When the Fish Hold is Full, Head to Port

57 nm is a long day’s run but the weather looked good and we didn’t really have a choice. Almost as soon as we left Windham Bay and re-entered Stephens Passage we started seeing humpback whales. We were much closer this time but still could not get any acceptable photos so we tried to not be too distracted from our mission at hand and continued north towards Juneau.

There were whales in every direction, first marking their locations with tall water spouts and then their backs would show and then about every third or fourth time one would show their entire tail in the classic fluke shot. Many times we could see whales, porpoises and glaciers at the same time through the binoculars!

On our route we had to motor past the mouth of Tracy Arm which some people say rivals Glacier Bay for glacier viewing and shear beauty. The other thing Tracy Arm does is produce icebergs that often drift out into Stephens Passage and become hazards to navigation. So on this day, another first. Our first iceberg in our own boat! The blue is so amazing and we were able to slip in close for a good look but I wasn’t comfortable getting close enough to grab a chunk. The problem is that most of the iceberg is underwater and you can’t see it very well. This presents a huge hazard to the prop as well as the hull (does HMS TITANIC ring a bell?).

Entering Gasinteau Channel and approaching the bridge between Juneau and Douglass, Ginger called Alaska Seafood Company and arranged to offload the fillets which weighed in at 57 pounds and we called for a slip.

The owner of the seafood company actually picked us up at the marina and drove us to the Alaska Brewing Company to wait while he delivered the meat to his facility and then returned for us. He then drove us to Mendenhall glacier and dropped us there for a visit. The owner’s name is Dick Hand and could not be a nicer person!

So that is how we ended up in Juneau.

The Rest of the Fish Story

Hi, this is Ginger writing an answer to Gigi's other question.

Halibut are flat fish. When they are first born they have eyes on either side of their head like regular fish. In time, their eyes migrate so they are both on the same side of the fish's head. From that point on, they always lie on their side, eyes pointing up. The side of the fish that is down is white and the side that is up (with the eyes) is mottled brown. This makes for good camouflage - when the fish is swimming along the bottom it blends in to the surroundings, when it swims up in the water column a predator looking up at it from below would see the white side which would not be very noticeable against the background of water.

They don't change color when they die - this is just what they look like.

First I would like to answer Gigi’s question about anchoring in 125 feet of water. That is considered fairly deep for anchoring pleasure craft. The common practice would be to use a scope of 5 to 1 or even 7 to 1, depending on the weather. The more wind and current you have the more anchor line you need. For anchoring in a storm in 125 feet of water, you should use as much as 800 feet of anchor line. DUNVEGAN only carries 50 feet of chain with 300 feet of nylon line so you can see we far exceeded the standard. You can also use a line tied to the stern and then to shore if the circumstances allow it.

DUNVEGAN is fitted with a mast and lifting boom. We do not have a dinghy; we use kayaks, so I haven’t used the lifting boom for much of anything. I almost forgot I even had it at my disposal. First I thought we would use the pot puller davit to hoist the halibut while the obvious solution was staring me in the face.

I opened the transom door and hooked the block and tackle from the boom to a loop of line through the fishes jaw and quite easily hauled it aboard. It looked a little bigger hanging in the cockpit than I originally thought. The halibut measured 63” which according to a couple charts we have that show a halibut’s weight extrapolated from it’s length indicated it weighed at least 127.5 pounds!

This is the first halibut I have filleted but as it turns out it is easier than some other fish. This is also the first time I have had to walk from one end of a fish to the other while I was filleting it.

The fillets were cut into chunks and put into ziplock freezer bags. We emptied everything out of the refrigerator and stuffed if full with halibut.

This then explains why we ended up in Juneau a couple days early. The meat was fine for awhile but it needed to be vacuum packed and frozen as soon as possible. We pulled anchor early on Sunday morning and motored the 57 nm to Juneau to find a processor which is a whole other story.

Bottom Fishing is Like a Box of Chocolates

Last January I went to the Seattle Boat Show as I do every year. This year I attended a seminar on fishing for halibut. The presenter was obviously very experienced with catching salmon as well as halibut. He made several equipment recommendations. I am a person who needs very little encouragement to buy more fishing, hunting or boating equipment so of course I came home with more stuff.

