Happy 10th Birthday Hannah!!
Hannah, our grand-daughter, on her speed scooter she got for her birthday!!!!
Daleen and Diane had wanted to see the waterfalls on the way north but with the weather and current o
n our side, we were all focused on getting to Alaska, we bypassed the waterfalls and saved them for our return trip. We also want to get in more fishing along the way south so those are the two things on our agenda to do.
We had an uneventful transition of Hiekish Narrows and continued to Lizette Falls. The Fiordlands is some of the most beautiful country on the coast. The dark granite mountains go straight up 3000-4000 feet all around us and the water around the areas is over 1000 feet deep. Breathtaking!! The waterfalls are everywhere, even in August and we see areas where there would be even more waterfalls in the springtime. We enjoyed the beautiful Lizette Falls, did our photo ops and then Don was to lead the way to a fishing spot….It was still early after
noon, the sun was out, the water was calm and we actually were going to take a shower in the cockpit, while underway back to our anchorage. We both put our bathing suits on in preparation for the much needed refreshing shower…from the warm water in our sun showers we have hauled around for almost 3 months and never used yet….(since it had been so cool outside) BUT first we were going to fish for a while.
Since many times we put our hooks in the water, we have had fun, catch a few fish or get skunked and then move on, we thought this was going to be one of those days. We were just enjoying the moment and continue to have a relaxing day.
So here John and I are, I’m sure a very amusing sight, he in his bathing suit and I’m in my swimsuit with a pair of shorts and our fishing poles. It is the warmest weather we have had since leaving on May 22 and since we have been acclimated to Alaska’s cool temp’s, the warmth felt good but it also felt like 105 degrees.
After Don pick what looked like a good spot, we all put our hooks in the water and noticed the current was moving our boat into the 1000ft area so we adjusted our boat 3 times, pulling in our lines each time until we finally were able to understand what the water was doing and get further into the 150 ft area, closer to Barrie Pt in Mussel Inlet. John was very skeptical at being able to catch anything but we both were excited to try. Don and Diane had been doing about the same thing. Later, Don said he caught a rock bass but darn - it got away.
I decided to use a lure I had bought 3 years earlier in Powell River. It was way overpriced and mainly purchased as a souvenir. It is bright shiny yellow fish with a red eye, around 4 inches long and 1 ½ inch wide, tasseled tail with a big hook on the end. I checked to see what the bottom look like on our depth sounder, like I could really tell. Didn’t want to risk my lure on a lot of rocks. **smile** As I let the line out, I thought I should have added a weight on my line since it seem to take forever to get my line down. It was finally at the bottom and I fished for maybe 5 minutes and I had a strike.
I have to backup for a minute. I was on the bow of the boat and John was standing in the cockpit. He announced he had a fish and worked it for a while but it got away, when he brought his line up, one of the treble hooks was broken off. Wow, must be a big one down there…….. I continued to fish and it wasn’t a minute or two and I had a strike…. It was exciting to say the least. It took around 10 minutes (times are all estimates **smile**) to finally see what I had on my hook… Coming up to the surface was my very first halibut with my shiny yellow fish half showing from his mouth. At this point, John and I looked at each and thought, how we are going to get him onboard.
Side note: Diane and I had talked to a young fisherman in Petersburg, Alaska, telling him our concern with the stories we had heard about bringing a big halibut onboard and having them damage the boat or ourselves. He said you lasso the halibut’s tail and drag them in the water for a ways. This is much better than some other techniques we have heard.
With this knowledge – I called to John “lasso his tail!!” John looked at me and I saw in his eye’s he was saying “Do What” so I quickly shared our Petersburg story.. John and I are not “big fish” fisherman so there we are in our bathing suits with a 45 lb halibut which is 48 inches long on my fishing pole. When John was trying to hurry every line seems to tangle. He took the lead line and tried to put it around the tail and it wouldn’t SINK, so then he said “Oh, it looks like we could use the ne
t”, at the time it sounded like a good idea, NOT……the fish had been pretty dossal just under the surface of the water while John was working the lines but then John barely put the net in the water and the halibut took off at least 100 feet down with my line screaming. At that moment, I couldn’t remember how to stop the line… Of course I couldn’t reel because he was going too fast. I mentioned to John I couldn’t remember how to stop the line……..The star…..of course….. John calmly reaches over when the fish had slowed down and slowly tighten down the star. I knew that but during those 10 seconds, I didn’t have a brain in my head….It was exciting and now the halibut was mad and he was twice as hard to pull in. This time we both had a chance to think and when the fish was again just below the surface of the water, John took pictures and then swiftly and smoothly put the line around my pole and dropped it around the fish’s body and then tightens it when it was aro
und its tail. After over 30 minutes from strike to lasso of the tail S
uccess!!
John tells me I caught the halibut but I couldn’t have brought it aboard without his help. We are a team… Cruising couple…. We are now the fishing couple….
When we arrived in Windy Bay for the night, we stopped by a power boat "Tenacious" with 4 people aboard from Seattle, who were also anchored in Windy Bay, we asked if they would like some halibut or knew how to clean it….
I have to admit, I had been watching fisherman for the past 3 years with amazement clean halibut and I wanted to try. As it turned out we had so much meat and glad those folks liked fish.
We cleaned, filleted, cleaned, bagged, vacuum pack, and froze as much as we could. Don and Diane were a big help, Don starting his generator we could use the food saver and the much needed fan. We ate fish in the cockpit for dinner at 9:30pm worked until 10:30 that night. And no we still hadn’t had our showers……. What a day!!
