2017-09-16 Last salmon fishing

The fishing season is winding down, and I suspect that this may be the last time we go salmon fishing this season.  We have a good load of salmon in the freezer and in jars, and the weather starts to go downhill from here.  Typically I take all the salmon fishing gear off at the end of September.  I leave a couple of bottom fishing rods and the spinning rods on all year since we may use them from time to time.

For today's trip we had stepson Steven, and grandsons Tyler and Bryan.
It was a short day trip, not leaving the harbor until after 9 AM.

We got the lines in the water about 10 AM at Mountain Point.
I had not really fished this area much at all this summer, but Steven had gotten a couple of nice fish here the previous day in his skiff, so I decided to give this area a shot.
My boat is so slow that for a day trip you really don't have time to try a few different spots.
You either hit them or you don't.

It was a pretty slow day, and I eventually had to separate Tyler and Bryan.
When they get bored they start picking at each other.

We trolled 3 lines for 5 hours and ended up boating only 3 Silvers.
But they were real nice fat fish.
We did lose one right at the boat because we weren't ready with the net when it came in.
It's hard to lose one that you should have had when they are so hard to hit in the first place.
But it happens.

We were back in the harbor by 5 PM with these 3 nice fish.

2017-09-09 Marguerite Bay Trip

I had been to Marguerite Bay in Traitors Cove a few times this season with various people.
We had talked abut making a trip up there with Steven's skiff.
Having the skiff to run around in while staying on my boat sounded like it would be fun.

For this trip we had my grandsons Tyler and Bryan, Tyler's friend Luke, and stepson Steven.

We left Bar Harbor about 8:30 AM on Saturday, taking Steven's skiff in tow.
Several years ago I had purchased a professionally made tow line with sliding shackle at the Seattle Boat Show.
It worked out real well, and the skiff trailed just fine.

Towing a skiff is always a calculated risk.
If the weather were to kick up it could make it impossible to bring the skiff back to town.
We had checked the marine weather and were fairly confident that the weather would be fine for towing both on Saturday and on Sunday.

We got to the dock at Marguerite Bay about noon.
There were no other boats at the dock at that time, so we pulled up to my preferred spot, which is on the left side of the main dock as you face it from the water.
I pulled in with my bow facing out, and I stuck out just a couple of feet past the end of the dock.
The front of the dock is for loading and unloading only, no long term mooring, and there are signs to that effect posted on the face of the dock.

Once we got secure at the dock we had lunch on board.

The next order of business was to prepare the crab pots and the shrimp pots and run out in the skiff to set them.
Normally I would prep them on the trip out and then drop them before tying up to the dock.
But now having the skiff, we were able to set them from the skiff.

Tyler is at the helm, with Steven in yellow behind him.
Bryan, the one looking very worried, is to Steven's side and is wearing bright orange.
Luke is in front of Bryan in a black jacket.
Apparently no one under 15 has ever thought of wearing a hat, or rain gear, even though as you can see from the water behind the skiff, it was raining pretty hard by now.

About 1:30 PM the float planes started arriving.
I knew that would be happening.
There is a bear and fish viewing platform about a mile up the logging road, and at this time of year various tour operators fly tourists off the cruise ships in, take them up the road in vans, and then take them down to the viewing platform.

About 2 PM, when the kids came back in the skiff, we had a brief unpleasant encounter with a float plane pilot from Taquan Air.
He was miffed that we were at the dock, making it more difficult for him to pull in there.
He said, "This is a float plane only dock."
I told him that was not the case.
Then he said that Taquan Air had built the dock, which I knew was not true, since it is a USFS (US Forest Service) shared public dock which is available to anyone on a first come first served basis.
I confirmed all of this with the USFS after I got back to town.
They said they would talk to Taquan Air and ask them to brief their pilots about this.

There were other carriers other than Taquan Air, but Taquan was the only one that was outright rude and aggressive towards us.
One of the pilots from Mountain Air was very friendly and we chatted on the dock for quite awhile as he waited for his guests.

By now the kids had come back with a few fish to show for their efforts.

