Well, it’s 10:00 in the morning on my third trip. I got back from the second trip and got everything taken care of for the house build and the fish taken care of and the clothes put awy. The contractor arrived and put up the border of the foundation forms. Then, it turns out the pad isn’t level enough for the job, so we have to get more D1 in. They said they couldn’t start on the foundation until we get it leveled, so bang. I have Sunday off til Monday afternoon.
I got up at 3am and headed out to my spot at 3:30, arriving a little over 2 hours later. I got my first fish shortly later. I continued down the drag and back. I got the first fish on the herring aid king spoon, and remember my brother in law remarking at a picnic the day before that he had been fishing with the same spoon, and when he saw the kings feeding on some small feed – I think they are just-hatched herring fry – he switched to a coho killer, which is the same color as the king spoon, but about half the width. I switched to that as I started my second pass down the drag and boom. I got another one. Then I caught a shaker and lost another fish right under the boat. After no more fish on the return tack, I put on another, larger, same colored spoon – a Loony Spoon – that I bought a handful of at Harri’s in Juneau. They were priced lower than the other colors, so maybe the herring aide color doesn’t work as well there. Got two more fish on it, and lost another.
I notice that not only the charter boats, but also local boats, don’t have much patience for a spot. A local boat came in and went half way up the drag one way, and off he goes. One thing I do concede is that I’m not in a hurry for a reason – because I’m retired. Others may only have the day to fish, then have to go back to work tomorrow, so they are anxious to get something while the weekend is here.
I anchored behind the little island, as the wind was blowing into the usual cove I anchor in. I’d spliced on a thimble to the anchor line for the spare anchor and chain, and tossed the anchor over. I made coffee for the thermos for first thing into the morning, and listened to the college world series and the Stanley Cup games on the satellite radio app.
I was up at 3 am, plugged in the starlink, and saw I had a voicemail. Listening to it I say “Uh Oh”… My contractor was cancelling his morning concrete pour at another site due to the heavy rain, so he’d be over to work on our lot in the morning! I pull the anchor and …. D’OH!… the new thimble I spliced in is too wide to go through the chute on the bow roller. Dang it.
I tie off the anchor line I have in, muscle the chain over the chute til the thimble clears, and then continue hauling. The anchor is full of kelp when it clears the water and won’t come up over the anchor roller. I stop again, clove hitch the chain on the anchor post, and clear the kelp with the pike pole. Then get the anchor all in, and away we go.
I fish the drag towards town. I lose one, but no time to keep fishing at the turnaround. Still lots of feed here, and I think it would be another good day of fishing if I could stay, but gotta go. There will be more days. All of them good.
It’s lumpy on the way home with the wind. And pouring buckets of rain. I bucked the tide for the first hour, so it takes 30 minutes longer to get back than usual.
I get the fish I kept into the freezer. My dirt guy shows up, and away we go on the foundation. A short but great outing.
