Sitka 2015

Monday, August 10th Jim Carlisle and I met at John Wayne Airport for our flight to Sitka, Alaska, for our annual fishing trip with Outbound Alaska Charters owned by Herb Tennell.  We met Basil Pappas in Seattle when we changed planes.  We checked into the Westmark Hotel then made a shopping run for snacks and beer.  We hit the sushi bar for dinner that included fresh, local Ikura (salmon roe).  It was delicious.  Al Scow joined us later that evening.

6 a.m. the next morning we bundled up for the rain and boarded Jager.  Captain John had us fill out the paperwork for licenses and fish processing while Riley set up the rods and salted the bait then we were off.  We made the 50 mile run south to the fishing grounds.  Two hours later we were fishing.  John said to drop to the bottom for halibut or fish 150 feet and up for salmon.  As soon as we hit the bottom, we hooked a halibut.  We had limits of halibut (4) in minutes then fished for salmon.

I generally fish the bow, however, with the constant rain I fished the port side for a little shelter.  We caught limits of black bass along with our limits of silver salmon (24) then tried for Kings.  Unfortunately by the time we needed to head back to dock, we failed to find even one king.

We were back to dock around 4:30 p.m.  Even with our wet weather gear on, we still got damp and chilled.  The hot shower really felt good.  It was still raining when it was time to go to dinner so we took a Taxi - Hank's Taxi - to Ludvig's Bistro.  Everything we tried was good and Ludvig's serves huge portions.  We were glad Basil has made reservations here for two nights during the week.

Wednesday morning we were back on Jager bright and early.  John informed us that the seas were rougher than the day before so we couldn't make the long run.  After traveling an hour or so, John poked around in several coves looking for fish.

It rained off and on all day and fishing was slower.  When it was time to return to dock, we had 18 coho salmon, 1 king salmon and 2 halibut.  Another welcomed hot shower followed by a beer. 

We decided to eat in the hotel bar.  Ramon (from the movie The Proposal) was back.  He remembers Basil and me each year.  I had the Halibut Nuggets appetizer for dinner.  There were so many pieces of halibut, that I packed it up for lunch the next day.

Thursday dawned with clear blue skies and the promise of warmer weather.  John said the seas had calmed enough for us to make the long run.  Unfortunately, the rest the fleet was waiting to follow us since their fishing spots were not as successful as Herb and John's.  John set us up further out of the cove than we had fished on Tuesday.  It was pretty much instant hook-up on halibut when we hit the bottom.  The silvers were biting pretty well and then Jim caught a king - a 45 pound king salmon.  John said it was the biggest king they had seen this year.  Al caught a nice one too but it was dwarfed by Jim's slug.  We caught our 24 silvers, 4 halibut and 3 kings before returning to dock.

We cleaned up and Jim and I walked the town in 68 degree, sunny weather.  This weather was a welcome change.  Tonight was our second dinner at Ludvig's.  The bistro didn't disappoint us either.

Friday, Day 4 started out a little differently.  We were completely fogged in.  John decided to make the long run and when we reached the ocean portion of the trip (the last hour), the seas were glassy calm.  Once we arrived, John anchored up on our regular spot and we quickly caught our halibuts then started catching silvers.  Basil caught a 19 leg starfish - twice.  Jim caught a nice king salmon and I caught a baby king.  The fog lifted around noon and it was another nice day. 

We managed to get our limits of halibuts, most of our silvers and 3 of our kings before John moved the boat.  We drifted closer to shore picking up the rest of our silvers then I hooked and landed a nice king salmon.  We returned to dock early and had an early dinner in the hotel.

Saturday was our last day of fishing and Jim and Basil wanted to fish for Black Cod.  John headed west, north west through the sound and out on the ocean until we reached 1400 feet of water. 

Riley set up two electric reels and baited the hooks with pink salmon and dropped them to the bottom.  It took 7 minutes to reach the bottom and almost that long to hook some fish.  Once the button was pushed it took another 7 minutes for the fish to reach the surface.  Jim and I fished on the bow for salmon while the line made it's up and down trek.

The first drop had 2 fish on each rod.  Great start.  We dropped again with the same results.  These were not the small black cod we caught two years ago.  We repeated the process until we had 14 black cod - all 20 to 30 pounds each.  

I was on the bow as John and Riley prepared the rods to make another drop, when I heard a loud crash on the deck.  I looked through the front window and saw Al face down on the deck with his feet inside the cabin.  He wasn't moving.  My chest tightened.  John, Riley and Jim helped turn him over and lifted him onto the ice chest.  Al said his right shoulder took the brunt of the fall.

We helped him into the cabin, put ice on his shoulder and headed back in. John had his wife meet us at the dock and she and Jim took Al to emergency.  Basil and I went back to the hotel and got Al's ID and Medical Card then John took us to the hospital.  Xrays were taken and apparently nothing was broken - just badly bruised.  Al was given prescriptions for pain medications and John took us back to the hotel.  Al rested for the remainder of the day. 

After dinner, we met Herb in the Lobby to settle up then we all converged in Al's room. Al seemed in good spirits considering his ordeal and I think he appreciated the visit. Next morning Al made his early flight but had packed his meds in his checked bag.  That made for a very painful flight.  As if that wasn't enough, his checked bag didn't arrive until later that evening.  Poor Al.

Basil and Al had 4 boxes of fish while Jim and I had 3 each plus one to split.  We had Al and Basil take all the Black Bass.  Everything else we split evenly.  Quality Fish Processing did our fish which was different from last year.  We hope the fish is up to last year's quality.

Jim, Basil and I caught the 10 a.m. flight to Seattle then Basil headed to New Jersey while Jim and I returned to Orange County.  One of my boxes of fish was left in Seattle but arrived around midnight and some fillets were partially thawed.  We weren't very happy with Alaska Airlines service.

I ended up with 175 pounds of salmon, halibut and black cod.  My poor little freezer was so full, I gave about 50 pounds of salmon and halibut to our good friends the Kondo's.

We are enjoying our catch!