Deep Sea Fishing in Alaska
Posted on | July 21, 2008 | 45 Comments
If you could visit only one place in Alaska I’d suggest Homer in summer. It is not the guide-book or the celluloid Alaska that many are familiar with or expect to see. It is not noted for its In-to-the-Wild hostile tundra that would coldly snuff out McCandlesses. It is too warm for polar bears except those made in China and found in curio shops. It doesn’t have enough magnetism to charm some Aurora Borealis(s) it’s way. A winsome little fishing town pointing its geographical finger into the waters of Kachemak Bay, the only claim Homer makes is as ‘the halibut fishing capital of the world’.
I have been smitten with Homer ever since I visited the first time. Please click here to read an account of the trip we made in 2004, serves as a good Homer primer if you are interested. Last weekend we ticked off one of the must-do-Alaskan things, fishing for Halibut in the high seas. Before you dismiss it as ‘Bah, fishing!’ let me tell you I am not a fishing enthusiast either. I have fished for salmon before and didn’t find much pleasure in donning the waders and communing with a fishing rod for the better part of the day with zero results. Unless there is a salmon run(which is like Kumb Mela or the Carnival in Rio of the salmon kind) there is no guarantee that the rare masochistic salmon will choose your novice rod to impale itself upon. Unlike that, halibut fishing is a highly rewarding experience, it looks like no one returns empty handed from a halibut charter. If you have a heart strong enough to handle a few dead fish and bandwidth to justify your bravado,
Deckhand Tim readying the rod and the hook.
Leaving the harbor: Started early morning at 6:30 from Homer boat harbor, that’s around the time all halibut charters take off. It’s usually a full day trip. Reminder: Sun rises at 4am and sets around 11pm in Alaska in summer, day is as long as you want to make it.
Overcast morning: Weather plays a major part in your future as a fisherman/woman. When we left the harbor with our friends’ family(four generations in one boat), the sky was overcast. We had braced ourselves up for a zero-success day only to be reassured by our captain(all of 22, with 6 years of sea-faring in his resume) that cloudy days are the best for deep sea fishing
The Boat: The boat which took us could conveniently hold 12 passengers in addition to the captain and the deckhand. There is a toilet incase you are not into exhibitionist behavior. It took us about 30 miles(apprx. 60kms) in to the ocean to the fertile Halibut breeding grounds.Halibut is a bottom feeding species, usually your line goes down about 150m into water before it can hook up with any potential catch.
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Hooking the Bait: The bait they usually use is frozen store bought herring, thawed before use. Sometime salmon heads are also used, although it didn’t land us any more fish than the herring did.
Ready to Reel in: Everyone standing in position with their rods. I don’t have many fishing-in-action pics since we were all fishing really seriously. Seriously!
Except this one: which was taken to prove a point- Halibut Fishing 101: An extremely relaxing experience. You put your rod thru’ the holder(there are many on the railing of the boat, choose yours), stand back, can even go inside, play a game of poker or down a keg of beer and ponder on the immensity of the universe(easy when you are in the open ocean with nothing but the merging blues of ocean and skies.) Check for any action on the rod – a twitch or a persistent pull(eyes would suffice, don’t even need to touch the rod with your hands for this preliminary investigation.) If there is a suspect on the hook, slowly reel it in.The fish is not going to go anywhere, make sure you don’t (go overboard that is.)
That is my rod at rest: Waters were glacially calm. If it is a sunny day, the fisher-wisdom says that sea is rougher, you’ll be more prone to sea sickness and will not be able to catch many fish. So what is good for us is not good for the fishermen.
The catch: The women in our group (3 #s) turned out to be more prolific fisher’men’ than the men themselves. Nine of us together caught around 40 fish, of which we kept the biggest 18 because Alaska Fishing License Rules set the number of halibut caught per person per day should be two or less. We kept the ones which were around 30-40 lbs, the smaller lucky ones returned to the ocean to have one more go at life.
Fillet o’Fish: Tim, the deckhand set about filleting the fish soon after he cleaned and put away the fishing rods. The kid(he goes to college somewhere in the lower 48) had been slogging all the while when were having fun.
Slimy jobs: Alaska tourism and fisheries industry employ a lot of college kids who summer in Alaska with paid jobs like these. Hillary Clinton, during her Presidential primary made a fond mention of Alaska, that her crappiest job ever was sliming fish in a cannery in Valdez,Alaska as a college student on a summer job.
