Of Salmon, Orcas, & Fisher-families

Of Salmon, Orcas, & Fisher-families

For Southeast Alaska’s salmon trollers, the longest day of the year falls on July 1: opening day of Chinook salmon season. Every July 1 finds us – two humans and our boat, the 43-foot Nerka – forty miles offshore in the Gulf of Alaska. We’ll be in our boots ‘til...

Salmon Banh Mi, Served with Friendship

Salmon Banh Mi, Served with Friendship

I keep a framed photo on my desk. Three fishermen crouched on deck, wearing orange Grundens and matching end-of-a-long-day grins. Team ’77: friends born a few months apart, working on a salmon troller that shared our birth year. This picture is proof of the enduring...

“How Was Your Season?”

“How Was Your Season?”

Yesterday I received a letter from a friend.
“Dear Tele,” she wrote. “Many times I think of you and Joel out on the seas all by yourselves. What a contrast it must be to come back to land, people and cities. I wonder if you have caught lots and lots of fish. I wonder if you are still fishing, heading home, or already home. I have so many wonders.”