In town, Petersburg was getting well into the 4th of July celebration. There was a bicycle race this morning which we missed, but this afternoon when Lois was going grocery shopping and I making a booze run they were having foot races and gymnastics competitions on fenced off main street. After we'd finished our work we went in and had some very good Korean Beef some ladies were barbecuing on the sidewalk and watched blindfold rowing and greased pole races in the Middle Harbor. Tomorrow they have a full schedule of events programmed, starting with a marathon at 7:00 AM. I think Lois and I will skip that. We capped off the day watching "Other People's Money". Pretty good movie...first one with Danny Devito I've liked.
09:45 All aboard, water tank full, we're on our way.
09:50 First stop, the fuel dock to fill the outboard tank. Pretty fast current running but by heading into it we snuggled up to the float nicely while the attendant filled the container.
10:15 On our way again. The lady at the Alaska Fisheries office had said people had been having pretty good luck catching halibut near the buoy at the north end of the narrows so we stopped there for a while and tried out some of Chuck"s bait. The only action we got was one little sculpin which I pulled in and threw back.
11:30 Had a guessing game to who could first identify what looked like a white glider sitting on the water. Bernie came up with the answer after I gave a little hint...it was our first iceberg, a nice white one carved into wonderful shape by the sun and sea.
12:00 Thomas Bay, another spot where there's supposed to be good halibut fishing. As we entered the big bay we spotted one small fishing boat with a big halibut tied to the side anchored in the swift moving current, probably a charter out of Petersburg. We tried near there for a few minutes but the current was so strong we soon gave up and decided to do some sightseeing until slack water about 15:00. Thomas is a big deep bay one arm of which leads up to the base of the Baird Glacier. We ran up there. We saw lots of floating ice on the way even though the books say Baird isn't a tidewater glacier and doesn't calve bergs. I suspect that high tide must reach the foot of the glacier somewhere. We cruised along the shoaling line and then into Scenery Cove which certainly is scenic, high snowcapped peaks and waterfalls on all sides of the narrow inlet and a lovely meadow and river at the end.
14:30 Back near the entrance to the bay. The current is weaker now and we're able to keep our hooks near the bottom. I caught another sculpin, then Chuck caught one, then I finally hit pay dirt...a small flounder, but at least it was an edible fish big enough to feed a couple of people.
| It wasn't long before Chuck had another on the line. But this one was different...it was giving him a real fight. When he finally got it to the surface it was a real halibut, over three feet long and not at all ready to come aboard but I got him in the net and after a lot of hollaring and grunting we got him on the deck where I could put him to sleep with my fish club. Weighed in at 28 pounds...38 ½ inches from nose to tail. We fished for a while longer, but with all that fish in the cooler soon decided to go find a place to anchor and get to work filleting it. |
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18:15 Portage Bay. Pretty nice parking place on the north end of Kupreanof Island. The books say strong currents at the narrow entrance and they're right. We had to use a lot of power to keep moving against the outgoing stream as we entered. Inside it opens up into a long, wide basin, very pretty except for an active logging operation going on near the entrance. We anchored and went to work on our fish. Didn't take long to fillet mine but Chuck's was a challenge. We managed though, and soon had nine meals for four people in the freezer...what a pile of meat! That didn't satisfy Chuck though. While I was cleaning up the deck he was back at it and soon had two more small halibut in the box. What a day. The ladies baked some big chunks of halibut for dinner. We didn't get around to eating until after nine but it was sure good.
Black bear on the shore grazing on something in the grass.
10:30 Whales all around us as we round Cape Fanshaw, and Fisher is saying there are fish down there too. We stopped, threw in the lines, and fished for a while while watching the whales. Saw several salmon surface around us but didn't hook anything. Chuck got some pretty good pictures of the whales, Humpies they were with the big bump behind their heads. Some in the distance were putting on quite a show with their breeching.
15:45 Into Holkam Bay with icebergs all around, some white, some dirty, some covered with gulls, some that striking turquoise blue of old ice. We circled a couple of big guys so Chuck could take pictures. Our video camera is giving me trouble...won't operate about every other time I try to take pictures. Several other boats here...the SALINE SOLUTION, a bright yellow, steel hulled sailboat we've seen several times on the way up the coast, was fishing on the entrance shelf and two others were anchored in the cove. Lots of room though. We anchored deep in the cove in 60 feet of water and dropped Stormy in the water. I sent Chuck and Bernie to put out a crab pot while I went to work getting the barbecue ready. It was a beautiful afternoon, a few clouds in the sky but mostly warm sunshine and very little wind.
