Tele Aadsen

writer - fisherman - listener

Happy Birthday, Hooked!

by | Mar 18, 2012 | Alaska, Commercial Fishing, F/V Nerka, Women in Fishing | 55 comments

One year ago today, Hooked went live with this post. Astute read­ers may notice that that first post’s date doesn’t match today’s cel­e­bra­tion. Though I wrote and post­ed “The Launch” on March 10, 2011, I didn’t have the courage to make it pub­lic until 8 days lat­er. Full of trep­i­da­tion, I wasn’t sure what I had to say – or if any­one would care. Arriv­ing late to the blo­gos­phere (about 3 years after my dad prod­ded, “Do you have a blog yet?”), I ago­nized over what kind of first impres­sion Hooked would make.

That first post laid out a pret­ty mod­est mis­sion: “Hooked is intend­ed to share the sto­ry of what it is to be a South­east Alaskan fish­er­man, a troller/longliner who combs the sea to har­vest the high­est-qual­i­ty wild salmon, black cod and halibut.”

“Fish­er­man” is both an occu­pa­tion and iden­ti­ty for me, so this was­n’t a bad goal to begin with, but I like to have room to stretch. The next line left the nar­ra­tive door ajar: “Fish­er­men are a diverse bunch, and no one’s per­spec­tive is quite the same. My voice as a tree hug­ging, tofu eat­ing, pub­lic radio lis­ten­ing, pierced/tattooed bleed­ing heart pescatar­i­an fem­i­nist, a lapsed social work­er turned pro­fes­sion­al deck­hand, is – per­haps – a tad unique.”

Just as my per­spec­tive is unique, so is yours. As you intro­duced your­selves in the com­ments, strangers became new friends, and I delight­ed in your diverse voic­es. Encour­ag­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers. Cur­rent and retired fish­er­men. Women from an astound­ing vari­ety of life expe­ri­ences. Whether active­ly work­ing on the water, land-locked and dream­ing of a life adrift, or sea­sick-prone and hap­pi­ly root­ed ashore, you tugged the threads of these posts and found them con­nect­ed to the fab­ric of your own lives.

So this post isn’t about cel­e­brat­ing 12 months of a one-dimen­sion­al online con­struct. This is about rec­og­niz­ing and hon­or­ing com­mu­ni­ty, and that’s all of you who take the time to stop by and say hel­lo. You’ve become par­tic­i­pants in these sto­ries. Your hearts seized as whales rose up beneath the Ner­ka. (Maybe some exple­tives fell from your lips, too, in cho­rus with those falling from mine.) You cel­e­brat­ed Cap’n J’s birth­day, and you imag­ined the taste of tra­di­tion­al Tlin­git foods. When I shared my writer’s pan­ic last fall, you offered sup­port and encour­age­ment. You learned the inter­de­pen­dent rela­tion­ship between salmon, trees, and South­east Alaskans, and you ral­lied as spokes­peo­ple for the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est. You cheered for the 2012 Fish­er Poets, and you griev­ed those lost at sea.

Hooked’s read­ers have been the great­est joy of this expe­ri­ence.  I wish I could offer you a slice of that aquat­ic-themed cake (or pro­vide a gluten-free/­sug­ar-free/ve­g­an alter­na­tive) in thanks. You’ll just have to trust that we enjoyed it with you in mind. Bear, too.

In lieu of cake, I do have a gift for one of you. Two months ago, I print­ed a few copies of Hooked: The Best of 2011 through blurb.com. An 80 page col­lec­tion of my favorite posts, they came out pret­ty nice­ly (only 2 typos dis­cov­ered thus far, and pure­ly my fault.) If you’d like to be entered into a draw­ing to win your own copy, leave a com­ment here before mid­night on Wednes­day, and I’ll put your name in a hat. (No, not a hat, but an Xtra Tuf boot. Thanks for the sug­ges­tion, Cedar — cul­tur­al authen­ti­cy mat­ters!)  Cap’n J will do the hon­ors on the morn­ing of the 22nd, and I’ll stick the winner’s copy in the mail as one of my final tasks before we head north.

Are you a long-time Hooked read­er, or a new vis­i­tor? As we approach the upcom­ing fish­ing sea­son, are there par­tic­u­lar sto­ries or issues you’d like to hear about? What have you liked in your time with Hooked, and what could we do dif­fer­ent­ly over our sec­ond year?

