Last trip of the season

[AlasKen]

My son and decided to get in one more fishing trip this season.  We both took Tuesday, 9/22 off.  Marine forecast called for wind 10 knots, seas 1-2 feet, mostly sunny.  This is a perfect forecast for Resurrection Bay out of Seward AK.   It is a 2.5 hour drive to launch so I checked again at 4 am as we were planning a 5:30 departure.   It is fast approaching winter here and there was a coating of ice on the deck and gunnels requiring care in loading gear on boat.  When we arrived the wind was definitely in excess of 10 knots, at least 20 and out of the north pretty chilly.  No one at ramp or on the water.  We decided to give it a shot.  In Resurrection Bay you are heading south out of the bay toward the gulf of Alaska, so wind at our back.  As soon as we left the marina the water got pretty rough and we had to keep the speed below 18 MPH to keep the fillings in our teeth.  The wind and seas just kept building.  My son had the helm and after about 7 miles he looked at me and said we need to head back as things were not improving and with wind direction we were not going to be able to fish.  No argument from me.  We turned and headed into the wind and seas that were a true 4+ feet.  We have been in bigger seas without a lot of concern.  In this case they were extremely close together and the wind was killing the backside as we went into it.  We were limited to about 6 mph as any faster and we blew off the backside and were airborne, as we hit we would be immediately heading up the next one and airborne again.  The setts were about 5 small waves followed by 3 large ones.  It made for a slow slog back about an hour and a half to travel 6 miles.  We never even pulled any fishing gear.  We were back on the trailer by noon and ready for a 2.5 mile drive back.  During this time we saw no other pleasure boats and only 2 commercial fishing boats on the water.  Hmm maybe that was a sign.  

On the way back we took a short detour and launched at Kenai Lake.  It was breezy but water was fine for a boat this size.  We had no trout gear aboard so just drove around the lake site seeing and giving the motors a good fresh water rinse.  This trip reminds me of why I enjoy my Tolman boat.

I added 4 photos, one of Resurrection Bay, and 3 of the lake.  It was hard to take photos one handed while trying to stay in the seat.  Ken

[David Hall]

Doesn't take long for the sea to turn ugly up there does it.
Lake sure looked good though.
Glad you got to clean the cooling system.

[foakes]

Thanks for sharing, Ken --

Best thing about the trip was running the motors in fresh before winterizing and draining everything.

Those are tough wave intervals -- probably got worse after you loaded up.

Good call on both your parts.

Best,

Fred