Day one. Short report. Got up, went fishing! It was a very busy day.
Species caught:
Pacific Cod
Staghorn Sculpin
Great Sculpin
Northern Rock Sole
Silver Salmon adult male and female and juvenile Jack Salmon
Pink Salmon male and female
Yellow Sole
Dungeness Crab male and female
Red Rock Crab male and female
Spiny Dogfish Shark 1 female -released
Saw one 2 year old black bear
Crabs with Ketchup, tabasco and wasabi sauce for dinner. Yum!
The salmon are the reason for the meat trip. Just being here is all gravy.
I drop down from 4500 feet altitude to sea level and the air is thick with ocean and forest aromas.
The shark caught was a definite high point of the day. I had intended to catch and eat one last year to see of they would be worth pursuing. Didn't happen.
Today,however, I scored on the first cast and bait soak. The rod was resting on the table with no drag on the Abu Inshore reel and it still tumbled and jumped around before I could grab it and tighten down the drag for the hookset. I knew right away it was no little bottom fish.
More later. Got go set up gear for a 4 am out the door to get a slot on the river. It is waaay crowded up here.
Half of Idaho, Utah, and Nash-vegas, Tennessee is here. 6 trucks per spot on the river and there's only 5 spots to park.
But I know, I know....we need to see pics.
And yes, the silvers are biggee sized!
More pics.
The shark did not like being held. It was like trying to hold a wet 40 grit leather bag full of mad cats.
They have two spines and know how to use them. The close up pic shows the Spine in Spiny Dogfish. Close to pinky length and just like a marlinespike on a naval pocketknife for rope splicing.
Got a few pics. Dunked it in the bay. Took a few pics, back in the water. Got a couple videos.
Going back for more tomorrow after I get my Six Silvers.
Some more....
I dispatched my harvested fish via the bonk, bleed and Iki Jime technique. Got them on ice asap as well.
I kept 5 chromers today and released 3-4 blush fish. Hoping to see improvement as the sunny weather departs in the next 24 hours . A 60 mph blow is supposed to come through.
Some more...
Soaked pink salmon heads in my crab net for 10- 15 max times 7-8 pulls. Also used hand line traps while shark fishing.
Brought up around 30 dungeness and 15 or so Red Rocks to harvest enough keepers for dinner.
3 males @6.5 inches width for the Dungies and no size or limit on the red rocks.
Wow that looks yummy! Thanks for keeping us up to date!
Sid
Looks like a lot of fun v
Great shots Steve-O!
Thanks for taking the time to report. Good luck for the rest of the trip. Looking forward to updates. Dominick
I can almost smell that AK salt air :)
Good job Steve, you will fill that freezer fast at the rate you're going.
Cool beans brother...keep catching.....Bill
Day 2 ??? I know you have day 2 ;D
BT
Quote from: David Hall on September 21, 2016, 09:24:35 PM
Good job Steve, you will fill that freezer fast at the rate you're going.
That's for sure and for certain!
Two days limits = one 50 # fish box.....I'm fishing 5 days and still haven't decided on killing a shark yet or not.
My buds from Idaho arrived..they are the one who got me on this shark thing. We jigged 32# of Cod fillets off my dock so they wanted to try it out on theirs thinking they would also get Pacific Cod.
Spiny Dogfish shark was the fish du Jour.
So they asked me via text were they good eating....sure, I says...it's British fish n chips called rigg.
They bought it and ate it. Loved it.
If i harvest one that tips me over into 3 boxes...which is where I'm already headed.
PS...sorry for the typos.. :-\
Quote from: Big Tim on September 22, 2016, 04:08:39 AM
Day 2 ??? I know you have day 2 ;D
BT
OK Big Tim...Day Two coming right up.
Dia Dos!
Up at 4 and out the door!
Got to the river to find 4 trucks already there before 5. Nice rowdy bunch of anglers from Olympia peninsula area. Invited me to join them but I moved down to the next slot and sat until 6am for the bite to turn on.
It did! 6 silvers by 745 with a few throwbacks due to being dark blush. Big boy was 12# even.
Got 'em iced down and to the lodge for processing. Once done i headed back to the lodge dock with the crabs and sharks to try my luck again.
Another sunny nice day..which has ended with the start of the big incoming storm.
So back at the dock.
It was a Shark Fest! One after another for a solid 1.5 hours. Then the bite tapered off.
Total count was 7 with the big girl at 22# . Smallest was at a guessed 38" and 10# or so. The rest were all close to 14#.
Definitely a fun way to spend the afternoon.
Pulled up 3 more Dungies, 1,2,3. No little ones. Caught a Sole and packed it in.
