Fish ON

Meghan lifts weights the Kodiak way

"Fish ON!" Our landlord, friend and all around good guy Stan shouts as he runs past me from the cabin of the F/V Buccaneer to the starboard trawl line. Before I have time to gather my senses Stan hands me the pole and impels me to "reel 'em in." As I take the pole it is immediately pulled by a very strong force down toward the sea. The downward force is a large king salmon. Soon Meg and skipper John are at the stern shouting commands and encouragement. Later, John will compare learning to fish with a king salmon on the line to learning to shoot a rifle while in battle. The commands I am able to understand instruct me to keep constant tension on the line and keep reeling. After what seems like minutes of fighting my left forearm, holding the pole, soon reaches a threshold of fatigue and I am forced to focus on the water, my feet on the deck, anything to relieve the thought that I might not be able to hold on much longer. The fish rises and dives several times before offering himself to the surface. A large net will lift him from the icy blue North Pacific to the ship's white deck. Seconds later our next catch is netted, an equally magnificent king salmon, and dropped on deck. Within moments after a couple of hours of trawling in Mormot Bay near Kodiak we've caught to two king salmon weighing a combined 55 lbs.

Pacific grey cod; man

Reeling from the success of our salmon haul, Stan and the Skipper decide to drop anchor and retool to hook halibut. Soon the tide levels out, good for fishing we are told, and the Buccaneer brings us another round of luck. Off the port side Skipper John soon hooks a few halibut and flounder. We keep the largest halibut and Meghan gets to kiss her first flatfish, a local tradition. After watching skipper John's success I reel in my line to check the bait. Sure enough a lucky halibut has bitten off the tail end of the herring on my hook and escaped unscathed. I string another herring to the hook and soon feel a tug. Stan and the Skipper instruct me to "reel 'em in slowly." Pulling the line from a depth of 140 ft. a Pacific grey cod soon presents himself to the surface. After 4 hours at sea we sailed back to port with two king salmon, cod, halibut, and a experience we will not soon forget.

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