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.

Skipped Town to Sitka.

Plans are firming up for the next portion of this cruise. We have decided that Juneau is the farthest point north we will venture. We will be in the Juneau/Sitka area for about two weeks and then head south.

Ginger’s son, Collin will fly to Juneau arriving on June 30^th at midnight and will leave on the 6^{th of} July. On the 27^th we boarded the Alaska State Ferry M/V FAIRWEATHER, a fast ferry (32kts.) and went to Sitka. Sitka was on our itinerary but with the new plan, we could not make the run in DUNVEGAN from Juneau to Sitka and return within the time allotted. Our boat would take about four days each way and the fast ferry takes 4.5 hours each way.

The fast ferry runs only on odd numbered days so that is why the wait until Wednesday to go to Sitka. While Collin is here we will do some fishing on DUNVEGAN and possibly do a charter fishing trip on one day.

We also have a charter booked for a trip to Tracy Arm for the glaciers. The Tracy Arm trip would take three to four days also. One overnight at an anchorage at the mouth of Tracy, one day to run up the inlet and then overnight in the same anchorage, plus the time to get to the area. Also, it is not advisable to go into an area with so much ice in the water without a spare propeller due to the possibility of hitting ice and causing damage.

SITKA I must say, I am quite taken with Sitka. I think it is the nicest town we have seen in Southeast. If I was considering living in Alaska (and I am considering it!) it could very well be Sitka. I saw a statistic that said there is more sport caught salmon landed in Sitka than in all other fishing ports in Southeast combined! Halibut may have similar stats.

We had great weather while in Sitka so that always serves to skew one's impressions.

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!