Came back to the lodge and puttered around...visited with the owners...got some red velvet cupcakes as a treat and then grabbed my gear and hit the dock for the sunset jigging party.
I used my Japanese slow jigging rods and homemade jigs.
Cod after cod were jigged up with only 3-4 sculpins. Big cod was about 6 pounds. Tossed everything back. Took some pics and called it good. I'm running on fumes without my afternoon naps. 15 hour days are for the birds.
I think I'm at 18 hours non-stop for today. Fumes is all that's in the tank.
Pics? Let's see.
Looking good Steve, get some sleep you got a few more days to go.
Great report...as expected. Go get some rest, we need to see more from your adventure.
Thanks for sharing Steve.
Sal
Awesome read! I'm assuming all of this is land based fishing? Good luck these next few days.
Sleep? I don't need no stinking sleep.... ;)
I can sleep when I get on the plane.
My circadian rhythm is so sensitive that I wake right up two hours earlier than Alaska time no matter how late I stay up. Oh well.
Heading out the door in 10.
Dan.. Yes, land based. Have not fallen off the dock yet . ::)
There's an ocean kayak for me to use at the lodge and i've taken it out in the past.
Today weather? A solid 60... That's MPH though for the wind preceding the rain. So ya...more land based today.
I have gotten to know the terrain & waters locally and what's to fish for where.
The hot yerba mate' chai latte is done brewing ...so packing some snax and rolling.
Thanks for the well wishes. I just may take it little more relaxed today if the Coho cooperate and the weather is to nasty to be out in the open for long. 60mph tends to blow loose stuff away.
Good Stuff Steve-O!
Keep'em coming Brother!
Day three was a bit different and more of the same.
Fishing wise - great. Fish 1-5 were easy and I thought I would limit in an hour. Then the bite slowed way down. Took another couple hours to get #6.
I did wade through a few jacks to keep it interesting.
The wind blew all night and the rain came in a Biblical-esque....or normal SE AK big blow style.
The ocean sported white caps on the inside waters which are usually flat. I saw a number of baby water spouts whoosh by on the ocean surface as I drove home from the river. The Jeep was buffeted as well at times.
Cleaning the fish on the dock was a rodeo. Ups and downs 3' with ocean spray and driving rain.
Got 'er done in reckless time. Seagulls were flying backwards past me.
Only took 2 pics...wahhh....never gonna reach the 500 goal although the first day I did get 90.
If the weather and sideways rain lays down, I will hit "Dogfish Dock" and have a go at them one more time .
Plan on harvesting one if they cooperate. On another AK forum, a member said they taste good if you process them them right and quickly. Bonk, bleed, slice the tail, behead it, skin it, cut off the dark meat and chill the meat quickly. I can do that.
The Idaho boys held a spot for me to join them so I will make the effort to leave by 345 ish..4 am latest and try to return the favor. Hopefully the bears are snoozing. Yes, we see them everyday within 50 yards.
Got to crash and snooze.
Couple more pics. If anyone is offended by my images showing fish blood or otherwise please let me know and I will clean it up.
What a great adventure I'm getting to watch. Almost like being there. Please keep right on posting your pics as your able to. I'm loving every minute of it.
thanks Steve for the pics, Im enjoying everything from your pictures, I said it before but Alaska fishing trip is in my bucket list and hopefully I can make it someday
keep the pics coming even of the landscapes, lagoons, beaches, boats, people, etc
Day 4!
And I was on the road at 4. Got to the river roadside pullout and as I turn in to park I see a great big black ball of fur and light brown foot pads bolt from my very parking spot. He or she boogied right across the road in to the woods.
My estimate was around 350# of black bruin.
My plan was to arrive ahead of the Idaho boys and let them know they overslept.
Well in about 20 mins two Ram pickups pull to a stop so I felt safe enough to leave the vehicle.
I'm not worried about out running an bear we may encounter on the trail to the river...I only need to worry about out running one of the guys.
We all trouped in together with me in the lead. I made a headlamp trail slogging video so my family can see what it's like to hike in during darkness.
Made another video exiting with a limit of Silvers later in the daylight.
Only took an hour to limit and everyone on the river was into good fish.
Went back over to the Dogfish Dock to try for a harvest of one. One and a half hours later I left to go clean and freeze my fish. They have been on top of ice since then.
No Shark...bummer.
Got the fish in the deep freeze took a short break to allow high tide to push back in thinking the dogfish cruise in on the incoming flow.
Went back for 2 more hours. Got 3 Dungeness crabs and again no sharkies showed.
I'll try one more time after getting a limit of Silvers.