I'm surprised Bryan allowed himself to be photographed holding that tiny Turbot.
Luke and Tyler are holding decent sized Sea Bass, and of course Steven is holding a small halibut.

Next we got some gear together and walked up the road to the bear and fish viewing platform.
It is a good logging road, so the walking is pretty easy, but it is about a mile up the road.
Once at the cut off to the platform you take a gravel trail that meanders down through the woods eventually ending up at the platform.

This time of year there are fish a plenty in the river, and so the bears are there in abundance.

It was hard to get up to the viewing spots near the front of the platform as they were plugged with tourists most of the time.  You had to watch for an opening and then jump right in when one became available.

Steven got in trouble with one of the "guides" because he went off to the side of the platform into the brush, so he could get a better look.  She said he wasn't allowed to do that.
I told her he was an adult, and this is a national forest, and he can go wherever he wants.
Guess I'm getting crochety in my old age.

I heard one of the "guides" tell the tourists that whales don't come into the bay because it's too shallow.  Wrong!

We continued our walk up to this first bridge.
Steven immediately began catching trout from the bridge.
It's about 15' or so down from the bridge to the creek.

Hard to tell that Tyler is holding a small trout.

Hmm, what are these guys doing?

We made our way back to the boat, and the kids went out right away to check the crab pots.
4 "keepers" were taken, which we cooked there on the dock.

That evening after dinner we had a great fire on the dock.
We sat there munching on crab and the kids were roasting S'Mores over the fire.

In the early evening, after the planes had stopped for the day, a commercial troller came in and tied up across from us on the other side of the dock.
They were already gone when I got up the next morning.

The kids went out in the skiff and pulled the crab pots for the last time, yielding only 1 more keeper, which I cooked right away on the dock.
They bottom fished for a short time with no luck.

We left the dock about noon, and headed right to the shrimp pots.
We had lots of trouble with them, as they hung up on the bottom, like an anchor.
We tied the line off on the stern cleat and applied some pressure from the boat's engines.
Eventually they came free, but we lost the first pot on the line, and the second pot had a hole in the web.

We did get about a dozen shrimp, which was meager reward for so much work, and the loss of a pot.

We put the skiff in tow and made the long run to town, arriving about 4:30 PM.

It was a fun trip.
Having the skiff there with Steven to supervise the kids made it extra special.

I asked Tyler what he wanted for his next birthday, and of course he said "A skiff!"

2017-08-29 Fishing with the Hammers

My good friend Bob Hammer asked me if I would take him and his family out for a day of fishing.

His son Josh, Josh's wife Kristy, and their 8 year old daughter Jadyn were in town for about a week and we wanted to get them out on the water.

Bob's wife Patrice also came along for the day.

We were very fortunate to have great weather for the day, which kind of balanced out the not so great fishing.

We left Bar Harbor about 8:30 AM and by 9:30 AM had our lines in the water near Vallenor Rocks.
After a couple of unproductive hours there we pulled the gear and ran over to the Survey Point area.

There were a lot of other boats around and we saw some fish being netted, and we saw fish jumping.

Kristy and Jadyn spent a good part of the afternoon enjoying the sun out on the foredeck.

We boated only two nice bright Silvers for the day before heading in about 4 PM.

It was great to spend some time with Bob and Patrice and their family.

2017-08-19 Fishing with Steven and Ryan

It has been many years since I have had the opportunity to take both of my step-sons out for a day on the water fishing, but that's exactly what this day was.

I have taken several trips with Steven this season, but prior to this trip, none with Ryan.
So this trip was significant from that perspective.

We are still trying to get our winter stock of salmon, and they are really running out there, so that is what we were after today.

We started at my usual spot, just past Rosa Reef on the inside of Vallenor Rocks.
By around noon we had picked up 5 Silvers and one bright Pink.

Then we moved over to the Survey Point area and joined the fleet over there.
By 3:30 PM we had a total of 7 Silvers and 4 nice Pinks aboard.

We pulled gear and headed for town.
Ryan cleaned the boat while Steven and I cleaned fish.

