It's a dream come true to have our new boat finished and to actually have time to enjoy her!

Our winter in Homer,  AK has been both fun and productive.  The systems on our new boat, the F/V Maggie B. are taking shape and we should be on schedule for a mid-April boat launch.

Kyle has transformed a big burned up mess into a promising boat project!  Check out these great progress photos.

The 2017 halibut season was expedient and fishy- everything a fisherman can ask for.  In the 10 years that Kyle has been skiff fishing this is by far the best fishing he has seen.

June means fishing for the Lints Family.

Nothing But Opportunities . . . This new year an opportunity arose for Small Scales Seafood to make a vessel up grade.  We've been tucking away a little money every year to someday get a more comfortable boat.

It's that time of year again- when we are so excited for the upcoming season.  

Excited to put the 'ol F/V Northland back in the water.  Excited to catch the first beautiful, fresh, sockeye salmon for 2016.  Excited to see so many returning customers placing their orders and licking their lips in anticipation for the upcoming harvest.

THANK YOU to all of our customers that put their orders in by the end of May- it really helps us plan for our season.  GOOD NEWS, if you haven't yet we are still taking orders- so keep them coming!  

 Kyle and our 2016 (rockstar of course!) crew of Jamie and Jake are putting the final touches on the boat hoping to launch into the river in the next couple days.  Fresh paint on the decks, repairs to the fiberglass that was smashed around too hard last year, new buoys for the upcoming smashing around, hanging new nets . . . the list goes on.

So far the 2016 sockeye salmon return to Bristol Bay, AK is just starting.  There is a test boat that fishes the southern line of the fishing district and so far they are reporting an index of about 20.  (When the fish are REALLY coming in strong later in the season this number rises as high as 200!!).  New in Bristol Bay this year is that you have to drop your permit card on your first fishing day.  In the past there was a 'Free Week' before you had to commit to a fishing district.  What's important about this is there is a 48 hour closure if you decide you want to change from one are to another.  48 hours doesn't sound like a big deal, but in the commercial fishing world missing out on a HOT 48 hour fishing period can really decrease your season's catch.

On the home front, Emily reports that staying at home with a 3.5 and 1.5 year old is probably an equal challenge to commercial fishing!  Last year was probably a greater challenge than fishing and it's expected that next year will be easier than fishing.  Kyle is still eager for Small Scales Seafood salmon season to be a family fishing venture so he can pass on his fishing bug to his kiddos and not have to be away for so long.  We hope to get some good, calm skiff fishing for Alaskan Rockfish and Pacific Cod with Maggie and Ben aboard later in the summer! 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

We're all getting ready for the upcoming season:

-Emily is tallying up everyone's orders, making her lists and checking them twice.  (Get your orders in asap to guarantee your Share of Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon!) -The munchkins are practicing their slip and slide skills on our new salmon slide.  (Once installed on the boat this slide will help every salmon gently slide from the net to the fish holds filled with chilling 34 degree water.) -Kyle recently returned from 5 furious days of pre-season boat work in Naknek, AK.  He cut a 9" hole through the bow of the Northland to install a bow thruster.  This will help maneuver the boat through swarms of boats and nets.

In AK fishing season and ski season can always overlap if you seek it out! Emily is in the Methow enjoying perfect spring Cross Country skiing and Kyle is in Alaska rebuilding a drift gillnet boat for his Uncle Frank.  (Cousin Tony hopes to make the adjustment from setnetter to gillnetter this year!)  We'll admit we're a little perplexed about if it's ski season or fishing and boat season . . . After a jaunt to visit Kyle's sister in California, come May we'll both be in Alaska, likely still skiing and dreaming about fish. Whatever you're dreaming about these days, it's time to make sure and eat all of your 2011 Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon Shares to make room for the fresh 2012 shares!  Within a few months we'll figure out our 2012 business plan and reach out to past customers first, then interested customers, then the 'world at large.'  Methow orders are expected to fill up fast because of our small scale, but we expect to add to shipped and Alaska orders.

Happy Spring and Happy Salmon Eating!

The Northland has gone through a lot since the end of the fishing season last summer.  She was stripped down to nearly nothing (even the stringers were replaced) and then painstakingly rebuilt into a fresh, new and improved version of her former self.  Emily is glad that the hull was not painted and still shows her age of 40+, but Kyle partly wants to make her completely new and shiny. The launch went well- the engine runs well and we barely took on any water.  Now that all of the rotten wood is out and thanks to Kyle's crafty plywood and foam core construction, she now sits three inches higher in the water! Thanks to these improvements combined with the increase in horse power, the Northland's maximum speed has increased from about 7 knots to about 13 knots.  This is great considering we're a semi-displacement hull (non-planing).  We're hoping we won't be the last boat back to the river this season. We did have a little excitement when smoke started coming out of the mid-ship fish hold.  An overly tightened stuffing box (where the shaft exits the boat) was the culprit.  We had to make our return to the harbor with Emily constantly pouring water on it to keep it cool. Overall we're super excited to be in the water and working out the bugs of a 'new' boat.  We still hope to fish on Monday!