Thursday, June 22nd Day 69 Halibut Fishing Sister Islands Hoonah, AK
I was able to sleep in until 8am today. What a treat! After breakfast we cast ASD off from it’s rafted side tie at Swanson Harbor. It was a delightful day... the sun was shining as we headed out from our moorage of Couverden Island. I took the boat out as we headed to the Sister Islands. We kept the engine at a low rpm... an idle most likely, giving us only 2.5 knots of speed. The idea was to troll for salmon. They were not biting today and when we rounded of Chilkat Range (Endicott River Wilderness) the tide picked up our speed beyond a trolling pace. John brought in the down rigger and trolling gear as we headed for Sister Island.
Once we found our spot over the shelf, we dropped anchor for halibut fishing. It wasn’t long before I had one on the line. Landing the beast was quite the chore. With a huge team effort we managed to get the 60 pound halibut, gaffed and bleeding out on the swim platform. As I was reaching for the pliers to remove the hook from it’s mouth, it began flailing and flopped into the ocean, running fast taking much feet of line off the reel. There was much more work to be had before we could call this monster our own.
John reeled it in once again. I had the gaff ready and we got it back on board. We worked effortlessly to rope and lasso the tail while I held the gaff tight. Next we fished the same rope through the mouth and out the gill, securing the beast head to toe through the hoss pipe. The decision was made to go back to Hoonah Harbor fin order to clean the fish and stay the night.
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| This is all that is left of the carcass. |
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| That is a lot of halibut! |
Tom helped John fillet the fish. The entire cleaning and packaging process took over three hours. We enjoyed dinner on our own and went to bed early.
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| Tom got the prize for the largest halibut 75 lbs. That's a big butt! |
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| Filleting a large fish on the dock at Swanson Harbor Public dock. |
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| Kay continues to catch cod. |
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| Pairadice at anchor in Ell Cove. |
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