling in the fog. It can still be disorienting though. I made it to the Pass at just about the right time and was congratulating myself, figuring I deserved a hot cup of coffee. I poured a cup and went to fill up the coffee pot, but no water came out of the faucet. Damn! The ice that I picked up for ballast was actually colder than the usual slush that I get and it froze the water line leading to the sink. Of course the moment you can't have something, that's all you can think of. I wanted a drink of water desperately bad. I was starting to panic. What if I started choking on a cookie or something and I didn't have any water to charge the drain? I might choke to death! Fortunately Elfin Cove was right around the corner, so I pulled in and bought a case of bottled water. There were 35 bottles in the case, but it took two just to get enough water for a decent cup of coffee. Of course because I didn't have any other water to tap in to, my mind kept telling me I needed a drink of water every few minutes.At that rate I'd have to come back to the cove for another case before the night was over. After supper that first night I realized that I didn't have any water to do dishes with. Rats! I had to resort to using the salt water wash down hose to clean my dishes and then put the plug in the sink and sparingly pour a little fresh stuff to rinse them. What a pain. Then of course I needed some to brush my teeth. I thought about using some Powerade to brush with, but the idea kind of nauseated me. Vitamin Water wouldn't work either, even though there was a bottle of it in the cooler that was clear. I can't recall what the flavor was, but I doubt if the American Academy of dental hygienists would approve of using it as a rinse. Go figure.I did have a couple of refreshing Miller Lights in the cooler, but beer and Pepsodent probably wouldn't work either. I'd look like I was foaming at the mouth, and actually if I had resorted to such a thing, I would probably deserve to be put away. Anyway, I caught a fair number of King Salmon over the course of the four days I was out there and made it home safe and sound. Once I got in to port I decided to try the faucet one last time, even though all previous attempts had yielded not a drop. I may as well have been in the Sahara. Of course once I got tied up in port, the line had thawed and copious amounts of that liquid delight gushed forth like a Texas oil well. Was I surprised? Of course not! I wouldn't have expected anything different.