After nearly two weeks in the boat yard, the crew launched the boat on the 20th at 2:30am.
Bristol Bay 2020 has officially begun, and so far, so good. Since our new boat, the F/V Courageous, was stored in Naknek, the guys flew to the fishing grounds in a small plane with our friend and favorite pilot, Stephanie, who owns Beryl Air in Homer. They're now busy with boat work to prepare for the season.
The crew continued to fish through Saturday of last week, but after two days of sets with 10 fish here and 30 fish there (the ultimate scratch fishing!), they decided to call it a season. They wrapped things up in Egegik and headed back to Naknek to pull the boat out of the water.
The Bristol Bay peak has come and gone. Now the crew is enjoying some stretches of sleep longer than 2 hours, and they're going on adventures, exploring the Bristol Bay wilderness.
An update from Bristol Bay on July 19, 2019. Follow along to hear fishing stories and adventures while we catch wild Alaska sockeye salmon to send to your doorstep.
An incredible story + I'm happy to report this week marks the first week of no major mechanical issues with the F/V Sofia- a HUGE relief for us! Mike has had some very productive days out on the water.
The past week has been one of the most trying of Mike's life. After pulling the boat from the water and learning how bad the hydraulic problem was, the crew knew they had their work cut out for them. They also learned of a slew of other issues to fix. Mike was worried about the possibility of the boat failing and not being able to fish in Egegik at all! That would be a nightmare.
The new boat continues to have some mechanical problems, and on Monday, after about six hours of fishing, the hydraulics stopped working.
Wild sockeye salmon are starting to trickle into Bristol Bay and the crew of the F/V Sofia is ready for them.
Bristol Bay 2018 has begun. Mike will be running the F/V Sofia, a brand new boat built in Anchorage, Alaska. The crew is busy preparing the boat for the upcoming season.
We had another phenomenal fishing season in Bristol Bay! The fish were late, but in the end, more sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay than ever before- over 62 million fish! It was the second largest harvest in history, with over 41 million fish caught.
