“There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.” ~Joseph Conrad

In my “Meet the Crew” episode, I hope to give you a glimpse of the dynamic between the ‘character’s’ as well as help you understand each crew members role on the boat. Remember, these positions aren’t necessarily exclusive to each individual. Commercial fishing is a team effort where everyone has to pitch in and work [...]

Here are a few of my favorite pictures I took of boats from the Chignik salmon season. Enjoy!

There are two ways to get to Chignik – on a boat or in a plane. The ferry runs twice a month to Chignik, and I happened to catch it at the right time. Since it fit with my economical mindset, my transportation was set.  A small plane service flies a bush plane to Chignik about [...]

First up on this summer’s itinerary was a boat ride. Mind you, this was no ordinary boat ride. It came with incredible scenery, a nauseating swell, a gazilion cruise ship sightings, and a very very high fuel bill. Our first sea trial was an unfortunate failure do to some engine issues after the F/V Memry [...]

Within a week of being in Anchorage I had good news to call home about.  I answered a Craigslist ad from a fishing boat captain in a town I had never heard of called Chignik, and after a few conversations telling him my previous work experience and assuring him that I could cook, I had [...]

Fishermen are not only known for using terms that the Discovery Channel needs to bleep out. Sure, one can add F*$@ to almost anything and feel a bit more salty, and perhaps S#%! can be substituted for a noun, adjective or verb. But the most important words and phrases to know come from the fisherman’s [...]

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in mid May, I stood alone facing the doors of the Minneapolis Airport with nothing but a plane ticket, a backpack, and a destination – Anchorage, Alaska. I had no promise of a job in Alaska, almost no money in my bank account, and even less certainty that either would become [...]

Howdy Folks! We have some exciting updates and news planned for our future and we want to give you a preview of what to look forward to. It has been a very busy summer for us at TRA and we are compiling our stories, branching out and gearing up for some awesome upgrades. Here is [...]

The past month has been an emotional roller coaster. It’s taken a lot of time to get this story together, and even then I am not sure it is complete. After a hard drive failure I lost much of my content from the summer. Nonetheless I have compiled the pieces I do have to tell [...]