New Everything

We’ve decided to freshen things up a bit for the 2011 season.  In addition to our ‘new’ boat, which is coming along more and more everyday, we also have a new look to our little business.

• A new name: Small Scales Seafoods
• A new website/blog: www.smallscalesseafoods.com
• Facebook and Twitter sites to keep you updated better
• A Mary Sharman logo of our fishing grounds (visit our new site to see)

We’ll stop using this site, so please follow us to our new site!  If you get a few contacts about these changes, we apologize- please bear with us while we spread the word.

Most importantly, we are ready to take orders for the 2011 season!  Thanks so much for all of your interest and support.

Countdown: 66 days

June 20th is the first opener for Drift Gillnet Salmon in Upper Cook Inlet.  This might seem far away, but there’s a lot to do in the next 66 days:

Where did the boat go?

Cabin and Deck in progress

Future Fish Holds

The Heart of the Northland: John Deere 200hp

Glamorous Ladies of Kyle's Life

In addition to boat-rebuilding we’re also rebuilding our small scale fish business.  Stay posted for a new name, website/blog and information on salmon shares for the 2011 season!

If you have any feedback for us of what you liked last year and did not like in terms of our product, delivery methods or anything else- give us a holler!  It’s all a learning process . . .

The Pre-Season Begins

It might still be winter and the salmon runs might be 6 months away, but the work must begin. . .  Kyle and Ernie arrived in Alaska today after a drive up the Alaskan-Canadian Highway.  (Thanks to Ernie for all his help!)  Other than one large avalanche and a three hour back-track the trip went well.  Within a few days they’ll be setting up a new shop in Ninilchik, AK and bringing the F/V Northland inside for a major re-haul.  Kyle brought a new 200 HP John Deere engine up in the truck and is really excited to install it.  Also in the plans are a rebuilt fish hold, back deck, new reel, new power roller, flying bridge and a remake of the pilot house and cabin.  As you can see from the bare hull below, there’s a lot to do before the end of June!

Kyle's Project

Post Fishing Adventures and Fish Status

Hi Blog Followers and Fish Eaters,

We’re headed south for our winter visit to the Methow.  We hope to be in the Methow the first few days of November and we’ll be bringing Methow fish deliveries down then.  We hope those of you who already received your fish shipments have enjoyed the scrumptiousness.  Thanks to those of you who loved your fish so much that you’ve sent your friends our way or have ordered even more.  Sadly, we are now completely out of fish until next season. (Feel free to send people our way to get on our list for next year- we plan to put up three times as much salmon and some halibut too!!)

Here’s a quick photo update of our life over the last two months. . .

 

Kyle's beautiful new shed

A trip with Josiah to the Brooks Range:

Kyle's Rack

Cold, Cold Morning

Josiah and Kyle

Rita enjoying the Arctic

Then Emily went to Hawaii for a Pilates course, mother/daughter time and surfing:

 

Emily and Kathy's jaunt to the tropics

Meantime Kyle’s desire for a better boat next season convinced him to stay in Alaska.  He kept busy stripping the boat down for a major overhaul and re-power to happen later this winter.  (pictures of a stripped aft hull to come later!)

All Boats Out of the Water

Baby Halibut

We were hoping to fish Silvers for a week more or so, but we fished out of the skiff a while ago and barely caught anything.  The count: 8 salmon, 23 Flounder, 8 baby Halibut and a beautiful day out at sea.  We toured around Kalgin Island and Mt. Redoubt was out in full form.  All boats are out of the water and the season is super officially over until next year.  (Of course Kyle continues to ponder a re-power or a rebuild of the Northland.)  Thanks for following our season and have a great fall!

Tasty bite size halibut

Redoubt

Sunny Day

On another note, we celebrated our first anniversay yesterday- yay!

250 Pounds of Sockeye Still Available!

We’ve officially wrapped up our 2010 Sockeye Salmon season.  We were able to fulfill all of our pre-season orders.  Thanks to everyone who placed an order!  We have an additional 250 pounds of Sockeye available on a first come, first serve basis.  Spread the word if you know of anyone who might be interested!

Depending on our desire for adventure, weather and Silver Salmon returns, we may figure out a way to fish a few weeks of Silvers on the west side of Cook Inlet.  Because the Northland is still engine-less and out of the water, this would mean skiff fishing and camping on the beach.  We’ll see how it turns out, but with the best Silver prices in many years, it’s tempting.

This isn’t a commercial fishing related adventure, but we did see Humpies jumping while kayaking!

Rita kayaks!

Tara Madsen visits!

Two Blown Head Gaskets in One Week!

All was going well at first . . .

Emily and Anaka

Ernie the Fisherman

We fished on Monday and had our second biggest set of the season.  It was a bit of a ‘mixed bag’ of fish with only about 50% reds, but it was still great considering that it’s August.  But then we started seeing steam in our exhaust and after shutting down to investigate the problem, the boat really labored to restart.  After pulling together all of the accumulating symptoms and talking to the many experienced fisherman, it was concluded that we most likely have a blown head gasket.  This means that the season is most likely over for the F/V Northland- we’ll either need to repower her or rebuild the existing motor.  Overall, it’s a great time for this to happen and the rebuild was needed anyway . . .

We sat around in the sunshine, enjoyed lunch and waited for the other boats to finish their 9 more hours of fishing, assuming that we would need to get towed in.  However, once the engine cooled down we were able to limp back to the river.  Luckily, the fishing slowed down for the rest of the period, so we didn’t miss too much.

Anaka Mines

Anaka Mines, a friend from the Methow, came out with us and overall enjoyed her experience, despite some seasickness.

Our loyal Subaru encountered some life ending problems last week as well.  Ironically, we think that it may have also blown a head gasket!  Due to the serious case of rust, ongoing water leaks and resulting mold, we towed it to the dump this week.  Farewell to a car that’s been good to us for many years.

We’re not sure how many fish are left out there, but we’ll fish in  F/V Bong Hits for Jesus again tomorrow.  We took advantage of a broken down boat and not too many fish to get Ernie and Anaka over to Grewink glacier and Frank’s cabin in Bear Cove.

Rita cooling off in a glacial lake

Ernie at Bear Cove