Day 52 Valdez
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
63
205
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Valdez,
Alaska,
United States
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Today was an early start day for the fisherman of the team. The rest of the team "may have thought" they would get a sleep in, but hey The fisherman required sustenance before leaving to catch the "big One". So at 4:45am Rick "quietly" goes about the business of obtaining his breakfast, "Yeah sure quietly!" would be the comment from the rest of the Castle's inhabitants. We all know how high Rick's care factor would be, I am sure.
Anyway, fed and his lunch in the back pack he sets off at 5:15am to ensure he doesn't miss the boat due to leave at 6am. The walk to the jetty took all of five minutes, oh well sit and enjoy the lovely crisp morning air overlooking the jetty and boat harbour of Valdez and simply "be" He is good at that!
A group of 6 people turn up at around 5:40am and hang at the top of the walk way, Rick takes the walk down to the end of the Pontoons and locates the Charter boat, takes a seat beside it and waits
The Boat
.The other 6 People wander down at about 5:50 and ask if Rick was the skipper or going on the boat.
Rick tells them he is not the skipper and has paid for a charter trip on this boat, which apparently is better than them they had yet to pay but were booked.
Well the skipper (Dave) wanders down at around 2 minutes before 6, climbs on board and checks the oil and does some prep before he announces that boarding can commence.
Rick (being himself) climbs on first and the others follow, the Skipper asks if he has a booking or ticket for this charter, Fortunately he was pre-warned by the receptionist at the RV park to take the three pieces of paper with him, (IE: Prepaid booking slip Fishing Licence and Derby ticket entry)
Out comes the correct receipt, Dave (remember Dave 'The Skipper') then looks at the other group and says "we have a problem, I can only take 6 people and we have seven here!"
Oh boy this is a challenge are where Rick's thoughts take him. The group spokesman said "yes we originally booked five slots and paid the deposit, then sent a second email booking the other slot"
Dave says, " I cannot take you all and you only booked for 5""
The spokesman had another attempt but backed off when Dave repeated the same statement adding, he would love to take everyone but his licence only allows him to take six people.
The group went into discussion and one female of the group chose to drop out. (maybe the wrong one as you find out later)
Great relief according to Rick, he knew he had one shot at getting this fishing trip for Halibut and was NOT letting his spot go without a bit of "Stubborn Resistance"
We are then allowed to enter the cabin of the boat and deposit our bags, Rick took the front seat (just because he could!) and the others positioned themselves around the table and along a bench seat
Rick's Catch
. It could be a little "tense one figures" but hey! just keep quiet you paid your money and you are on the boat!The trip out was around 3.5 hours over bumpy seas, all passengers are bright eyed in anticipation of a great days fishing, also with on the lookout for any wildlife.
This paid off because a couple of whales showed themselves a fair way ahead to disappear from sight, then a few sea otters had a look at us as we passed, (who is viewing whom at times like this?)
Next a show of porpoise, and last but not least about half a mile ahead a humpback whale surfaced and disappeared with the distinctive tail waving to the small boat heading his way.
From there on it became a simple sit and get sleepy and doze if possible through the less than smooth ride.
We arrive at a spot Dave had marked on his GPS and he dropped the anchor and proceeded to set us up.
How good is this fishing? The skipper sets the rods and baits the hooks, gives us a demonstration and we pick a spot and we are fishing.
It was a little chilly and overcast, but the warm clothing purchased early was put to good use and the cold didn't penetrate
A large Carving found by Karon & Earnie
.It would have been about 10-15 minutes before the first fish was hooked and reeled in, This was done by the only female of the group.
It was called a yellow eyed rock fish, sometimes called Rock Cod. The drama that was created by the successful fisher person is better NOT recorded, in case the writer is accused of being slightly prejudiced, Suffice to say if any female partner had accompanied the writer on this trip , and had made the same comments and noises this person of female gender had made, they definitely wouldn't have NOT been accompanying Rick on any further trips and MAY have been lucky to survive this one in attempting to swim the 35 miles back to land!
I kid you not! The fish was reeled in and kept because it was an eatable species, and she went into the cabin complaining about how difficult it was to wind in, she had lowered her fresh baited hook down before retreating to the cabin and no sooner had she got into the cabin another fish took her bait, The comment coming from the cabin was " I don't want to catch another fish!"
I will not labour further on this, but will suggest she did wind in this next one but it had to be released because it was not the correct season for that species of fish, again she retired to look out from the cabin and watch, leaving a spare rod/space. GEE I am so pleased I hadn't paid for that spot, what a waste of money! NOW I will comment no further on the grounds I may incriminate myself, (maybe being in the USA I can plead the 5th amendment or something!)
