Troolaten ja seilaten

Vaihdan kielen suomeen tähän blogiin, niin voi sukulaiset (ja muut suomalaiset) helpommin seurata.
Link to english version

Ensimmäinen kalastusreissu on takana ja makrillit on noukittu verkosta. Uusi rupeama on edessä ja tällä kertaa kohteena on kampasimpukka 20 metriä pitkällä troolialuksella. Parasta aikaa ajetaan kohti etelää ja Bundabergin aluevesiä. Vietettiin reilu viikko Townsvillen lähistöllä. Sieltä saaliiksi tuli kampasimpukoiden lisäksi Moreton Bay Bugeja, joka on paikallinen "rapu". On nimittäin kummallisen näköinen otus. Mutta maukas.

 Ravun pyrstö ja pää kuin tieteiselokuvasta.

Verkoista nousee paljon muutakin. Suurin osa täysin harmittomia, kuten alla olevat kalat.

Tuo punainen kala taustalla näyttää ihan kiukkuselta sammakolta edestä päin. Kaks muuta on kovia ku kivet.

Mutta näiden lisäksi lajittelupöydälle osuu usein Siipisimppuja ja muita vähemmän vaarallisia kaloja. Ja silloin tällöin merikäärmeitä. Onneksi niitten suut on pieniä niin ne ei pääse puremaan. On nimittäin melko myrkyllisiä.

Meillä on myös jätekalan käsittelyjärjestelmä. Suomalaisille tuttu Särkänniemestä.

Nämä kaverit seuraa laivaa helpon ruuan perässä ja sitähän riittää.

Eli kampasimpukkaa rahan toivossa jouluun asti. Mitä sen jälkeen tapahtuu, vain aika näyttää.

P.S. tässä vielä linkki aikaisempiin kuviin matkan varrelta

October 8th

Done and done.

I have finally cut my last fish. We dropped off 148 trays to the mothership on 4^th and went and got another 128 trays in the last 3 nigths. Which is good. We are now anchored few miles off Cape York, and this will be our last stop before Townsville. So starting from tomorrow it's four days and nights beaming south the shortest way.

Tonight is an eclipse of the moon. Cool since I don't remember ever seeing one before.

Also, mother nature gave us a surprise today when coming here. We had the tide pushing us forward when we were coming through between some islands. The water was calm but moving fast. All of a sudden we saw waves breaking in the middle of the sea in front of us for no apparent reason. It was the wind pushing the other way. From smooth sailing to bumping all over the place like crossing a line.

October 1st

Dolphin charity

Load her up and head home. That's the name of the game now. I thought the catch was getting smaller. Well, I was wrong. We have gone from 90 trays to 200 trays in three nights. The first 90 took us 6 days.

Average tray weights 11 kilos and we lose a third of a fish when cutting. And we can fit 250 trays in the room and 32 in the snap. You do the math.

Every spot where we have been cutting the fish we have had different sealife disposing the waste. Some have mass amounts of small fish, some have groups of catfish. Here where we are now we have dolphins. How cool it is doing your job and having a dozen dolphins swimming around your boat having easy breakfast? No need to go for a dolphin tour.

Oh, and on a sidenote: Sleeping while the boat is rocking has an effect on your dreams. It is really hard to walk.

26th september

Last stretch.

11 days left of the fishing season. And I am ready to go. How I know? I started having my dreams mix up with reality. Few nights back an hour before wake up I was already cutting fish into quarters. Then I realized I first need to wake up and pick up the net before I get to that point. Today when I was having a nap I was swimming at the back of the boat with a rod and a reel trying to catch spanish mackerel to get more fish to unload, but was only getting seaweed.

I am feeling more and more tired every passing day and it's really affecting my mood. And I think Bruce is starting to feel the end nearing also. He's been at it for 5 months already this year.

The haul is getting so small by night now that it getting to a point I would be making more money doing something else. And doing something else would allow me to be around other people also, which would be a big bonus...

So for anyone who is thinking of going fishing and making money. The fish don't know you want to cut them up and sell them in big numbers, so they don't get in to your net every night. And even if you still decide that this is something you want to do, for the love of god, choose a bigger boat! Just you and a captain day in day out can be a little stressful at times. And when you are out there you don't get to go ashore when you want to. Or go and have a beer in a bar even when you are. You a stuck in a metal can swaying up and down in the middle of nowhere and all you can hear is the main engine humming in the background. I know I will not be watching a lot of movies when I get back in to a guesthouse. You can bet I have seen a few in the passing days.

September 15th

Crocodile story included

I think I know where they got the idea for those flying seeds of the soul tree in the movie Avatar. Remember the white fluffy looking things that landed on the main guys arms and all?

They are called Feather Starfish and we get them in our nets basically every night. I found two of them alive after being 10 hours inside the net while it was on the reel. Hardy little things. Usually they are just chopped up to pieces when we shoot the net out. I wonder how they look like when you are diving amongst them?

Three weeks left of the fishing season. We are not catching as much fish as we did before, but still a fair bit.

I had a dream the other night where I said to my friend that I need to rest. Maybe this sleeping in 2-5 hours at a time is starting to get to me...

Luckily the nurses in Weipa hospital provided me with a splint to put on my hand when resting and some Codeine laced Paracetamol, so that's not bothering me anymore.

On to the crocodile story...

About a week ago we had an afternoon at a nameless beach. As I was minding my time collecting seashells for necklaces and finding a suitable lump of bauxite to send to a certain rock collector, when I came across something unmistakable. Crocodile tracks. And about 5 minutes later there it was. Right in the water next to the beach: my first salt water crocodile! It was about my size and I was curious to take a closer look. Too bad it was a little shy and I only got to about 10 meters from it before it turned around and started swimming away.

Fishing diaries pt.2

So I am in Townsville now. Finished for Aquataur and mackerel fishing in the gulf of Carpenteria. And I'm sitting on a new boat and starting a second tour. This time is the son of the previous boat and instead of net reel and fish, it's trawling and scallops. First two weeks will apparently be something else, but after that it is all about that coveted clam until 20th of december. After that I should have enough money in bank to do some of that holiday part of my working & Holiday visa.
On this boat we have another deckhand so it will be three of us and the eastern seafront of this hot continent.
Again I put a few entries from before here after this post.

This is how my plans change on a days notice. Yesterday I was making plans to head back to cairns and figure out what to do next. Try that again in few months.