It was good to spend some time with them again.

2017-08-15 Salmon fishing with Dennis & Dori

For a time before I retired from First Bank, Dennis Madson was our account manager for Open Solutions Inc.  During that time we discovered that we both are interested in fishing.  I have taken him, his son Taylor, and his wife Dori, out fishing several times in the past.

This year we were scheduled for a two day salmon fishing trip with Dennis and Dori.

Unfortunately when trips like this are scheduled months in advance, you have to deal with the weather, whatever it is, when the designated day arrives.  In this case the first day was pretty gnarly.

We tried to start fishing on the inside of Vallenor Rocks, and it usually is OK to fish there even when the weather is marginal.  But this time it was really too rough to safely fish there, and besides that, it wasn't much fun for any of us.

So we moved over into the Clover Pass area where it was much more protected.

We picked up a couple of Silvers there as well as a couple of Pinks.

Around 3 PM we moved north in Behm Canal up to Grant Island.
I had been there just over a week prior and had done well there.

We picked up 3 more Pinks there.

Then we headed in to the Naha USFS dock for the night.
We have stayed there in the past with them and it is becoming sort of a tradition.

On the way there we came across a small black bear swimming across the narrow channel.
Not something you see every day.
I didn't want to get too close to him because sometimes animals panic and do things that are dangerous to their health.

We were once again fortunate to get a spot at the dock.
It is first come, first served, and there is never a guarantee of a spot.
Dennis and I processed the fish while Dori started on dinner.
She made a tremendous meal of steak fajitas and rice, much better fare than I usually make for myself out here.

We had a rainy but quiet night at the dock, with only one other boat there.

In the morning after a quick and light breakfast we pulled out about 8 AM.
The weather was a little better today, no rain, not as windy, and just over cast skies.

We went right back to Grant Island and spent pretty much the entire day doing passes along the side of the island near the navigational marker.

The final fish count for this day was 8 Silvers and 5 Pinks.
Of course there were many strikes which yielded no fish, and a few fish were lost right at the net, but we won't talk about those.
And we got a few under sized Kings which of course must be thrown back.

We quit fishing at 4 PM and ran back into town to Cedars Lodge, where Dennis & Dori arranged for the fish to be processed for their trip back to Utah the next day.

Then it was back to the stall, clean the boat, sort out the gear, and wrap up the trip.

It was a good fishing trip and it was nice to spend some more time with Dennis and Dori.

2017-08-04 Salmon fishing

It's getting that time of the year when our focus is on getting some salmon (mostly Silvers) for our winter supply.

So the trip this weekend was really a meat run, in that respect.

The crew for this trip consisted of myself, grand sons Tyler, Bryan, and step-son Steven.

The plan was to go north, start at Vallenor, and then eventually move into the Behm Canal area, around Grant Island.

The weather lately has been unusually hot, and that weather continued through this trip.

In fact it was so hot these guys decided to jump in and be pulled behind the boat.
At first I thought maybe the guy in the boat was trolling for Killer Whales.

The first day, Friday, we ended up with 8 fish.
6 were Silvers, and 2 were Pinks.
We also got a lot of under sized Kings that of course had to be put back.

We pulled into the Naha dock for the night.

Tyler and Bryan show off their catch at the Naha dock

We had a great evening there.
After filleting all the fish we set up the fire pit and the kids were able to roast S'mores on the camp fire.

There was a small skiff tied to the outside of the float when we got there, so I dropped Steven off and he moved it around to front (right side in this picture.)  The owners came down the trail a little bit later and looked a little confused to see their skiff in a different place, but the didn't say anything to us as they got in and left.

In the morning I had trouble with the generator - it was not pumping cooling water through.
I still need to deal with that issue.
So I had to use the back up Honda generator to cook breakfast.

After breakfast the kids went up the trail again, so we didn't get away from the dock until after noon.

We started trolling at Grant Island at about 1 PM.
The action was hot and heavy and the kids never had the chance to get bored.
Steven kept them hopping on the back deck, running 3 lines off of 2 downriggers.
We quit fishing at 3:30 PM, after getting 11 fish in all, 10 Silvers and 1 Pink.

