The Bairdi that saved Christmas

Heading out the weather was good and we made short work of setting the 80 pots we had on board, covering about 35 miles of ground west and northwest of Amak Island, this would be considered a wide set and we hope to see some crab as the depth range is from 45 fathoms down to a very shallow 28 fathoms.



The gear set northwest of the island was disappointing and the handful that had a respectable score appeared to be on a small patch at best. We were running out of strings to check and the vibe on deck was plunging. This group of guys have had a poor Bairdi trip as often as a good one and this was not what we'd hoped to see.



With only two short strings left, both being set in the shallowest depths, I was beginning to plan where to look next when low and behold the first pot came up solid at around a buck twenty five! The crew was now pumped and the next pot was even better. Working our way west about 8 miles to the last string, the first pot came up loaded as did the next, and the next. A stretch of 200s plus per pot. Wow! what a sight to see.


Over the course of the next week the weather was poor but the fishing was nothing short of spectacular, huge numbers coming over the rail made it easy to forget about a pesky 40 knot wind. With the relentless N.W. winds subsiding as the last pots were stacked aboard, we had beautiful weather for putting on the large load of gear. This trip would have to be considered epic, and as Gary Soper put it before we even left town "The Bairdi that saved Christmas", and it truly was. Capt. Monte 'mouse'