For six years I had been using the Internet and building webpapes. I was stuck with the same page that I made about 2 months after I began using the computer. I have taken a lot of flack about it, so I figured it's about time to update, especially if I am going to be asking you to join me on any ventures or adventures. I am sure you are going to want to know a few things about me.

I've always said a man better know his huntin' partner before he ever sets foot in the bush.

Family and Growing Up

When I was 10 my parents split and re-married shortly thereafter. Although I was very upset about this, I'm very thankful that they always remained close friends and the upside was that I had two great families to be a part of. My mom and her husband had a house on a lake that was great for fishing and they always had lots of boats around for fishing, waterskiing or racing around in. My dad used to bring us gas for the boats in 45 gallon drums and we never ran out. I am sure that Mobil Oil or someone like that got their start from us. After school got out in June we would put our bathing suits on and not take them off until September.

I have 3 brothers and one sister. My youngest brother Gord was killed in 1996 when his tugboat sank and he was trapped inside. My other two brothers live within 15 miles of me and I see them occasionally. My sister lives in Calgary and I see her about once a year although it's just over a year now since I have seen her.

After my parents split, I stayed with my dad while the rest stayed with my mom and her new husband. On the weekends us kids would get together somewhere and we always traded back and forth. When I was 14 my dad bought a bowling alley and we moved into the basement suite. That was a real experience for me and I soon became a pretty good bowler. Plus I always had a job pinsetting (no automatics in those days) and was never broke. I spent all my time either bowling, pinsetting, or working behind the counter. I never had much time to get into trouble although I was no angel by any stretch of the imagination.

I lived in the bowling alley until I left home. That must have been a real wild time for me because for the life of me I can't remember how old I was when I left home. But I was probably 19. I guess the reason I can't remember leaving home was because I only moved out to sleep. Or was it I only came home to sleep? I do know I had an apartment across the street from the bowling alley. I guess they finally quit feeding me and I stopped going there. Or maybe they sold the place; ya that's it. We'll go with that.

Not Much Classroom Education

Anyway, as I was growing up, I never felt that an education was going to be that important, as it didn't take much book learning to learn how to get out of the way of a falling tree. And as a kid I got into a bit of trouble for cutting down trees in the neighbourhood park, trying to be like my dad. But as I got a little older and more often started seeing my dad come home all busted up from falling limbs and logs rolling over him, I realized that maybe the bush wasn't the place I wanted to work. That's a very dangerous profession and holding onto a saw all day has got to be one of the toughest things a person can do.

Fish or Cut Bait

One of the things I am most thankful about is that my step-father liked boats and owned quite a few different ones as I was growing up. And I don't mean little boats.

The two biggest ones were the Alpaca which was 91 feet long and we used it as a fish packer and also fished tuna. This boat was a schooner and was built in Barbados in 1918. For a while it was owned by Al Capone and he used it as a rumrunner on the east coast during prohibition. Another was called the Huntress, was 116 feet long and was a mine sweeper during World War II. We took the Huntress to Fiji in the early 70s to fish for tuna. That was a real adventure which I really enjoyed although things didn't work out the way we expected.

Although I have always considered myself a fisherman, I have had several other jobs over the years. I did work in the bush (a job which my dad got me) when I was 18. That job only lasted for 29 days and then I was fired for showing up late one day. I think I was made an example of for rest of the crew. A couple of the boys who were already in the union had gotten drunk and missed a couple of days earlier in the week. If I had made it to 30 days I would of been accepted into the union and had benefits. Anyway, I was just as happy, I didn't like getting up that early and riding a bumpy crew bus into the bush every morning.

I got another job just about right away running a small boomboat pushing logs around to feed a sawmill. This was a pretty good job and it only took me about 2 minutes to get to work. I had this job when my step-father bought the Huntress and I quit to join him. I really think that if the Fiji opportunity hadn't come up I may have still been at that job now. Probably not! At least I'm glad I'm not.

After I returned from Fiji I got another job running a small tug boat and did that for about 1 year. I then quit and went back fishing for a guy my brother knew. I worked for him for 2 years and then he talked me into buying my own boat. He was so confident I would do well that he lent me the money to buy my first troller the Sharon S.