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The ‘Wasted’ Throw: The halibut is cut into two long fillets per side and the rest of it is thrown away. I do not know whether it is my third-world mentality, it pains to see so much fish go to waste. Looked to me like you could feed a family for a week from just the remains of one fish wasted this way.
Gull Island: On the way back we went to Gull Island seabird rookery. A great big colony of seabirds of all sizes and ages, cackling beyond known decibel levels and god forbid, the wind blows your away, the smell of guano can knock you dead in seconds. All that said, it is great that the birds are having the time of their lives, except for occasional trespasses by a few pestering research biologists, tourists and kayakers.
Sun shiny day: The skies had cleared up when we reached back Homer harbor in the afternoon. This picture was taken at the same spot as the third pic.Of the four we were entitled to (between the two of us) we took one fish home that day, all the others were packed off to the be flash-frozen and later shipped to us. The smallest of the fish made way to our oven below.
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45 Responses to “Deep Sea Fishing in Alaska”
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July 22nd, 2008 @ 10:26 AM
sorry to put this in your comments..but could you tell me how you posts such big and clear pictures? everytime i try to post a pic, its posted in very small(very!) size…
July 22nd, 2008 @ 10:26 AM
sorry to put this in your comments..but could you tell me how you posts such big and clear pictures? everytime i try to post a pic, its posted in very small(very!) size…
July 22nd, 2008 @ 10:26 AM
sorry to put this in your comments..but could you tell me how you posts such big and clear pictures? everytime i try to post a pic, its posted in very small(very!) size…
July 22nd, 2008 @ 12:27 PM
I love Homer too. Such beautiful views, and artsy-fartsy stuff to partake of too. I’ve never been Halibut fishing, but my husband loves it. I’m not a fisherwoman at all, although Steve says I must get my license next year so we can have double the salmon. *grin*
Love the photos, and congrats on the bounty! Looks like a fun day.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 12:27 PM
I love Homer too. Such beautiful views, and artsy-fartsy stuff to partake of too. I’ve never been Halibut fishing, but my husband loves it. I’m not a fisherwoman at all, although Steve says I must get my license next year so we can have double the salmon. *grin*
Love the photos, and congrats on the bounty! Looks like a fun day.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 12:27 PM
I love Homer too. Such beautiful views, and artsy-fartsy stuff to partake of too. I’ve never been Halibut fishing, but my husband loves it. I’m not a fisherwoman at all, although Steve says I must get my license next year so we can have double the salmon. *grin*
Love the photos, and congrats on the bounty! Looks like a fun day.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:46 PM
I hope the post didn’t traumatize you badly 😛
Homer is a bit kookie, but for me in a good way.
Some people on our boat took motion sickness pills, think they worked ’cause noone threw up or anything.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:46 PM
I hope the post didn’t traumatize you badly 😛
Homer is a bit kookie, but for me in a good way.
Some people on our boat took motion sickness pills, think they worked ’cause noone threw up or anything.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:46 PM
I hope the post didn’t traumatize you badly 😛
Homer is a bit kookie, but for me in a good way.
Some people on our boat took motion sickness pills, think they worked ’cause noone threw up or anything.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:48 PM
I usually resize the pictures to the size I want them to be shown on the webpage(say 800X600 or lower) before I upload them to photobucket or flickr. Then use the photbucket/flickr image tag to link the image url in the post. Don’t let LJ or your photo hosting site do it, write the image tag yourself in the body of your post.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:48 PM
I usually resize the pictures to the size I want them to be shown on the webpage(say 800X600 or lower) before I upload them to photobucket or flickr. Then use the photbucket/flickr image tag to link the image url in the post. Don’t let LJ or your photo hosting site do it, write the image tag yourself in the body of your post.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:48 PM
I usually resize the pictures to the size I want them to be shown on the webpage(say 800X600 or lower) before I upload them to photobucket or flickr. Then use the photbucket/flickr image tag to link the image url in the post. Don’t let LJ or your photo hosting site do it, write the image tag yourself in the body of your post.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:52 PM
Yep love Homer. If you ever decide to move South, please go to Homer :P, you can open a B&B/photo-art gallery.
Neither am I a fisherwoman, but I am sure you’ll enjoy it on a good day, good being the keyword.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:52 PM
Yep love Homer. If you ever decide to move South, please go to Homer :P, you can open a B&B/photo-art gallery.
