Category Archives: Commercial fishing
Beach Picnic
Sure are a lot of seagulls down there. Family day at the beach? Or is it because the sun finally came out?
Hmm…. They seem to be all talking at once, and with their mouths full too. Ill-mannered scavengers.
Ahh … I see. It’s poor man’s caviar time. The herring have spawned near the beach.
I might try a lick or two when those pesky seagulls move along.
*Herring roe and seagull photos by Paul Knettig.
L is for Ling and Lunch
I used this photo in a post early this summer, about catching two fish in place of one, but it also works for a picture of a ling having lunch.
The Captain wasn’t wanting to catch a ling. It was salmon he was after. But here is how it happened, many, many years ago.
A salmon is jerking the fishing line. The Captain checks his lines and pulls up what he expects to be a coho. But it is not only a coho he has hooked. A ling has been attracted to the wriggling coho and has swallowed him for his lunch. Unfortunately for the ling, the same hook that the coho bit has caught the ling somewhere down his throat and both fish were hauled aboard the fishboat together. The coho was not easily retrieved, and the ling could not be freed of it because of the ling’s teeth. He has sharklike teeth around his jaw, and another three sets of pharyngeal teeth farther back in his mouth (555 of them)! Not a place anyone would want to reach in with his hand while the ling was still thrashing about.
L is for the ling’s lost lunch.
J is for Jellyfish Lookalikes
These sea salps are tiny jelly-like creatures (but they are not jellyfish) that glom together to make a bigger mass. They are a nuisance to commercial salmon fishermen when the fishing lines pass through areas where the sea salps are floating.
Some years, warmer southern currents come farther north and the salps float along with the currents into colder waters where they are not usually common.
When they coat the gear, the fish can’t find the lures (and the hooks), so the salps have to be cleaned off the gear constantly or no salmon will be caught.
They are harmless otherwise. Unlike some jellyfish they don’t have any sting when they are touched.
J is for “just a jellyfish lookalike.”
The Fat Herring
“Junior! What are you looking at down there?”
“Nothing interesting, Ma. I’m just wondering who’s going to clean up all the mess those seagulls are making. After eating all those herring and the herring roe, I bet it’s pretty slick and hummy on that roof.”
“The squawking and shrieking is ear piercing. They have no pride. Slithering around on that roof as they digest their shreds of herring. But I guess they do a good job of cleaning up the beaches. If only they’d clean up the roof after they … you know …. But wait! What’s that I hear the seagulls saying?”
I heard seagulls squawk a joke,
Hermann Goering was the bloke
That they picked on for his fat,
Not so nice, but that was that.
Herring seller in the town,
Cried his product all around,
“Herring, herring!” he would shout,
“Fat as that old Goering lout.”
Then police took him away,
Told him that’s not nice to say,
Off you go, two weeks in jail,
And you’ll stay there without bail.
Two weeks later he was out,
He was careful what to shout,
He had herring, don’t you know,
Fat as just two weeks ago.
Book Bargains
In the month before Christmas I have marked my novels down to US $.99. This way you can load up your e-reader with five novels to keep you turning pages for about $5.00 total. Hours of entertainment for very little cost.
What will you get for 99 cents each?
Orion’s Gift
When Sylvia receives devastating news, she knows she has to leave her California home. While hiding away in the Baja Peninsula, living in a camper van, she meets a man with a similar dilemma. Both must avoid the spouses pursuing them, or be forced to return to the intolerable misery of their past. Will the sparks they feel for each other help see them through or only make their problems worse?
Baja camping is not without its dangers and both runaways must learn to trust and mistrust at the right times.
*****
The Wind Weeps
Andrea leaves big-city boredom in Ontario to search for love and a new life on B.C.’s rugged coast. The love of two men and a woman leads her into the world of commercial fishing. But soon, her adventure becomes a nightmare. The beauty of her surroundings is at odds with the terror that she lives every day. Trapped in an isolated cabin on the coast, she will need to test her newly acquired wilderness skills if she ever hopes to escape. Be sure to follow up with the sequel, Reckoning Tide.
*****
Reckoning Tide
*****
Marlie
Unlucky in love, Marlie flees a bad relationship. She accepts a teaching job in the remote Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). The beauty of the islands and the rugged challenge of northern living enthrall her. A good-looking artist has his eye on her. The perfect gentleman. Or is he? And what about that handsome fisherman? Is he just a bit too real for her with his hunting and fishing? Just as Marlie hopes that her life has made a turn for the better, disaster strikes. She is shocked to see her life spiraling downwards yet again. How could she have made such an error in judgement—an error that sets more bad luck in motion?
Not willing to lose control, Marlie takes a deep breath and sets out to get her life back on track. But can she do it alone?
Set in the remote islands of coastal British Columbia, Marlie is a heartfelt romance of love and loss and love again.
Experience the fears and joys of northern island living and delight in a second chance at true love.
Julia’s Violinist
Julia’s Violinist takes us to postwar Europe for an unbiased story of a love triangle. Julia is widowed with two children at the end of WWll. She remarries and hopes to pick up the pieces to put her broken life back together. It isn’t going well. A letter arrives from her first love from twenty years ago. After all these years, he is alive and wants her to join him in a new life. She struggles with morality and a chance for happiness. Life’s decisions are not always easy and they can come at a huge price.
*****
To find out more about these novels, you can visit my website:
You can also click on the book cover images at the side of this post to go to amazon. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can go to smashwords.com to get these e-books for all types of e-reader formats.
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