55 Comments

  1. Spencer severson
    Spencer severson on March 18, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    Hap­py birth­day hooked. Keep up the inspir­ing commentary

    • Tele
      Tele on March 21, 2012 at 1:54 pm

      Thanks, Spencer! Look­ing for­ward to cross­ing paths with you and Ellen this season.

  2. Steffany Raynes
    Steffany Raynes on March 18, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    I love being part of such a won­der­ful­ly diverse com­mu­ni­ty. And most of all I love read­ing your writ­ing Tele. Keep it up.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 21, 2012 at 1:56 pm

      Stef­fany, I’m so glad to have met you this fall/winter. Like­wise, keep YOUR writ­ing up — I loved your last piece, and am going to miss fol­low­ing your stories.

  3. keneumey
    keneumey on March 18, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    Hap­py Birth­day, Hooked! And con­grat­u­la­tions, Tele, on all that you’ve achieved in the past year. Here’s to many more!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 21, 2012 at 1:59 pm

      Cheers to that! Thanks for mak­ing my writ­ing stronger this win­ter, as well as much more fun.

  4. TiredofTechnology
    TiredofTechnology on March 18, 2012 at 5:44 pm

    Tele! Con­grat­u­la­tions on a fab­u­lous year! I love read­ing your stuff, dear. Keep it coming.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 8:54 am

      Thank you, friend! Def­i­nite­ly helps hav­ing the bud­dy sys­tem in place.

  5. Joel Brady-Power
    Joel Brady-Power on March 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    Con­grat­u­la­tions sweet­ie, I am look­ing for­ward to mak­ing more sto­ries with you this summer.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 1:17 pm

      And you, too, bud­dy. We’ll have some good times!

  6. pierrmorgan
    pierrmorgan on March 18, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    Whee! Yahoo! Would love a piece of that cake. Looks del­ish. In lieu of cake I con­sid­er your writ­ings a treat. Every post — no mat­ter the top­ic — is beau­ti­ful­ly expressed and I always look for­ward to read­ing them. You have a gift. Thanks for shar­ing it.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 12:44 pm

      I’m thank­ful our online paths crossed this year, Pierr — it’s been a plea­sure get­ting to know you and see­ing your pho­tographs and appre­ci­a­tion for the crea­tures around us!

  7. Vicky Wood
    Vicky Wood on March 18, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    My good­ness, anoth­er year behind us!! Con­grat­u­la­tions on this great accom­plish­ment! Once again I will wish for you and Cap­t’n J.….Calm Sea’s, Fair winds and Full Hooks. Be Safe and Be Well!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 12:45 pm

      As you know, that’s the per­fect bless­ing to send fish­er­men off with! Thanks, Vicky, and best wish­es for a love­ly sum­mer on the island.

  8. Karl
    Karl on March 18, 2012 at 6:11 pm

    Con­grats on the first year. Nice work and keep ’em coming.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 12:47 pm

      I’m glad you’re here, Karl — I real­ly val­ue hav­ing a place that res­onates with the younger gen­er­a­tion of fish­er­men, as well as non-fish­ing friends who enjoy learn­ing about our spe­cial lifestyle. Look­ing for­ward to see­ing you, Julie and fam­i­ly on the dock!

  9. fish*wine*ski
    fish*wine*ski on March 18, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    Hap­py Birth­day! Say “Hi” to Sit­ka, the place of my birth, and Beth and Stephen for me.
    Congrats!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 12:50 pm

      Mel, I did­n’t know you were born in Sit­ka! Do you get back over very often? I haven’t got­ten to ride that high-speed fer­ry yet, but it’s pret­ty impres­sive, fly­ing past us in Neva Strait. 

      In addi­tion to being fel­low Back­door reg­u­lars, the Ner­ka is on the same float as Beth and Stephen’s boat. 🙂 I’ll def­i­nite­ly give our neigh­bors your hellos.

  10. Holly
    Holly on March 18, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    Hap­py Birth­day, Hooked!
    I must have found your blog about 3 weeks from your first post. Cool beans.
    I’d still love an entry about foot care. It’s so dif­fi­cult to main­tain foot hygiene when I’m work­ing 5 hour shifts on the deck, clean­ing fish in hot boots. Not many chances to change socks. This is maybe not the sort of top­ic for Hooked, but I’d love some tips all the same.
    If you draw my name, please take my win­nings to the Amber­le. I think Roy will be in his usu­al spot in a cou­ple of weeks.

    Thanks for the truth. Good luck this season!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 12:54 pm

      Hey Hol­ly! Does that mean you’re com­ing back for anoth­er sea­son on the Amber­le? Awe­some — I’m look­ing for­ward to hav­ing you back in the harbor. 