Neither am I a fisherwoman, but I am sure you’ll enjoy it on a good day, good being the keyword.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 3:52 PM
Yep love Homer. If you ever decide to move South, please go to Homer :P, you can open a B&B/photo-art gallery.
Neither am I a fisherwoman, but I am sure you’ll enjoy it on a good day, good being the keyword.
July 23rd, 2008 @ 7:33 AM
Just for the halibut.
July 23rd, 2008 @ 7:33 AM
Just for the halibut.
July 23rd, 2008 @ 7:33 AM
Just for the halibut.
July 23rd, 2008 @ 9:14 AM
thanks. will try that.
July 23rd, 2008 @ 9:14 AM
thanks. will try that.
July 23rd, 2008 @ 9:14 AM
thanks. will try that.
July 23rd, 2008 @ 4:59 PM
Knew there was something ‘fishy’ about you ;D
July 23rd, 2008 @ 4:59 PM
Knew there was something ‘fishy’ about you ;D
July 23rd, 2008 @ 4:59 PM
Knew there was something ‘fishy’ about you ;D
July 24th, 2008 @ 8:00 AM
Aww. You don’t ‘meen’ that.
July 24th, 2008 @ 8:00 AM
Aww. You don’t ‘meen’ that.
July 24th, 2008 @ 8:00 AM
Aww. You don’t ‘meen’ that.
July 24th, 2008 @ 6:38 PM
lovely post — both photos & captions. amazing how the water looks like fluid glass in the picture before the cut. thank you!
and i agree with you about the wasted fish — i grew up in the “1st world” but I still think it’s ridiculous to throw all that away… of course, I personally wouldn’t want to take the time to pick off all the bits of meat from it, which is probably how most modern-day Alaska fisherpeople reckon, too… /laziness
July 24th, 2008 @ 6:38 PM
lovely post — both photos & captions. amazing how the water looks like fluid glass in the picture before the cut. thank you!
and i agree with you about the wasted fish — i grew up in the “1st world” but I still think it’s ridiculous to throw all that away… of course, I personally wouldn’t want to take the time to pick off all the bits of meat from it, which is probably how most modern-day Alaska fisherpeople reckon, too… /laziness
July 24th, 2008 @ 6:38 PM
lovely post — both photos & captions. amazing how the water looks like fluid glass in the picture before the cut. thank you!
and i agree with you about the wasted fish — i grew up in the “1st world” but I still think it’s ridiculous to throw all that away… of course, I personally wouldn’t want to take the time to pick off all the bits of meat from it, which is probably how most modern-day Alaska fisherpeople reckon, too… /laziness
July 25th, 2008 @ 6:07 PM
have it with ‘cuppa’, i did meen that 😛
July 25th, 2008 @ 6:07 PM
have it with ‘cuppa’, i did meen that 😛
July 25th, 2008 @ 6:07 PM
have it with ‘cuppa’, i did meen that 😛
July 25th, 2008 @ 6:17 PM
Thanks.
True about the laziness. Halibut is not gas to scrimp on 😛
I was thinking more like this.
July 25th, 2008 @ 6:17 PM
Thanks.
True about the laziness. Halibut is not gas to scrimp on 😛
I was thinking more like this.
July 25th, 2008 @ 6:17 PM
Thanks.
True about the laziness. Halibut is not gas to scrimp on 😛
I was thinking more like this.
July 26th, 2008 @ 7:08 AM
‘Ayila’ ve that combination.
July 26th, 2008 @ 7:08 AM
‘Ayila’ ve that combination.
July 26th, 2008 @ 7:08 AM
‘Ayila’ ve that combination.
August 15th, 2008 @ 9:17 PM
Damn. Now I gotta drive 20 miles in this rain to have halibut tonight. Looks tasty.
./w
August 15th, 2008 @ 9:17 PM
Damn. Now I gotta drive 20 miles in this rain to have halibut tonight. Looks tasty.
./w
August 15th, 2008 @ 9:17 PM
Damn. Now I gotta drive 20 miles in this rain to have halibut tonight. Looks tasty.
./w
September 8th, 2008 @ 5:10 PM
Haa..20 miles in the rain is good fodder for verses 😛
September 8th, 2008 @ 5:10 PM
Haa..20 miles in the rain is good fodder for verses 😛
September 8th, 2008 @ 5:10 PM
Haa..20 miles in the rain is good fodder for verses 😛