I spent the next 2 years trolling for salmon and really struggled with it. It was easy working for someone else when they made all the decisions. But for a young man in his early 20s, it was a real eye opener. Anyway, I got lucky when the price of boats doubled since I bought, and I sold out. Unfortunately, the fishing industry took a bit of a downturn and the cost of borrowing money took an upswing and most guys who bought boats during that time really suffered. The guy who bought my boat committed suicide.

My step-father had started up a new business in town suppying building materials for the whole island and he soon became the biggest around. I got a job driving his delivery truck and spent the next couple of years picking up and dropping off materials to job sites. It didn't take long before I got bored with that job, so I quit when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to try building houses.

The place where he was working needed another labourer. They were the top custom home builder in the area and built all the most expensive houses at the time. We were always on the most spectacular jobsites. I worked for him for about a year and a half and was in the best shape of my life. The bosses were very religious people and had strong work ethics. They set the pace each day and expected you to keep up. Other than the guy who lent me money to buy my fishboat, these guys were the hardest workers I had ever worked with.

After about a year and half they asked me if I wanted to start an apprenticeship with them. I was really enjoying working there so I agreed. I worked and went to school for a month every year for 3 years. I was top in my class every year and that was expected by my boss, as they had never sponsored an apprentice who wasn't the top. After the second year of my apprenticeship things got real bad in the housing industry and I was laid off, with no bright spots for the near future.

Reluctantly I decided to go back fishing. That was in 1982 and that year we had the largest return of sockeye salmon ever. The fishing was the best my brother and I had ever seen. I spent the next 18 years fishing and am still having a hard time getting away from it. You can read about some of My Adventures with the Jildana so I won't go into it here.

My Wife and Family

We lived together for about a year before we were married. We moved out of Cheryl's condo and bought a house together in Nanaimo. We stayed there for about a year before moving to Ladysmith. We lived in a nice neighbourhood across from the beach surrounded by retirees. I think we may have disturbed the tranquility of their space a few times but we became very good friends with most of them.

Jordan came along in 1987 and it wasn't for lack of trying that it took so long, but we were pretty happy, although surprised. We had long given up that Cheryl was going to get pregnant and there were some pretty tough times so we weren't too worried that we didn't have a big horde of kids. I was out running a herring packer and had stopped in Deep Bay for a few days. Cheryl came up to see me and that is when she told me she was pregnant.

Right from the get go, Jordan was a great kid. Cheryl never had any problem with her pregnancy and bowled right up to the night before he was born. As a baby he never cried very much, always went right to sleep when we put him down, and no amount of noise disturbed his sleep. It wasn't until he started school that we found out that he couldn't hear very well. After 2 doctors and 2 operations we managed to get the problem solved and he hasn't had any problems since.

I am very proud of Jordan. He does very well in school even though he never brings any homework home. I always thought that when you reached high school you had homework every night. But he keeps his grades up so I'm not going to complain. He is well respected by his friends and their parents. His teachers and hockey coaches always speak highly of him. At 14 he already has a job, refereeing the younger kids in minor hockey.

The last two members of our family are Whiskers the cat and Rufus the dog. Whiskers was given to us by a girl that Jordan went to elementary school with and has been with us for eight years now. He didn't like me much when he was younger. Cats and I have really never got along. But lately he has been friendly and likes to curl up with me when I'm sleeping. I don't know if he likes me or is just trying to make Rufus jealous. Rufus is only three and is a cross between a Scottie and a Shi Tzu. He is just starting to get to be a real good dog. My idea of a good dog is one that you can talk to. No, he doesn't talk back but he sure tries hard to please. He has a bit of an attitude, thinking he's pretty tough, but he is a real good friend of mine and doesn't like it if I get to far away from him.

Pictures and Links

• My dad, Peter Wm. Bryski
• My mom Helen and step-father Cec
• Me with my brothers, sister and her son
• My brother Pete and his wife Lin
• My brother Rick and his wife Leanne
• My brother Gord
• Cheryl and I on our first Christmas together after being married