Day 27- Homer

 July 8

Long Live the Kings fishing charter

Today was halibut fishing.  We were to be at the boat by 6:30 am.   We are most defiantly not morning people, and Davan, Libby and I are still not at 100%.  Despite that we still were only about 10 minutes late.

We kind of had a lot of gear.  Not sure if that's typical but we had a cooler with drinks and sandwiches, a backpack of snacks, a backpack with rain gear and another small one with my drone, GoPro and charging cables.  We of course had our coats and other warm stuff.

Our boat was named the O'Dea, a 28 ft V-hulled craft with twin 300 hp outboards.  It had a spacious cabin to hang out in while under way or just to take a break.  The bathroom consisted of a closet with a bucket.  Not even a seat on the bucket.

The boat hold 6 fisherman plus the two crew members,  Since we had 5 people it didn't make sense to have to risk having a single person on board with us so I invited Patrick to come along with us as well.

Before long we were underway.  We saw two otters.  One was just chilling off the back of the boat.  Another was on our way out of the harbor having a little crab breakfast.  I don't recall the name but we did see one of the boats from the show, Deadliest Catch.

The trip out was just under 2 hours.  It did get rough at times but was not horrible.   I've been in worse in smaller boats.  We traveled out to the Gulf of Alaska and anchored off.  The second we stopped everyone turned white.  I did have a bit of forethought and packed Dramamine and Heidi quickly passed it out. 

Everyone but Summer and Davan exited the cabin to get eyes on the horizon to try and calm our tummy's.  Before to long Davan and Summer were in tears begging to go back.   It's probably mean but I paid way too much money to turn around 20 minutes after we got there.   

I finally got Davan outside and after throwing up overboard she was somewhat better.  I also have to take a  closer look at the water which was a little surprising.  I have done a lot of fishing on Lake Millie Lacs in a 18 ft deep V in some really rough waves and never gotten sick.  I'm going to chalk it up to my sinuses being clogged as well as age.  I can't do the rides at Adventureland anymore either.

 

Summer absolutely refused to come out of the cabin.  We finally got her laid down in the bunk and she was out like a light.  Heidi had suggested Ritz crackers in the snack bag and I ate just a single cracker and my entire feeling of sickness went away.  We passed them around the boat and before long everyone was feeling somewhat better.

We were anchored at roughly 130 ft.  Regulations are 2 halibut per person with one needing to be under 28 in.  It took a while before we got a halibut but there were several times when we all had a rock fish on the line.  

I don't recall why but I stepped away from the pole I was manning.  Of course a fish hooked on and since Patrick was right there he reeled it in.  Of course it would end up being the largest halibut of the day.

Our deck hand, Ray was using a huge jig.  He got a fish on and handed me the pole.  Unlike the other poles where you can keep them in the rod holders if you get tired I had to fully support this one for the entire 130 + feet of line.  It was a pretty good work out.  We finally got it up to the boat and it was a giant Lingcod!  They are pretty rare to catch, although we did catch a smaller one earlier, way too small to keep.  It was pretty much the most excitement on the boat all day.

Lingcod is a very prehistoric looking fish.  It has these giant pectoral fins that are absolutely beautiful when splayed out.

Summer woke up from her nap and was looking a little better.  She did get sick in the waste basket but did manage to come out on deck.  I had a fish on and she was going to reel it in but unfortunately spit the hook out.  Before I knew where she went she was back in the bunk laying down again.  she didn't come out for the rest of the day.  Davan stayed out on deck, but was not very interested in fishing. We did get a fish on for her and she reeled in in though,  So at least she can say she landed a halibut.  I felt so bad for her because out of all the girls she was looking forward to this the most.  She has always been more sensitive to motion and she gets that from Jen.  I had hopped being close to shore would keep her from getting sick, but again we all have head colds and are clogged up.

The majority of our halibut was just over the slot size so we didn't take home anything huge other than the one.  Since we had so many just over the slot we tossed several back hoping for something larger.  If we didn't have the girls with I might have tried our luck a little longer but with the girls under the weather I finally said to keep everything so we could limit out and get in a bit sooner.  We were out there for 2-3 hours.  Another factor of leaving that area was the tide was changing.

About a half hour later we were back in Cook Inlet and this time were going to drift.  The water in this area was very calm.  Not that the other place was overly rough but you could easily stand without having to have a stance to counteract the waves.  We had our limit of overs for halibut and still needed our 6 unders.  The second the lures hit bottom we had fish on.  I was a bit worried we were going to have our limit in 10 minutes.  

Since I had my drone I wanted to send it up.  I thought it would be cool to set it about 50 feet off the back of the boat and record us hauling in fish.  I would have done it anchored but I was afraid if I took my eyes off the horizon to watch the screen I would get sick.  As long as I was able to keep land in eye sight I was fine.

Unfortunately I was standing just outside of the cabin.  There were poles mounted above us and with drifting it flew right into the poles.  It broke a couple props but otherwise was undamaged.  I replaced them quick and tried again at the back of the boat.  This time I was clear but the second it lifted off my hand a wave rocked the boat and the props hit my thumb.  Luckily I was able to snag it but it broke more props and my thumb was in some serious pain.   I decided I didn't want to mess with it anymore and put it away.  I probably should have launched it from the roof of the cabin but you have to climb up along the edge and walk out there.   There are guardrails of course but with the luck we have had on this trip I'd end up dropping the drone or the remote into the water.

Before too long we were nearing our limit of halibut.  We had caught our limit of rock fish at the prior location.  We did also catch a few cod, but they are considered garbage fish in this area as they are full of worms.  You could see them hanging out of the skin.  A bit gross.  

We had one more halibut to go after throwing out a couple really small ones but it was really slowing up so the next one in we decided to keep regardless.  Of course we got three on all at the same time.  The first one in was small but we left it on the deck cause we had to get the other two in.  One was over for sure so it went back in.  The final we didn't even measure because it took so long to get the others in we felt the first one might not survive if we tossed it back.

We packed up and headed back to port.  We had our full limit of 12 halibut, 18 rockfish and the Lingcod.   Ray filleted the fish as we travelled.

 

We were back at dock around 2.  Patrick to the fish for me.  he's going to process and freeze it for me and ship it after we get home.  He also kept the Lingcod head and after making a fish stew with it, going to bleach and mount it for me.  He claims it's going to look really cool.  I can't wait.   Also considering making a replica mount as our captain says they only catch about 5 a year and this is probably the largest they have pulled in on this boat.

I have to give Heidi a ton of credit here.  We didn't keep count but it's very possible she out fished us.  Every time I looked over she was reeling in a fish.   Not only was she on a hot streak but she was baiting her own hooks!  I have always baited my own lures but for the amount I was paying and the way I was feeling I just didn't want to deal with also smelling like bait.  I had plenty of fish slime and scales on my pants and shoes.

We had a chill night.  Libby was right there with us all day so she wanted to destink and take a shower.  We all took some much needed naps and had a choose your own adventure for dinner.

All in all it was a great day.  I wish we were all healthy going into the day.  That probably would have made it a lot more comfortable for all.  The girls were troopers though.  I really didn't want to call it quits right after we got out there so I'm proud of them for toughing it out!