What's your day job?

daizee said:
Gorgeous up there on and offshore, but yeah... some of those big Bearing Sea fish processing boat guys 'retired' to work on my first research ship 20+ years ago, and it was vacation to them vs. all-weather brutality and fish stink.
Click to expand...

Ya the guys who really go for it big time in commercial fishing are doing a very hard dangerous job. After the third night at sea it's not fun anymore for me. In my case it was a whole lot of mild weather easy duty fishing, and staring at the springs on the trolling wires, wondering if there's a fish on because it's jiggling a bit. There almost never is, as when a line is down 70 fathoms dragging four flashers and a 60 lb lead, the currents do some funny things, and a real fish bite is really obvious. But once in a while you pull up a suspect line and there's a big calm salmon there. Normally they go crazy and sometimes can shake the trolling pole so hard it it makes the chains clink and vibrates the boat. I did catch the biggest Chinook of the season around 2007 out of Newport, OR. It was 50 lbs, gutted. I didn't even know it was on the line until it came up from the depths. That fish sold for almost $500. It went to a doctor from Idaho along with a 60 lb halibut and some coastal Coho salmon. The doc flew his little private plane to the Oregon coast once a year specifically to stock up on big game fish for the winter.

In the future I'll focus on lingcod. I have zero inclination to fish hard in crappy weather. It's a side job. 🤣
 
Mecha said:
Ya the guys who really go for it big time in commercial fishing are doing a very hard dangerous job. After the third night at sea it's not fun anymore for me. In my case it was a whole lot of mild weather easy duty fishing, and staring at the springs on the trolling wires, wondering if there's a fish on because it's jiggling a bit. There almost never is, as when a line is down 70 fathoms dragging four flashers and a 60 lb lead, the currents do some funny things, and a real fish bite is really obvious. But once in a while you pull up a suspect line and there's a big calm salmon there. Normally they go crazy and sometimes can shake the trolling pole so hard it it makes the chains clink and vibrates the boat. I did catch the biggest Chinook of the season around 2007 out of Newport, OR. It was 50 lbs, gutted. I didn't even know it was on the line until it came up from the depths. That fish sold for almost $500. It went to a doctor from Idaho along with a 60 lb halibut and some coastal Coho salmon. The doc flew his little private plane to the Oregon coast once a year specifically to stock up on big game fish for the winter.

In the future I'll focus on lingcod. I have zero inclination to fish hard in crappy weather. It's a side job. 🤣
Click to expand...

Ah yes, the waiting-for-invisible-things game. But nice score!
Can't science in crappy weather either. The shipboard instruments give lousy data and heaving on a couple thousand meters of 0.68" ROV cable is bad for the everything. Nevermind getting the vehicles on and off the back deck in weather. 😬

After years of wondering why anyone would go on a 'cruise' for fun, I now sometimes wonder why anyone would do it for work! (but I'd totally do it again someday...)
 
daizee said:
Ah yes, the waiting-for-invisible-things game. But nice score!
Can't science in crappy weather either. The shipboard instruments give lousy data and heaving on a couple thousand meters of 0.68" ROV cable is bad for the everything. Nevermind getting the vehicles on and off the back deck in weather. 😬

After years of wondering why anyone would go on a 'cruise' for fun, I now sometimes wonder why anyone would do it for work! (but I'd totally do it again someday...)
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that. I took part in a scientific program called Project CROOS, and was responsible for collecting accurate samples of certain salmon scales, tissue, and GPS data for each fish caught during a summer fishing season. The number crunchers complained of inaccurate data from some vessels but my samples were always impeccable. The sciencing was more difficult in crappy weather. 🤣 Turns out a lot of these Chinook salmon travel as far as Russia and back to the US. Amazing creatures, they are.

The CROOS people gave me a hilariously long-billed baseball cap with a big salmon on it.

Project CROOS

marineresearch.oregonstate.edu marineresearch.oregonstate.edu
 
seanj said:
I'm retired now but I worked for over twenty years as a Systems Admin and occasional coder.
Click to expand...
16 years as system operator on Unisys and Cobol computer programming language for state financial system..............and the Systems Admin wasn't a very good friend of mine :)
Now I work what I really like ......private auto service .Work ..... fishing.....work ...fishing and some knives late at night;)
 
Oooh, more programmers and sysads here than I expected.
(I resemble that remark)

Mecha said:
Funny you should say that. I took part in a scientific program called Project CROOS, and was responsible for collecting accurate samples of certain salmon scales, tissue, and GPS data for each fish caught during a summer fishing season. The number crunchers complained of inaccurate data from some vessels but my samples were always impeccable. The sciencing was more difficult in crappy weather. 🤣 Turns out a lot of these Chinook salmon travel as far as Russia and back to the US. Amazing creatures, they are.

The CROOS people gave me a hilariously long-billed baseball cap with a big salmon on it.

Project CROOS

marineresearch.oregonstate.edu marineresearch.oregonstate.edu
Click to expand...

Cool!
Yes, sciencing (data acquisition) is actually pretty hard, if not technically or intellectually difficult. TIME matters most. That's crazy about the salmon!
My GF did her MS at OSU, and I've worked with a bunch of their scientists and grad students over the years. Been in and out of Astoria and Newport via research ship as well. In fact Nautilus (and my buddies) are over there right now in/over Astoria Canyon doing vent and hydrate stuff.
 
Hah! That's probably one of the better "'tip" jokes I've heard.
Speaking of bad "tip"jokes...
What did the leper say to the hooker?
"Keep the tip!"
 
I find this fascinating that this hobby/profession/obsession draws together so many diverse people.

Retired LEO as a Major. Couldn’t remain so, rehired at another agency as a LT. But my “retirement“ thoughts are of creating my next knife…
 
I retired some years ago, but sometimes I miss working. I got used to that I need to work. After retirement, I started to get bored with so much free time, so I found a weekend job. I was passionate about Yoga for my whole life, so I decided to transform it into a job. I found some clients, and I am working as a Yoga trainer on weekends. I have a lot of practice. Approximately for thirty years, I have been practising Yoga. I love it because even though I am sixty-three years old, it helps me feel like I am younger.
 
Last edited:
I am a medical device software quality engineer after having been a developer for 12-odd years. Some of my work might be out there saving the lives of your family members or friends. :-)
 
Typical career path here. I was in the parking business for about 8 years, then I was a litigator and eventually an appellate attorney, and then spent about 10 years as a 3D modeler and animator. Presently retired and jabbering about knives on the internet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top