Well we spent around 1.5 hours at this spot hoping for the Big One to choose a bait, but to no avail. Dave decided to shift to where he knew we could catch some smaller fish and have some activity.
Well he proved correct, the smaller fish being 20 - 45 lb Halibut, gave us a lot of fun, Mind you everyone else was taking them in and releasing anything under 25 lbs while Rick patiently waited for at least one to take his bait.
It was going to be hard to live down if he was the only one on the boat to NOT get his quota.( there is a limit of 2 fish per person on the boat.)
His patience was rewarded after everyone else had at least hooked one or two and released some back.
Fish on was the call from Rick,
It must have been a BIG FISH,no kidding it was extremely hard work pulling this in, Rick had pictures forming in his head as this being the prize fish for the $15,000 Derby winner. The rod, reel and Rick worked hard to winch this thing up, it caused a little excitement amongst the fishing crew as to what or how big this wonder from the 120ft depth could be!
As it came into view the skipper said, "It is a skate" the rest of the fisher persons then lost interest and went back to their own rods, The Skate was apparently of NO interest, and as soon as it was pulled in close enough Dave cut the hook out and let it go!
Well Rick had no care factor, he had caught a fish and done battle with an estimated 200lb plus big monster and managed to drag it up.
Ricks luck began to kick in because he then hooked a halibut of around 30-35lb, and also a couple of Ling cod (Season for then doesn't open until July 1st Darn!) they are a big fish as well, around 3-5 ft long with large mouths and a little bit of fight.
Also a couple more "put them back Halibut" and a keeper halibut of around 40lbs was Ricks tally as we continued fishing.
We were reaching our boat limit and all agreed not keep any more until around 5 minutes before we had to leave , just in case the BIG ONE was down there passing us by. We all were enjoying ourselves, even the woman came back out and took part for a few minutes, but disappeared again, at one stage with five guys fishing , all hooked fish at the same time and did our individual battles attempting to keep the lines from tangling, unsuccessfully I might add.
At this stage Rick hooks a fish and begins to take it in, the guy next to Rick hooks one as well, unbeknownst to them both, the fish did an underwater ballet and wrapped the lines up. When the lines came up nicely tangled just above a fishes, head it was assumed we had tangled and both thought we had one fish between us, as it was this was Rick's fish and the other guy let his line drift back into the water, as soon as the slack was gone, he felt the tug of his fish, so both had scored a hit!.
Just a lot of fun.
Well the five minute call comes and one guy hooks one and brings it up, it is a good size around 45 lbs and just as the decision to take it and head back, Rick hooks into something, it is extremely heavy, so the other guy leaves his in the water to keep it alive to wait out Ricks fish coming up.
Again the battle is long and hard, no kidding it was a battle of attrition and this was heavier and more stubborn than the Skate, but I guess no one had informed the Alaskan fish of Rick's reputation for stubbornness, it hadn't filtered across from the East coast of the USA from a certain company he had previously been to battle with! But stubborn Rick was, his left arm was aching and sweat on his brow as this sea monster was hauled foot by foot up. What a way to end the day, the Derby winner for sure!
Gee how disappointing to finally get a glimpse of this Derby winner to find out it was the big brother of the earlier Skate that must have gone home to tell big brother about that nasty Aussie fisherman that hurt him!
BAH let it go and retrieve the little 45 lb halibut the other guy had kept waiting, and head for home.
The trip back was uneventful and a lovely flat run in.
Arrived back in port and the fish are unloaded and part of the deal is they are cleaned and filleted, Rick takes the time to run back to the Park to get the camera,
The other travellers are inside the Castle watching a movie, GEE how exciting is that when one could be fishing?
Earnie and Karon had spent the day looking around the town and museum, rain had settled in so their afternoon was a relaxed movie time, while Rick was out on the calm clear sea with only one rain squall and the rest of the time as written above, having a good turn.
Rick cut the fish up and bagged it for the freezer and Karon cooked some for our dinner, it is a beautiful fish and just tastes great and melts in the mouth. It was arranged with the RV park owner to put the 40 lb of fish into the Parks freezer overnight to ensure it becomes frozen and not over load our little freezer.
SO after a start as early as we had, but a with some great internet connections we managed to get to bed around 11pm that night.
At this point Rick says thank you to the other travellers for being patient enough with him as he had a turn at his Halibut fishing, or was it they considered his whinging and complaining of missing out on fishing, to let him have his fishing turn,gave them the lesser of two evils? We may never know!
