Outboard Servicing and Lingcod
For the last month or so we have been keeping our eyes out for a good location to do a service on our outboard. Although it would be possible to do it from the swim grid while the outboard is hanging on our back railing, which is where it rides when we are underway, the risk of dropping something into the water made us want to find a spot where we could do it on shore. When had gone ashore the other day we found the perfect tree. It had fallen out onto the shore and was propped up by its larger branches. It was thick and sturdy enough to hold our outboard. Our only problem was going to be the tide. Because we were still having large tides around the new moon, the high tide during the day put the tree under water, so we would have to be ready to get the motor done before the tide came in.
We headed ashore on Wednesday to get ready. We took our chain saw, and Jason used it to create an outboard stand in the tree so that it would be at a good working height.
He completely notched out the one side to act as a flat "transom," and then he partially notched out the back side for the screw clamps, leaving the appropriate thickness in the middle for the bracket to hang on. Then in the evening, in our cockpit, we assembled all of the parts and tools that we would need, so that we would be ready on Thursday morning to head to shore. We did not want to forget anything, because if we did, we would have to row back home to fetch it.
After loading everything into Kiki we went for a bit of a drive so as to warm up the engine oil, and then headed ashore. We were able to easily carry the outboard up the beach together and then lift it, and hang it on our stand.
Nature was our boss and our deadline was the ever-approaching tide. We successfully got our service done, and we managed to get the outboard back onto Kiki, and the run-up done before the tide was too high. We also took a bit of time to give Kiki a scrub before heading home. Our outboard stand worked perfectly, and I wondered if anyone would ever see it and try to figure out what on earth the notches could be for.
On Wednesday, after building our outboard stand, we went back home. Before we had lunch, Jason winched me up our mast, and I checked everything and re-taped our spreader boots. It was a lovely view from the top of the mast.
Jason looks very small on the deck of the boat from way up the mast.
We came back out with the carcasses and pulled up our traps one at a time, re-setting each one afterwards. Between both of our prawn traps we kept 37 prawns, and we threw back a lot of large females with eggs, and also a bunch of small ones. What a good haul!
Cod and Prawns
In one of our prawn traps we also had four, small, Rock crab. This gave us hope that we might have some crabs in our crab trap as we had set it in a similar, although shallower area. Unfortunately we were disappointed once again, as the crab trap was empty. Oh well, we were still very happy with our prawns.
Our dinner was amazing; a beautiful plate of fresh fried prawns, wonderfully light, almost fluffy, fresh, fried lingcod, and some squash. Mmmmm, mmmmm so good!!
You know your fish is fresh when the fillets are still twitching. It’s a very weird, almost spooky feeling, but when you pick up a fresh fillet it will often still be pulsing and twitching. Sometimes, after the fish has been gutted and you go to lay it on the board to fillet it, it will flap its tail as though it is still alive. It is amazing how long the muscles can keep on spasming for.
Our dinner was amazing; a beautiful plate of fresh fried prawns, wonderfully light, almost fluffy, fresh, fried lingcod, and some squash. Mmmmm, mmmmm so good!!
You know your fish is fresh when the fillets are still twitching. It’s a very weird, almost spooky feeling, but when you pick up a fresh fillet it will often still be pulsing and twitching. Sometimes, after the fish has been gutted and you go to lay it on the board to fillet it, it will flap its tail as though it is still alive. It is amazing how long the muscles can keep on spasming for.
Morning fog
On Thursday we went out fishing again because we wanted to have fresh fish again for dinner. Fish is so amazing fresh! We jigged for a while, until Jason caught a beautiful, 29 inch, brilliant, blue Lingcod. It was amazing how blue it was.
Dinner was delicious once again; simple and delicious; fluffy, flakey, flavourful, fresh fish, with rice and beets. Perfect!
Bit by bit, over the past few days, we have been managing to fill up our freezer once again. Each day that we have gone out for fresh fish we have put at least one or two meals into the freezer, so now it is almost fully stocked again.
Between our fishing spot out from Discovery Bay and here, both of which are in Seaforth Channel, we estimate that we have caught about 30 Lingcod, and kept about six of them. They are by far the most plentiful fish here, even more than Rockfish, which are usually the most numerous. It is interesting that up at Regatta Rocks, where we fished when we were anchored in Discovery Bay, the Lingcod were all relatively small, whereas out at Joanna Rock and Rat Rock, which is only about 7 nautical miles further out Seaforth Channel, the Lingcod are all bigger, and a very nice size. We have not caught a single small one out at Joanna Rock, and we did not catch a single big one in at Regatta Rock.
Servicing engines, checking mast and fishing for dinner. What a life.
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