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?

Sunshine, Salmon and Still in Canada

77.5nm          Brundige Inlet

Wind and wave conditions and a steady barometer determine the timing for a transit of Dixon Entrance East, the stretch of water where we cross the international border into Alaska. While it is tempting to linger in northern British Columbia, exploring interesting coves and inlets, we don’t want to miss a good weather window to make this big, open-water crossing. Today’s easy, protected run along Dundas Island was so smooth that we were almost tempted to run farther and make the crossing. Almost tempted, but wind and waves kicked up a bit and after nine hours of running we were ready to head for a quiet anchorage.

The next morning VHF weather reported ocean swells in Dixon Entrance West at 2-3 meters… yes, that’s meters, not feet!  We chose to spend a second night in Brundige Inlet at the north end of Dundas, waiting for winds and water to calm down. Relaxing on anchor in a beautiful setting isn't hard, but we were anxious to enter Alaska, arrive in Ketchikan to clear U.S. Customs, and get on with the SE Alaska adventures.

The M/V Jericho crew brought in a near-20 pound salmon (trolling a black hoochie, if you're interested) and Ron grilled one big fillet with our not-so-secret sauce for a terrific dinner entree. 

The day was warm and sunny and we were content to hang out for an extra day or two  to wait for conditions to improve. I don’t care what the sun does tomorrow, but I am asking the weather gods to calm the wind and flatten the water. 

The First Salmon of the 2014 Trip

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can rival the taste of the year’s first, just-caught-the-same-day, grilled salmon, cooked to perfection and basted with the “secret sauce”. It might have tasted all the more delicious for us having been skunked on a couple of fishing outings earlier in the month. I had grown cranky about fishing and not catching, so late one rainy morning the Capt. set out solo, armed with a positive attitude and hot cup of coffee. The bite was on. He hooked a fish in the first hour and returned with a big, beautiful bright king salmon. We don’t have a scale onboard, so stating a weight would only be a guestimate, but that beauty was 31.5 inches long, almost 8 inches from back to belly and 4 inches thick. Oh my, that’s a lot of good eats!

RL was super busy that day; catching the fish, cleaning the fish, cleaning up the skiff, cleaning the fish-cleaning station, grilling a small, thick chunk from one fillet, and finally cleaning up the grill. The man grinned through it all. Me? I prepared a small tail section for lox, and then later that day was an appreciative audience/dinner companion. (I won – he grilled another chunk of salmon the next day.)

(Sorry Mike, you left a few days too soon and missed a couple of great dinners.)

Raitt Narrows Cove: fog and fish

We set out in sunshine, turned the corner at the end of a passage in the McNaughton Group, and WHAM! thick fog enveloped us. This was the dense, can't-see-anything-beyond-100-feet kind of fog that persisted through most of the morning. Our course zigzagged through water filled with rocky shoals and islets and heavily sprinkled with drift logs and masses of debris. "Activate the foghorn and stay alert." So much for the relaxing, scenic excursion we had planned. Our attention was totally focused on the radar screen, the chart display on the computer monitor and the blurry view of the water directly in front of the bow. 

One faint blip on the radar screen was out of place, not correspondig to any obstacles shown on the chart, It remained still, then moved towards us on an intersecting path. We officially had right-of-way and maintained course and speed, but it's always good to be cautious and ready for the unexpected. That faint blip turned out to be a lone sport fisherman who was rigging his fishing gear in the stern of his small, very small, craft instead of running the boat. What an idiot! RL throttled back, the fisherman cruised by close in front of us, never acknowledging our presence, and disappeared again into the fog. He might have ignored our foghorn sounding every 60 seconds, but I'll bet he was aware of the anchor on our dark blue bow looming 14 feet above him as he putted past.

The fog finally lifted and we finished the trip with good visibility to run through Raitt Narrows. These basking seals barely stirred as we entered the passage on a low tide. 

