Salmon Season Closes – Let's Fish for Halibut!

Salmon season closed on September 20th, so we decided to go long lining for personal catch halibut. Doug is pictured here with our catch.


Our salmon season wrapped up nicely in that we actually saw the sun for several days outside of Cross Sound. The wind was cold, but this year was so grey and rainy that having sunshine was a welcome change. We stuck it out fishing the outside waters to make a season out of it (after our delayed start due to Covid). Again, we were comparatively lucky in that fishing is a socially distanced lifestyle so although impacted, we had a more “normal” summer than many in the US this year.

We aren’t sure what winter holds for us this year. Our original plan was to drive thru Canada to the Lower 48, buy a sailboat and sail it to Mexico for some warm weather – but currently neither Canada nor Mexico want US citizens in their country due to our poor ability to control this pandemic. We’ll likely stay in Alaska unless things improve down there. Winter can be harsh up here, so we wanted to stock up on supplies and filling our freezer with protein was a priority. We harvested Dungeness Crab in the spring and we have salmon, of course, but adding halibut to our stores makes for more variety. 

Our friends thought it a bit odd that after 3 months away from home we would choose to spend an

additional week fishing, but it was a bit of a holiday for us. We slept in and had leisurely days laying long line for halibut, dropping pots for shrimp and walking beeches looking for deer. We went to a couple lovely inside bays that we don’t fish for salmon, which allowed us a few days of calm water and wildlife viewing. We did not see a lot of deer, but we saw a dozen brown bear. I always enjoy watching those impressive animals (from the boat - close, but a safe distance away)!

We are heading home to Haines now. It will feel odd to be on land again after 3 months onboard, but I’m looking forward to some land time!








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