Saturday, September 11, 2021

 Saturday, September 11, 2021

Rise and shine! We woke up early this morning for our 4:15 departure to Seward for our halibut fish. Taunie and Jeff drove separately because she needed to get to the airport earlier than the rest of us and would be rushing to leave the dock.  Ryan and Ryan each took a row of the Excursion to stretch out and sleep while I slept in the front seat.  Poor Dad had no one to talk to so he listened to a book on tape.  

We arrived about 7 and it was cold! I wore leggings, jeans and waterproof camp pants on bottom and long underwear, long sleeves, sweatshirt and rain coat on top.  We checked in and paid before heading down the dock to find our boat and Captain, John.  Today was his last charter for the season and he was happy about that. He planned to surf and then spend time working in San Diego helping with a boat during longer fishes (2-14 days).

It took much longer than expected to get to the fishing spot.  We learned this was the end of the season and halibut fishing was a little slower than usual because their bellies are full, they’ve moved and the population was dwindling.  It took us two hours of rough seas to get to the first spot.  Thank goodness for Dramamine.  

We spent about an hour in a spot called “Dick Ripper”. Big fish have been caught in that spot, but unfortunately, none were biting for us.  We had four rods in the holders and two people jigging. Jeff did catch a rockfish, but no halibut.  After an hour we moved to another spot.  This was the chicken spot as they referred to it as. It’s the spot they take people when they are close to limiting our or have gotten all their big ones.  There typically aren’t huge halibut here,but at least we could catch one.  

Ryan Bowers got the first halibut on the line.  He was smaller, but a halibut none the less.  After a bit the second halibut was caught using a jig again. If that’s what they wanted, we’d give them jigs.  We put in two jig lines. The other lines started to go a bit.  It was so hard to watch the pole get a nibble, then no bite—they’ve gotten smart over the season.  We enjoyed pb and j sandwiches and chips for lunch.

Etiquette was that everyone would catch at least one.  I had already caught a little one when the reel I was watching got a bite.  I set it, hooked him, and handed it to Taunie who hadn’t caught one yet.  He was a bit of a fighter and she battled and brought him in.  He was by far the biggest weighing probably 65-70 pounds. She was ecstatic! People did a great job sharing poles and giving each other tours.  John suggested not handing off poles with a jig so that they line stayed tight, but Ryan was able to hand off a jig for Dad to catch one. 

We continued in this spot for awhile before we had to set back on our long journey to the harbor.  We had caught 11 halibut and our limit was 12 so we stayed just a little longer out than we should have knowing we would need to book it back for Taunie to be able to make her flight at 8:30.  We didn’t catch our last fish but handed off our fishing spot to John’s friend who was doing a charter and needing more halibut.  

We knew we would be pushing the 2 hour boat ride back to the harbor, but holy buckets did we fly! John warned us it would be rough and it was.  We were bouncing all over the place.  We’d get airborne and slam back into our seats. Dad sat in the front seat which was a little softer in hopes it would help his back, but it was ROUGH!  Thankfully no one got sick! 

On the way back we slammed down so hard we broke the bench Ryan, Taunie and I were sitting on. I spotted a mountain I thought looked like a laying down gnome and the door flew open and the toilet paper rolled out on poor Taunie who was using the bathroom.  Just by the hair on our chinney chin chin we made it to dock and Taunie, Ryan and Jeff booked it to the airport.  

Ryan, Dad and I stayed back for the fish,  we hung them up, got pictures and then John cleaned them on the dock.  We brought a Rubbermaid and Dad bought trash bags at the local hardware store to put the fish in. We were going to pay to have the fish shipped and processed, but they were closed for the season. Many stores were closed for the season. 

We then made our way back 2 hours to Anchorage. On the drive we saw beluga whales and because the tide was low and coming back in, people were heading out to surf, paddle board and kayak.

When we got back to Dan and Nicole’s we did a mad rush to finish packing, showered and started cleaning some of the fish.  Dad gave Ryan money to be able to check a third bag of fish so we could get some home when it was frozen.  We ate some Mexican and then headed to the airport.  

We had to check in at the kiosk, get bag tags from a kiosk, check bags with an attendant and then go to oversized baggage to drop the bow cases.  The TSA were very diligent in checking everyone’s bags.  I wondered if it was because it was the 20th anniversary of 9/11, but Dad said Anchorage airport was always this diligent which I appreciate.  

We made it through security relatively quickly and got to our gate with about 20 minutes to hang out.  We switched seats with another passenger so we could sit together and I think we were both asleep by the time the plane took off. 

We slept hard on the plane and didn’t wake up until we landed in Seattle.  We are currently waiting our 3 hour layover in Seattle before our flight to Chicago. I am sad to leave and don’t want to return to the stressors of the real world, but I sure do miss the boys!