We had halibut again for dinner, barbecued this time after marinating in a sauce which Lois and Bernie put together. It was superb! We've also got a bunch of it ready for "smoking". We'll do that while we run up the arm tomorrow.
After dinner I went out to check the crab pot. Nine crab in it but none of them keepers...six little rough backed crabs, a couple of small Tanners, and one small female Dungeness. On the way back I swung by the SALINE SOLUTION and asked them how they'd been doing. They showed me the King Crab they'd been catching. Wow! They've been getting them in sixty to seventy feet of water with a crab ring...they're too big to get into a pot. Got me all excited so I went back and made up a makeshift ring from hose and a fishnet. Didn't get any action with it. When we get to Juneau I'll have to buy a ring.
8:40 Heading out. Pretty nice morning but the weather forecast sounds even better for tomorrow so we'll do Endicott Arm today.
9:49 Passed the REGENCY STAR coming out of the arm by Sumdum Island, the only other boat we saw in the arm all day. They must have gone in pretty early this morning. It's a twenty-five mile run up to the Dawes glacier with lots of ice during the last five. We poked our way along, stopping now and then to admire a particularly interesting or colorful berg. The most striking are the ones with the almost fluorescent turquoise blue color.
14:00 As close as we can get to the glacier, a little less than a mile from the face. There can be a good sized wave when a big piece calves off and I don't want to be cuddling up to an iceberg if that happens. The glacier rumbles, grumbles, and bangs like a cannon when a piece of ice falls off the face. We shut Gimmy down and watched and listened. There was a cold wind blowing off the glacier so we didn't stay long.
16:45 Ford's Terror. We skipped this place in '87 because of timing... the current runs up to 15 knots and you can only enter at high slack... but this time our timing was just right. We went up to the entrance and I put out a call in the blind for any boat inside. The AKBAR answered, saying they were waiting just inside for the slack. So I took Stormy through for a scouting run. Pretty wild current even a half hour before slack. At the AKBAR, a fifty foot steel power vessel, the skipper Russ invited me aboard and drew me a sketch of the safest entry path then I went back to SEA RAVEN and we watched him come through. That was a big help. When it was our turn we started from the waterfall, crossed the inlet and stayed about two thirds the way to the port side of the channel all the way in. Don't think we ever had less than twenty feet of water but the kelp sure raises cain with the sounders. The slack came considerably later than Charley says...almost an hour after Juneau high tide.
17:45 We're through, and it was worth it. Vertical walls, dozens of waterfalls, it's like driving your boat through Yosemite National park in the Spring. Only we were the only boat on the five mile long inlet. We passed the only other boat that had been in here on its way out. It was the FRONTIER QUEEN, a charter boat from Juneau which we'd known in Friday Harbor. I gave them a call on the radio but got no answer.
18:30 Anchored in front of a cascading falls in the west arm of the inlet. Couldn't imagine a more spectacular setting. Chuck was shooting pictures in all directions. In the evening we watched some of the videos he'd taken today and I copied his tape. Fun day but we've got to get an early start in the morning unless we want to spend the day here.
04:35 At the entrance. As we approach a small berg comes sailing through and starts making circles in the whirlpool on the west side so we stall for a few minutes before starting though. I'd rather buck a little incoming current but not too much.
05:00 Through in good shape and back in the arm. We ran down to the junction, back through the entrance range to Tracy Arm. The run today was magnificent! The sun was bright and warm, the sky blue, and the spectacular walls and waterfalls of Tracy couldn't have been prettier. Not as much ice in this arm, and not as many big bergs as I remembered from '87.
10:00 But the glaciers are the same. There was so little ice in front of North Sawyer that we could have driven right up to the face if we'd dared. It was calving lots of small pieces but the tide and breeze had piled them all along one side. We shut down and watched and listened, enjoying the warm sun and taking lots of pictures. Even small pieces make a big rumble, bang, and splash when they let go.
11:30 South Sawyer. Couldn't get as close to this one...a wide ice field covered with seals and lots of big bergs here. It's more active than the North glacier. We saw several small calvings and one pretty big one just as we were leaving. One of the Juneau sightseeing catamarans, the KLONDIKE came scooting in just at that time. And unlike yesterday, there were several other boats in the arm today.
We dawdled our way back down the arm, stopping at almost every waterfall to take pictures. What is it that makes waterfalls so facinating? Everybody seems to like a waterfall.
15:30 Chuck spots an Eagle sitting on top of an iceberg ahead so I cut the engine and we glide quietly up to the berg. We weren't more than fifty feet from him when he finally decided that we were up to no good and flew up to a nearby tree.
16:45 Dropped our hook at the head of Williams Cove. Didn't stay long. No fish, no crabs, lots of deer flys. Only thing going for it was that there was no wind and lots of sun...temperature about 75 degrees.
