Fishing

Alright, I've been slacking for a Really long time now. I'll try to touch on some of the more notable events, talk about my ride home and possibly talk about life after Alaska in the coming days. I was going to go chronologically, but I've decided to go categorically. Today's category is fishing.

During my last week in Alaska, I FINALLY went fishing. Yikes, took me long enough. There I am in an area that's world famous for fishing and it took me months to get around to going. When friends visited two of them wanted to go fishing. I figured it would be as good a time as any, so I went along. I'm so glad I went because it was a lot of fun and very educational. I've never been much of a fishing expert. Apparently when it comes to fishing, I'm very lucky. I'm sitting on a boat full of men and I'm reminded of the difference even further when Alan, the guide, points out to the men where they can pee and then tells me to let him know if I have to go and he'll head to shore. Screw that, I skipped the morning coffee and drank minimal water. HA!

For a little background: On the Kenai the limit on Silvers (a type of Salmon) you can catch in a day is 2 per person. The salmon come through in runs, meaning they all head up the river at once, so if you want to catch a certain type of salmon, you have to go during a specific few weeks. There are two runs of each type of salmon every year, except the pinks. The pinks are the dreaded pests on the river. They only run every other year and I'm pretty sure it's one run, not two. When I first read about the types of salmon before I went to Alaska I thought I was lucky to be going there on an even year when the pinks run. I should have kept reading. They aren't as big so they have a smaller meat yield. The meat texture isn't as desirable. They also show up at the same time as other more sought after fish and Unfortunately they're a lot more aggressive than the better fish. All this means that 9 times out of 10 when a fish bites, it isn't the kind you want!

I caught my limit by noon and none of the guys reached their limit by the end of the day! HAHA!! I was so sped, though. I just didn't know how to fish, so it was a shame I was the one getting all the bites! I enjoyed myself, though. At one point in the beginning I was still trying to figure out the best way to hold the rod while reeling and a fish jerked my rod and I was in an awkward position so the rod ended up between my legs and it was a big mess. I was so sped, let's just leave it at that.

Although I hit my limit, the guys caught some impressive fish that I'm almost certain would have dragged me into the river. It wasn't king season (another type of salmon - the really big ones. The season was over, meaning you can catch it, but it can't leave the water, so any catching of those out of season is purely for sport.) but we ended up catching two beautiful kings. One was 60lbs and the other was 50lbs. They were HUGE. The one Dervid caught was the biggest and it put up a hell of a fight. Every time he got the fish close it would freak out and practically empty the line off of his reel, meaning he had to fight it in over and over. It was quite a fish. He had bloody knuckles and everything from the fight. Talk about sport. . .

HALIBUT FISHING
I went halibut fishing on my last full day in Alaska. It was a great time. I asked the guide I used for salmon fishing if he knew of any guides and it turned out he was going fishing with a guide friend on the day we wanted to go anyways, so we jumped in on that trip. I went with Dervid (my dad, for anyone that hasn't caught on to that whole deal yet) and Ed. Ed got really seasick and was throwing up and fishing at the same time. It was awesome. I've never seen someone power through seasickness like that. What a champ. I actually came very close to getting seasick and that's very uncharacteristic of me. I'm not one for motion sickness. I was fine until I had to go to the bathroom, which was below deck, which meant I couldn't see the ocean, I could just feel it. That spelled trouble. I took a pill and was fine a half hour later.

I was lucky once again, getting bites constantly. Halibut fishing is a HUGE workout. HUGE. the ocean floor was 200ft down, which is where the halibut hang out. This means we had at least 200 feet of line we needed to reel in each time we needed new bait or caught something. Did I mention there was a 3lb weight on the line, also? yeah. My arms were jelly the next day. I must have caught 100 sharks, too. Little jerks! They were sort of cool looking, though, because they had pastel green eyes. Both my dad and Ed caught HUGE skates. My dad caught the biggest one I think I'll ever see. The guide said it was easily a few hundred lbs. It was a monster. I'm sure you can imagine the disappointment when we realized it was a skate and not a halibut. ohhhhhh well.

Halibut is a great fish for eating, so it was well worth the work! It's incredibly light in flavor and the texture is very meaty. We brought about 50lbs home to Mass, but we probably had a good 30lbs more up in Alaska that we left behind. Fish anyone?