Foiled by mother nature

The plan for this weekend was to go prawning and test out the new gps and fish finder. Since we had to pull the boat out of the water to do some maintenance Chris has been suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Although he denies it, I am pretty sure I saw him whispering something to the motor yesterday and patting it reassuringly. As you can imagine we were all excited about launching today. Friday night the boys spent the evening doing maintenance on our prawn traps and prepping a couple of new ones we bought to replace the ones lost in a storm last month.

The process of preparing the rope for the traps is more complicated than I would have thought. Chris does some fancy braiding techniques that involve fire, knives and electrical tape. This method results in a much sturdier system and lessens the chance of our traps breaking loose. The next time he is doing this I will take a video so we can share this technique, but until then if anyone would like more information send us an email.

Even though we were excited and prepared for a day on the water, mother nature had different plans for us. The sun was shining but the wind was blowing so hard we could barely walk along the beach. My pup was getting blown all over the place but was enjoying every minute of it. Why is it that she freaks out if I blow in her face but the wind doesn't phase her?

We still had fish on the brain so we decided to head to the Puntledge Hatchery instead. This hatchery handles coho, chinook, pinks and chum. We have gone here many times in the fall to watch the big fish returning but had never come this time of year. It was so exciting to see the millions of tiny fry. For more information on the current hatchery holdings and the return numbers for 2010, follow this link to a local news report.

Coho Fry

Excited to see the Chum

Chinook Fry

Even though we were grounded to the shore it was still a fun day. The Prince will be taking the boat up to the north end of the Vancouver Island tomorrow and I know the two of them will be spending a lot of quality time together this week.

- Posted by Pink Waders from my iPhone