Fish Story and Fish in the Boat

Notes from early July – posted weeks later at the Petersburg Public Library. Town visits are popular for fresh produce and wi-fi access (plus I enjoy our visits with local residents and other boaters at the docks).

Guest Laci joined us in Sitka as we set out for Kalinin Bay. Ron & Laci fished The Shark Hole with Jerry (m/v Jericho) hoping to land some big king salmon. One big fish ran out the line on Laci’s pole, escaping with all of the gear trailing behind.  No salmon caught that day, but what a great fish-that-got-away story. Later in the week Laci did land a 25-pound halibut, 3 nice coho to freeze and take home, plus a smaller halibut for Tanya to prepare one of her fabulous fish fry dinners.

We didn't see any grizzly bear in Kalinin this week, not even one peekaboo sighting. Where were all of the grizzlies?! None in the estuary, none along the shoreline, none checking out the skiffs and kayaks on shore near the trailhead. No bear anywhere. Several Sitka black-tailed deer and an occasional sea otter accounted for all of our wildlife viewing. Who forgot to invite the brown bear, or the spawning pink salmon that lure them to the river mouth?

Red Bluff Bay and Bear

Bear! Another bear! Still more bear! That was Red Bluff Bay on this visit. We were alone in the bay when we arrived, fortunate to have our choice of anchor locations. We headed to our favorite spot, the sheltered cove beyond the waterfall with an unobstructed view of the estuary. Out of sight of the towering waterfall, nonetheless we heard it’s constant thunder roaring in the background while our view included rugged mountain peaks, a wide grassy meadow and river delta and a bear trail along our cove. 

Even before the anchor dropped RL spotted the first grizzly in the estuary. We were barely settled when a sow with two cubs wandered into view, grazing on the lush foliage in the estuary. We jumped into the skiff and headed over for our first brief photo op… brief since the tide was falling and the shallow, rock-strewn shoals present a threat to propellers. As we turned to head back to the big boat, a grizzly appeared directly behind Rhapsody, slowly grazing his way along the shoreline bear trail. Photo op!

In the midst of transferring the images from cameras to computer, another grizzly appeared along the bear trail, less than 200 feet off the stern. Photo op!

Some time later two more bears hustled along the bear trail, the small grizzly in the lead definitely nervous and finally romping away to disappear around the bend near the small stream. That was a lot of amazing bear viewing during the first 3 hours in Red Bluff. Several more bear appeared in the estuary later in the day.

Very few bear made an appearance over the next 24 hours, then in late afternoon on the third day of our stay one large nutmeg-colored grizzly waded up the shallows of the river mouth. He submerged, then spent long minutes pawing his head, especially his eyes. Pesky fly problems perhaps? Three large adults grazed in the estuary for hours... too far away for photos at a tide too low to approach closer. We settled for bear watching with binoculars instead.

The closest, most visible wildlife for much of our stay was the pair of hummingbirds that buzzed everything of color around the boat: flags, humans in red and yellow gear, geraniums in a galley window, etc. Not quite so bold, two pair of Red-throated Loons kept a cautious distance as they circled the boat, sounding their eerie cry as they cruised along.

Timing mattered this week for bear watching; we were so fortunate to arrive when we did! No complaints here, between the two of us we shot over 600 grizzly images. Red Bluff Bay is a breathtakingly beautiful scenic location, but it’s truly special when grizzly bear and sunshine coincide.

Gut Bay at Mickie's Basin

It was almost tempting to run the big boat inside the inner cove, Mickie’s Basin, almost but timing wasn’t right. It takes a high tide to navigate the reverse S-bend course in the shallow, 30-foot wide entry, avoiding the occasional boulder while you keep off the shoals. We chose to anchor in the outer cove and use the skiff to explore the inner basin. Quietly beautiful, this location provided shelter from most wind gusts and swells. Gut Bay had few visitors during our stay. M/V Sea Roamer anchored briefly in the outer cove, waiting for high tide, then headed into the basin to spend a week or two on anchor. Charter boat Ursa Major and two small trollers spent brief overnights in the outer cove.

One scruffy grizzly kept us laughing with his antics, rolling around in various shallow depressions, wriggling and waving his paws while rubbing dirt into his fur coat. Was he cleaning his fur? Were the bugs bothering him? Or was he just fooling around? 

Sea Roamer reported good prawning in Gut Bay, setting traps deep, between 300-500 feet. That's a lot of line to recover when you pull each pot, hopefully heavy with prawns. The spot prawns they shared were delicious! (link) Thanks Lee and Ellen.

Patterson Bay

June 7             Day 33

36.2nm          Security Bay to Patterson Bay

Security Bay, Kuiu Island, seemed "just one more fine anchorage", nothing special but perfectly adequate. Can you tell how much sushine or lack thereof impacts my attitude?! Sunshine makes everywhere seem special. 1 sea otter circled the boat early in the morning, warily keeping his distance as he went round and round. 6 more otters paddled around the entrance to Security as we departed after a comfortable evening at anchor in a protected passage between two small islands.

More low clouds and thin fog accompanied us across South Chatham Strait on the way to Patterson. Trollers worked both sides of the channel, some answered my waves of greeting and others ignored us as we passed. We paused inside the bay to watch a lone whale repeatedly blow, surface and disappear. No acrobatics, hardly even a tail display as it disappeared underwater.

Locating a good anchorage in this deep, narrow fjordlike bay was somewhat of a challenge, especially with predictions of changeable-direction 20 knot winds in the next several days. Should we anchor in deep water with a 5:1 scope on the chain and risk swinging too close to a shoreline reef in this narrow fjord? Anchor farther inside in shallower water near an island at the head of the bay and risk dragging if/when the wind switched direction? We took our time and made it work, but there were moments when I was ready to give up and move on to another less challenging anchorage! 

Patterson turned out to be a lovely, comfortable spot to spend several days. One black bear with cub popped in and out of the brush, just beyond good camera range. We settled for binoculars and some long-distance wildlife viewing.

Lake Bay and Coffman Cove

30.2nm          Lake Bay

It’s always tempting to linger at Meyers Chuck, but with so much more to see and do ahead of us, it was time to move on. We traveled to Lake Bay on nearby Prince of Wales Island and dropped anchor in a sheltered cove that offers protection from any strong winds howling down Clarence Strait. Rhapsody rode comfortably in this quiet spot, rocking us to sleep at night lulled by the rhythm of gentle wavelets. Seals fished in the bay (catching more fish than we humans), half a dozen eagles circled overhead and one small black bear appeared briefly on the near shore before disappearing back into the bushes.

A dinghy excursion to Coffman Cove through some shallow back channels brought terrific photo ops, but called for occasional paddling and poling to ease the skiff though shallow passages on the ebbing tide. One juvenile eagle watched our passage with interest from his perch high atop a dead cedar tree. 

Coffman Cove is a quiet settlement: the marina was less than half full, the small take-out restaurant closed until Thursday, the store empty of customers and the library locked up tight. The town lacks cellphone service, but we did find wi-fi available at the library, comfortably seated in wooden chairs on the covered porch. When the library opened we were surprised and touched to find a small memorial to Wrangell resident Pat Roppel, a boating friend, who died in January. Pat, an accomplished woman of many talents - teacher, mentor, writer, historian, explorer, world traveler, and all around amazing individual -  was an avid supporter of the Coffman Cove Library.