Took Jesse on the last summer fishing trip of the year. We caught lots of coho the first day, and that took off the pressure, so to speak, on getting fish for the freezer. The next couple days we caught less, but weather just spectacular. 70 degrees and a breeze.
The second night was one to remember. We’d anchored behind some islands with evergreen trees on them. We butchered our fish, I cooked us salmon and salad for dinner, and while Jesse was doing the dishes, I stepped out on the bow to enjoy the evening for a few minutes. Right as I got out of the door, I heard a splash. I figured it was seals running some of the few pink salmon in the bay waiting for rain to fill the stream so they could spawn. When I looked over, I saw it was a deer swimming from one of the little islands to the big island! Then I saw another deer. A big deer. I realized one was a long antlered spike, and the second – a big four point!. I had my gun, but no way to launch the punt in time to get to land to shoot. I called to Jesse, and we just enjoyed the show.
When the spike got to the beach, it made the splashing sound again. When it’s hooves touched bottom, it made a loud splashing as it got up to dry land. It ran over the big rocks on the beach and right up a rock face into the woods. It didn’t even look for a better place to escape to cover. He was definitely getting away from us. The big buck made a bigger splashing sound getting up on the beach. He was further away than the spike, and on a little better beach for walking. He walked half way to the woods, then stopped and looked back at us. Just like on a magazine cover. Then he trotted up into the woods and was gone. What a show! Like the orcas last year with Pat and Sean, this was another of those once in a lifetime things. Why were the two bucks on this little island next to the big island. And when I mean little, I mean you could walk around it in less than 10 minutes – maybe just 5 minutes. Were they getting away from wolves? When I first saw them, I thought it was a yearling and doe – that I would understand. But 2 bucks? Who knows. It was the highlight of the trip.
I got up about 4:20am this morning and started packing fish. I packed Jesse’s box, then Alan’s box to ship him, and one for my sister, and one for Lance and Dana, who are Salvation Army pastors that were stationed in Juneau for a couple years and great friends. They were back in Juneau for a few days, and I’m taking them to the airport in the morning in Juneau so I get to see them.
Jesse was up and ready to roll when I came in from the shed from packing at about 530 am.. We had a cup of coffee and headed to the ferry. We got there when there was little crowd, got in the front of the line, and Jesse was soon off to Ketchikan. Jesse has picked up cleaning, filleting, double rinsing and bagging the fish over the past few years. He is also the first person to watch me open the tailgate with the screwdriver who could do it themselves. A down rigger was giving me issues sending the cannon ball down, and it took some tinkering to do it each time, but he figured it out right away. Peace Corps friends are great to have and easy to please.
I stopped for more coffee at Lew’s on the way home. His kids are all thriving. He had a big pile of deer thawing from recent success that he was going to grind later. He was soon off to help a neighbor put in a footing for a shed, so I headed for Craig.
Then the usual running around on the last day to fuel the truck and boat. Drop some fish to the POWER food bank. Leave eggs and cheese with Sara’s sister. Clean the boat carpets.
This summer went by fast. The weather was pretty dry, and new winds to me out of the NW showed me new spots to fish. From my log books, I caught about half as many king salmon and three times as many coho salmon this summer as last year. Part of the lower king number was because I had people here fishing in June and early July last year, when king salmon are the only thing to catch, and this year I didn’t have as many people here in June to mid-July. A lot fewer halibut on the skate this year, but we caught more chicken halibut trolling, and I sure like dealing with those rather than 100 lbs fish. Just a great summer.