17:30 On our way again. I had seen a note about the anchorage on Harbor Island and on a day like this it sounded pretty good.
18:45 We're home. An open roadstead, a little motion from the waves of Stephens Passage, but with a spectacular 360 degree view of the world around. The Sumdum glacier is off to the east and snowcapped peaks are in every direction. Chuck went to fishing while I set up the barbecue and the ladies got more halibut ready for dinner. Didn't catch anything but a sculpin and a couple of sea cucumbers but that's alright. We'll try some more salmon fishing tomorrow.
07:45 Gave up and ran on up Stephens Passage toward Juneau. Not as nice this morning as it's been the past couple of days. A little shower seems to be following us as we run north.
08:30 Birds, bait, and fish jumping. We stop and go to fishing again. Better luck this time...1 small Coho and 1 nice seven pound King. We'd taken the one on the freezer out to thaw so I was sure we'd catch something today.
10:10 Running again. Changed to port fuel tank at 1103.0.
11:00 Into Taku Harbor. I was hoping to fill our water tank there. My log from 1987 said they water to the State float. No more. The plastic water line is broken in several places and no water at the source. Everything else in the harbor shows sign of neglect. Too bad...it's a pretty nice place.
15:00 Fished again off Middle Point on Douglas Island. There seemed to be fish around but they weren't interested in our lures. Might have been because whales were feeding all around us causing small fish to leap frantically out of the water. The bigger ones may have gone elsewhere. Chuck kept trying though, while the rest of us sat on the deck in the sun and watched the whales. Thes showers had stopped, the sun was out, and the temperature was up in the 70's.
17:00 Pulled in and ran on up to Auke Bay. I called the harbormaster who said they were full up. Either raft up or anchor out. We chose the latter. Found sort of a steep bight by a pretty beach decorated with Fireweed on Coghlan Island at the west side of the bay. It seems to be a park of some kind and has a great view of the bay, Mendenhall Glacier, and the ferry landing. We didn't go ashore but while we were getting dinner two groups of picnickers landed on the beach. One hardy guy even went water skiing. Called the Hansens on the marine radio and talked to Todd. Jeff was at a ball game in Douglas and Karen is out of town until Sunday. We'll check in with Jeff at the shop in the morning.
09:30 Cranked up and drove across the bay to the Auke Bay Marina. Big changes here. They've put in a long floating breakwater and built a few hundred new concrete slips with water and power since we were last here. It was crowded but we found an open space on the main float. They've helped the transient boater a lot by designating sections of the floats for 3 and 10 day usage. We're in the 3 day section which is not far from the ramp. Called Jeff. He said he'd be down at 12:30 and while we were waiting for him we watched kids casting with weighted triple hooks off the floats. Saw half a dozen "Reds"(Sockeye that is) snagged. They put up quite a fight. All have to go back though, the bay is closed to ensure the escapement to Auke Lake.
Jeff spent the afternoon touring the four of us around in his van. First to the Mendenhall Glacier, then through town to the Unical Plant where Todd was busy fueling boats, then back to their new house on a hill overlooking the airport for a nice visit with Karen, Jeanie, and Tim. It got up to over 80 this afternoon and we sat out on their deck with a cold beer. Jeff drove us all back to the marina to pick up Chuck and Bernie's bags and then took them to the ferry landing. It's been a fun week.
Note: Karen said she'd run into a guy I worked with at Boeing - Connie Moran. He retired in '92 and is somewhere up here on a sailboat called ISLAND WIND.
Lots of fish coming in on this Saturday afternoon...
...Guy walking down the dock with a beer in one hand and a 10-15 pound salmon in the other. "Looks like you had a pretty good afternoon.", I say. His reponse, "Guy on the dock just gave it to me. Said he couldn't keep it and was about ready to dump it."
...Lesson in filleting halibut watching a guy do the job on a 125 pounder. The toughest part is pulling the skin. He tied one end of the fish with a rope and used a pair of toothed pliers to peel it back.from each of the four sections.
Not so hot today, kept cooler by kind of a smoky haze which also cut down on the scenery.
09:40 Off the dock on another warm, sunny morning. Fished up the west side of Coghlan Island and, when we got no action, followed the GALE across to Favorite Reef in Saginaw Channel before we put in the lines again. We'd fished from there almost to the islands off Barlow point when I decided to move and guess what...discovered a nice little Coho attached as I pulled in my lines. I'd barely gotten it cleaned and stowed when there was another on the line. Almost got a third but it threw the hook as I started to haul it in. Not bad for a couple hours work.
