Since my last post I have added a couple of new tools to my weather watching arsenal. One is a subscription to a website www.sailflow.com. They have a couple of different service levels, and the one I got is $2.99 a month I think. It is really a wind tracking service primarily intended for sailors. But when the wind kicks up, so do the waves, so I find it a very useful tool. They have a free iPad app as well, so that makes it easy to use. I also found another marine weather app for the iPad called "WeatherMap+" that seems to be very helpful. The app was about $10 but there is no ongoing service fee.
I had Thursday and Friday after Christmas off, so I used these tools to try to find the best time to go out and not get hammered too badly by the weather. This time of year I don't hope or expect "good" weather, I just hope to get "not horrible" weather.
Even though the winds were not expected to be too bad over these two days, I certainly did not expect sunny and warm weather. Heavy rain was in the forecast.
I was solo for this quick overnight trip.
I left the harbor about 7 AM on the Friday after Christmas. It was still dark, so the nav lights were on and the radar was humming.
I decided that since the photo ops were probably going to be slim on this trip (due to the marginal weather) that I would take this opportunity to show in a little more detail how I prepare, set and pull my shrimp pots. This is primarily for my non-Alaskan friends and relatives, since some of them have inquired about this process. Let me say up front that I certainly don't profess to be an expert at this. I have only been shrimping for the last few years, while many around here have been doing it for decades.
Here is a shot of my 3 shrimp pots, which I carry with me all the time. In this shot they are upside down, and the "tunnels" are not set up yet. More about the tunnels later. You can't see them in this shot but each pot has a section of webbing that has been cut and resewed with a special cotton thread that deteriorates in salt water. That way if the pot is abandoned on the bottom the thread will rot and a section of the webbing will open so that any shrimp inside will be able to escape.
These 3 pots will be connected to the same ground line with strong metal clips. They are spaced about 15' - 20' apart. The ground line is 600' long, but I rarely fish them that deep.
In the above shot you can see the 3 orange bait canisters, some chopped frozen bait herring, and a bag of shrimp bait pellets. These pellets are purchased in bulk and I assume are made from fish wastes. (A member of my crew who will remain unnamed once fed them to our dogs, mistaking them for dog food. They loved it, but the effects were immediate and "epic.")
I mix the herring with the pellets in the bait canisters. The canisters have slots and openings in them so the scent can get out.
Here you can see the bait canister ready to be closed up. I put the herring in first and then fill to the top with the pellets. Others use different mixtures here, with some using all herring, or all bait pellets. Some people slather the whole mess in fish oil. It's all about the scent.
In this shot I tried to show the tunnels. Focus on the small metal ring just off center to the right. It is being held in place by the small black rubber bungee cords to pull it tight. There are 3 tunnels, pulled into the center, which allow the shrimp to get in, but makes it very difficult for them to get out.
This shot shows the hanging bait. I save a lot of the carcasses from salmon and halibut that are caught during the season to use for hanging bait.
Here are my 3 pots stacked, ready to be dropped. Obviously it is important to get them stacked in the right order, with the line laid out in such a way that it won't get tangled in itself, or in your feet or hands as it is being run out. It's also very important not to let any part of the pots or the line get under the boat. Getting a line fouled in the prop is very bad.
When I have a helper it is a lot easier. Then I can just run slowly forward as he/she drops the pots over one by one and then plays the line out. When I am alone I have to pay more attention to the wind and the natural drift of the boat, since I can't steer the boat and be on the back deck at the same time.
This shot shows my primary navigational unit. It has many screens, but this one is the GPS (Global Positioning System) map. You can see Waypoint #52, which is where I intended to drop the pots. Below that you can see the black triangle, which is the boat, and the red line, which is my track. Just FYI, SOG is speed over ground (in knots), COG is course over ground (compass course), DPT is depth in feet, and POSN is position in latitude and longitude.
And of course you have to have some way to find the pots when you return, so there is a large buoy on the surface. The buoy must have your name, address, phone number, and boat name (I think). I attach a smaller buoy (the blue one in this photo) for two reasons. It makes it easier to snag the line with the boat hook when you retrieve the pots. But more importantly for me, it shows which way the drift is running. As I noted before, I don't want the line underneath the boat, so it is important to know which way the boat will drift while I am pulling the pots. This is particularly important when I am pulling them by myself, which is usually the case. I can't pull the pots and maneuver the boat at the same time, so the boat has to drift away from the line so it doesn't go under the boat.
At this point I left the pots and headed to the Naha. But in order to continue on this track I'll finish up the pot pulling for the sake of momentum.
These 2 shots show my pot puller as it is deployed and as it is stored. As pot pullers go this one is pretty wimpy, but it serves my needs very well. It is electric (12 VDC) and is mounted on a downrigger base. I like it because it is easy to set up and easy to stow away when I don't need it. But, the trade off is that it is limited in its power. I tried to add a 4th pot to my string, but it seemed to tax the puller a bit too much so I took it off.
The line is threaded around the large wheel in such a way that it pulls the line up. With 600' of line out it is very difficult to pull it up by hand.