The recent sunny weather has been accompanied daily by gusting 15-20 knot afternoon winds and now by morning fog. It adds some interesting considerations to running tricky passages, and even encourages sleeping in. For example, friends on M/V Maria Maru had planned an early departure from Raitt, but waited several hours longer until the fog had lifted enough to see the nearby shore.

It was a short run in the skiff from our anchorage outside to Idol Point, a favored fishing spot in Seaforth Channel. On a 2-hour fishing trip mid-morning we hooked 5 salmon, RL released several and I lost a big one that leapt and ran several times before throwing the barbless hook. Drat! I hate barbless hooks, OK, I shouldn't complain, the two bright coho were more than enough for several days of barbecued salmon, iron-skillet salmon, salmon salad or salmon burgers and at least one batch of lox. Then we'll go fishing again... or crabbing... or prawning...

Finally... the Coho are Running

All season long we have heard "the fish are late". Reasons (or guesses) ranged from the believable " the water is still too cold so they stayed offshore longer", to the more fanciful "the hatchery-release of fish had been devoured by whales 3 years earlier", or... Whatever! The reality is that fishing was slow earlier in the spring. Fish were caught, but not in great numbers. But now, oh my, the coho are returning in BIG numbers and it's Fish On!

Photo: a fine catch of coho salmon

Photo: cleaning the catch takes time

Photo: JS demonstrates his fast filleting technique

Photo: these coho fillets are destined for the barbecue

Photo: Save that carcass for crab or prawn trap bait!

RL loves the fishing, and I get pretty excited about netting a big salmon. Note: I'm even more enthusiastic about the cooking and eating that follows.

Returning An Eagle's Fishy Gift

Fog and driftwood kept us alert until we left Reid Passage and entered Seaforth Channel. Then the fog lifted and we spotted a flotilla of small boats clustered around Idol Point, all trolling for salmon. Ooh, it must mean the coho are running! Friends in their fishing skiff greeted us at Idol Point and led the way through Rait Narrows, yet another shallow-water, skinny, serpentine passage. Reality proved the run less intimidating than the Nobeltec chart view, so we’ll return comfortably to this anchorage again. Nearby Kynumpt Bay has been a destination in the past if we opted to anchor out instead of mooring at Shearwater, but Rait's South Cove is better protected and a lot more attractive. We rafted up, caught up on the highlights of the past two months, and then launched our skiff and went fishing in the late afternoon sunshine. The fishing was so good we stayed a few days.

As we arrived at the cove an eagle flew past the boat, struggling to stay aloft with his talons holding a large salmon. Oops! he dropped the salmon and it sank near the rocky shore. Tanya quickly grabbed a gaff, scooped up the fish and tossed it uphill onto the rocks, ready for the eagle to swoop down and retrieve it. With any luck we would have a terrific photo op of  the eagle snatching his fish. No such luck, that cautious eagle remained perched high in a tree, warily watching us and his fish for a v-e-r-y long time. By late afternoon the salmon was gone and so was the eagle.

Grizzlies at Hidden Falls/Kasnyku Bay

Photo: Grizzly Fishing at Hidden Falls

We cruise past every year, stopping to anchor in nearby bays but never pausing here. The bay is deep, it can be crazy crowded during a seine fishing opening; and those are just two of the excuses we’ve used to to keep moving. Then we met some of the Hidden Falls crew while we were at Warm Springs and they invited us to drop by for a visit and tour. The invitation overrode any excuses… and that’s a good thing. 

Photo: Salmon schooling at the hatchery 

We had a terrific time on Ben's guided tour, chatted with several of the “fish people” about their work, and later visited with other residents. We enjoyed our time with this friendly group ...and then there were the grizzlies. 

Two youngsters semi-successfully caught salmon in the river, a mom and cub appeared and disappeared in between their meals, another grizzly strolled nonchalantly down the boat ramp and turned up a path past the houses… and on it went all day. Oh yes, there were bear; they knew a good spot to dine. 

While this Hidden Falls fisherman did actually hook a chinook salmon from his perch high up the ladder, the bears were considerably more successful! (I couldn't resist adding this photo - it seems the extra height makes it easier to spot the fish and cast into a promising spot)