Solid Showing

With work on the wane and coho numbers building, things are getting interesting in SE AK again.

Cut out of work early to catch the incoming tide and to see if the freshies wanted to dance. A gnarly SE front was scudding in, in wet, blustery contrast to the idyllic conditions of Tuesday. After a 20 minute ass-pounding ride out to the promised land, we rigged up and started fishing, rockin' and gliding in the 20kt wind.

Soon after, the first push of fish showed, with a herd of seals following like cops at a demonstration. The seals had the fish all bunched up, which was cool if they were within 60 feet of the boat, but it kinda sucked when they were runnin' them all over the bay and a fella had to motor to keep up. At any rate, after a few false sets, we got right into a lane and made a game of it. After a hectic 2 hours, we called it quits and pounded back to the ramp to clean up and get all gussied up for the evening's fun.



TU and Why Wild Put on a bitchin' doubleheader last night, serving up a wild Bristol Bay sockeye BBQ for about 200 folks, then capping off the evening with the SE AK premiere of Red Gold. In case you have been living under a rock for about the last year, this flick is a powerful statement of a place, a culture, a lifestyle, and an economy that is under siege from the hardrock mining industry. Travis and Ben managed to capture a lot of both the good and the bad in this film, so hopefully it will get out to the wider world for folks to see just how cool that area is, and just how potentially bad a project like the proposed Pebble Mine really is.

Lauren Oakes, whose job titles include TU AK staffer, head filmmaker wrangler and King Salmon Queen, sits still for a moment for a photo with Travis Rummel and some fish guy with a crappy blog.


After the show, which was very well received by a packed, standing-room-only crowd - and following a short, painful Q&A session for Travis (sorry, man...some folks still don't get the "documentary" thingy), we adjourned to the local adult beverage dispensary for an after-show BS session.

Lauren and Travis are off to Sitka today, and Timbo took his copy to Petersburg in hopes of enlightening the squareheads. Solid showing last night, with more to come before the State Primaries on the 26th.

Thanks for the effort, fellas.