Sorry Eh!

[Binhill1]

The only commercial fishing I did was to help a friend for 4 days. Salmon trolling in Seymour Narrows.(Vancouver Island) I cleaned and occasionally navigated. Deck hand was useless though. He could only cook canned beans and spaghetti, and never added enough ice to the catch. Most ended up spoiling. One day he grabbed radio mic and started yelling “May-day May-day”. My buddy and I freaked out …false alarm averted. Then the next day he opened up a can of spaghetti Upside Down.wtf. We threw that meal overboard.
I’ve never commercial fished after that experience.
20 knot tides in that area.

Some tides that. I was about 15 years at it Deep sea trawling out of Aberdeen . Started at 15 years old I couldn't handle that nowadays. Some horrendous weather in the North Sea .

 

[steve_sordy]

Fantastic memories guys, absolutely great! I assume it is still happening today?

 

[Stihldog]

Fantastic memories guys, absolutely great! I assume it is still happening today?

Haven’t even started on the weather. But there’s only so much you can say about snow.

 

[Binhill1]

Aye when I were a lad

 

[Stihldog]

…I remember…

 

[Zed]

Cup of hot gravel!

 

[Mabman]

The only commercial fishing I did was to help a friend for 4 days. Salmon trolling in Seymour Narrows.(Vancouver Island) I cleaned and occasionally navigated. Deck hand was useless though. He could only cook canned beans and spaghetti, and never added enough ice to the catch. Most ended up spoiling. One day he grabbed radio mic and started yelling “May-day May-day”. My buddy and I freaked out …false alarm averted. Then the next day he opened up a can of spaghetti Upside Down.wtf. We threw that meal overboard.
I’ve never commercial fished after that experience.
20 knot tides in that area.

I have been through the Narrows many times going back and forth to AK to commercial fish on Purse Seiners for salmon. Back in the late 70's with a 58' wooden boat made in the 40's with only an Iron Mike and a radar and a Cap Hansen's book to the Inside Passage I still wonder how we made it....In later years with the advent of GPS and computer software navigating was much easier but the tides and currents still ruled. One time we came into the narrows late at night and turned the watch over and when I got up from a rest four hours later we still weren't to Campbell River....we jogged under the powerlines for several hours apparently against a flood tide. We would leave Bellingham to time our arrival at the narrows on a favorable tide but it was a bit harder to gauge going south.

Over the years I was in on over 5 million lbs. of production and was primarily the skiff man and this was my ride the last few seasons. The early version were way less skookum.

These are the types of boats used in that fishery. Limited to 58' in length but over the years the modern boats grew in width and some up to 26' wide! The boat I was on that year was the Lake Bay made in the late 70's in Seattle. I also fished on the Misty Moon that was the same boat basically. The more modern ones in the center are used year round for fishing Halibut and Black Cod as well as sardines in California.

It was a good job for the most part although as any job requiring long hours in possibly adverse conditions it had it's moments to be sure. In all the years only had one cook that really did the job well and it is kind of a thing that cooks are expected to be the odd man on board. Also in the early days we had a 6 man crew that over time devolved into a 5 man crew and living in close quarters for 3 months brought some tense moments due to personality conflicts....But the skipper was always right even when he wasn't!

The bonus was the excitement of big fishing days and big fish and the lows were the small ones but in the end we always made good money.

 

[Binhill1]

Hard life the sea. I was on the top boat in my area for three years made and spent a lot of money. 36 hours on deck non stop was common practice I remember once doing 48 hours. The sign of someone falling asleep standing was they started to throw the guts in a basket and the fish over the side. Fishermans tales we could go on and on. Where my house was within à hundred yards in different houses five different men were lost at sea and never found . All on different boats so in total probably 30 from my town over a couple of years in the 80s I remember. We have a memorial Chapel with hundreds of names going back to 1800s the Queen opened it. Bless them. I

 

[Stihldog]

I have been through the Narrows many times going back and forth to AK to commercial fish on Purse Seiners for salmon. Back in the late 70's with a 58' wooden boat made in the 40's with only an Iron Mike and a radar and a Cap Hansen's book to the Inside Passage I still wonder how we made it....In later years with the advent of GPS and computer software navigating was much easier but the tides and currents still ruled. One time we came into the narrows late at night and turned the watch over and when I got up from a rest four hours later we still weren't to Campbell River....we jogged under the powerlines for several hours apparently against a flood tide. We would leave Bellingham to time our arrival at the narrows on a favorable tide but it was a bit harder to gauge going south.

