Fish heads, fish heads, rolypoly fishheads Fish heads, fish heads eat them up Yum!
8:00AM July 10th Andrea and I head to Fat Salmon Fishing Charter's 1979 Tollycraft on the other side of the harbor in Skagway. I am excited about my first charter fishing adventure as we greet Capt Joe and meet Chris and Brint, Canadians from Whitehorse, north in Yukon. We rely on Capt Joe's hard earned savvy as he has years of experience unraveling the mysteries of salmon behavior and their whereabouts in Skagway's nearshore waters. Hoping to use the salmon's aggressive feeding responses to our benefit Capt Joe puts out four lines at different lengths utlilizing his battery of well known tactics to locate our quarry. As we relied on his experience we also checked the instrumentation of the Skipper's boat, the fish finder and depth sounder, looked for the visual cues of the flocking and diving seabirds and watched surrounding boats to see how they were doing. So much to learn as we listened to the explanations of sport trolling with four lines employed off the back using downriggers, baited with whole herring in a very specific way and using metal fish attractors called "flashers". the downriggers make it possible to troll lines at different depths. The flasher is a long thin rectangular blade that spins when trolled. Capt Joe did a great job of explaining how this flasher looked like a salmon approaching a meal and attracted other salmon to go after the bait "stealing the meal". With a great introduction to the equipment and explanation of behavior we were ready to start hauling our catch aboard. The fun of getting a "hit" on the line was followed by the thrill of netting and bringing the salmon onboard and the disappointment of determining that we would have to let them return to the sea when they did not meet the 28" requirement. AHH but then we discovered the Dolly Varden Charr and upon learning that we could keep this smaller fish we started to cheer for a Dolly. Andrea caught a 13 pound King Salmon. I was thrilled with my Dolly Varden as I kissed my smaller salmon goodbye.
The wind came up, the water got rougher and it started to rain but the change of weather did not dampen the fun of the adventure. Watching the birds became as interesting as watching the lines. LIttle Marbled Murrelets could be seen floating about. Observed to go under water I was amazed to watch how long they could remain submerged. Another bird came flying behind the boat looking intent at swooping down on the herring bait. It followed they boat becoming a charming addition to our charter excursion.
Our preparations for the last "troll" of the day was interrupted by a MAYDAY coming over the radio, a boat was on fire!! Capt Joe did not miss a beat as fishing ended and he went to assist the
stricken vessel. Approaching the vessel, not knowing what we would come upon provided some tense moments until we received the radio transmission that the power had been turned off, the fire had gone out and the initial concern that now there was a boat adrift alleviated with the report that they we able to use their "kicker" (small engine on the back of their boat) to head back to harbor.
Escorted by the charter boat and another boat on the water the boat headed back and was met by the town's fire boat. Capt Joe explained with the nearest Coast Guard vessel in Juneau, the boating community of Skagway rely on each other. Boating emergencies happen frequently as boats come up from Seattle ill prepared for the waters of the Inner Passage. We were reminded to fully utilize all our boat safety education gained from our courses!
8:00AM July 10th Andrea and I head to Fat Salmon Fishing Charter's 1979 Tollycraft on the other side of the harbor in Skagway. I am excited about my first charter fishing adventure as we greet Capt Joe and meet Chris and Brint, Canadians from Whitehorse, north in Yukon. We rely on Capt Joe's hard earned savvy as he has years of experience unraveling the mysteries of salmon behavior and their whereabouts in Skagway's nearshore waters. Hoping to use the salmon's aggressive feeding responses to our benefit Capt Joe puts out four lines at different lengths utlilizing his battery of well known tactics to locate our quarry. As we relied on his experience we also checked the instrumentation of the Skipper's boat, the fish finder and depth sounder, looked for the visual cues of the flocking and diving seabirds and watched surrounding boats to see how they were doing. So much to learn as we listened to the explanations of sport trolling with four lines employed off the back using downriggers, baited with whole herring in a very specific way and using metal fish attractors called "flashers". the downriggers make it possible to troll lines at different depths. The flasher is a long thin rectangular blade that spins when trolled. Capt Joe did a great job of explaining how this flasher looked like a salmon approaching a meal and attracted other salmon to go after the bait "stealing the meal". With a great introduction to the equipment and explanation of behavior we were ready to start hauling our catch aboard. The fun of getting a "hit" on the line was followed by the thrill of netting and bringing the salmon onboard and the disappointment of determining that we would have to let them return to the sea when they did not meet the 28" requirement. AHH but then we discovered the Dolly Varden Charr and upon learning that we could keep this smaller fish we started to cheer for a Dolly. Andrea caught a 13 pound King Salmon. I was thrilled with my Dolly Varden as I kissed my smaller salmon goodbye.
The wind came up, the water got rougher and it started to rain but the change of weather did not dampen the fun of the adventure. Watching the birds became as interesting as watching the lines. LIttle Marbled Murrelets could be seen floating about. Observed to go under water I was amazed to watch how long they could remain submerged. Another bird came flying behind the boat looking intent at swooping down on the herring bait. It followed they boat becoming a charming addition to our charter excursion.
Our preparations for the last "troll" of the day was interrupted by a MAYDAY coming over the radio, a boat was on fire!! Capt Joe did not miss a beat as fishing ended and he went to assist the
stricken vessel. Approaching the vessel, not knowing what we would come upon provided some tense moments until we received the radio transmission that the power had been turned off, the fire had gone out and the initial concern that now there was a boat adrift alleviated with the report that they we able to use their "kicker" (small engine on the back of their boat) to head back to harbor.
Escorted by the charter boat and another boat on the water the boat headed back and was met by the town's fire boat. Capt Joe explained with the nearest Coast Guard vessel in Juneau, the boating community of Skagway rely on each other. Boating emergencies happen frequently as boats come up from Seattle ill prepared for the waters of the Inner Passage. We were reminded to fully utilize all our boat safety education gained from our courses!
Thanks for the update on your exciting trip/adventure. This is right up your alley girl and should be on your bucket list so you can cross it off when you arrive back in Seattle . I'm sure Jim is envious in many ways and is looking forward to having an experienced first mate return home to his waiting arms. Are you hungry for a little steak or chicken? I love crab and salmon and I'm sure there is a big difference when eating "fresh" from the sea!
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