fishing – Riveted

Juneau to Admiralty Cove

Laura Domela — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 20:38:56 +0000

Above photo: sunset in Juneau, Thursday night.

We left Juneau midday yesterday and headed for Admiralty Cove. Admiralty Cove is about three hours from Juneau, at the top of Admiralty Island. The weather was crappy, but we fished for a bit anyway (out near Skull Island). We eventually called it and headed in to anchor for the night and make dinner (salmon, brussels sprouts salad, and some roasted baby potatoes).

The sky cleared up just a little bit last night and from our anchorage we had a killer view of a full, very close rainbow. I couldn’t get the whole thing in one frame…that’s how close it was.

The wind blew pretty good all night and we had more rain (and slappy waves against the bow, but it wasn’t bad), but today has been nice. We’re now anchored in about 175 feet on the south side of Skull Island doing a little halibut fishing. This morning before we came out here we put our crab traps out in the cove, so we’re hoping for dinner of halibut or crab.

We’ll anchor again tonight in Admiralty Cove and then head back into Juneau tomorrow (July 3). Fourth of July fireworks start at 11:59pm on July 3, and apparently we’ll have a killer view of them from Steve’s dock. We’ll likely spend the 4th doing laundry and cleaning the boat, getting ready for our friends Todd and Loek to join us on the 5th (back to Ford’s Terror!! Yay!!)

Happy Saturday!

Fun and Fish in Juneau

Laura Domela — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:55:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Yesterday we did a bunch of work at the boat, went up and put some laundry in, and were let in on a great deal to pick up some freshly caught sockeyes for $6/lb (we bought two, about 10lbs), from Joe the gillnetter here at the dock. He sends most of his fish straight to Seattle, but now we know a guy who knows Joe and got to be part of the "bro deal" today:

This is Joe. He looks just very much like Sam Elliot:

We picked up our fish and took them back to Steve's warehouse, where Steve filleted them for us (aka "showed us how it's done") and we vacuum sealed them right there:

Here's today's procurement (along with two nice chunks of halibut from Steve's 125-pounder he caught the day before)! We kept one sockeye filet and one halibut filet out and put the rest into the freezer.

Last night for dinner I made some guacamole and cooked up some black beans while Kevin grilled up the fresh fish for tacos and we had Steve over for dinner to thank him for all of his help (well and just to hang out, because he's cool). We're probably going to stay another day here before heading to Taku Harbor (and, ultimately…sniff sniff…south).

Tomorrow morning we'll take another trip over to the marine supply store and get ourselves outfitted with some halibut rods and a bigger net (we seriously need a bigger net…wait til I show you a photo of what we've been using to bring in fish). Then we may go out on Steve's boat with him later in the day to pull up his halibut skate line…because he invited us to, and it sounds like fun to see how that all works! This is the basic configuration:

Image source.

Residents of Alaska can subsistence fish (fish for personal use or sharing with family) under slightly more relaxed rules and regulations as it relates to fishing methods and the limit of fish you can keep.

It's interesting…the last time (a week or two ago) when we were in Juneau for a week, we had actually gotten a little bored of Juneau. We'd been doing so much exploration in more remote coves and inlets, and coming to Juneau was mainly (after the first time) to drop off friends or pick up family, provision, get work done with reliable internet, etc. It's one thing to visit a place and just skim the surface (visit some shops, go to the museum, eat at a couple restaurants, try the local beer, ride the tram, do the hike, see the glacier)…all that is great but it only really gives you one interpretation. This time, even with the bit of mechanical stuff and haul and out all, we've met some great people and connected a little more with Juneau, and it's been so enjoyable!

Alaska Has No Clue How to Edit

Laura Domela — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 03:50:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

One of the most important things I learned in art school was how to edit. So many students try to cram every idea they have and every technique they know into each piece they make, and one of the biggest challenges for professors is to get students to see that “less is more” and that too much stuff can overwhelm the audience. There’s an elegance in the simplicity of a piece of art that’s been pared down to its bare essence. Some of the most difficult things to design are the pieces that seem the most minimal, and most artists and designers struggle with this throughout their careers.