Over the years I was in on over 5 million lbs. of production and was primarily the skiff man and this was my ride the last few seasons. The early version were way less skookum.

View attachment 126485

These are the types of boats used in that fishery. Limited to 58' in length but over the years the modern boats grew in width and some up to 26' wide! The boat I was on that year was the Lake Bay made in the late 70's in Seattle. I also fished on the Misty Moon that was the same boat basically. The more modern ones in the center are used year round for fishing Halibut and Black Cod as well as sardines in California.

View attachment 126486

It was a good job for the most part although as any job requiring long hours in possibly adverse conditions it had it's moments to be sure. In all the years only had one cook that really did the job well and it is kind of a thing that cooks are expected to be the odd man on board. Also in the early days we had a 6 man crew that over time devolved into a 5 man crew and living in close quarters for 3 months brought some tense moments due to personality conflicts....But the skipper was always right even when he wasn't!

The bonus was the excitement of big fishing days and big fish and the lows were the small ones but in the end we always made good money.

View attachment 126487

That is so friggen cool. The open ocean above Port Hardy is somewhere I couldn’t go to. (Scary)

The tide in the Seymour Narrows is so fast that most boats just waited for the slack. Or sail backwards

 

[Stihldog]

Hard life the sea. I was on the top boat in my area for three years made and spent a lot of money. 36 hours on deck non stop was common practice I remember once doing 48 hours. The sign of someone falling asleep standing was they started to throw the guts in a basket and the fish over the side. Fishermans tales we could go on and on. Where my house was within à hundred yards in different houses five different men were lost at sea and never found . All on different boats so in total probably 30 from my town over a couple of years in the 80s I remember. We have a memorial Chapel with hundreds of names going back to 1800s the Queen opened it. Bless them. I

Besides my sailboat racing in the Johnston Straight, my feet were happy on dry land. Most of my career was as a West Coast Faller out of Campbell River and the inlets. My final years as a Heli-Faller where trees were are as big as your truck. So much history and a few tragic stories could be told. Some things I wish I could un-see.

 

[Twisted Fork]

Where I live is mostly flat, I have to drive places to get any elevation/declination.

I live not too far from Revelstoke Mountain Resort, a lift access ski/bike resort in southern BC. There you can take the gondola up then ride up another 500 m or so in elevation to get to the top of a trail named Fifty-Six-Twenty. It’s named that because it drops 5620 vertical feet (1713 metres) of continuous flow without ever needing to turn your pedals.
I’ve never heard of anyone doing the whole thing without at least one rest break, but it sure is fun to try. It’s very easy to turn your rotors a pretty shade of blue on that trail!

 

[Binhill1]

I live not too far from Revelstoke Mountain Resort, a lift access ski/bike resort in southern BC. There you can take the gondola up then ride up another 500 m or so in elevation to get to the top of a trail named Fifty-Six-Twenty. It’s named that because it drops 5620 vertical feet (1713 metres) of continuous flow without ever needing to turn your pedals.
I’ve never heard of anyone doing the whole thing without at least one rest break, but it sure is fun to try. It’s very easy to turn your rotors a pretty shade of blue on that trail!

I would be taking my stove and a pie I'm never in a hurry. Some descent that. I always fancied a cycle trip to Whistler as I have been skiing there. I think somewhere in the alps is more doable now but have to be soon before I'm too old. It would be all the easy stuff though.