Rough Seas and the 2nd Summer King Opener


The 2nd King opener was much kinder to us with the best weather of the summer so far and fish to be caught – too bad it only lasted 4 days!
King Salmon

We had been having windy and rough weather on the outer coast. Winds were 20 – 30 knots, seas of 8 to 10 feet. Fish and Game announced a 5 day closure but we couldn’t even fish the last 2 days due to the rough seas. We headed out one morning into the waves but after bashing into them for what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes, Doug turned us around and headed back into where we had anchored the night before. He knew his crew wasn’t going to be very helpful in that type of conditions (plus PacSon was taking a beating as well)! Luckily, there is a passage around Yakobi Island through Lisianski Strait and into Lisianski Inlet that is protected from the worst of it and we were able to take that route into Elfin Cove to pitch our fish.

Coho (L) and King Salmon (R)
In order to head into Juneau to provision during the closure we had to traverse Inian Pass. This is a narrow passageway between Cross Sound and Icy Straits that all of the tidal waters rush through on the way in and out to sea. This particular trip ended up being quite the adventure. Our stop in Elfin Cove caused us to miss the tide exchange so we ended up going thru as the tide was ebbing. This caused 8-foot breaking waves at the entrance as the swell from the open ocean hit the tide coming out and the waves stacked up against us. We were light and our poles were up making us not as stable (since we had pitched our fish). The first breaking wave laid us over on our side and the second pitched us back the other way. Everything flew off shelves and counters and went one way and then the other. I tried to hold onto as much stuff as I could while maintaining my own footing. It was a moment of scariness but Doug maneuvered us through it. Needless to say, the next time we passed thru we made sure to have poles out, weight in the hold and calmer water!

We ended up having to spend extra time in Juneau, again due to heavy seas. We arrived back at Yakobi on the evening of the 2nd opener so we got 4 days of fishing before the close. All 4 were lovely, sunny days with kind seas! We caught big Kings and several Coho that were hogs for this type of fish! It was a very nice and needed break from the wind, waves and fog that have been the story for most of this summer!


King also called "Black Mouth" because of the black gum line

Coho has a white gum line

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2022 Season Begins and a 2021 Recap

Image
A Good Morning in Haines Alaska  We left our beautiful mountains-to-sea town of Haines, Alaska this morning and headed out for our 20 22  summer fishing season. It was a glorious sunny  morning and the all-day trip to Juneau was smooth and  lovely.  Both Doug and I were looking forward to  getting back out on the water and pulling up those big  King and Coho salmon – especially after the 2021  season we had.  2021 Recap 2021 was a good year for most trollers – there were fish to be caught and a nice price point per pound. Unfortunately, Doug hurt his ribs right before the start of the season so we didn’t fish as hard as we usually do. We started late and had to take a couple weeks off mid-summer for healing. It was a different kind of season for us but still delivered spectacular sights and long days of wilderness fishing. We often spend much of the season fishing in the Gulf of Alaska – from Cross Sound south along Baranof Island. Due to our...
Read more

Alaska Homesteading Update #3

Image
Our little guest cabin now has quite a sweet outdoor space with its fire pit, benches, serving counter and cowboy hot tub (heated by the fire pit). It’s very inviting and we spend as much time there as we can.  The house itself got new stain and an arctic entryway, which helped during the cold winters that we spent here during Covid isolation times.  We bought a tractor last fall and a mill this spring so we could use the trees on the property to make our improvements.  Doug dropped a few trees and milled a bunch of lumber while I was recuperating with my broken arm. We are now in the process of building a pole barn for all of our equipment. Next spring we will work on an addition to the house. It’s really fun to watch our little Homestead grow!
Read more

What a Whale Show!

Image
Our first day of fishing there were whales everywhere on the grounds- bubble feeding, breaching, slapping their tails.  There were bait balls of fish all around us and lots of activity, but the whales were the real show.  It led to one of the most exciting and/or scary events I’ve had in a long time. Doug was in the pit fishing and I was driving the boat, watching a group of whales bubble feeding off in the distance. Suddenly two whales surfaced heading straight for the boat on our port side. I immediately turned to the starboard and slowed the boat so that they could cross in front of us, as obviously they hadn’t seen us. Two more surfaced, and then two more! They were moving quickly, straight across our bow. I had to throw the boat into neutral to avoid driving right into them. They crossed about 10 feet in front of us! One lifted his head, took one look at us and immediately dove recognizing how close we were to a collision. Basically when I looked over the bow, it was just...
Read more