Fish On

that's what they say when we have fish.  today some Halibut arrived.  it was finally the first time i got to see this place do what it does. 

i was on the docks when the fish came in.  one guy, our guys, gets on the fisherman's boat and pitches the fish into a tote.  a crane lifts the totes up onto the dock.  about 25 feet up.  we're up there with totes full of ice.  we had this entire set up of stainless steel tables designed for sorting the fish.  we weigh them and it gets recorded automatically on like a receipt.  he then slides it into whatever tote it should go.  one for 15 to 20 lb.  21 to 30 lb.  31 to 40 lb and then 41 and over.  we had a 93 lb halibut come in.  my job was to belly ice them.  shove ice into their bellies.  the fisherman clean them a little bit on the boat.  enough for us to get ice in there.  i then shovel ice over the fish in the totes.  we clean up, hose stuff down, load the tables and stuff on the trailer.  forklifts take the totes away.  it is amazing.  but i guess not really.  for them it's not a big deal.  the way steel workers in pittsburgh must feel.  it's just what they do.  for me, it was amazing.  and real hard work. 

went fishing with sean yesterday and met more nice people.  it was excellent.  drank way more beer than i should have.  stood in the sun way longer than i should have.  but whatever. i'm in alaska and i'll have very few days like that one.  the afternoon off was a freak accident and just so happened that sean was free as well. 

we went onto the Kasilof river.  it is glacier fed.  the nicest color blue i've ever seen because of the glacier silt.  we fished for king salmon. didn't catch anything for real but it was an amazing time.  i enjoyed most standing in the river with the hip waders on.  the temp of the river felt amazing on my legs. refreshing like going swimming.  it was also fun to just stand in the river and drink beer.  a very haystacks thing to do in alaska.