      That is a GREAT idea about foot care. Not sure I have sug­ges­tions — Cap’n J is way bet­ter at chang­ing socks than I am — but can def­i­nite­ly relate to the strug­gle. I’ve got it on my list of things to write about now, so maybe we can get some good respons­es from oth­er read­ers with help­ful tips.

      Yep, you were an ear­ly mem­ber of this crowd. Thanks for stick­ing around and all of the encouragement!

  11. Patricia Sands
    Patricia Sands on March 18, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    Hap­py Birth­day! I’m very glad I stum­bled upon your blog and love the win­dow you open into such a dif­fer­ent way of life. My tagline is “Every­one has a sto­ry” and you are sure­ly proof of that!
    By the by, you’re also a fine writer.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 1:07 pm

      Patri­cia, it’s been a plea­sure hav­ing you here, and I absolute­ly agree with your tagline. What oth­er way to make the world a more com­pas­sion­ate, cel­e­bra­to­ry place than through our shared sto­ries? Thanks for all of your con­tri­bu­tions towards that goal.

  12. fivereflections
    fivereflections on March 18, 2012 at 7:28 pm

    hap­py birth­day Hooked — now we know each other!

    David in Maine USA

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 1:23 pm

      Love­ly to know you, David in Maine, and I’m thank­ful for the love­ly haikus that appear in my inbox, thanks to your own suc­cess­ful blog­ging! As I type this, I’m look­ing out the Nerka’s helm win­dows onto a tru­ly GLORIOUS day in Sit­ka — blue skies, sun­shine blind­ing on the snow-buried moun­tains sur­round­ing town, and the faintest mem­o­ry of ice sheen fad­ing from the har­bor water — and am think­ing that you could write the per­fect tan­ka for a moment like this! Me, I’ll set­tle for shar­ing a pho­to lat­er on. 🙂

  13. jenny moran
    jenny moran on March 18, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    Con­grat­u­la­tions on one year! I just love read­ing your poet­ic adven­tures- always a joy to get an update in my inbox from you- no mat­ter what I am doing, I stop & imag­ine myself and your lives as fish­er­men. Please keep them com­ing! ‑Jen­ny

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 3:23 pm

      Thanks for com­ment­ing, Jen­ny, I’m glad to meet you. Your pho­tos are won­der­ful, espe­cial­ly of food — your blog recipes sound deli­cious! (Tan­doori naan piz­za? Yes, please!)

  14. Lori Breckon
    Lori Breckon on March 18, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Tele, Hap­py birth­day to Hooked. Hard to believe that your baby is one. Love to you, Joel and your next year’s adven­tures in Alas­ka. See you on the ocean. I would like to buy a book, please!!!!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 3:25 pm

      You’re so sweet, Lori! So good to talk with you the oth­er day; hope every­one is healthy and feel­ing bet­ter, and that you’re enjoy­ing as beau­ti­ful of a spring day as we are. Hugs to you and all.

  15. kathrynmartins1
    kathrynmartins1 on March 18, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    Hap­py 1st, Hooked! That cake looks great. Bear has some restraint, sit­ting there with his white whiskers.

    Hon­est­ly, Tele, it’s a joy to read your writ­ing, to lis­ten to you tell sto­ries, to hear your voice come through – as Neru­da wrote – “in a speech as clear as lamplight.” 

    Sug­ges­tions? Keep fish­ing. Keep writ­ing. You have the sea’s depth, its inclu­sive­ness, its generosity. 

    You take care 🙂

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 3:29 pm

      Kathryn, thank you for bring­ing Neru­da to Hooked, and for your very gen­er­ous words. Appre­ci­at­ed, friend.

      Oh, and Bear’s restraint? Not so much… A moment lat­er she was on the table, whiskers-deep in frost­ing. I very near­ly post­ed that pic­ture instead, but had sec­ond thoughts. This one def­i­nite­ly shows her bet­ter manners!

      • kathrynmartins1
        kathrynmartins1 on March 24, 2012 at 11:07 am

        Sor­ry, Bear. Bit of a gen­der ben­der. I mean “her white whiskers.” Tele, wish i could have seen those whiskers turn blue 🙂

  16. Linda Rudick
    Linda Rudick on March 19, 2012 at 5:13 am

    Tele, I await your next adventures…everything to date has been delight­ful and illu­mi­nat­ing for me. Keep up the great words (work).

