"Two years ago Dennis and I went to Ten Mile below Mt. Village to commercial fish. It took a lot of time to get ready and when we were finally ready we went down. We must have used thirty gallons of gas just to get to where we were to camp. Then we set up our tent, unloaded our boat and got our net ready. After we were finished setting up camp, the first commercial fishing period started and we went out.

We fished for at least three hours. We didn't catch very many fish, but we paid for our gas. The fish prices in Y-1 were considerably higher than in Marshall, and there were so many boats around that we didn't know exactly where to fish.

Before the second period we moved our camp to where Alex Nick and the other Russian Mission fishermen were camping. There were seven tents in that camping area. I had to repair my net there since it had some holes from getting snagged.

We went to the drifting spot an hour before the period opened. I still hadn't really learned the area by that time but I was ready to try anything. After two drifts I understood why the other fishermen weren't fishing in my area. So, after getting only two fish in two drifts I was ready to try anywhere.

I drove up above the island where we had been drifting and set the net there. Dennis was my driver while I would set. After setting the net I took over driving. About half an hour later I decided to check how deep the water was with my oar because I had left my depth sounder at home because a part was missing. To my surprise, the water was only four feet deep!

I told Dennis that we'd better pull the net in before we got stuck. While we were pulling it in, we saw this huge King in the net. It was barely caught, with the webbing stuck only in its mouth. I quickly wrapped the webbing around it and told Dennis to hand me the gaff. Then I gaffed it and pulled it in. This huge King weighed about sixty pounds! Then we pulled the net in some more and caught a forty pounder. Those were the only two Kings we caught on that drift, but they sure were worth the effort at over two dollars a pound!"

Nick Isaac