We ran 2 1/2 hours to get home and then processed them right there on the dock near the slip.

I think it was a pretty successful trip.
Looking forward to getting some more fish.
It's time to bring the pressure cooker out of storage and get started on jarring up our winter supply.

2017-07-07 Halibut fishing

Grandson Bryan wanted to go halibut fishing for his 11th birthday party, so that's what we did.

For this trip the crew was myself, grandson Bryan (11), grandson Tyler (12), and step son Steven.
Steven is the ultimate fisherman (I wonder who taught him?), so we were expecting good results.

On the way out of town we passed these JABY's (Just Another Big Yacht) at the Ellis Law firm private docks.  Several years ago the Ellis Law firm realized they had a gold mine sitting in front of their offices.  They got the necessary permits and built some docks right in front of their offices that can accommodate 4 or 5 big yachts.  Of course they sit empty in the winter.  But over the summer they are busy and I'm sure generate considerable income to the firm.


Here is the general area where we were bottom fishing:

I carry two anchors and rodes on my boat.
One is on the anchor winch, and I use that for anchoring overnight.
It is a 20 kg Rocna anchor in which I have complete faith.
It has 150' of chain and 200' of rope on its rode.

My spare anchor, and halibut fishing anchor, is a standard Danforth anchor, probably about 30 lbs, with about 30' of chain, and over 400' of line.
It is not on the winch, and we use a buoy pull system in order to pull it.

It is difficult to describe how the buoy pull system works.
A large buoy is attached to the anchor line with a collar.
The collar has a sliding bolt in it designed such that the line will not slide through it in one direction unless it is held open manually.
The effect of this is that you can use the buoy as a pivot point on the surface, and the power of the boat's engines to pull up most of the line (until the chain hits the collar.)  You can pull in all the rope easily because it is all slack, with the buoy holding the weight of the chain and the anchor.
The chain and the anchor itself must be pulled in by hand.

It is somewhat difficult to use, but having a couple of young, strong crewmen available helps a lot.

We anchored on a spot that seemed likely.

Before too long Bryan had his birthday halibut, about 30 lbs.

The weather was nice, and it was pleasant laying there on the hook fishing.

Around noon we made lunch and left the rods in the rod holders, just hanging.

All of a sudden we heard "Zing," and I wondered, "What was that?"
Then I realized it was one of the rods, and line was peeling off the reel.

We ran out there and took turns reeling it in, with Bryan and Tyler doing most of the heavy lifting.
I gave up carrying scales on the boat because they always corroded over time.
We have a halibut length to weight conversion table in the tide book.
That fish was 56", which converts to about 87 lbs live weight.

Around 2 PM the seas started kicking up a bit but we got another little one.
We call these little ones "Chickens."

We pulled anchor and moved inside Thorne Arm to a spot where we've caught fish before.
It's a lot more protected in there, but of course the fishing is not as good.
We got no halibut in there.

Around 5:30 PM we pulled anchor and moved inside Moth Bay for our overnight anchorage.
It is real protected in there, and I've anchored in there numerous times.
It's a pretty tight little hole, but since we were the only ones around, we had no problem getting securely anchored for the night.

Steven and the kids went to work on the fish, and I went to work on dinner.

Dinner was halibut and hamburgers - yummy.

After dinner Steven and the kids set up the raft and went to shore and built a fire.
I didn't have the energy for that, but they really enjoyed themselves, even in the rain.

In the morning we had a good breakfast and pulled anchor, heading out for some more bottom fishing.

We tried the South end of Bold Island, and amazingly Bryan got another small halibut.
He hooked and played this one all by himself, with Steven just helping by gaffing it.

After a couple hours of unsuccessful salmon trolling at Mountain Point we dropped down on the SE end of Pennock Island for one last shot at bottom fishing.

Bryan did it again!

These are those last two halibut that Bryan got:

Overall it was a pretty good trip, and we've got some good meat for the freezer.