Taku Harbor

The morning after Collin arrived we set out for Taku Harbor, about 25nm south of Juneau for an overnight stay. This harbor is quite well protected for most weather. There are two floats, one connected to shore with a ramp. We stayed at the other float. The idea was to do some fishing and set a crab trap. We did try to chase down some salmon but DUNVEGAN is just not set up for salmon. I have downriggers but they are sitting in Montana!

We were fishing along a wall that goes to about 400 feet at 75 feet from shore when Ginger snagged the wall. We worked diligently to retrieve the tackle because 1) it is expensive and 2) we had very heavy/strong line on. After working every angle and pulling as hard as possible, I took a couple dallies around the Sampson post and backed away. The bottom gave way and Ginger reeled in some Alaskan coral. It was incredibly strong but came up in one piece. Very beautiful and quite unexpected in these cold waters but here is a nice photo of it.

We managed to capture one nice dusky rockfish, big enough for a couple nice fillets.

Leaving Taku Harbor (N 58 degrees 03.736' W 134 degrees 01.225') we headed back to Juneau to get ready for our charter salmon trip on Tuesday. In Southeast, charter fishing and commercial fishing operate side by side but there is plenty of animosity as evidenced by the bumper sticker we saw in Sitka “Charter Fishing…… How Gay is That”. We did meet a commercial fisherman at the float in Taku Harbor who gave us a sockeye salmon just because he was a nice guy.