The Clarion

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Bourke Senior varsity lacrosse playerAndrew Bourke of the lacrosse team caught this 12 pound crab during his summer job fishing in Alaska. The two months of work can net him between $10,000 and $12,000. [Click to enlarge]

The birds soar overhead, the slap of the waves resonates inside your head, your muscles ache for days, and a long night of sleep consists of maybe four hours. This is no vacation, this is a summer job: fishing off the Alaskan coast. It is a job like none other which senior Andrew Bourke of the men's lacrosse team has done for the past three summers.

"Money is a big thing," explains Bourke. "They pay you really well, that is probably the biggest incentive." But there are pay offs as well: "Being up there, there is a whole sense of freedom. They may say everything is bigger in Texas, but everything is truly bigger in Alaska."

Bourke's northern adventure had its origin when he was injured playing lacrosse for University of Maryland Baltimore County and decided to transfer to DU. Bourke was hanging around his house in Denver when his neighbor and best friend came to him with a summer job. Fishing wasn't exactly what he had in mind, but when he learned that he could make up to $10,000 for just two months, Bourke was sold.

Just like the fish Bourke stalks, he was hooked.

"I typically leave at the end of June or beginning of July, then get back at the end of August just before school starts, looking like a complete grizzly man."

A grizzly man that is in much need of sleep.

The boat, F/V Spirit, is based out of Juneau. It trawls for king crab for the first two weeks of the summer and salmon for the remainder. The boat is typically out at sea for three days at a time and is called a tender boat. This means that it is one of the larger boats in the fleet, and the smaller boats unload their fish and crabs onto it. When they do go back into port they are there for no more than four hours, just enough time to unload the fish and replenish food and fuel.

Continued...

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