Going Fishing… Just For The Halibut

What a beautiful day it is going to be today. It rains a lot in Seward. It is just the was it is here. It’s on the northern edge of a temperate rain forest. So the clear days are really extra nice. We are going on the Jack Pot today. There are 13 of us fishing, 2 mates, and the Capt. She will take us 3 hours out to our first fishing hole and then proceed from there. The ride out was a bit choppy    but I love the water and I was missing being on our boats on the Chesapeake Bay, so between yesterday and today, I am getting my water fix.     We had a ball watching the porpoises again today. With the weather being nice today the water was blue, so you can see these beautiful creators better. Fishing was good. The youngest of the fisherman was 11 and he caught the first fish, a Yellow Eye. What fish stories he will be able to tell. I caught the 3rd, a Ling Cod.     A beauty. Today is June 30, Ling Cod fishing doesn’t start until tomorrow. Bummer! A throw back. Broke my heart! We are fishing for Halibut, bottom dwellers. The bottom here is 150 to 200 feet down. The poles are short, thick with a 2 lb weight. You let your bait drop to the bottom then bring the bait back up 4 to 6 feet. You wait for the nibbles. Once you feel a good pull on the hook, you start to reel. You don’t set the hook as you do with most fish (pull hard up on the pole) because the hooks are so big and sharp, you could rip the hook right out of the fishes mouth. When you know you have the fish, start reeling him in, reeling when he lets you, stopping while he fights. You can reel in about 3- 6 feet then rest for a few seconds, then reel again 3-6 feet. It’s a long time reeling in 150 – 200 feet of line. But when you get that beauty close to the surface and see color, your heart starts beating fast. You don’t want it to get away. Yeah dinner tonight. It may not be a giant Halibut but it is a nice one and it’s my first one. Tommy and I still just look at each other and shake our heads, we still can’t believe we are doing this trip. That is what I was feeling pulling that fish up. I can’t believe I am Halibut fishing in Alaska! Tommy was next to get a fish. He decided to send this one back since it was on the smaller size. He got another one a short time later,    much better.         Our friends, Kelly and Troy, both got their 2 halibut, the limit, and I was next. This is so fun. Nice fish. Tommy, again, right behind me. We started to fish with regular spinner rods hoping to catch a salmon. No luck. The boat was ready to pack up since all 13 of us got our 2 halibut. A few others caught a yellow eye as well. On our way back to the harbor we saw Humpbacks and then… this was a treat, the picture isn’t much, but it was just there, out of the blue.  I saw it passing under our boat and snapped this shot. It was gone, it never surfaced.  Wow an Orca! A Killer Whale. The Capt, well she was tickled to death.   A few more seals, a fantastic view of Bear Glacier from a distance, and we were back to port. Off to the fish house to have our fish filleted after a few photo opts.      We will vacuum pack it, freeze it, and Fed Ex it home for later sumptuous dinning. This was a great day!

I learned from a deck hand the first day we arrived in Seward that inside the fishes head are otolith bones that are ivory. All are paired up and pretty equal in size. They look like feathers to me.   The deckhand has been able to get some for me. The best are from the Yellow Eye. He said scientist look at these bones and can tell how old they are, what their health was, and where they come from.     I see …jewelry. I am gathering enough of them (hopefully) to make all of my girls ivory feather earring. Hope I can get enough of them. A little bonus on a great sunny warm day of fishing.