We watched the breathtaking full moon rise over the mountains.
n our side, we were all focused on getting to Alaska, we bypassed the waterfalls and saved them for our return trip. We also want to get in more fishing along the way south so those are the two things on our agenda to do.We had an uneventful transition of Hiekish Narrows and continued to Lizette Falls. The Fiordlands is some of the most beautiful country on the coast. The dark granite mountains go straight up 3000-4000 feet all around us and the water around the areas is over 1000 feet deep. Breathtaking!! The waterfalls are everywhere, even in August and we see areas where there would be even more waterfalls in the springtime. We enjoyed the beautiful Lizette Falls, did our photo ops and then Don was to lead the way to a fishing spot….It was still early after
noon, the sun was out, the water was calm and we actually were going to take a shower in the cockpit, while underway back to our anchorage. We both put our bathing suits on in preparation for the much needed refreshing shower…from the warm water in our sun showers we have hauled around for almost 3 months and never used yet….(since it had been so cool outside) BUT first we were going to fish for a while.Since many times we put our hooks in the water, we have had fun, catch a few fish or get skunked and then move on, we thought this was going to be one of those days. We were just enjoying the moment and continue to have a relaxing day.
So here John and I are, I’m sure a very amusing sight, he in his bathing suit and I’m in my swimsuit with a pair of shorts and our fishing poles. It is the warmest weather we have had since leaving on May 22 and since we have been acclimated to Alaska’s cool temp’s, the warmth felt good but it also felt like 105 degrees.
After Don pick what looked like a good spot, we all put our hooks in the water and noticed the current was moving our boat into the 1000ft area so we adjusted our boat 3 times, pulling in our lines each time until we finally were able to understand what the water was doing and get further into the 150 ft area, closer to Barrie Pt in Mussel Inlet. John was very skeptical at being able to catch anything but we both were excited to try. Don and Diane had been doing about the same thing. Later, Don said he caught a rock bass but darn - it got away.
I decided to use a lure I had bought 3 years earlier in Powell River. It was way overpriced and mainly purchased as a souvenir. It is bright shiny yellow fish with a red eye, around 4 inches long and 1 ½ inch wide, tasseled tail with a big hook on the end. I checked to see what the bottom look like on our depth sounder, like I could really tell. Didn’t want to risk my lure on a lot of rocks. **smile** As I let the line out, I thought I should have added a weight on my line since it seem to take forever to get my line down. It was finally at the bottom and I fished for maybe 5 minutes and I had a strike.
I have to backup for a minute. I was on the bow of the boat and John was standing in the cockpit. He announced he had a fish and worked it for a while but it got away, when he brought his line up, one of the treble hooks was broken off. Wow, must be a big one down there…….. I continued to fish and it wasn’t a minute or two and I had a strike…. It was exciting to say the least. It took around 10 minutes (times are all estimates **smile**) to finally see what I had on my hook… Coming up to the surface was my very first halibut with my shiny yellow fish half showing from his mouth. At this point, John and I looked at each and thought, how we are going to get him onboard.
Side note: Diane and I had talked to a young fisherman in Petersburg, Alaska, telling him our concern with the stories we had heard about bringing a big halibut onboard and having them damage the boat or ourselves. He said you lasso the halibut’s tail and drag them in the water for a ways. This is much better than some other techniques we have heard.
With this knowledge – I called to John “lasso his tail!!” John looked at me and I saw in his eye’s he was saying “Do What” so I quickly shared our Petersburg story.. John and I are not “big fish” fisherman so there we are in our bathing suits with a 45 lb halibut which is 48 inches long on my fishing pole. When John was trying to hurry every line seems to tangle. He took the lead line and tried to put it around the tail and it wouldn’t SINK, so then he said “Oh, it looks like we could use the ne
t”, at the time it sounded like a good idea, NOT……the fish had been pretty dossal just under the surface of the water while John was working the lines but then John barely put the net in the water and the halibut took off at least 100 feet down with my line screaming. At that moment, I couldn’t remember how to stop the line… Of course I couldn’t reel because he was going too fast. I mentioned to John I couldn’t remember how to stop the line……..The star…..of course….. John calmly reaches over when the fish had slowed down and slowly tighten down the star. I knew that but during those 10 seconds, I didn’t have a brain in my head….It was exciting and now the halibut was mad and he was twice as hard to pull in. This time we both had a chance to think and when the fish was again just below the surface of the water, John took pictures and then swiftly and smoothly put the line around my pole and dropped it around the fish’s body and then tightens it when it was aro
und its tail. After over 30 minutes from strike to lasso of the tail S
uccess!!John tells me I caught the halibut but I couldn’t have brought it aboard without his help. We are a team… Cruising couple…. We are now the fishing couple….
When we arrived in Windy Bay for the night, we stopped by a power boat "Tenacious" with 4 people aboard from Seattle, who were also anchored in Windy Bay, we asked if they would like some halibut or knew how to clean it….
I have to admit, I had been watching fisherman for the past 3 years with amazement clean halibut and I wanted to try. As it turned out we had so much meat and glad those folks liked fish.
We cleaned, filleted, cleaned, bagged, vacuum pack, and froze as much as we could. Don and Diane were a big help, Don starting his generator we could use the food saver and the much needed fan. We ate fish in the cockpit for dinner at 9:30pm worked until 10:30 that night. And no we still hadn’t had our showers……. What a day!!
We watched the breathtaking full moon rise over the mountains.
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