I have two very good heavy reels and one VERY good heavy reel. Two very good heavy poles with roller tips and a halibut spear with three tips. I probably would have bought the spear even if I wasn’t ever planning on going halibut fishing just because it is so cool and a guy can never have too many long knives, long guns or long spears.

We were still fishing for rock fish off a small island in Windham Bay and I was still trying to ignore the fact that we were going to have to anchor in 125 feet of water for the night when, all of a sudden, something very big grabbed my lure. Immediately I knew it had to be a big halibut. The fight was on!

Ginger immediately reeled her line in and started preparing to help with my fish. I gave her instructions on setting up the spear in the event I was able to get the thing to the surface. I had already tied a fifty foot piece of line to one spear tip so that part was done. We were trying to decide if we should tie it to a buoy or just cleat it off, which is not recommended.

I was able to get the halibut up to a depth we could see it and we discussed if we should even try to land it. We could tell that it probably was not in the 200 to 300 pound class and so we decided we probably could take care of it. When I say take care of it I mean process and preserve it.

I knew to not let it break the surface because that causes them to go a little nuts and usually head straight back to the bottom. It didn’t break the surface but it did head back to the bottom, three times. Long hard runs, fortunately we were in only 115 feet of water. The forth time it made it back to the surface, it had lost a lot of steam and I was able to hold it.

I handed the rod to Ginger and she braced herself while I grabbed the spear and crawled out onto the swim platform to spear it. I could see that it was hooked by two points of the treble hook right on the lip, not a real solid hookup. The first attempt failed when the spear just bounced off! The halibut didn’t much like that and started giving Ginger a lesson in fighting big fish. I regrouped and Ginger hung on and a second attempt was successful. The spear was place through the middle of the gill plates and deployed as advertised. A benefit of subduing a halibut in this manner is that it allows the fish to bleed out producing cleaner and better tasting fillets.

The halibut was still on the line and its decent could be controlled so we decided to just cleat off the spear line. I rigged another spear point and prepared to place that one. As the second spear went in the halibut fought free from the fishing line by spreading the swivel wide open. By then the fish was tied fairly securely to the boat. I wasn’t happy yet so I tied another line through its jaw and also cleated that off.

We couldn’t get the halibut in the boat and we really didn’t want to anyway. There was plenty of fight left. I would have shot it but the fine folks in Canada make it very difficult to carry a firearm while cruising so we snugged it up and towed it back to our anchorage.

I dropped the anchor in 125 feet and set it, which, by the way, is ten feet deeper than where I caught the halibut! Everything was pretty well stabilized.

Now I Am Going to Tell a Fish Story.

Here are a couple photos to ponder.

Sustaining the Sustainable Harvest

Dinner in Sandborn Canal was excellent! Ginger chose to sauté two large yelloweye fillets. They were dipped in egg and rolled in seasoned Italian bread crumbs and placed in the pan with garlic butter. The chardonnay was perfect and I don’t even remember what else we had!

The next morning the shallow trap gave up six big fat Dungeness crabs! I don’t think crabs really get fat, it just sounds better. We cleaned them and into the refrigerator they went. The deep trap gave up twenty big fat prawns like the ones in some of the previous posts. Life is good. Harvest of the natural resources can be a good thing. Crabs and shrimp only live for a short time so you better hurry!

The plan for today (6-23-07) was to motor to a small bight in the south shore just inside the mouth of Windham Bay. Ginger kind of picked the spot and I thought it was a good distance for our slower pace of recent days. I wasn’t really listening when she said the guide book said to anchor in twenty fathoms, that’s 120 feet deep for you landlubbers! By the time we got there we really didn’t have a good alternative anchorage.

I cruised around the tiny bay for some time trying to convince myself it wasn’t true but I couldn’t find the shallow anchorage I was desperately searching for. As I continued circling and staring at the bottom finder, I kept seeing lots of fish, the deepwater kind of course. When you find yourself without a real good plan, you just as well go fishing.

We immediately began catching dusky rockfish; I used to call them black rock bass when I would take them on SCUBA with a spear in the San Juans back when you could take rockfish in WA State. We then went out to a small island in the middle of the bay that had some interesting looking rocks to see what kind of fishing there was there. Ginger caught a rock sole and I caught a Pacific cod, firsts for both of us. The big ugly buffalo sculpins were hungry too.

Ginger made a comment about my little fish and I said you won’t be laughing when I reel in a big halibut!

Come On Up, the Fishing is Great!