12:30 Running down the west side of the Mansfield Peninsula in Lynn Canal. Lots of commercial sport fishing boats here, and lots of jumping fish, but we had our salmon and I wanted to try for halibut in Funter Bay so we kept going.
15:00 Spent an hour drifting and jigging for halibut between Rat and Station Islands in the mouth of Funter. No luck here so on we go. GALE was heading for Hawk Inlet, a place we've never been, so we decided to follow them and see what it is like. When we cranked up the tachometer started jumping all over the dial. Guess it's time to install the drive key Nan sent me when we were in Costa Rica.
16:30 Anchored near GALE in about 30 feet of water at the end of Hawk. Pretty nice anchorage. We're in a big pond at the end of the narrow, five mile long inlet. A bit spooky getting in because the channel winds between fingers of shoal reaching more than halfway across the inlet in places, but by following the Pilot's directions we came through with never less than 20 feet of water. It was low tide so we could see the shoals jutting out and that helped.
Had Gary and Judy over for cocktails. Dinner of crab we had bought from a fisherman in Auke Bay. It might have come from here...lots of buoys around the edges of the inlet.
09:00 Hauled up and wound our way out of the shallow channel and down the inlet to the entrance. GALE was already re-anchored in the cove at there. They use their skiff for all their fishing. We stopped just outside and tried a bit of halibut fishing but there was such a roll coming across from Icy Strait that it was difficult so didn't stay long. Fished for salmon two or three times on the way up Lynn Canal but didn't hook anything. Lot's of jumpers but no biters.
12:00 Fishing again on the Saginaw side of Point Retreat, this time with some success. First a nice two pounder just right for our dinner. Lois put back the fish she'd gotten out of the freezer. Then I was fooling around with setting up a pole which Lois could use...she doesn't like the big single action reels. I had a small casting lure right on the surface a couple of hundred feet out on the line of my spinning pole. Didn't expect to catch anything but a nice five pounder grabbed it and took off. It's a lot more fun playing the fish on that setup. Both fish were Cohos fresh from the sea with sea lice all over them.
16:00 Anchored in front of our little "park" on Coghlan Island. For a change I tried poaching our little salmon on the barbecue. I wrapped it in aluminum foil and gave it ten minutes on the grill on each side. It turned out great.
It was another sunny, warm almost hot day today but the weatherman is calling for clouds and showers starting tomorrow. Too bad Bob and Kris couldn't have been here this week.
Anyway we're back where the fun is, watching the funny people carry great loads of beer, ice, and other stuff to the boats and bring home big bags of fish. Some very nice halibut being butchered on the cleaning stand next to our boat. Talked to one commercial fisherman packing cod for air shipment right off his boat...I'd never seen that done before. He said they were destined for Korea where they want the fish "in the round" and were paid more for them if the boat crew did the packing.
Took our laundry to the Mendenhall laundromat but had to wait for a big group of backpackers to get through with the machines. They were evidently just back from a long hike. Bought a few more groceries in preparation for our coming visitors.
Anchored in Tracy Arm cove and tried out our new crab ring. Didn't do too well there either. After several tries we had pulled up one small King Crab and three Tanners, none big enough for eating. Oh well, looks like it might be a pretty nice day for sightseeing tomorrow. Several other boats in the cove tonight including three big yachts. We'll have plenty of company glacier watching.
07:30 Anchor up and on our way up the arm on a clear blue morning. We've lucked out on the weather again. Not a lot of ice in the channel all the way to the head of the inlet and even then the wind and current had piled most of it on one side.
| 10:00 North Sawyer. Wow! Here the two big waterfalls on the east side were pushing the ice away from the wall so we could get closer than ever before. And the glacier was very busy this morning, booming and banging and dropping big chunks of ice into the inlet. We stayed for over an hour, all watching facinated as 2 to 3 foot waves gernerated by the calving rocked and rolled old SEA RAVEN. | 
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12:00 South Sawyer. Looks like all the other boats came here. A big old vessel from Anacortes, the LISERON, was farthest in, with PASSTIME, PLAYTIME, and EXUMA C standing by; and the KLONDIKE, the big sightseeing catameran from Juneau, came rolling in as we approached, so we sort of stood by while they poked their way through the ice. It was thicker here even though while we were watching there wasn't as much calving activity as there'd been on the north glacier. This is the seals home though, hundreds of them lying on the thick pack of broken ice piled against the east wall.
13:30 Heading back we poked along, examining icebergs and waterfalls as we went. I never get tired of the scenery here.
16:30 Back anchored in our 10 fathom hole in No Name cove. Dropped the crab ring again but by bedtime had only two small Tanners which we threw back. Feasted on our crab of this morning. Tomorrow we'll get serious about fishing.
