The moment we’ve been waiting for since we put our gear away last fall has finally come. Salmon are running, and come June 9th, we’ll be slipping our freshly hung nets into the salty depths to see what sockeye grace us with their presence. A little taste of the excitement came our way the other day, setting our subsistence net and immediately seeing the silver sparkle and thrash of our first fish of the season! Catching two in mere moments was perfect - enough to feed a group of neighbors in a bountiful pre-season potluck and enough to whet our appetites for catching and eating more of these beauties in the months to come.

Tollef works on one of his myriad welding projects, getting our skiffs all ship shape

It’s always such a relief to begin the actual fishing part of our lives. The month of May goes by in such a whirlwind of projects and preparation, with lists a mile long, that we hardly have time to take a breath. In no particular order, we are finalizing hiring crew, shopping for food for 3 + months, repairing nets and gear, upgrading our skiffs and equipment and smoothing out old dings, getting the gardens going to feed us for the summer, opening up camps, taking window boards off, weedwhacking and mowing nonstop, making sure all the nitpicky things like electronics and safety gear are in tip top shape, all the while trying to also get more done on our house and shop while the sun (literally) shines. Oh, and don’t forget harvesting and then putting away the kelp farm gear for the summer. Fishing itself, while hard physically, brings us back to a more focused existence, back to the rhythm of tides and winds, waves and currents, and of course fish!

And So It Begins.....