Ken and his buddy Lawren arrived in their own rental car from Ketchikan. A first for my visitors. Lawren is in his early 80’s, and Ken his late 70s. Both spry and still fishing as often as they can.
The first big blow of the season came that night, and the next day was too windy and rainy to fish. We headed across the island to Coffman Cove to the famous burger stand. The boys were not disappointed for dinner. Counted 30+ deer along the road on the way home.
Ken was one of my early friends and mentors in Juneau. We both liked canning and smoking seafood, and Ken taught me about digging clams. His youngest daughter Lisa helped me sell fish during high school, and was a great help. I’d see the last of the family left in town, his middle daughter Claire, at Mudrooms, the monthly storytelling event, over the winters in Juneau.
Lawren grew up north of Edmonton on a Lake, where his family had a mink farm and commercial fished on the lake. They also trapped. How cool is that.
We got out on Monday bright and early. Ken is a notorious anti-early riser, so I I rushed the boys out the door and said we’d get our second cups of coffee on the boat. We walked the green mile to the boat and were soon underway.
We headed for the nearby drag for coho, and put the gear out. Lots of whales around. We caught nothing. Maybe a few of these unknown rockfish looking fish we’ve recently run in to, which we released. I found out by the end of the drag the boys would rather fish for whitefish, since they planned to fish for salmon during their week in Juneau after they left here. So change of plans.
Luckily, the wind was light enough that we could go try the spot I discovered when Pat and Sean were here. It’s too deep for me to want to anchor there in nearly 300 feet, so the wind has to be light enough that you can get your gear down to the bottom. We were soon into chicken halibut, and the boys were giddy. Then some big Pacific cod, and the happiness increased. By mid afternoon, we had enough for the day. I headed to the anchorage while the boys cleaned the fish.
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The boys were tuckered out by the time they finished cleaning fish. I brought the salmon cream sauce pasta leftovers from Jesse’s trip, and heated that up for an early dinner. The boys made short work of it. It’s one of those dishes that might be better the second or third day, but needs to be hot to be at its best. We spent the late afternoon telling stories and turned in early that evening.
On Tuesday, we went back to the same spot, as the wind was again favorable. The boys soon had several halibut. We decided to try another spot that might have bigger fish, and also was near the kelp and oyster farm of my friend. Ken was once the ADFG permitting lead for mariculture farms, so was interested to see it. We caught a yelloweye rockfish we had to return. We rigged a deep water release for it, but the fish was so big with so much buoyancy that we had to add several more little cannon ball sinkers to take it to the bottom. One more chicken halibut and we headed for the harbor. The boys had all the white fish they needed.
The boys cleaned the fish on the way to the harbor. We tied up in the harbor. I hooked up my hose to the freshwater on the dock, and we got to skinning, rinsing, portioning and bagging the fish for the freezer. We finished in about an hour, tidied up the boat, and headed for home.
I told the boys to relax while I got the fish into the freezer. They both had worked hard reeling up fish from 280 feet, then cleaning them all. They sipped on some red wine.
Ken mentioned in passing on the boat that he missed eating venison. After putting the fish on racks in the freezer, I pulled out packages of moose and black tail deer. When Ken asked if we should order pizza for dinner, I said no. I had a surprise dinner in store for them. I’d bought salad at the store on the way home, and topped that with a jar of sea asparagus I canned earlier in the summer, along with some Parmesan cheese, while the venison defrosted in the microwave. I pulled the meat when it was still mostly frozen so I could cut narrow steaks. I seasoned the pieces and put them out to thaw. Then we all took naps for about an hour and a half. I got up and cut most of the little bag of small red potatoes I bought with the salad, brushed on olive oil, and put them in the toaster oven to roast. When the potatoes were about 5 minutes from being done, I quick fried the venison steaks like Bob showed me so long ago now it seems in Ketchikan.
The boys awoke hungry, and obviously enjoyed their dinner. It had been some time since either had eaten venison. Their offspring are not hunters, and they were getting up there in age and not able to hunt like they used to. That made the meal more gratifying for me. I see that day coming myself.
I awoke at 3 am on Wednesday to vac pack their fish and weigh them for luggage. Ken popped his head in about 4 am. He’s got COVID, he said. His first time! Lawren does, too. Not his first time. Second group this year that’s had it, and like the first one, not sure if the brought it with or caught it here. I had it last month from the first group so hopefully I’ve got the antibodies helping me.