08:20 Hook up and heading out. Ran out the range and down the side of Harbor Island and started fishing for halibut just off the little island and spit that guards the entrance to Endicott. I was using the big Norwegian jig and Bob had a herring all trussed up on a couple of hooks. On about my third pull I hooked what I thought was a weed but the farther up I pulled it the more it seemed to resist. Turned out to be a big Pacific Cod, chin whisker and all. Then Bob caught one, then I another, but no sign of halibut. Well, at least we'll eat good tonight.
09:30 Gave up the bottom fishing and started trolling. Our set of charts called, "Salmon Holes and Halibut Hills", says this area is good for both. Wasn't long before Bob hooked a big one. He fought it for ten minutes before getting it to the boat and it wasn't through then. As I tried to net it, it gave a final leap and threw the hook. A few minutes later another hit my line. Same story. I got it all the way to the boat but cranked my line in a little too much. The swivel caught in the tip roller of the pole and stuck. With no play in the line the fish broke the leader and was gone. We finally it pay dirt when the third salmon, a little four pound Coho, stayed on the line and let me net it for Bob.
11:15 Decided we'd better start moving if we were going to find a halibut hill today so ran out around Point Astley and down Stephens Passage toward the Five Fingers Islands 20 miles south. Stopped several times along the way to watch whales and on one stop were rewarded by having one blow and then sound within fifty feet of the boat, so close we could see all the barnacles on its back and flukes.
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14:30 Started fishing in 150 feet of water north of Sail Island. I caught nothing but a couple of bright colored sculpin with my jig but Bob came up with a big Yellow Eyed Rockfish, or Red Snapper as they are often called. Great eating, but we still wanted halibut. |
15:30 Tried another spot off Akusha Island where we had gotten halibut in 1987 but the current was so strong we had trouble keeping the lures on the bottom so gave up after about half an hour.
16:45 Anchored in a really neat place on West Brothers Island. It doesn't look like much on the chart but the Pilot said that it "provides secure anchorage for small craft" so I decided to take a look. It is pretty nice, a pocket tucked behind several small islets on the west side of West Brother, easy to get into and with a flat rock bottom 40 feet deep. A beautiful old wooden charter vessel, the OBSERVER, from West Palm Beach, Florida, was anchored as we came in. Dragged a little on the rock bottom but otherwise it was an ideal anchorage.
We ate Yellow Eye for dinner and I got a bunch of cod ready for smoking. Tomorrow we'll resume our hunt for halibut.
My log says that in 1987 Lois, Jean, and I had pretty good luck with halibut on "the 10 fathom bank near Murder Cove" so we headed there. Today I couldn't seem to find it. At the spot where it's shown on the chart there isn't a bank but rather just slowly shoaling bottom. Of course in 1987 I didn't have the sounder and all I knew was when there was less than 50 feet of water. We tried fishing there but again the current carried us along so fast we couldn't keep our lures on the bottom so we moved on. We had better luck when, stopping again at Yasha Island, we found a bank which paralleled the current. Using the Norwegian Jig I hauled in first a small rockfish then a four foot long Ling Cod. Bob, using a hook baited with herring, was fuming again. Then disaster...I hooked the bottom and lost my jig. Double disaster...a half hour later the same thing, this time my last jig, and Bob lost his whole setup on the same spot. We gave up and headed for home.
| Red Bluff Bay is as pretty as I remembered it. A winding channel between small islands leads to a large basin surrounded vertical walls and jutting mountain peaks. A huge waterfall from a lake high above cascades down one side of the bay and at the head a river flows in. It had been drizzling all day and tonight the clouds were hanging over the peaks and in the valleys in that special way they seem to do in real rain country. One small sailboat, the ELYSIUM, was anchored in the nook across from the waterfall. It shoals quickly on the flat at the head of the bay...I had to back up to keep from running aground...so we anchored in 70 feet of water. No danger of dragging here. Dinner of salmon of course. Tomorrow we'll go exploring. | 
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After breakfast we all went ashore at the creek near our anchorage. It was good to get off the boat and stretch our legs, although we didn't go far...the jumbled rock of the creek bed isn't exactly a walking path and the forest is, as they say, impenetrable.
09:30 Shower coming down the mountain but still blue sky out to the east, so we hauled up and headed that way. Started fishing as we passed the entrance islands. Not much action there but a couple of miles north we started catching humpies and silvers one after the other. I was still catching two to Bob's one and, although he brought in a couple of nice Black Sea Bass, he was starting to fume again.
