ALASKA TRIP 6/28-7/3, 2021 Part TWO
THURSDAY, JULY 1ST, 2021 CONTINUED
Every day at 4:30 PM we had different appetizers setup for us before the 6:00 PM dinner.
1-Tonight was Chinese egg roll and I believe pot stickers.
2-We also had a different soup. Looked like Gumbo
3-Followed by a salmon dish. I remembered too late to take a picture.
4-Tonights specialty desert.
FRIDAY, JULY 2ND, 2021
5-Egg dishes, pretty much every day for breakfast.
6-Comparing to other days this day was not too bad, as far as sea conditions.
We were trolling for pink salmon, but only got one. Noting close to the last time.
7-So much greenery and trees on various islands.
8-Is this what is called a bloody deck?
This fish had a commercial rig in its mouth with a 16/0 hook in its gill.
9-We ended up the day with our limit every day. We had many 48 and 50 fish.
We actually ran out of pink salmon as bait, but we had our limit of halibut.
After that we decided to go pink salmon fishing as bait for last days halibut fishing.
However, at the same spot as in the past, we hooked one and lost some. It was very slow fishing.
We were back at the dock by 3:00 PM.
10-Salad as a starter tonight.
11-With chicken, etc. as the main dish
Spent most of the night packing and disassembling the rods, except the electric one.
SATURDAY, JULY 3RD, 2021
The last day of the trip.
As usual we went after halibut. On the last day, even if weather permits, and salmon are around, only halibut fishing is done.
12-Our capable captain who lives in San Diego when he is not working in Alaska.
13-We caught a small rock fish, but it was released.
After we had three halibut in the holding tank, and there was time, the captain suggested to go to a deeper site and really put to the test the electric reel.
We went to a spot about 230 feet deep.
There we put salmon head with some body meat on the electric reel.
The captain said that with the head and a bait that big, fishing will be slow, yet the hooked fish would be big.
Boy was he right!!!
After seeing the rod tip move, I slowly started the reel. The captain said to come up very slowly. It was obvious this was a big fish.
Once at the (6) meter depth, I had to reel in the fish manually. Nice and slow.
Once on the surface, the captain harpooned the fish. Then he used a very big hook tied to a short rope which was tied to the boat and a long gaff to hook the fish.
I was holding the rods, so the other two anglers plus the captain pulled the big fish into the boat which was a struggle.
Once the fish was in the boat, the captain started beating the fish with a club to kill it fast.
High fives all around. It was a group effort to land that fish.
14-The rig that caught all the halibut. We used a 3 lbs. ball sinker attached to the left swivel. I added the wire line with the red shrink tube to make the attachment to the mainline swivel easier. The small flashing light should be helpful in the deep dark water.
15-The last fish of the last day and the biggest of the two trips. Estimated 196 lbs.
I missed the chance to land a smaller (66) fish last year. But that is different story.
16-To make sure this fish was measured correctly, the tail was against the vertical wall and the end of the nose was marked on the floor.
Pictured with captain is a very hard working manager of the lodge.
The large fish was measured 3/8 short of 72. Thus, in order to keep it I had to pay $390.00, plus maybe several hundred for shipping.
17-We had three fish already before hooked into the monster. Very slow beginning, then it picked up when the scent trail was established.
I brought home two boxes of 50 lbs. each with me at the cost of $140.00. Some 25 lbs. of fillet and the big fish (estimated per a chart, 196 lbs. live weight and 147 lbs. dressed weight) will be shipped separately.
We were back by 11:00 AM this day. After a tasty B.B.Q lunch we were taken to the airport about 3:00 PM for the 5:00 PM flight out of Gustavus.
18-Leaving Gustavus airport.
19-Scenery between Gustavus and Juneau.
20- If you ever wonder what it looks like inside a cloud. Here it is.
21-Now we are on top of the clouds.
22-Back to clear sky.
23-This is the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.
24-A town in Juneau.
25-I dont know why, but this display related to Star Wars was at the Juneau airport.
26-Similar plane that I took to Alaska.
27-Scenery between Juneau and Anchorage.
28-Once more we are flying above the clouds.
29-They had an actual Alaskan bush plane in the lobby at the Anchorage airport.
30-Time to fly to LAX.
Last year, I spend the whole night at the Seattle airport. This time, I got to sleep on the plane to Los Angeles.
A much better arrangement. Less luggage too.
Arrived at LAX around 6:00 AM and had to call my brother to come with his SUV, due to the two large boxes of fish and my check-in bag.
He got one box to divide among relatives, and I will be giving away a lot of fish to others.
THE END
P.S.
The two lessons that I learned on this trip were:
1) If there is a next time, I will try very hard to go with friends, so the boat trips would be with known people. Everybody else at the lodge was with friends as a group. I met all of them, and they were very nice people.
You never know what kind of people you get to go on the boat. My first trip at Cedros Island was similar.
The SOF crew really let me down.
2) Find out when salmon is running, so you are not paying for full day of fishing and getting half day.
Bad weather cannot be predicted, but salmon runs are more regular.