For dinner tonight I had Coho backbone shavings sautéed in Soy, malt vinegar and Italian dressing after marinating them in the same concoction for 2 hours.
Added a set of crab legs and a side of Nongshim udon style noodles...my new fav ramen.
And a Diet Coke on ice. Deeeee- licioso!
Only thing missing were my rosewood chopstix.
Gotta go assemble some fish boxes and sort the booty for evenly weighing boxes.
Picture time!
Saw a triple rainbow while sharking...first time seeing three at once. Doubles aren't that rare but this was a first for me.
What 58 # of Silver looks like.
Red Rock says, " watch it sucka! I know how to use these mits!"
Dinner time! Salmon, Dungeness and Udon noodles...I'm living large!
The food and lack of sleep is causing a crash to all systems...duuuuhhh...got the yawns and nods.
PS..and boy what a mess of zoned out typos I've made...went back and fixed some.
Here's an attempt to show the triple rainbow through my polarized shades.
And some more fish fun and crab fanatics.
HOLY CRAB!!! He's bigger than my plate! The plate is 10.5 " diameter.
This is the big boy for the trip at least 7" across the shell. Min legal for non res. in SE AK is 6.5" males only, 3 each day. Got three more today and will do some gyotaku prints of this one . Haven't made any time for pulling fish prints, yet and had plans in the agenda sheet to do a few. Hard to get pictures in the heat of the action as well. These borrowed images are what I'm aiming for. Just need to do it.
In the pot...."hey, yo!, excuse me, close the lid, dude, I'm cooking something up in here!"
Little does he know what's cooking.
Some fish from today.
The self carved NW coast Haida style Seal Club fish bonker is 18" long, solid oak and like the real life harbor seal does....this one, too, kills salmon.
Plus you can see my Iki Jime tool for brain spiking the fish after bonking it and cutting the gills.
My 6 were 30", 28, 27, 26, and two @ 25".
Weights were 11.5, down to 8#.
A pic of what a Salmon massacre looks like. The Idaho boys are fish killers.
Just finished making up and packing two fish boxes and a partial third box.
2 @ 49#, the partial which contains some collars, and all the Dungeness I did not eat..maybe 8#.. Has room for 3 fish tomorrow. Or maybe a spiny dogfish. Each set of fillets avg 5# per fish.
The plant is Devil's Club...known to cure cancer here on Prince of Wales.
I have some DC hand balm and it sure heals up line cuts and "fish fingers" quickly.
You don' want to run into it with bare skin though. Very prickly and leaves are like nettle on steroids.
Day 5 begins. Only need 3 today to max out fish box 3 of 3. We'll how many cast and minutes that takes.
I may not always limit out on Salmon, but when I do, I do it with Dew, Diet Mt. Dew.
Stay fishy my friends!
Awesome you should be able to sleep well on the flight home.
Great pile of fish.
Wow, with all those fish you will be in salmon collar heaven. I am enjoying your trip though I'm out of the weather. I am glad you are having a good time. Dominick
Thanks for taking us along Steve-O.
I wish I can get my hands on some of those Dungeness.
I think they are the best eating of all Crabs.
Glad you slayed them. Someone has to do it. ;)
Fantastic trip and pics, thanks a lot for sharing it with us.
Thanks for sharing brother, have a safe trip home....Bill
So Day 5 started just like the others...Up and At'em at zero dark thirty. Only this time I slept in a half hour and moved a little more leisurely. I only need 3 fish to finish out the third fish box and 3 is too easy.
But I still felt the need to make a good showing for my Idaho friends who were arriving at the river early each day to occupy a prime fishing spot. They would have shamed me with good natured ribbing if I walked in without my headlamp on. So 545am it was.
15 minutes later the bite was on. Less than an hour later, i was done. However, I did release a few small or dark fish and kept 4 total. If O went overweight, I planned on donating a few fillets to the lodge family ...which ending up the case.
Got the fish on ice and processed with plans to meet the guys at Papa's Pizza for dinner at 6. Which left me a good portion of the day open for anything.
Packing and prepping for departure was the word. So everything wet went to the dryer room and all my gear was properly stowed for next year or packed into the duffel.
Well almost. There was daylight and time to fish off the dock! I had crab and chunky clam chowder with sautéed salmon crumbled in and went out in the lodge's rain gear to jig a while.
Immediately, got into fish. Cod, sculpin, sole plus a couple Copper Rockfish were obliging to my self made slow fall jigs. One after another. Rarely if ever was there a fail to hook up.
Got my jig fix in and cleaned up for dinner. After stuffing ourselves with pies we all indulged in ice cream and said our goodbyes til next year.
Finished packing and to make it short...flew home to family safely the next day.
