Do you know how many times I hear, “I’m getting too old for this shit”?

Well, I’m sorry to break the news, but if you think you might be, then you probably are.

At one point, the average age of Alaskan fishermen wasn’t nearly 50 years old. In fact, many of us younger guys are familiar with the stories from our parents “heydays” – when those who are now 50 and older were just getting their sea legs.; those golden years when UW sorority girls from Pi Beta Phi would come up to work in the canneries.

As a 25-year old, I can assure you there are not many Pi Phi’s left. But oh my god, how amazing would that be?

Times have changed. I can only imagine what it would be like to fish around more than a small handful of my peers. I’m accustomed to keeping up conversations with the old-timers, which no doubt provides me with slivers of their wisdom. But I can guarantee that if we took a picture together in the Salty Dawg and I said, “tag that shit!” they would have no freakin’ clue what I was talking about.

Before I graduated from high school, older fishermen recommended that I attend college, pick an industry that provides financial stability and get the hell out of fishing. There was very little money selling sockeye for 55 cents per pound.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill, coupled with the plummeting price of seafood, made it extraordinarily difficult for someone in their twenties to earn a living during the 90’s and early 2000’s. Only our parents – veterans with a diversified fishing portfolio and financial backbone – could ride out that trough. This prompted a lost generation in our fisheries: a span of time that produced very few young fishermen to replenish Alaska’s fleets.

Recently, however, I see glimpses of the heyday making a comeback. The statewide average for sockeye was well above a dollar last year, and this season looks good too. On the way to SeaTac last week to catch my flight, I passed a Northland barge headed to Naknek with at least a dozen shiny new aluminum Bristol Bay boats stacked on its deck.

Perhaps, with some help from our fathers, mothers and mentors, younger fishermen will find a way to step up. We all know the industry is not getting any cheaper. (Refer to the fantastic article written in this month’s Pacific Fishing Magazine from another young guy about the barriers-to-entry in today’s Alaskan fisheries.) Even though it costs a pretty penny to skipper, and perhaps to own your own boat, it hasn’t stopped me and a few other generational fishermen from taking up the family business.

My friends Andy Scudder and Mike Leask – a couple other twenty-somethings – are sons of fishermen too. Andy runs the Gorbuschka, a seiner out of Southeast, and Mike handles the Valero IV, the beautiful research vessel that once housed Jacque Cousteau and is now a converted tender.

We have a blast comparing memories about our bizarre childhoods that only someone born into the industry can understand. Like throwing up overboard and thinking about all of our “normal” friends at soccer camp. About how we swore we’d never become a fisherman. And yes, how today we are slowly morphing into our fathers. But you won’t ever hear me admit that to your face.

As much fun as we have in the off-season, though, Mike will be in Chignik, Andy will be in Sitka and I’ll be in Bristol Bay this year. We won’t be able to tie up together and speak the same language, relate to the mistakes the other is making, and realize how fucking little we know.

The three of us are dispersed throughout the state, but I also know of a few other younger skippers coming up, especially in Bristol Bay. Come introduce yourself and share a pitcher at the Red Dog with me!

In the meantime, I hope the price continues to bring prosperous seasons, and older fishermen will understand the value of passing down their traditions. And if prices stay strong, I think more young guys will come out of the woodwork, because the truth of the matter is, despite puking overboard instead of summer soccer drills, you just can’t get that saltwater out of your blood.

Brett is the co-founder of The Real Alaska and a contributor for Alaska Waypoints. You can view his articles here