ALASKA TOTALLY DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO EDIT!

We woke up this Sunday morning in Flynn Cove with eagles flying overhead, otters swimming nearby, and salmon jumping out of the water all around the boat. While I was making breakfast (salmon cakes using the Coho we’d caught on our way into Flynn Cove last night, topped with an over easy egg and hollandaise sauce) Kevin grabbed the crappy little telescoping fishing rod that we used to throw in the kayak bag, and put a spoon on it and went out and reeled in a 5 pound pink salmon. Before breakfast. How ’bout that?

While we were heading out of the cove (past the humpback whale near the shore), we hooked another big Coho.

After a bit more trolling for salmon, we dropped the anchor in 120 feet of water to fish for halibut in a spot not too far from Flynn Cove (where we planned to spend another night). While that was going on and we were sipping a beer on the upper deck, across Icy Strait from the entrance to Glacier Bay National Park, two humpbacks were basically circling our boat, grazing at the surface the entire time we were fishing.

We came back into Flynn Cove to anchor for the evening and to cook up some fish tacos for dinner with the rockfish and salmon we caught today… (oh, did I forget to mention the rockfish? we also caught rockfish) …anyway, while we were heating the tortillas on the grill, some harbor porpoises came into the cove and swam around our boat for 45 minutes or so (of course, because, you know, that whole editing issue).

One of the many salmon jumping around the cove:

We ate our fish tacos (delicious) and then noticed that the sky was turning a beautiful blend of pastel pinks and blues, so we went out on the bow to watch the sunset.

Pretty, isn’t it? But no, Alaska can’t stop at a beautiful sunset, a tiny wooded island in the foreground, and the mountains of Glacier Bay behind. Alaska needs to add some humpbacks, tail- and fin-slapping, right there along with the F you sunset:

(You can click to see these two a little bigger if you want.)

(The only way I even got these shots is because I was ALREADY looking through my lens taking photos of the sunset.)

Here are the rest of the photos. I don’t even know what to say about them. “Ooooooh. Aaaaaaah. So pretty. Sunset. Barf. Whatever.”

And there’s no audio with these photos, but I’ll also tell you that there were wolves howling occasionally as we sat there on the bow of the boat, wondering where the hell we were where this was normal.

Oh, and then the moon rose, and I went up to the pilot house of the rocking boat with my zoom lens and managed to get this shot:

Let’s do this again tomorrow, Alaska!

Dundas Bay and Flynn Cove, AK

Laura Domela — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 02:54:38 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left Pelican yesterday morning around 7:30am and headed toward Dundas Bay in Glacier Bay National Park. It was sprinkling a little bit, but the sky was clearing and we had a nice view of Brady Glacier underneath a cloud layer as we entered Cross Sound.

Cross Sound was literally swell-less…just a very slight chop. We made our way into Dundas Bay, an unrestricted part of Glacier Bay National Park that you don’t need a permit for. Since Glacier Bay National Park is about the size of Connecticut (well, most things are up here in Alaska) we decided to save it for another trip, since it's likely we won't have internet in there for a week or so, and we've already asked a lot of our team in the way covering for us while we explore all these remote areas with no internet). We headed for what was recommended as the best anchorage in Dundas Bay, the most NW arm with a view of Brady Glacier:

Yep, I think this’ll do.

Here's our track from Pelican to the Dundas Bay anchorage (36.2 nautical miles):

We took a dinghy excursion around to the mouth of the bay and saw tons of otters, sea lions, and lots of wood, but no bears.

More photos from the dinghy excursion around the bay:

The otters are so comic!

Oops. Sorry to interrupt, guys!

This one used the other one's head to "step up on" to get up higher for a better view. So rude!

Heading back toward Airship (teeny, teeny tiny white dot you probably can't see):

Later in the evening the clouds cleared again and gave us a nice view (as opposed to that earlier, crappier view):

We made dinner (a couple tenderloins and a salad) and watched a movie (Birdman) and got to bed again on the early side.