Soon after leaving Cleveland Passage Anchorage we began seeing humpback whales. I thought I was looking at a boat off in the distance but 10 power binoculars revealed whale flukes. There were several different groups and none of them were close enough to photograph. Whales are awesome creatures like grizzlies are awesome creatures.

We planned to run about 23nm today to an anchorage that the Douglasses, who have written several cruising guides, say is an area that not many cruisers visit. It is called Sandborn Canal. It is quite well protected and beautiful. I don’t understand why more people don’t go there except it is a little out of the way if you are determined to make some distance.

The shrimp trap was set in about 365’ and we started looking around for a good fishing spot. The bottom is very irregular and the bottom finder was marking lots of fish. Ginger, who likes to keep track of all the different species of fish we catch, immediately began catching kelp greenling, male and female as well as buffalo head sculpins, big ones. We motored out to an underwater mount and found excellent fishing in 75 to 200 feet. We both caught our first yelloweye rockfish. They are beautiful, if rockfish can be beautiful.

After turning them all into fillets, we slipped into the canal to the end where there were commercial crab traps lining both sides of the canal. So, what do you do but set your own trap. Another deep anchorage but well protected. (N 57 degrees 16.096’ W 133 degrees 14.323’), 23nm/917nm.

Hello Again From Southeast!

We have arrived in Juneau! We got here a couple days early for reasons I will soon explain, for now let’s just say it has been an awesome several days.

Leaving out of Petersburg we headed NW into Frederick Sound where it is reported that humpback whales like to congregate so we were on the lookout. No whales but Dall Porpoise visited again as they have been doing quite regularly, playing in the bow wake and jumping in front of the boat. They are so graceful and fluid in motion.

The weather was fairly good so we decided to continue on NW past Patterson and Baird glaciers which can be seen easily from Frederick Sound. These are not the biggest glaciers around but actually, they are huge. The glacier blue ice is an amazing color. The skies were overcast so the photos don’t do the glaciers justice.

Rounding Cape Fanshaw leads into Stephens Passage but we had gone far enough for one day. In fact we passed two anchorages that were on our list of possibilities just to make some distance. These passages and sounds in Southeast are quite large and can be intimidating. However, they are much more protected than say Queen Charlotte Sound and are not quite so foreboding. As it turns out, I needed to change a fuel filter and there is a fairly good anchorage in Cleveland Passage just around the Cape so the timing worked out quite well. (N 57 degrees 13.443’ W 133 degrees 30.190’). Thirty-eight nautical miles today and 894nm so far.

We anchored in about 58 feet of water which is as much as I like to anchor in. In Alaska things are just bigger and the anchorages can be much deeper and wilder. DUNVEGAN carries 300 feet of anchor rode and 50 feet of chain shackled to a 15kg Bruce anchor so we do have some flexibility. We also carry 600 feet of line on a reel for use as a stern tie if needed. Deep anchorages, big tidal exchanges, heavy weather and big water all conspire to challenge ones preparations and abilities. After the evening blow, the wind and water flattened out and we had a quiet night. The days start early up here, check out the sunrise time.

Bizarre Transit

The trip north from Wrangell to Petersburg takes you through Wrangell Narrows. It is said there are more aids to navigation in Wrangell Narrows than anywhere else in Alaska. The narrows is about twenty nautical miles long with a winding and very shallow channel. We did not meet a single boat in transit but did encounter about fifty small sportfishing boats all congregated in a section about three miles long. The boats almost completely plugged off the channel and didn't seem to care that someone was trying to make their way north. I slowed down initially but few even acknowledged our presence and some even seemed to act like we were intruding. Virtually all north/south bound traffic uses this channel and so I imagine they get some exercise from bigger boats. I resumed cruising speed and took as direct a line as possible without actually running over someone. They didn't seem to mind.

Petersburg is a nice little town. There is a nice memorial park, an historic street and a slough with houses built on stilts. The harbor facilities are well laid out but are well used and in need of some updates. As you can see, some of the boats need a little updating also. Heavy current runs through the harbor and fueling facilities making demands on your boat handling expertise.

When you are on a long cruise, you tend to pay particular attention to little things like the quality and condition of showers. Here in Petersburg, I found what I think may be the perfect shower. It is built out of stainless steel, completely! I think my next boat might have a stainless steel dedicated shower with matching industrial stainless steel head. Maybe it is just a guy thing.

