I took the Salvation Army pastors and their kids shrimping today. The pastors are originally from the Czech Republic, and their kids still live there. It was the kids first visit to the US.
After a shitty, shitty May of weather – normally a best month to be here – we got calm winds and just light rain. Not bad, all things considered.
We left a little after our scheduled 8 am departure as the daughter had eaten Dungeness crab for the first time the evening before, and seems to have had an allergic reaction – swelling around her eyes.
The troop sounded like they wanted to cancel early in the morning. Because it was sprinkling. I think they thought we were going out in an open skiff, so I sent them some encouragement and a picture of the tug, and they were ready to go.
It was about a 3 hour run to the shrimping spot. I got some advice from Nick on the way, as he’d been there the most recently. We saw a couple humpback whales as we headed up the inlet, and there were lots of the various seabirds – murrellettes, murres, seagulls, scoters, Bonaparte gulls, and the like – working the waters.
When we got to the area, I ran a track at about 100 feet, and studied the sounder to be sure there were no obvious obstacles to hang the net. Then we turned around and followed the track back while I deployed the net. It’s always a cluster the first set. Tangled lines, tying lines together, etc. But we got it set and towed for about half an hour.
The haul was decent. About a 5 gallon pail full of mostly pink shrimp, with a handful of side stripes. After removing the fish and seaweed, we had about 4 gallons of shrimp.
We turned around and made another pass on a different tack. We hung up on something after 20 minutes or so, and I think it was an old crab pot buoy and line as it appeared when we got the towline hauled and pulling in the net leads.
When I went to haul back the second tow, the electric hauler didn’t work! Just dead. I reset the switch at the battery. Nothing. I put the volt tester at the battery leads on the back wall where the hauler leads bolted on: a solid 13+ volts. So, I took the line forward to the anchor capstain and hauled back the line that way. When I got the net leads up, I hauled them around to the back again to the swim step and up through the stern door. Another 1–2 gallons of shrimp the second haul. As I was sorting the mess of lines near the hauler, there it was: the battery lead from the hauler to the battery leads was laying on the deck! The wire had come out of the ring terminal crimp! Problem solved.
The pink shrimp were much larger than the tiny ones Kurt and I got in January, and there wasn’t a single shrimp carrying eggs.
The pastor mother broke out homemade bread, sliced roast pork and pickles for lunch on the way home. She cooks lunches like these for our monthly Salvation Army Advisory Board meetings, and the Eastern European foods are always great. She made rhubarb cake, too.
We got home early in the evening, and after losing my cherry spot in the harbor to a rogue gillnetter, I found a spot next to my friend Matt, who said his stall neighbor was on the grid in Hoonah, so not to worry about using the stall. Matt towed me into Funter Bay when I ran out of fuel – could it be 30 years ago?!? – and we’ve been friends ever since. He’s got teen boys now and I’ve been happy giving him lots of Paul’s steel shotgun shells for him to take his kids duck hunting on the Juneau flats.
The Czechs took what shrimp they wanted, and then I got busy getting rid of the rest of the shrimp. A lady sitting by her boat on the float near us took a handful – “this will make an omelete”. Then to the flats to Jeffy, Chris, Mila and Ben. On to Chris at the shop in the Valley for his, and then a stop at the Africans for theirs. When I got home, I scooped out a large stainless bowl full to start on, and Bob would come by later to take the remainder from the bucket.
I spent about 45 minutes pinching the heads from the shrimp and putting the heads in one bowl, and the tails in another, in full contentment.
I later put the heads in a blender and put the paste in vac pac bags to freeze, and use for shrimp cakes. The tails I put in the fridge to eat tomorrow.
Sara’s last day of the legislative session was today. I can hear her sawing logs in the other room with the TV on after another year comes to a close in the legislature.
I realized for me at the end of the day on the tug how I was bee boppin’ around on my new hip and it was all so enjoyable. Just a great frickin’ day all around.
I couldn’t wait til later to test the shrimp paste. I took some out of the freezer, as it wasn’t frozen through yet. Added an egg, chopped onion, Mama Lil’s peppers and spooned it out into a hot pan of butter. Topped with kelp relish, mayo and sriracha sauce. Pretty good! This doubles or more our use of shrimp weight.
