Geoff Girolamo
Detroit, MI
I put up my profile on the Fishingjobs website after thoroughly reading the handbook. I also sent out about 15 printed resumes to randomly selected skippers provided by Fishingjobs. I got a response to my online posting after about six weeks, which ultimately turned into a job offer. I was hired as a deckhand for the summer aboard the F/V Kendal, based out of Seward. The Kendal is a salmon seine boat. It was a great job. I was actually surprised. I didn't doubt the website, but at the same time, here I was, sitting thousands of miles away, no experience to speak of, and all of a sudden I have a job and a plane ticket to go work on a salmon boat in Alaska! I knew no one who had ever fished in Alaska, and knew no one who was going that summer, so I went in totally blind. I really didn't know what to expect. However, I wasn't let down. The handbook contained everything I needed to know, so I could follow conversations and be of some use, even when I first stepped foot on the boat. The things that I remember the most about fishing are the environment, and the peace I felt. We were fishing in small coves, right next to forests and snow-capped mountains. We saw bears, eagles, and other animals feeding and drinking only a few hundred feet from where we were fishing. And when we'd shut down the engine, everything got quiet. You could hear the birds, the gentle waves lapping against shore, it was a truly peaceful experience. Then you'd bring several hundred fish on deck, and the noise was in such stark contrast to the silence of only a few minutes before. Add in a beautiful sunset or sunrise and you can't imagine a more serene experience. I really enjoyed my time fishing, and wish I could do it again. It is hard work. You do earn your money. But it's an experience that you cannot get anywhere else.