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Then lightning struck... A fish he hooked was taking line off the reel fast enought to make it smoke and leaping into the air as it went. Bob played it well though. Took him about fifteen minutes but he got it to the boat. Kris was on the net but when she saw it she hollared for me. I had a fish on my line too, but I threw it on the deck and went to help Bob. Wow! It was a grizzled old female, battered and scared with tooth marks, and it looked much to big for the net. Fortunately, she was docile after her fight and didn't resist when I got the net over her and Bob and I heaved her over the rail. That made Bob's day, even though later he got stuck by one of his sea bass and was nursing a sore finger. |
14:30 Into Warm Springs Bay. We passed this place up in '87 because it was too crowded and it wasn't much better today. The dock space was all taken by big cruisers. When we approached to raft with a power cruiser called EXODUS no one would even help us tie up. We did anyway, and filled our water tank from the hose on the dock. No store here anymore, and the place is pretty run down. As soon as our tank was full we cast off and went looking for a friendlier place.
16:00 Found it in Takatz Bay smack in the middle of of a seiner opening. The big guys were everywhere. Dozens of them were attempting to encircle every fish in the bay. It took us half an hour to work our way between nets to a nook on the north side of the bay where we could anchor up. Even then one of the boats set a net within fifty feet of us. Kris had never seen them at work before. It was a great show.
08:30 Up with 200 feet of chain, 100 feet of which was gooey with sticky mud. First time we've had to wash it in quite a while. Still a few seiners hanging around this morning. Must be another opening soon. We ran out of the bay, made a swing through Waterfall Bay and Ell cove to the north, then followed the east shore of Baranof almost to Peril Strait before heading across toward Angoon. More seiners were holed up in every little nook and cranny.
13:00 Into the bay at Angoon. I didn't have much hope of being able to land here but thought we'd take a look. It hasn't changed much. Still no way to land near the village unless you want to tie to the old pier and climb one of the rickity ladders. Lots of small boats fishing at the mouth of Kootznahoo inlet. They run up the inlet to a small boat basin south of town but the Pilot says don't try it except at slack tide with local knowledge. The tidal stream runs to 10 knots and we're near max flood today. So we make a pass and then head for Tenakee Inlet 21 miles to the north.
15:00 Thar she blows! Whales, just off Basket Bay south of the inlet. We stop and watch a couple of them blowing.
16:30 And Dall's Porpoises join us as we run up Tenakee and stay for several minutes giving Bob and Kristy a good show of their speed as they cavort around our bow.
17:15 Tied to the dock at Tenakee Springs. This time we were able to find a spot on the main dock instead of the floating breakwater. Had two more of our salmon for dinner and put the last in the freezer. Our glacial ice is still holding up pretty well in the cooler.
11:00 Cast off the lines and leave Tenakee Springs behind...we've got fishing to do. Ran back out the inlet and north past Freshwater Bay where a big packer was anchored waiting for the next opening. On the north side of North Passage Point we started fishing for halibut. There's a big open bay there with an almost flat 100 to 150 foot deep bottom. Bob had rigged up coat hangar speaders to keep our baited hooks from getting tangled up with the weights and they sure did the job. Our first try at about 130 feet produced nothing but when we moved closer to the beach in about 80 feet of water Bob came up with a very nice twelve pound halibut.
Moving on up Chatham toward Icy Strait we stopped at Honus Reef to fish again for a while but got nary a nibble so decided to go on into Swanson Harbor for the night. Just outside the harbor, between Rocky and Entrance Islands, there were several small boats fishing and as we passed one of them Bob said, "That lady's got something big on the line." Yep, she sure had. We stopped and watched as she brought a monster halibut to the surface. Fortunately, she and her partner were well prepared. He stepped onto the swim step of the eighteen foot boat and drove a harpoon head attached to the boat into the fish which took off with such a jerk that the lady went over on her back. The big fish towed the boat several yards before becoming subdued again. They got another king sized hook into it then pulled it up alongside. No way were they going to get it aboard. I'd guess it between six and eight feet long. The last we saw of them they were towing the fish toward Auke Bay twenty miles away.
17:00 Anchored in Swanson Harbor. Very nice place. Big bay tucked between several islands at Point Couverden. We cleaned our fish, filleted the halibut, and had it broiled for dinner. Great!
As we cranked up again and started running I noticed that our alternator had stopped charging again. Another regulator? Some thing's got to be wrong, but I can't think of any way that a regulator can be zapped by an alternator. Guess I need to call the factory.
We ran the few miles on into Hoonah in foggy rain and were helped to land by the crew of a small cruiser set up for fishing. They said they had had good luck out near the Sisters yesterday and caught over three hundred pounds of halibut. Gave us the location of a 45 fathom "halibut hill" where they'd done so good...(N58o 12'/W135o 16'). There was too much wind and wave to fish there today but maybe in the future?
