June 9, 2005

A baker’s dozen yesterday. Lots of herring here, with a couple dozen eagles constantly airborne over the schools, trying for a fish. Today, overcast, with 6 fish from 4am to 9am.
Caught my first coho of the season yesterday, and one more today.
Catching many small halibut. I’d always thought of them as strictly bottom dwellers, but I’ve caught many at least 60 feet off the bottom, likely traveling up to feed on the massive schools of herring here.

Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115

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June 8, 2005

Replaced the compass on the autopilot and that fixed the problem. Caught one of my largest kings yesterday eve.

Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115

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June 7, 2005

Traveled to Chatham yesterday. Caught one king upon arrival. Today, 3 kings and 2 lost at the boat so far. Sunny and warm again. Incredibly, now the autopilot, which I repaired last year, is acting up. Hpoefully just a little air in the system, as after a midday nap, it now appears to be working fine. The rebuilt transmission appears to be running just fine. It appears our waters are becoming more and more of a police state. The Coast Guard appears to be checking every fishing boat in their radar range. Not sure what threat our little fishing boats are to national security so far from any important strategic or economic center, but it makes you wonder hoe much of our freedom and privacy we are willing to give up. We, after all, elect the people who dictate national security policy.

Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115

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May 30, 2005

When it rains it pours. New muffler last week. Now have to pull the transmission this week and get it taken care of once and for all, as it still is not maintaining oil pressure properly. I hope my customers can bear with us. So, returning to town after a short trip.

Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115

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May 29, 2005

Caught a half dozen large king salmon fishing 4 am to 9 pm. Kelp everywhere, and hard to keep it off the trolling wire. Never seen so much in this area. My old standby spoons – #7 Mother of Pearl Canadian Wonder, have caught no fish lately. I’ve been using a much smaller spoon behind a flasher, and these seem to be catching a good percentage of the fish. Very fish weather today – overcast and flat calm. It rained a little last night as well. No fish this morning, so moving to the other side to try there.

Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115

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May 27, 2005

The welders at Simpco did a great job, and it took less than an hour to install the new muffler. I bought 150 gallons of fuel, took on about a ton and a half of ice, and was on my way aat 1:30pm. Transmission still seems to be running a little hotter than normal, but within book tolerances.

Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115

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