Kenai Fjord part 2

Ice, and lots of it, from large chunks the size of cars to smaller human being size were floating and clanging against the hull of the boat. We saw these crazy kayakers floating around with the ice. Then we saw their tents up! I call this extreme kayaking. These kayakers have to get dropped off by water taxi and get picked up at a later time. I like adventure but I am not to sure this is it. We approached the glacier, but still a distance away, you could  hear the groans coming from deep inside of him.  Then cracking and a loud pow, like a cannon was fired, just prior to the glacier calving.       What a wave that dropping ice created. The Capt shut down the engines and then you really could hear that the glacier had a lot to say. The moans, cracking, and creaking were loud, some sounded like they were coming from the surface and others sounded so deep they sounded as if they could be coming from the other side. Kind of eerie, kind of nice. Even in the rain it is spectacular to see. And the blue, that glacier blue.   It’s a color you cannot describe just as you cannot describe the fire of a sunset.  On the way back we saw more critters, another eagle,  seals sun bathing.   The scenery was breath taking with these mountains jutting out of the sea and the huge boulders just placed here and there.    This glacier cruse was one of the highlights of our trip for me. And to top it off, just before we pulled into port, the crew baked fresh chocolate chip cookies.                   Nice touch!

Kenai Fjord Glacier and Wildlife Tour Part 1

We settled in yesterday in Seward Military Resort and drove around Seward to get the lay of the land.

Today it is a 6 hour Kenai Fjord Glacier & Wildlife tour We boarded the Aialik, met the crew, and set sail at 11:30 am. We weren’t even out of the Port and look what was there to greet us. Lunch was served shortly after we got under way. By the time lunch was over we were able to see some wildlife. Otters were playing, porpoises ran along side the boat and crisscrossed in front of us having a great time. You could tell they were having a blast. They are incredibly fast. Even when the Capt sped up the boat, they could still out run (uhh swim) us!                                                                                  We were lucky to see blow spouts in the distance. We found Humpback whales, a mama and baby “logging”. This is where they lie close to the surface to sleep. What a treat. Whales don’t sleep like most animals/mammals do since they still need to come up for air. When they sleep, only 1/2 of their brain sleeps at a time. They stay closer to the surface of the water to make accessing air a bit easier. A little later we saw a single Humpback and later in the day we had an opportunity to see Finn Whales – 2 of them. The Capt was so excited to see them. He said they are not sighted often. And more whales were in our future.       Puffins were next.       Cute little things aren’t they? Some eat so much they can’t take flight, they just skim over the water. These adorable little Puffins are divers. They can dive a couple of hundred feet to get food. Yes, a couple of hundred feet! How do they do that? How do they not explode with the water pressure? Mother Nature…she is something isn’t she? It has been a rainy day today, off and on – more on, and by then time we were nearing the Aialik Glacier it was coming down pretty good. I tried to keep the camera lens clear but it was an uphill battle. I had put the camera in a plastic grocery bag, cutting a hole in the end allowing the lens to peek through. The bag helped the camera but no the lens so much.

A Rainy day, Glaciers, and Halibut

We left the RV at Turnagain Pass Recreation area and drove Hooptie back towards Beluga Point where we were yesterday watching for the bore tide. We want to go towards Portage and Whittier. In Portage there is a glacier cruise but we opted to drive around on the dirt roads that led to small campgrounds and fishing holes. This is where we were able to see our first glacier and iceberg.      I think we were able to see the same glacier that the cruise would have shown us.Just to give you an idea of the size of these mountains, look at the cruise/tour boat in the lower right corner.

The color of blue is awesome. I can only imagine what it will look like on a sunny day as today is very cloudy and drizzling rain. 

I always say “you have to have hope” and we did today. Hope – wouldn’t you love to live in a little town called Hope? This town has a census of 147!  Wow, you would know everything about everyone with only 147 people living there.  Any away, it is a cute little preserved mining town with a cafe,      a  gift shop,                                                                       For such a small town, look at how many notes & ads are up on the store.                       the Seaview bar,        the library that doubled as the school at one time,      a social hall,  and an old bearded guy waiting to show you how to pan for gold.        This building was recently moved and is in the process of being restored. I love the dedication people and organizations have on preserving our history.

We crossed into the Kenai Peninsula and drove into Seward to the military resort late in the day. As we were making our way to the office we saw where everyone was weighing their freshly caught halibut. The resort has a fish house where you can clean, pack, and freeze your fish. More will be written about this in the coming days but I had to show you the first halibut that I’ve ever seen.