We've already caught more than our total catch last season, so the crew is stoked. They're also stoked that transferring to a new district means you have to wait 48 hours before fishing again. That means sleep!
Meet the crew of the F/V Courageous for the 2022 Bristol Bay salmon season.
Mike reports watching Beluga whales this morning, and they're ready to fish the Nushagak River.
The F/V Courageous is in the water!: After a long day with a full page to-do list, we launched the Courageous Tuesday night at 8pm. Everything went smoothly, and the engine sounds excellent.
Quick update on the boat: we're not in the water yet, but we're SO CLOSE! The engine started up well, then quit the other day.
Mike's been working hard to prepare the F/V Courageous to launch. Our most loyal crewmember, Bhajan (who is now like family), is back for his 5th season with us. He and Mike have been putting in long hours doing a massive deep clean on the engine. Every season has its challenges, but there's obviously a much better chance of everything going smoothly if you catch potential problems in the preseason.
More sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay than ever before. The last harvest data recorded is from August 1st. It shows a total run of 65,859,000. Fishermen harvested 40,227,000 of those, and the rest escaped. Here's to sustainable salmon runs and the biologists who help ensure fish will be around for generations to come.
We're close to a record-breaking season in Bristol Bay. It's winding down, but Mike just made a crew swap to get new energy in for the last couple of weeks.
The Journey from Homer to Bristol Bay by way of Williamsport.
We launched the boat on Monday the 14th, a few days behind schedule, but everything went great and she's just about ready to make the journey from Homer to the fishing grounds in Naknek.