    Hol­ly, foot care is a valid top­ic for many…daughter had issues from wear­ing boots in desert in Iraq…foot=foundation=important. Good idea.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 24, 2012 at 7:15 pm

      You’re anoth­er who’s been here from the begin­ning, Lin­da, and I’m thank­ful for your con­tin­u­al encour­age­ment. Thank you! 

      Good sec­ond­ing of the foot care — also a HUGE issue from my social work days, kids who’d been wear­ing the same filthy, wet socks for days in the rainy Pacif­ic NW. New top­ic on the list, thanks to you and Holly.

  17. Aunt Lynn
    Aunt Lynn on March 19, 2012 at 6:00 am

    Dear­est Tele,

    Con­grat­u­la­tions on a great first year!!! I’m so proud of you and your writ­ing. I LOVE Hooked! I also love your com­mit­ment to your writ­ing. Here’s to anoth­er great year of writ­ing and fishing!!!!

    Love, Aunt Lynn

    • Tele
      Tele on March 24, 2012 at 7:16 pm

      Aunt Lynn — what a love­ly sur­prise to hear you chim­ing in! I did­n’t know you were out here with us. If any­one knows a thing or two about com­mit­ment to writ­ing, it’s you. Thank you for being an inspi­ra­tion in prac­tic­ing your own craft, and encour­ag­ing oth­ers to do the same.

  18. grainsifter
    grainsifter on March 19, 2012 at 6:26 am

    Thank you so much for your blog and for shar­ing with so many of us your thoughts, your expe­ri­ences. I savor your words, Tele.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 24, 2012 at 7:32 pm

      Well, I feel the same about yours, friend. Thank you for your kind­ness, and your insight­ful, mov­ing reflections.

  19. Jodi Lobozzo Aman
    Jodi Lobozzo Aman on March 19, 2012 at 7:21 am

    Hap­py Birth­day! I love when you speak for the trees! I’d love to win the book!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 24, 2012 at 7:18 pm

      We’re a good team, then, Jodi, because I love lis­ten­ing (read­ing) you speak­ing for well­ness. Thanks for all of your ser­vice and heart, friend.

  20. emily a la blog
    emily a la blog on March 19, 2012 at 8:24 am

    Hap­py birth­day! Great give­away idea. 🙂

    • Tele
      Tele on March 24, 2012 at 7:30 pm

      Thanks, Emi­ly! Nev­er done one of these before, but some­thing about hav­ing an over­ly opti­mistic stack of books on my shelf…

  21. CJ
    CJ on March 19, 2012 at 8:47 am

    Hey Tele,
    Hap­py Birth­day, Hooked. Good job, con­grat­u­la­tions, bravo!!

    As you may recall, our paths crossed when you joined SheWrites, back when your fol­low­ers were in sin­gle dig­its. I still read every post like a let­ter home as I’ve watched your mete­oric rise in the blo­gos­phere. Not only is yours an excit­ing life from the get go, but you man­age to hone in with beau­ti­ful writ­ing and heart­felt empa­thy, on impor­tant social issues such as the treat­ment of indig­i­neous peo­ples and “occu­py.”

    I com­ment less because I feel it’s no longer my place, but I do send my con­grat­u­la­tions to Cap’n J for his poet­ry win and my con­do­lences for the book­end boat dis­as­ters. And I unabashed­ly brag on my Alaskan female fish­er­man deck­hand friend. My son, a big strap­ping guy about your age, said he would love your life. He worked a cou­ple of years as the chef aboard a research ves­sel out of Florida.

    Hooked on Hooked, C.J.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 4:01 pm

      C.J., there will ALWAYS be a place for you at Hooked! I remem­ber very well you reach­ing out in the ear­li­est days, and my delight at learn­ing of our shared trolling his­to­ry. Every time I passed your broth­er’s boat on the drag last sea­son, I sent a lit­tle smile out to you and Smoke.

      You’re right, Hooked has indeed been blessed with many new friends over the past year. I’m thrilled that these sto­ries res­onate with a wide audi­ence, and am grate­ful for more peo­ple to learn the bless­ings and strug­gles of the unique lifestyle that you and I know so well. New voic­es are valu­able addi­tions; it’s up to us to cre­ate a cul­ture amongst us that allows Hooked to grow, while retain­ing the com­fort and warmth of a small group of friends sit­ting around the kitchen table. As the sea­son amps up and I spend weeks away from the inter­nets, I’ll be rely­ing on our reg­u­lar readers/commenters to help cre­ate that space. 

      Thanks for say­ing hi, C.J. — I’d noticed your absence, and was send­ing good thoughts your way. Hope you’re hav­ing a love­ly spring day.