The docks are the same as they were in '87 but they've made some real changed in the streets. They are paved now, with asphalt rather than slick mud. The moorage fee has gone up...$6.00 now instead of the $2.00 we paid then... but it's still the cheapest in the Southeast.
The rain cleared up in time for me to get out the barbecue and broil a batch of the halibut Lois had been marinating all afternoon. What a treat!
11:00 And now they are gone. The snow covered peaks of the Fairweather Range are standing against bright blue sky over Glacier Bay to the west. I call on the radio and ask if we can come in to the bay today. No problem. The lady on the radio said to call as we entered the bay and come up to park headquarters in Bartlett Cove for our permit.
11:30 Several boats watching whales and a couple fishing off Point Adolphus where the guy at the cold storage plant had told Bob was good halibut ground. The lady had said that the park office would be closed for lunch from 12:00 to 13:30 so we decided to stop and try out the techniques we'd learned from our friend in Hoonah. They sure worked. Bob set up a pole for Kris and in only a few minutes she pulled in a small halibut, then another, and another. He started out using the coat hangar system and was catching nothing but when he changed his setup to the same as hers he caught the biggest...about the same size as he'd gotten the other day. In an hour and a half they pulled in six and the cooler was full again.
14:30 Parked on the 2 hour dock in Bartlett Cove and walked up to the ranger station where a pretty young lady in park service uniform gave us our briefing, mostly about whales and bears and icebergs. We took a quick tour of the lodge before heading back to the boat.
15:30 You have to anchor out here so we decided to go to Berg Bay about ten miles up the bay for the night. Lois and I had stayed there once before and had watched whales breeching in the anchorage. Bob and Kris filleted the halibut on the way. That was a big job but we ended up with about twenty pounds of pure meat.
17:00 Into Berg Bay. It's kind of a spooky entrance, a quarter mile wide but very shallow, and the chart shows a 0.4 fathom spot somewhere in the middle. I figured that today at this time we should be at a tide level of about 5 feet so that would give us 7.4 feet of water, not a lot of margin for our 7.5 foot draft. The current was making swirls and carrying us along as we came in but we must have missed the high spot... we had a minimum of 18 feet all the way. Inside there's lots of water in the big landlocked bay. We anchored just inside in about sixty feet of water and settled into home configuration. Bob and Kris put out the crab pot again while I cranked up the barbecue and poached salmon for dinner.
We saw and heard whales breeching just outside the bay. The sound of the splash when they'd hit the water echoed off the hills around but this evening they didn't come into the bay. Spectacular sunset as the sun dropped behind the mountains to the west.
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And just as spectacular a sunrise. We couldn't have picked a better time to visit Glacier Bay. We had another pleasant surprize this morning as we were getting ready to leave...heard a call on the radio for SEA RAVEN from CAPTAIN MUSICK. Tony and Cara were on their way out of the bay after spending a night in Sandy Cove just across the way and Cara put out a call for us in the blind. |
| They had Cara's parents, Rufus and Betty Cook, on board and were heading back to Juneau. We had a nice chat on the radio then caught up with them in the channel and gave them a salmon setup and a package of halibut. They hadn't been doing as well as we on fishing. We'll see them in Juneau this weekend. | 
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Our day went pretty well. Ran out of the bay and over to Lemensurier Island and started trolling along the north shore. This time I got skunked but Bob and Kris picked up six nice silvers in about an hour an a half. Funny how one pole will get all the fish one day and none the next.
13:30 Into Elfin cove, very much as I remembered it. We lucked out and found an easy to get into and out of spot on the outside float then went walking on the boardwalk. It's a neat little fishing community with a dozen or more small stores, post office, restaurant, and several sport fishing lodges. Sport fishing is big business here. The lady at the Pelican Seafood store told us that the lodges are booked up a year ahead on a week long basis. The one boat which takes day charters is booked for several days ahead at $150 per day.
There are two fish packing plants here and Bob arranged for the salmon we'd caught this morning to be quick frozen for pick up tomorrow. There was a constant stream of trollers coming in all afternoon and unloading fish at the Pelican Seafood packing barge and toward evening one of them rafted with us, then later another, so we were the inside boat on a raft of three. Glad the sea was calm...our lines really aren't strong enough for that kind of load.
Pretty noisy night on the float. Feet tromping back and forth over the deck all night and some dummy kept bad rock music going until three in the morning. Oh well, chance you take when you go to the big city.
