Gillnetting for chum salmon off Seattle

November 8-9, 2010 — Hours of opening: 4 p.m. Sunday to 8 a.m. Monday
 
This would be the last night of gillnetting Puget Sound for me. It was not expected to open the next week in areas 10 and 11 (Seattle area). I had to attend the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association meeting the next week, and Fish Expo, so I would miss any openings, which would probably be only in Everett or Bellingham, Wash., anyway.
 
The weather was sort of crummy, but bearable. There were a few fish around; I sold more than 100 to my specialty market and brought about 60 back to San Juan Island to sell to my local fish eaters. I fished in my usual and accustomed spot off Alki Point. There wasn’t much shipping traffic, so I could leave the net in the water if it drifted into the shipping lanes.
 
Joining me on this night was Nelson, a 14-year-old kid from San Juan Island, who is interested in fishing in Alaska. Nelson was there mostly to observe, but he did a great job ripping the gills out of the keta salmon, to bleed them, as they came aboard. He hung in there just fine through a steady breeze from the south through the whole opening.
 
I told Nelson he could crash out any time, which he did by 11:00 p.m. But he was up for the last haul, then he ran the boat back across Elliot Bay toward the locks while I dressed a few fish and cleaned up the deck.
 
TO BE CONTINUED…