Now back at the office I'm buried with work and playing catch up. Yuck.
Some thoughts about this trip.
I nearly met my goal of 500 photos. Somewhere in near 400 pics plus videos.
Didn't do any fish printing after the one Dungeness crab attempt. I knew from experience that it takes a dedicated, focused, fresh mind and body to achieve any decent results. So I packed that project up and stuck with the fishing and crabbing.
So of the 16 item Alaska Trip Wish List I checked off 13. Did not get around the bay to the kelp beds to fish, nor harvest a shark- but caught and released 8 so that was good enough. And didn't pull any fish prints.
All in all a smashing variety filled successful trip and already calendared for next year.
We had fresh Coho and Dungies for dinner last night ..woooohoooo! Big hit with the family.
One special portion for me was prepared with a tiny pinch of nutmeg under a bed of pickled ginger covered with a 1/8" thin sliceof fresh cut pineapple and smothered with General Tsao sauce, then grilled to perfection. So good I had to share it. Yummy! The rest was teriyaki marinated and butter with the crab.
Pics...
How a trophy halibut is taxidermied.....just the tail.
Fish fins.
Cod with size 11 boot.
Mo pics....
3 fish boxes and me ... safe in SLC.
I can hardly wait until next year! :D
Well done Steve! I really enjoyed - and highly recommend - clicking on each photo one at a time and visiting close-up with a few species I've not seen first hand. Thanks!
Sid
thats what I call getting the most out of your vacation Steve. Awesome photos especially like those cloeups.
thanks for the ride along.
Dave
Quote from: sdlehr on September 27, 2016, 04:46:50 PM
Well done Steve! I really enjoyed - and highly recommend - clicking on each photo one at a time and visiting close-up with a few species I've not seen first hand. Thanks!
Sid
hey Sid,
thanks for that plug... one of the reasons I make a goal for 500 pics is to get those close ups.. The color patterns of the Pacific Northwest species are fascinating to me.
Lots more where they came from. The Eye of the Blackbelly EelPout is iridescent and the Irish Lord eye has some neat neon green activity.
China Rockfish is just odd. Black with a yellow slash.
here's a blurb on them.
Pigment (color) Cells
The many pretty colors and patterns seen in fish are produced by cells in the Dermis. The cells are named for the pigment they contain.
Melanophores - Brownish-Black pigment called Melanin.
Erythrophores- Red pigment.
Xanthophores -Yellow pigment.
Iridophores Contain crystals which refract and reflect light, given many fish their metallic look.
Fish can change color from one moment to the next. This is caused by the movement of Melanin grains within each cell. When dispersed, they Absorb more light and the area of the fish darkens. when tightened the fish goes pale.
great pictures and walk-through of that part of alaska
I saw you were using a low profile reel on your shore fishing session, which reel was it?
also another reel I could recognize on your list jigging day.
saludos
Steve glad you are home safe and elated by a wonderful adventure. Dominick
Quote from: steelfish on September 27, 2016, 07:23:22 PM
great pictures and walk-through of that part of alaska
I saw you were using a low profile reel on your shore fishing session, which reel was it?
also another reel I could recognize on your list jigging day.
saludos
One of my rods had the low profile Okuma Komodo on it. not pictured apparently.
The one you see here with Daiwa Color Metered line is an Omoto Talos- very smooth and a pleasure to use.
On the river I switched between the Okuma Raw 2 40 series spinner and mostly the Abu Garcia Inshore with a larger power handle paired with a GLoomis Salmon/Steelhead rod - the 1086 I believe. That one was one smooth Salmon hauler.
I recall now that I used the Abu Garcia Inshore reel and GLoomis rod on Spiny Dogfish sharks and it well on them also.
The sharks without fail would swim directly underneath the dock I was fishing from and it doubled my rod over and down into the water beneath my feet until I could get the fish to turn and come back out.
After netting one and having it rip right through the net, I changed tactics to tiring the fishing out enough to get it parallel to the dock and then I quickly kneeled and leaned down to grab the shark by the neck and one arm haul it straight up and onto the dock - kind of a clean and jerk move....mostly a jerk move due to the fact the shark could have flailed the rear tail spur into my arm, neck, back or side with just a tail flick. But I did not hold on to the fish more that one of two seconds between water and dockside.
Quote from: Dominick on September 27, 2016, 07:36:35 PM
Steve glad you are home safe and elated by a wonderful adventure. Dominick
Thanks, Dominick. Other than a lack of sleep and a few line cuts, it was general wear and tear on the back, shoulders, knees and finger joints. Nothing a little ibuprofen, tylenol, neosporin and Mt Dew won't cure. I wore black nitrile gloves most days on the river to keep the salmon teeth at bay after my bout 2 years ago with necrotic cellulitis. That was some bad infection.
