Father & Son (Happy 60th Birthday Al!)

Today is my husband’s 60th birthday. He is King Salmon fishing. With our son. Captaining our salmon troller, the Saint Jude.

When our son was young, he also went commercial fishing with his dad. Usually with a deckhand on board, though his first King Salmon trip was off of the “prairie” in Washington state when he was 7-years-old. Just he and his dad were on that trip too. Freezing King Salmon on board.

Here is a photo when our son was younger fishing off of the California coast.

My husband and son with an ocean-caught King Salmon aboard the Saint Jude. Fishing Season 2013.

Our boy is the sole crewman for this current trip

He is old enough, now, to land Kings. It may be the first trip he is paid a percentage of the catch, depending on how he does cleaning the fish and practicing landing them.

We are currently on a 50 fish King Salmon quota here in Washington State, for this trip. The dock price for iced fish is low as the Alaska troll King Salmon season started on July 1st. There will be plentiful fish on the fresh market. Requiring extra strategies to get the best price for the premium grade of fish that our  boat delivers.

So the on board blast freezer is on, and the fish will be processed for our direct markets, local customers. Filling a niche market in the Winter months.

(Happy Birthday Al! I hope the fish are biting, wherever you are!)

I suspect there is nowhere in the world my husband would rather be right now. He has put in over 40 consecutive fishing seasons as a King Salmon troller!

Our son, too, likes fishing.

When he found out he would be getting to go out on the next King Salmon trip, now that school is out for summer break, our boy packed his XtraTuff boots and changed into fishing clothes in the wink of an eye.

He put on long pants and a gray knit watch cap even though the weather outside was hot for our marine climate here at home in Sequim, WA.

We had to get him to change back into shorts. Let him know that the boat was in a port further down the coast from where we live.
That evening, he would take the bus with his dad, to where the boat was moored in Westport, WA.

Capt. Al & son boarding a bus.

Our boy is getting tall. From the back, he looks a lot like his dad. When he has his brown XtraTuff boots on, our son, is nearly a dead ringer for Al when he was younger.

To Allan: Enjoy. Every. Single. Minute.

Soon, our son will be a man.  Just as our daughter is now a young woman. And then, it will be just you and I growing old together … with our memories.

 

The F/V Saint Jude And Her Fishing Family (a symbiotic relationship)

The boat is nearly ready. For the new fishing season.

The Saint Jude is the basis of our livelihood.

She is a member of the family.

As is the case with fishing boats and their fishing families everywhere.

Today a brand new generator is being installed in the engine room of the Saint Jude. Rewinding the old generator did not work. For reasons yet undetermined.

Tomorrow the season starts where we want to be fishing our boat.
For now, though, the Saint Jude is in port close to home. It is blowing Westerly gale in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is small craft on the coast.

Fishing is like that. Getting off course happens. A generator, freshly rewound, fails to work properly.

Decisions need to be made.

Go fishing with the boat as it is. Using a hand pump for any accumulated ice melt in the hold?

Or get a new generator installed before the start of the season?

We need the generator to power the on-board blast freezer. Which allows us to process premium quality salmon and produce sashimi grade albacore on board. Many of which will be direct marketed to our customers.

(To learn more about our fishing family business, please feel free to check out our web-site: http://www.freshfrozenfish.net )

Fishermen tend to get impatient. Their fishing/business partner wives, not so much.

We want to have the family back together safely at the end of the season.

An experienced fisherman’s wife looks at the big picture. Not the day to day fishing. Not the trip to trip fishing. Not even the season to season fishing.

An experienced fisherman’s wife looks at the occupation of being a commercial fishing family in terms of survival.

Decade to decade.

It is a challenge. A monetary challenge. A lifestyle challenge. An exercise in patience.

A commercial fisherman is called to the sea.

It is important to understand this in relating to commercial fishermen.

When the boat is ready, the fisherman’s wife knows it often before the fisherman. For it is the boat that will care for her husband while she is on shore caring for children still attending school.

The boat is expensive. Demanding.

A fisherman’s wife accepts this. Jewels and exotic vacations are less important than new equipment for the boat.

It is not a sacrifice, being a fisherman’s wife, for the pay-off is great.

Fishermen’s wives and fishing families eat the finest seafood available!

There is satisfaction, also, in pursuing an occupation that one is born to.

When the boat is ready for the season, everyone in the family will feel it.

We will know when the wind backs off.

Until then, we are test driving four wheel drive pick-up trucks to replace the old fish truck we recently lost to an engine fire. We are enjoying Spring Break with the kids out of school, exploring museums, enjoying a little leisure time as a family.

Perhaps the Saint Jude knew we needed this.

F/V Saint Jude in Port Angeles Harbor.

In a small fishing family operation, a fisherman’s wife pays attention to the boat as much as the fisherman does. The livelihood of her family depends on this.

The Saint Jude is part of our family. I will do everything in my power to take care of her so she can help to take care of our family safely!