Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 The summer King Salmon season has arrived here in Southeast Alaska, and much like a kid who has waited for Christmas all year, I'm ecstatic that it is finally here. As a general rule I don't bother fishing for kings in the winter. There aren't many around where I am, most of them are located out on the coast, and I have no intention of traveling to Sitka in the winter to try my hand a catching a few, so I'm always happy to get the chance to fish close to home. In years past, there has been what became known as experimental openings, where trollers were allowed to catch kings in April through June, in part because of a three percent tax that is imposed on all commercial salmon fishers to supplement the fishery. However, for the past several years, the King Salmon runs haven't done well, for a variety of reasons, which no one is really sure of. That resulted in fisheries being shut down in order to preserve the species. I don't mind taking a loss for  a few ...

 Well, the 2017 fishing season is pretty much in the bag. At least as far as the cohos go. Without a doubt, it was the best year I've ever had in the thirty nine years I've been commercial fishing. One of the most fun for sure. For  most of July we had the best weather I'd ever seen. Day after day of calm seas, coupled with a steady run of cohos passing through Icy Strait from the beginning of the season to the end. We had so many good weather days that I was starting to wish for a little storm to pass through just so I could get some rest. Frankly, I was exhausted. Catching too many fish isn't the kind of thing that you want to bitch about too loud though. "Oh gee, I'm so tired of making all this money." Of course being  money, it comes and goes like the tide. I look at my checkbook and wonder where it all went. I know I made some, but where's it at? I learned years ago that when you have a good season, you need to invest in your ...

With help from my daughter Camille, I was able to transfer this picture onto the blog. I wish I knew the exact weight or at least the length of this gal. In the back of the tide books there is a table wich gives an estimated weight for halibut, depending on their length.  All the large halibut are females. They grow faster and get larger than their male counterparts. I'm not sure why that is, just God's plan I guess. I was reading some research on halibut which stated that in some circumstances female  halibut can actually change sex to fertilize eggs. It has something to do with ocean conditions- not enough males around to get the job done I think. These fish are unusual anyhow. When they're born they have an eye on each side of their head, but within a short time the left eye migrates to the right side, so both eyes are on the same side.As that happens, the brown coloration that is on both sides gradually fades and one side becomes white as they settle on the bottom. ...