Unfortunately this time I did not get a very good haul. I think my record is about 180 shrimp, but only got about 30 this time. The above shot shows the pots stacked on deck after pulling them, and the few shrimp inside can be seen. The bait is just thrown away, unless the plan is to reset them right away.
Once in awhile we get creatures other than shrimp in the pots. This time I got a big star fish, but sometimes we will get an octopus. The octopus chows down on the shrimp while he is in there and we find empty shrimp carcasses.
A meager haul for all the work that was involved. We "pop" the heads off and save just the tails. At least that's how I do it. I offered some shrimp to some fellow boaters one time and they were disappointed to find the heads had been removed. Apparently they like to steam them whole.
We usually boil them (easy and fast) or butterfly them and deep fry them in tempura mix (difficult, messy, and time consuming, but Oh so delicious!) If you want some recipes for preparing shrimp I suggest 3 alternatives:
- Buy a recipe book
- Google it
- Watch the movie "Forrest Gump"
So that's it for the shrimping lesson. Remember that I am no expert, as can be seen from the meager haul this time. But we certainly enjoy it and when I go on these short one night over night trips it works out well to set them on the way out and pull them on the way back.
Now, on to the rest of the trip at the Naha.
Here's the Silver King Fishing Lodge, which is a going concern over the summer season, but not so much this time of year.
And of course here is the obligatory shot of Faraway at her second home at the Naha dock. Can you believe it? No one else was here when I arrived about noon.
I had a quick lunch and then got my gear together for a hike up the trail. Even though the Winter Solstice has passed and the daylight hours are supposed to be increasing, it is still winter and I estimated that it would be full dark in the woods by around 3:30 PM.
The tide was at about half stage heading towards a low tide, so the water from the lagoon was surging out as it headed towards salt water.
Anyone who has taken wildlife photos knows, we never know how close we will be allowed to approach, and we never know how long the subject will stick around. In this case this squirrel was very accommodating. He didn't seem to mind my presence and in fact seemed curious about the flash.
Here are a few scenic shots of the reflections in the lagoon. It was a dead calm day up there and the surface of the lagoon was like a mirror. I know I have taken many similar shots before, but I just could not pass these up. The photos don't do the experience justice. Being alone up on that trail in late December and being able to take these photos was very special for me.
I first walked this trail in July of 1978. My older daughter Jennifer was barely 6 months old and my younger daughter Karen was not yet born. Each time I walk the trail now I am painfully aware that the day will come when I can no longer take this hike. The boardwalks are treacherously slippery, and there are blow downs that need to be skirted. Everything is just harder when you get old. But, that day has not come yet, and so I continue to enjoy taking this hike and seeing what there is to see.
Above are a couple of shots of "Bear Bread" that I saw along the trail. This is a type of fungus that grows on trees in this area. I like the second one the best. Looks like a big frog eating a snail.
That was it for the hike, as it was getting dark.
I went back to the boat for "cabin time." I bring plenty of diversions on winter trips like this because I know I'll be stuck inside for many hours before the next daylight.
I spent a quiet, but rainy, night on board.
On Saturday morning I was up well before daylight, and was surprised to see another boat coming in at about 7:30 AM, while it was still dark. It was a 24' runabout with 2 men and a young girl on board. They were decked out with fishing garb and gear and said they were headed up for a day of fishing on the river.. Just like me they wanted "one last trip" before the end of the year.
I pulled out about 8 AM while it was still trying to get light, and saw two more small boats coming in carrying canoes, so I presume they were also heading up river to fish.
On the way home I stopped to pull the shrimp pots, previously described.
The winds were higher than expected on the way home. I guess they didn't read the predictions.
Every landing into the stall is different, no matter how many times I do it. Winds, tide, crew, other boats, etc. all play a part in getting the boat into the stall. When I am alone of course it is a much greater challenge. When I have young agile crew men on board I just have to get close to the finger float and they leap off and haul me in. When I'm by myself it is a much different story.
I always back into my stall so that my bow faces the southeast. That's where most of our really bad weather comes from, especially in the winter. I have twin engines and a bow thruster, so the boat is very maneuverable, but still conditions always make it a challenge.
You can guess by now that I had problems getting into the stall on this landing. The winds were not especially strong, certainly not the strongest I have encountered while landing. But they were blowing away from the finger float, which presents a problem.
When I backed into the stall and jumped out on the finger float with the lines in my hand the wind caught the boat and pulled it away from me. I was struggling to hold it, and I was losing. The boat weighs over 21000 lbs and that big flybridge is like a sail in the wind. Just as I managed to get the line wrapped around the cleat, the boat swiveled and the swim step jumped up on the finger float and hit another big cleat, causing a big bite to be taken out of the swim step. Ouch!
Coincidentally the last time I had the boat out on blocks for spring maintenance I had a very similar ding in the swim step repaired.. Price tag for that was about $500 if I recall.
In any case, at least there were no injuries and no damage to any other boats in the area.
Last trip of the year - 41.7 nm.