Did you stay at Kingfisher lodge? How much of your fishing was done on a boat? For the pier fishing, where did you get information as to where to fish? You have put this fishing trip on my bucket list. Thanks for any information that you are willing to share.
Quote from: Steve-O on September 27, 2016, 08:03:01 PM
mostly a jerk move due to the fact the shark could have flailed the rear tail spur into my arm, neck, back or side with just a tail flick. But I did not hold on to the fish more that one of two seconds between water and dockside.
I trust that the jerk reference was to the method and not the fisherman. Crikey. ::) ;D Dominick
I think it is applicable either way now that I think about it.
I mean - a 3-4 foot shark with 2-3" spurs, add an 8/0 circle hook, leaning over a dock edge, reaching down a foot, doing a snatch and grab on said shark....maybe jerk was the technique and "less than thought through well enough" was the over enthusiastic angler.
Quote from: inodan2 on September 27, 2016, 08:50:12 PM
Did you stay at Kingfisher lodge? How much of your fishing was done on a boat? For the pier fishing, where did you get information as to where to fish? You have put this fishing trip on my bucket list. Thanks for any information that you are willing to share.
Yes, I have stayed at the Kingfisher Lodge for 18 of my 19 Alaska trips. After the first trip I haven't ever felt the need to go elsewhere. The one other spot I tried was just west of Juneau back in 2011 for halibut only that week. Unbeknownst to me, I was fishing in the same waters as our resident halibut slayer, gstours...aka...Gary.
Did all fishing this trip on land or wading either fresh or salt water.
As to the where to fish...just about anywhere you drop a line into water will hook a fish.
However, on a whim, I started casting and jigging off the lodge dock and have caught a variety of species. My Idaho buds fished with me one day and then tried the lodge dock they stayed at 10 mikes north of me. They caught the dogfish shark so that's where I went this trip and caught and released 8. Plus all the crabs.
Log Cabin Resort and RV park is that lodge name and is run by good people. The owner Skip Fabry offered me crab pots, boat use, and free dock fishing at no charge. He even took pics of me holding one shark.
Several lodges on the island are DIY and less expensive than the full catered places that run near $3-4k for a full week. You can rough it as well as my friend Dan, from OR, does. Sleeps in his Toyota truck for a month, fishes and takes home 800# of salmon to give away to his "friends" .
PM me if you want more specific info.
Like I told envious coworkers back in NC 10 years ago...save your lunch money and you'll be there next year.
They ate out every day for lunch. Then September rolls around and ...waahhh.... We're still broke and can't go.
Quote from: Steve-O on September 27, 2016, 09:47:42 PM
I think it is applicable either way now that I think about it.
I mean - a 3-4 foot shark with 2-3" spurs, add an 8/0 circle hook, leaning over a dock edge, reaching down a foot, doing a snatch and grab on said shark....maybe jerk was the technique and "less than thought through well enough" was the over enthusiastic angler.
Nicely put... Dominick
Quote from: Steve-O on September 27, 2016, 08:03:01 PM
I recall now that I used the Abu Garcia Inshore reel and GLoomis rod on Spiny Dogfish sharks and it well on them also.
hmm thar reel seems to have good power then, time to start using my lexa 300 bit more from the shore with my okuma inshore stalker rod 8'.
Thank you for the info and I will ping you if I am ever allowed to plan that trip.
Thank you for a lovely trip Steve-o
Quote from: inodan2 on September 28, 2016, 03:21:57 PM
Thank you for the info and I will ping you if I am ever allowed to plan that trip.
You're welcome.
I just spoke with the lodge owners a few minutes ago and penciled myself in for 2017 - around September 20 - 27
Quote from: Tiddlerbasher on September 28, 2016, 04:58:32 PM
Thank you for a lovely trip Steve-o
you're most welcome.
So maybe you can give a definitive answer on eating the shark species I almost harvested after catching and releasing 8 of the beasties last week.
As I understand it the Brits eat a version of fish and chips called "rigg" which is either Spiny Dogfish or SmoothHound Dogfish. Of course the other F n C can be Cod or other white fish.
From Wiki :
In Britain and Ireland, cod and haddock appear most commonly as the fish used for fish and chips,[31] but vendors also sell many other kinds of fish, especially other white fish, such as pollock or coley, plaice, skate, and ray (particularly popular in Ireland); and huss or rock salmon (a term covering several species of dogfish and similar fish). So what say ye?
Excellent report Steve, I enjoyed every bit of it.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
Sal