Got Roy from the plane and went right to the boat to get to the anchorage at my favorite drag ahead of the forecasted blow. We had king salmon from my last trip and greens from Roy and Brenda’s hydroponics for dinner.
Day 1
We had the fishing gear in about 430 am the next morning. The blow came and it rained hard all day. The wind built all day til about 3pm, when it laid down. Might not have fished in it if I was by myself, but with two of us, one can man the wheel and keep us going straight. We caught a king every few hours. No big dogs today. A batch of smaller fish and a great start to the week. We had fresh king salmon burger and greens from Roys hydroponics for dinner, which I’ll just got ahead and not repeat: it’s what we had every night for dinner.
Day 2
Gear down 430 am. Got our first fish at 6am. Then a shaker. Then a just-28 incher. That was it for keepers. We caught several more shakers, and some or all of the kings we caught today had their adipose fins clipped, meaning there was a good chance they were from a hatchery somewhere. We ate dinner with plates on our laps up on the help, listening to an MLB game. When the game ended, I turned off the stream. A few seconds later, I heard some puffing outside. I looked out into the cove towards the bay, and a little pod of 3 adult and a calf orcas were nearby. They looked like they were doing some maneuvering like they were feeding on something, maybe. Then, we saw a sea otter porpoising repeatedly. And not how they normally porpoise, where they don’t leave the water. This one was in a panic, with arched back at each surfacing all the way clear of the water, like a diver doing jacknife dive off the diving board. It was headed to the kelp bed near shore as fast as it could go. It surfaced in the kelp, stopped, and looked back towards the orcas with its head up high. If the orcas were messing with it out there, they didn’t pursue it. Or, maybe they ate another otter and this one got away. Might be training the calf like the pod Sean, Pat and I saw training juvenile whales two years ago with a seal. The pod nonchalantly cruised back out of the cove to parts unknown.
Day 3
Gear down 415 am. We got the first fish at the other end of the drag. Just before we got the fish on, I saw a first: sand hill cranes standing in the kelp patch around the reef, feeding. Neither of us have ever seen them feed out offshore in a kelp patch. We don’t know what they were eating, but they were definitely feeding, and were there a good while. Then the rod bent hard over and we forgot about the birds. It was a nice 40 lb halibut. We caught a small keeper king soon after, then nothing for awhile. I changed lures to a Mepps cyclops 3 red blue and green spoon that had a marginal hook on it. I sharpened the hook as best I could, and was about to send it out, but stopped and put on a brand new hook. Good move. The next fish was on that line. Another keeper, in the same location where we caught the first one. We fished several more hours with nothing, then down around the point where we caught the halibut, we got a nice 17 lber on the Mepps. It was then that I saw that most of the paint from the lure was gone! Oh well. We fished back to the anchorage with no more action, and called it an early day at 3 pm. Soon after we anchored, the local humpback cruised into the cove by us, seeming to just come by to say hello. Or maybe goodbye, because we didn’t see him much again the rest of the week, as whales were strangely absent this week.
Day 4
We saw more cranes on the kelp bed than yesterday. Caught 2 small keepers and a few shakers. Then anchored up mid afternoon and went ashore to gather sea asparagus while it wasn’t raining. Roy showed me how to identify a new plant to me – goose tongue – on the same beach and I must say that is a tasty green. Nice flavor and just a hint of saltiness. Fresh wolf tracks in the sand went right through the wild greens garden. I wore Jimmy’s hat today. The Mississippi State beanie Chris gave me. Then, out of the blue, I got the first ever text from Jimmy’s widow. She was on a church mission in Seward and wanted to know how to ship fish to Mississippi. Wow. Jimmy must be smiling somewhere. The drive shaft seems like it’s making a noise. We can see the whole shaft in the shaft alley. The midshaft bearing is greased, there’s no metal filings around it that would indicate maybe a shot bearing, and the shaft at the shaft seal doesn’t wiggle or vibrate. Then we checked the shaft at the drip seal, and it was solid, too. Maybe it’s making the noise it’s supposed to, and I just now noticed it. Sure nice having Roy here for a second opinion and a big help to move the table to get to the drip seal to look at it.
Day 5
Gear down 450 am. Boats were already fishing on the drag. I knew they were all local boats by their single outboards and because charter boats wouldn’t be out here this early. It’s the nicest morning this week. Mostly clear and flat calm. We fished down the drag. The 3 local boats were trolling at the point. We rounded the point and went around the corner. All the town boats picked up and ran towards the outside waters. Right then, we got our first king. It jumped a couple times while Roy played it to the net. We were back to having the drag to ourselves. With the light winds, we decided to run an hour+ to try the outside coast while we could. We fished the afternoon at Ulitka and caught nothing. In the afternoon, we tied up to the bouys tied to my hung anchor that was still fast to the bottom in the anchorage. Lots of feed, as usual, in the bay. Rhinoceros auklets were chasing feed to the surface, and then eagles were swooping in for the spoils. I hoped the resident whale would come by for Roy to watch, but he didn’t show. Several trollers joined us in the bay in the evening, as the July commercial trolling king salmon opening was in full swing. An announcement from ADFG today said that the troll fleet had caught less than half its July target harvest number 10 days into the opening. So, catch rates are low, indicating there’s not many king salmon in the near shore areas where most trollers (and me) fish. So, we’re doing pretty good, all things considered.
Day 6
We put the gear down at Ulitka at 4 am. We caught one fish – actually had a double, but the first hit got off and maybe went to the other rod. We saw one other king caught in the dozens of charter boats that showed up later. We also got the biggest lingcod from the boat this year, and a couple nice rockfish. The fishing was slow and the swell was big enough that we headed to inside protected waters after another hour, and fished our way home. With no more fish, we picked up our gear and ran to Craig at 115 pm, arriving about 330 pm.
Today, we got up for an espresso starter, then two french presses full of more coffee. Roy didn’t break the bad news to me me until just before he left: he cut down my cherry trees in his yard in Haines because they were shading his garden. I told him I’d probably let him come back fishing next year, anyway. We packed up Roy’s luggage and headed to the airport. I dropped him off, did a few errands, then blanched my share of the sea asparagus to freeze. Another great trip with Roy.
