Comments on: How to be an Alaskan fisherman

How to be an Alaskan fisherman

jonson — Fri, 18 May 2007 23:57:45 -0800

How to be an Alaskan fisherman is a fantastic photoessay by Corey Arnold targeted to any armchair crab hunters who've watched a few episodes of Deadliest Catch, about how to go from being a teenager in California to working one of America's most tortuous & lethal jobs.Via

By: mudpuppie

mudpuppie — Sat, 19 May 2007 01:53:02 -0800

I enjoyed the photos. Thanks.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sat, 19 May 2007 02:30:17 -0800

I never expected—of all animals—for cats to be regularly taken onto ships, but now that I see it (and read into it a bit) it makes perfect sense. Good read, great pictures, thanks jonson!

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Sat, 19 May 2007 03:08:35 -0800

Very cool. Thanks.

By: VirtualWolf

VirtualWolf — Sat, 19 May 2007 04:18:19 -0800

That was fascinating, thanks!

By: SeanMac

SeanMac — Sat, 19 May 2007 04:27:11 -0800

Thanks. Awesome FPP showing the other side of the 'Deadliest Catch'. My roommate happens to be an ex-aleutian crab fisher, and he always told me as much.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:15:01 -0800

Good find! Thanks....

By: brandz

brandz — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:25:53 -0800

i worked on a salmon barge in alaska for two summers right out of college. let me tell you, 16 hour work days everyday, cold and wet always. labor intensive to be sure! thanks for the post as it brought back vivid memories.

By: The Straightener

The Straightener — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:29:32 -0800

Awesome.

By: Muddler

Muddler — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:39:17 -0800

When he was young youd not find him doing well in school, His mind would turn unto the waters. Always the focus of adolescent ridicule, He has no time for farmers daughters. Alienated from the clique society, A lonely boy finds peace in fishing. His mother says john this is not the way lifes supposed to be. Dont you see the life that you are missing? And he says... When I grow up I want to be, One of the harvesters of the sea. I think before my days are done, I want to be a fisherman. Now years gone by we find man that rules the sea. He sets out on a dark may morning . To bring his catch back to this small community. He doesnt see the danger dawning. Four hours up, oh the ocean swelled and swelled, The fog rolled in it started raining. The starboard bow. oh my God were going down! The do not hear his frantic mayday. And he says When I grow up I want to be, One of the harvesters of the sea. I think before my days are done, I want to be a fisherman. Ill live and die a fisherman. Calling john the fisherman.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:40:51 -0800

I've never seen Deadliest Catch (not a reality show fan) but I've heard stories from friends that went up there. In Southern California as a teen, everyone talked about wanting to be a tough guy and go up there in the summer to make lots of cash. I always figured the reality was much farther from the truth but this post is a fantastic story in photos. It's really honest.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sat, 19 May 2007 06:14:11 -0800

Very nice post, thanks!

By: veggieboy

veggieboy — Sat, 19 May 2007 06:25:20 -0800

This is really friggin cool. Thanks.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sat, 19 May 2007 06:28:37 -0800

excellent rainy Saturday morning read, jonson - thanks!

By: veggieboy

veggieboy — Sat, 19 May 2007 06:38:30 -0800

Only downside is my feeling of inadequacy after seeing the halibut gonads.

By: everichon

everichon — Sat, 19 May 2007 07:43:14 -0800

Nice post. I, for one, will stick with my pointy-clicky-typee job, with the occasional getting up to take tapes out of the Adic.

By: the christopher hundreds

the christopher hundreds — Sat, 19 May 2007 07:51:35 -0800

Nice post. "Don't expect to land a crab job. There are way too many experienced crabbers out of work these days. Last season, the place was swarming with wannabe crab fisherman because of Deadliest Catch. I didn't hear of any landing good jobs. Most just milled around for months." I wondered about whether Dutch Harbor would be flooded with landlubbers after we all got a peek into the scene up thataway. I can put that fantasy away now, knowing that even the more bold (and less encumbered) Hansen family fanboys couldn't get a gig on the Northwestern.

By: null terminated

null terminated — Sat, 19 May 2007 08:31:24 -0800

DO NOT WANT

By: smallerdemon

smallerdemon — Sat, 19 May 2007 08:32:48 -0800

Great stuff. Utterly convinces me yet again that I myself am not the adventure seeking manual laborer type. I think that was underscored in great emphasis when I got to the "I dropped a bucket of engine degreaser into my open eyeballs." GAH!

By: rhapsodie

rhapsodie — Sat, 19 May 2007 10:34:27 -0800

These are lovely and make me homesick. One of the men in his pictures, Larry, was the father of my best friend in high school. I was always so sad when their family left to go fishing every summer. My family fished as well, but we stayed near Homer and came home for church every weekend.

By: rhapsodie

rhapsodie — Sat, 19 May 2007 10:38:15 -0800

Forgot to mention that my father got hundreds of resumes from young men every year hoping to get a spot on his fishing boat. Some of them had cover letters and full-color glossy photos, and others were handwritten on lined paper. As far as I know, he never hired one because, as he told me once, none of them knew what they were asking for and probably wouldn't last.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 19 May 2007 12:44:40 -0800

You had me at "genital barnacles". Neat post!

By: D.C.

D.C. — Sat, 19 May 2007 14:15:27 -0800

I knew a guy who lost both of his legs from the knee down in a commercial fishing accident. Many of the old fishermen I've met have some odd injury or are unusually weather-aged. A friend of mine who fished in the Gulf of Alaska for many years got out of it because the money's not as good as it used to be – it just wasn't worth it anymore.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Sat, 26 May 2007 13:19:34 -0800

Very cool.