Last week I packed my bags for Sitka. Little did I know that I would end up adead center of an epic Sitka herring collision. The carnage is severe as the starboard stern quarter is totally wrecked and damaged.

Let me back up a few steps and fill in the gaps. I received a phone call, before this year’s Sitka herring season, from Sierra letting me know that one of their crewmen had packed his bags and they needed someone to fill his Xtratuffs. There is nothing I would rather do than fish with Sierra on the boat I grew up on. As I’ve explained earlier, my dad sold what is now the F/V Memry Anne to Dean Anderson a few years ago.

It was time to gear up and prepare for the new Wild West.

We’ve been saying for years that someone needs to film the Sitka herring fishery. Little did we know…

Yesterday proved to be one of the most dramatic events of the fishery so far and the scene was caught on multiple cameras.

The scene: Almost the entire fleet is jockeying for position in front of the town of Sitka. All the residents are lining the shoreline to watch the modern-day Wild West take place. I can feel the intensity from the wheelhouse as Dean and Joe (our sonar man) concentrate on the best position to make that winning set. Two minutes before the gun goes off, we roar our engines full speed to change locations. Black smoke fills the sky as our exhaust spews from our smoke stacks. My hands are sweating as I grip the skiff release anticipating the signal to “LET HER GO!!!”

Finally, what seems like hours Dean yells to release the skiff and I pray that nothing gets caught and a second isn’t wasted. Sierra is let loose and her skiff roars behind the boat. Instantly, I am staring at another boat’s bow so close to ours we could almost touch his anchor. We are traveling at almost 15 knots. From the corner of my eye I spot a white mass come out of no where. Before I know it I am knocked against the cabin and here a deafening CRASH!

Another boat collides with our starboard stern quarter and a true Sitka herring opener is underway. We swerve between nets and my senses are on high alert. My mouth is wide open and my eyes can’t stop staring at the demolished side of our boat. Is this 2011? It feels like I am living in a western shootout movie.

Miraculously we save some of our set. Who knows what the next opener holds in store for us. Maybe our wishes got the best of us, or maybe it will be a blessing cameras were rolling. Stay tuned for next week’s episode…