  22. Julie Farrar
    Julie Farrar on March 19, 2012 at 9:37 am

    I’m a lit­tle late to the par­ty today, so I guess all the cake is gone. How­ev­er, I’m adding my con­grat­u­la­tions to the mix. I nev­er would have said to myself, “Hmmm, I think I’ll search for blogs about fish­ing in Alas­ka,” but ever since I found you I love learn­ing so much about a dif­fer­ent world than mine. And I won­der if the salmon I love to eat is com­ing from your boat. Save jour­neys out there. Look­ing for­ward to more stories.

  23. Greg J.
    Greg J. on March 19, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    Hi Tele,
    Even though I am still in Sit­ka, I find you tie me back into the fish­ing indus­try that I was a part of for so many years. Thank you for your voice.

    • Tele
      Tele on March 25, 2012 at 11:09 am

      Thank YOU — if this is the Greg J I’m think­ing of, then whether you’re com­ing at this from your own deck or the dock, you have been and remain a tremen­dous con­trib­u­tor to the indus­try! Thank you for your decades of ser­vice to main­tain­ing an indus­try-wide stan­dard of quality.

  24. Nancy
    Nancy on March 19, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    Tele,
    A new vis­i­tor I am, but hooked already. Hap­py Birth­day! I will serve salmon for din­ner tonight, in hon­or of you and all the oth­ers who are on their way to anoth­er sea­son at sea. Best!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 24, 2012 at 7:21 pm

      What a won­der­ful hon­or­ing — and I don’t have to ask you if it’s wild! I’d love to hear what your favorite salmon recipes are some­time. Mean­while, best wish­es for your own con­tin­ued writ­ing, Nan­cy — enjoy your­self and your story!

  25. Amyee Peeler
    Amyee Peeler on March 19, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    Con­grat­u­la­tions on a won­der­ful first blog year Tele! When I receive the email with a new Hooked post, I save it until I can sit down to read and tru­ly appre­ci­ate your writ­ing 🙂 Com­ing in from the first long­line trip of the year now…wish I could share a pic, it’s absolute­ly stun­ning out today!

    • Tele
      Tele on March 23, 2012 at 1:28 pm

      What an awe­some com­ment, Amy­ee — real­iz­ing that you were reading/writing from out on the water, your boat hope­ful­ly plugged and slog­ging her way towards town, total­ly made my day! What a great feel­ing that is, the first trip under your belt, the con­di­tions smil­ing upon you, know­ing a show­er’s in the near future… thanks so much for being part of this com­mu­ni­ty since its ear­ly days, and best wish­es, Amyee!

  26. Ron McDaniel
    Ron McDaniel on March 19, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    I would have replied any­way but with the chance to win your blurb, how could I resist? Sor­ry I did­n’t find Hooked until a few months ago when catch­ing up on Fish­er Poets info. You, Cap­tain J, and Ash­ley made quite a splash this year. (Talk about unique perspectives…a cow­boy wel­com­ing you to Fish­er Poets) I look for­ward to fol­low­ing you guys this year and enter­tain­ing myself with the plea­sure of read­ing your work. You have a gift as a writer that I can only dream of. Keep up the good work!

  27. Vivian Faith Prescott
    Vivian Faith Prescott on March 20, 2012 at 8:43 am

    Hap­py Birth­day, Hooked!!!! It’s been great to get to know you through your blog. May you have many hap­py writ­ing years in the future.

  28. Paula Dobbyn
    Paula Dobbyn on March 20, 2012 at 4:56 pm

    It’s a won­der­ful blog, Tele. Thanks for shar­ing your beau­ti­ful writ­ing with the world. And con­grat­u­la­tions on the anniversary!

  29. andrew thoms
    andrew thoms on March 21, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Con­grats on the one year anniver­sary! I’m look­ing for­ward to anoth­er year… espe­cial­ly more scenes from the Ner­ka along the coast… my favorite was K’naan drag jam in the west­er­lies (which blew so much dur­ing the sum­mer of 2011). i also liked the recipe for salmon. most espe­cial­ly, i love the mix of per­spec­tives and insights and the com­plete lack of any ortho­doxy in your writ­ings and reflec­tions. keep it up!!!

  30. beverlydiehl
    beverlydiehl on March 22, 2012 at 12:35 pm

    Hap­py blog birth­day! Not sure how long I’ve been fol­low­ing, but know I always enjoy stop­ping by. Mak­ing it to the one year mark is very cool. 🙂