Tomorrow we are going to start looking for humpback whales and giant brown bears!

Rock Art in Wrangell

Wrangell is not the sort of town you take your girl friend to, to impress her. Some of the literature here says this is the real Alaska. Maybe so. Mooring to the public dock is a bit of a different experience. There is a ninety percent chance you will have to raft up and probably to a commercial boat. I don’t really like rafting up because I would not want to damage someone else’s boat. One nice thing about Wrangell, you probably don’t have to worry about that (ICY MIST). (N 56 degrees 27.892' W 132 degrees 22.919').

There is a lot of history and culture here though.

We went to the brand new Museum, Visitors Bureau and Community Center, very nice! Wrangell is a center for Tlingit history and culture. Tlingit art is some of the most beautiful in the world, in my opinion. Petroglyph Beach State Historic Park is on the north end of town and is fascinating as well. We walked the mile and a half to see carvings on stones below the high water mark that are said to be as much as eight thousand years old!

Most everything else in Wrangell is strictly business with no frills. This area is heavily into commercial fishing and most businesses are geared to servicing that industry. I have never been in a bar where you can get drunk and do your laundry and take a shower all at the same time. There also are some nice B & B’s in town. NOTE: You can click on the photos for much greater detail.

There are some tour boats going up the Stikine River (stick-een’) and over to Anan Wildlife Observatory where black and brown bears as well as eagles congregate to feed on salmon.

816nm.

Yes, There is a Santa Anna in Alaska.

We arrived at the entrance to Santa Anna Inlet at 1930hrs. dropping the shrimp pot in 365’ on the way in. The weather was getting a little nasty by now and the great protection of this beautiful inlet was a welcome sight. There were two sailboats at anchor, one, SPLENDID MANE, I had met in Shearwater, B.C. There is a lake nearby with its trib to the inlet on one side, where we set the crab trap and a waterfall from another stream on the other side of the inlet.

We set the anchor in 56 feet on a fast shoaling shore at 2000hrs. ( N 55 degrees 58.666’ W 131 degrees 56.006’). The temperature was about fifty degrees with misty clouds and rain. We ate fresh box crab until we couldn’t eat any more, almost.

The boat was motionless all night as I think this anchorage will provide protection in almost any weather. Morning comes early now, sunrise is before 0400hrs. We picked up our crab trap with nothing in it and pulled the shrimp trap with prawns enough for a nice meal.

The objective today was to get to Wrangell. The course led through Zimovia Strait and Zimovia Narrows. The narrows is the shallowest and most narrow water we have had to transit so far. Without good charts a person would find the bottom in short order. We tied some herring to our fishing line and threw them overboard and when we reeled them we still just had dead herring on our lines. We will get lucky sooner or later.

Three Days Later

Hello from Wrangell! I am going to catch you up a little.

We had a great time in Ketchikan. The town is filled with history and all sorts of interesting people. The weather was a little unsettled when we slipped out under the bow of a huge cruise ship on the 15^th at the mouth to Thomas Basin where we were moored. We headed north to Helm Bay on Cleveland Peninsula. We thought that would be as far north to good moorage as we could go with the weather.

The route took us through an area where the U.S. Navy conducts testing and training on submarines in Behm Canal and is restricted during operational times, although it was open to transit for us.

Entering Helm Bay we set the shrimp trap in 300 feet and went to a state operated float near a USFS cabin. (N 55 degrees 37.823’ W 131 degrees 58.637’)We had the place to ourselves, or so we thought. Before late evening there were five other boats and a couple had to raft up. The other problem turns out, is that there was a minus tide coming and the opposite side of the float from us went dry. Alaska has very big tidal exchanges. You must know your tide tables and understand them. It also helps to have a boat that doesn’t mind being on the bottom.

We had to stay an extra day in Helm Bay due to the wind kicking up and beating us to death against the dock. At this float we met a couple from Montana now living in Ketchikan. They were big time Griz fans! It is really surprising how many people we have met are either from Montana or have some significant connection to Montana.

We kayaked a couple miles to an abandoned gold mine and explored the piles of machinery and all the other left behind accoutrements as well as the beautiful stream nearby.

We didn’t catch many shrimp but we did get eight box crabs and one little Opilio. We kept the four largest box crabs and the prawns. These crabs rival Dungeness for taste and are just a little sweeter.

