Ship's Log May 26th-29th, 2020

Priceless Salmon

I have a calendar right behind me as I type this stuff on my computer at home. When I learned the season dates for salmon 2020, I put big X’s on each day open for April and May-June.

I got a lot of stuff done during the break after the first season which ended May 5th. My brain got a bit twisted somehow. I thought I had to fit what needed done into the dates May 5th thru the 19th which was when I had to go back to sea for second season. I went to work on home projects, Honey-do’s and some kid time. Jeff and I installed the new captain's chair on the James Lee, added on the new Troll Valve, and got the boat ready.

I ordered ice and picked it up morning of the 19th, supplied vessel with needs for a 5 day trip, then blew out of the Umpqua river with the last of the ebb tide. I was all excited, so I posted the trip leave story with a few photos of the new chair etc, and immediately got a message from a friend. Salmon Season 2 starts May 26 dumbass... (something like that!)...

Actually it was nicer than that, but immediately I felt that the dumbass part should have been inserted. I hollered the news to Jeff while hitting the Post Delete button over and over. SO EMBARRASSING! I put the boat into neutral and kinda floated there in my thoughts trying to come up with an excuse. Jeff suggested we test out the new troll valve and call it a win. “Yeah we just iced up and filled boat with a couple carts of food for a trip 6 days away and...” Not. I did not test the troll valve. Just pointed back in for the 7 mile trip to the dock to eat my humble pie.

Extra days to do Wyatt’s birdhouse project and enjoy his 13th birthday. Yup I was even going to blow thru that one in order to be out there fishing a closed ocean. We went shad fishing with the kids up the Umpqua and got some. GREAT little break.

Back to business on the 25th. My calendar shows it well, and always had the right X’s where they were supposed to be. The ice was melted. We got more, then headed out to face some pretty choppy seas in search of salmon. Saw a couple of drag boats on the way out.

With fishing, I have learned that the value of money is really different than the value of fish. Hard to explain the concept of that really. In an instant, a fisherman can either win or loose 1000’s or tens of 1000’s. A freezer problem can kill an entire load. A bad pump can result in a huge die off of live product. There is really no insurance for that. Also the fishing can be GREAT, or the fishing can be not so great. The value is in the product. The fish that are in perfect shape, ready for market. The dollar is the result of that successful effort. I am not a collector of dollars, I am a collector of fish, which results in the dollars somehow. My thinking is to find the fish, handle them as well as possible, and feed as many people as possible with that product. When I go to sea with these priorities straight, the results seem better than heading out to sea to “make a buck”. Which way should a person turn his or her focus?

My family loves salmon. Would I go PAY 500 bucks for 3 salmon? That is a lot of money to pay for 50 pounds of whole fish. I’ve never paid that much. So, I was having this conversation with God out there on day 3. Late in the day I was about to give up and thought hey “How about one to take home?” Just give me one more today and I will take it home. We got one more when we pulled the gear for the night.

Day 4 we awoke at 5:30am to a very windy and choppy sea. We were laying all night in the trough of it, getting rolled over and over and over. Hard to sleep! Three nights in a frickin row! My plan made the night before was to set up in the right spot to blow south all night (about 8-10 miles) and end up at the bottom of our tac. Then troll north til about 9:30am, and turn south and troll south till 11am, then head in for a safe incoming tide bar crossing about 5pm. But this weather! I wanted to quit, just bomb right on in the 32 miles and get home. But the bar would be ebbing strong into a bad sea and a no cross situation until late afternoon anyways. We set the gear and started a difficult bow mashing troll up north.

After an hour we checked our gear, then again and again, nothing on the way up. Fine. We turned south at 9am and I made bacon and pancakes and eggs. Seanna and Apollo got theirs too. The following sea gave comfort and the troll valve worked perfectly. Still no fish. I got into that conversation again in my head with God and thought ya know... 2 more fish and I will take home all 3 to the family...

We got a pumper! (That means fish on!)... We lost it!!

Finally we got to the bottom of the tac at 11am, pulled the gear for the last time and I landed those 2 fish! No shit! Big ones!!

We headed in and crossed the bar into the Umpqua River at 4:45pm with 38 salmon at over 13 pound average, near 500 pounds. Plus, a 55 pound halibut. (Bad ass different story!) These fish will be sold during this weekend’s Public Market in Eugene. My 3 salmon to take home weighed 49 pounds! I got them home and Zac and I cut them up and put them into a brine. We are going to explain what I do with them in a separate post. We still had time for a good dinner and a movie.