09:30 But they did and we're on our way. I'm drawing fuel from the aft starboard tank. Ran back through South Inian Passage and to Point Adolphus before we started fishing again.
11:30 Changed to aft port tank (GMC 1202.1 hours)
12:00 As we approach Point Adolphus a Humpback whale gives us a breeching show, throwing his (or her) huge body totally out of the water before crashing back into the sea. It did it several times giving Bob and Kris a good look at that marvelous action. As we fished our way around the point there were whales everywhere. This must be a very good feeding ground for them. We didn't do so hot with our trolling...I caught one egg filled Coho and we had a few other hookups which we lost. Lois was having trouble keeping the boat headed in a straight line because of wind, wave, and current and our lines kept getting tangled together.
14:05 Running again. Came into Port Fredrick through the passage behind Hoonah Island and started fishing again. I wouldn't recommend that passage; it's pretty shallow in places, more so than the chart shows. Didn't have any luck there fishing either so after we hooked the bottom with both our lines we hauled in and ran on into port.
| 17:00 Docked in slip G13 at Hoonah. We have power here so the rate is $10.00 per night. While we were running I slipped on the stairway to the galley and landed on my back on the edge of the top step so I was feeling pretty bruised and went to bed early. Bob and Kris walked up to the liquor store to replenish our beer supply. Tomorrow we'll see if we can scare up one of those big halibut. | 
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Back to town this morning for a very good breakfast at Mary's Cafe. Picked up our frozen fish at the packing house and talked to Paul, the harbor master, about winter moorage. He said he has a few slips still available. For the SEA RAVEN the moorage rate would be only about $40 per month but power here is expensive, 38 cents a kilowatt-hour or about a buck a day to keep a 100 watt light bulb burning. Paul says he keeps a pretty good eye on the boats and has a crew to shovel if they get a heavy snow.
10:00 Off the dock. Ran out to cannery point and started trolling for salmon. Before long Kristy had pulled in the biggest Coho so far, a nice eight to ten pounder...we forgot to weigh it but it was more than the four of us could eat for dinner. That was about it for salmon. Trying something different, we trolled salmon flies all the way from the mouth of Port Frederick to Rocky Island off Point Couverden without any action. The fish were there, and I tried every speed from 4 to 8 knots, but they weren't interested.
13:00 Rocky Island where we'd planned on trying again for the big halibut. No luck this morning. It was raining and while there wasn't a lot of wind at the time, it had evidently been blowing long enough up Chatham Strait to kick up some three to four foot seas. Kris and Bob dropped their hooks to the bottom for a few minutes while I tried to hold the boat in position in the lee of the island but that didn't last long...just too uncomfortable. So we headed for Funter Bay. Had an exciting ride across the strait. We've gotten pretty relaxed on these inland waters and hadn't stowed all the things we should have. We had stuff rolling all over the boat.
15:00 Stopped just inside Funter Bay for another try at halibut, and to pick up the mess on the floor. Bob pulled up a "chicken" but that was it. Guess we aren't destined for the big one this time.
16:30 Anchored in Coot Cove at the north end of the bay where Cara had said she'd had good crabbing. We put out two pots and dropped the ring off the deck. There are lots of crabs there but most seem to be small females.
Stuffed ourselves with Kristy's salmon for dinner and had lots left over.
08:30 A big ball of herring swam by as we were hauling anchor so we spent a few minutes chasing it while Bob tried to jig a few for live bait. No luck there. Herring don't like to be chased. Ran out of the bay and up to Point Retreat before we started our last day of fishing. Did alright there...had three nice silvers in the box in half an hour as we rounded the point. They all seemed to be concentrated there though. Didn't even get a strike on the east side.
11:00 Pulled in and ran on down Saginaw Channel to the south end of Shelter Island where the newspaper said there'd been some good halibut fishing. Made a couple of unsuccessful drifts there but even Bob's enthusiasm for fishing was beginning to weign. 'Bout time to head for home.
14:30 On the dock at Auke Bay. Lucked out again and found a spot close to water and power. Little bit tight for old SEA RAVEN but with the help of some friendly folks on the float we squeezed in. Tony and Cara are here and have a borrowed truck in which they offered to take Bob and Kris to the airport in the morning. They said the salmon setup we gave them did the job...Tony got a 35 pound King on the way back here from Glacier Bay.
We washed down the boat, filled the water tank, then had some great afternoon entertainment by some kids snagging salmon here in the harbor. One young man, Jeff Jarvis, is a real expert at hooking them. He wound get one on the line and then hand the pole to one of the kids. He even let Kristy bring in a pretty sockeye. I think I got some pretty good videos of the action. Pigged out on crab for dinner. Fresh King crab is the greatest!