Resuming the trip north on the 17^th we headed up Clarence Strait with forecasts of 20kt winds and 4’ seas. It was a little breezy but the seas were very tolerable. We decided to bypass Meyers Chuck in order to make up the day we had just lost. Turning from Clarence Strait into Earnest Sound the skies turned grey and fell onto the water so I had to remind myself about trusting your instruments. It was just a little bit creepy being in a huge body of water and not being able to see land. At this point I am content being a “coastal cruiser”.

King Salmon

Another beautiful day in paradise! Yesterday we booked a charter boat for 0630hrs. today to take us out and fine tune our salmon and halibut fishing skills. It was worth every penny. There were just the two of us and the skipper. He has been doing this since 1968 and was a great guy.

We ran 50 miles to the southern tip of Prince of Wales Island at Cape Chacon. We trolled for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) Note; you can tell I have my own personal biologist onboard. We each caught our limit which is one a piece. Then we went around the cape and caught our limit of halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis). We took a good sized salmon fillet back to the boat with us and the rest is being processed and shipped home to Montana.

Once again, the weather could not have been more perfect and the water was as well.

This cruise has changed complexion completely since Ginger arrived, I’m actually enjoying it now! It was her idea to book the charter! Ginger just told me that I am much more pathetic in person than I am in print but in real life she is just the first mate. She can talk but I don’t have to listen, just pretend to. Actually she is sitting right here and laughing. Life is great!

Tomorrow we plan to leave Ketchikan and motor to Helm Bay about 27nm northwest.

ALASKA!

We made it! Ginger joined me in Prince Rupert on the 10th, on schedule. Forecasts were for continued gales with occasional storm force winds but we were getting itchy to go. We left Prince Rupert on the 11th at 1110hrs and headed out Venn Passage, north. The weather turned out to be excellent for the most part. We got to a point where we needed to make a decision whether to cross Portland Canal or not. Portland Canal is a particularly difficult crossing and is part of the Dixon Entrance crossing which is one of top biggest crossings on this trip. We crossed and dropped anchor in Wales Harbour on Wales Island just about 1/2 mile from the US/Canadian border. (N 54 degrees 45.258' W 130 degrees 35.786').

One photo is of the anchorage entrance at Wales, where we were the only boat. This was a 40nm day.

The other photos are of Ketchikan, Alaska taken this morning. (N 55 degrees 20.359' W 131 degrees 38.518'). This was a 61nm day. 101nm in two days, now we are at 699nm. Hard to believe this incredible sunshine in a place that gets over 160 inches of precip a year! There currently are three huge cruise ships here, that I can see. There also is a crab boat from the series Deadliest Catch. Sea Star from Seattle

Time to hit the town to get some errands done and act like tourists! I will fill in some blanks when we have a chance.

This connection is not good enough to upload a photo at the present time so I will add them when I can.

Up Grenville Channel to Prince Rupert with a Stop in Kumealon Island Cove

Grenville is sometimes call "the ditch". It is 45nm long and almost straight as an arrow. The current floods and ebbs at both ends with the current meeting in the middle. Usually, you head west on the evening flood to the middle where you catch the slack and anchor somewhere. Then in the morning you ride the ebb to the top. Sounds simple enough so long as it meets with your schedule.

But I was about 180 degrees out of sync so of course I bucked the current all the way. The last three hours with the wind on my bow we powered into about a three foot sloppy chop. Water was coming into the pilothouse in places I didn't realize there were gaps. That gave me something to do when I wasn't wrestling with the helm.

I gladly pulled into Kumealon Island Cove ( N 53 degrees 51.718' W 130 degrees 01.589' ) at almost 1600hrs. to sit on the anchor for the night. This cove is almost at the west end of Grenville and makes for a good starting place for the run into Prince Rupert.

The last two or three hours in Grenville, the water changed color to a light brown, like runoff back home. The next morning, Thursday, I headed back out into the ditch and shortly was in Arthur Passage approaching the mouth of the Skeena River. Yesterday Prince Rupert Coast Guard had issued several notices of large debris fields accumulating near this area as a result of higher than normal runoff from the Skeena. Fortunately the winds were light because there were vast amounts of debris everywhere to pick through.

The cruise takes on a very industrial feel as you approach Prince Rupert. This is one of the very few deep water ports in the world so it well suited to serving hugh cargo ships which all have the right-of-way. By common sense as well as the law.