This morning the skies were blue as we left our anchorage in Dundas Bay, but there was a bit of fog once we got out of the bay. We took turns taking showers and manning the helm as we motored along and once out in Icy Strait the waters were calm and the skies and seas gorgeous silvers and grays:

Clearing to blue skies (and nothing was done to this photo…this is exactly how it looked in real life):

Jellyfish (also no color enhancement at all):

We anchored for a few hours and fished for halibut, but didn't get any into the boat. We had two hits, but lost them on the way up. We've read more about how to reel in halibut now so maybe next time!

We headed toward Adolphus Point (the place where we saw all the bubble-net feeding humpbacks):

Nearing the point we saw a feisty orca:

And then a few more humpbacks (more of those "too close" humpbacks):

This one had a little notch in his hump. Awwww.

We decided to anchor for the night in Flynn Cove instead of going to Hoonah.

Approaching Flynn Cove:

We have enough provisions (veggies, is really what we're talking about here) to last us another night or two so we thought this cove would be fun (since we already spent two nights in Hoonah) before heading into Juneau to refuel and re-provision. We trolled on our way into Flynn Cove and caught a nice coho salmon (27 inches, 7 lbs) just before our anchorage. Woohoo, dinner!

View from Airship:

Dinner was a(nother) risotto with peas and parmesan topped with a grilled coho fillet (two hours, line to dinner plate!). It was delicious!

Today's track (37 nautical miles). Dundas Bay (L) with Brady Glacier, to Flynn Cove on Chicagof Island (R):

Tomorrow: more fishing!

Juneau to Hoonah

Laura Domela — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:35:57 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left Juneau on Saturday morning. Our original thought was to fish a bit and anchor for the night in Oliver Inlet at the north end of Admiralty Island (not a very far cruise). However, we didn't really research it thoroughly until Saturday morning and learned (too late) that this anchorage is one that must be entered at high slack tide only, which was at 8:43am (half an hour from when we read that) or 8:50pm (a little late to be getting into an anchorage so nearby). So we opted to fish a bit longer and then anchor in Admiralty Cove for the night (on our way to Hoonah). We trolled for salmon and managed to get four Cohos onto the boat (we lost two before we got them close enough to net).

They were about 25, 26, 27, and 28 inches, respectively. This was the biggest one:

We also managed to hook a small halibut, too! Bonus fish!

We anchored easily in Admiralty Cove for the night. As soon as we were set, we got to work filleting and cleaning the fish. I wanted try try filleting a salmon, so I started with the smallest one and worked my way up to the big guy. Turns out I'm a really good fish filleter! We got out the vacuum sealer and portioned the fish out into ~1lb portions, and not counting what we ate for dinner last night, we've got 16 pounds of fresh Coho in the freezer (and a couple pounds of halibut). We set aside one of the salmon bellies and had a little sashimi appetizer, and also separated the roe and put it into a brine to make some Ikura (Japanese caviar). This is the brine/caviar recipe we used, thanks to Kerri for the recommendation!

I made some more risotto to go with our salmon and we had a delicious (but late) dinner. I already took a photo of the salmon/risotto dish before, but if you missed it, here's a link to the recipe.

Admiralty Cove as the sun was setting:

Here's yesterday's track…about 30 nautical miles (including trolling):

At the bottom of this map shot, you can see where we ventured in close to the entrance to Oliver Inlet (at low tide). We got a good look at the narrow (shallow) entrance, and the many rocks that bared at low tide (kinda nice to see how it all looked, actually). According to the math, even at low tide yesterday we would have had 8 feet (our boat's draft is 3ft 8in) but it looked a little tricky and we decided it'd be much nicer to have a bit more water under us. Another time.

This morning we were up early and decided to head toward Hoonah. Our route today would take us up into the bottom of Lynn Canal, then into Icy Strait to Hoonah. Today's track (about 51.5 nautical miles):

We saw a bunch of humpbacks on the way but they weren't very close so we only deviated a short bit to watch them. A guy on the radio said he'd seen a triple breach, but when we saw them they were just hanging near the surface…nothing too exciting. (I know, I sound all "Yawn, more humpbacks" don't I? Sorry!)

The seas picked up a bit in Lynn Canal as we neared Icy Strait, but the waves were mostly on the bow, so not too dramatic.

We called Sherrie (the Hoonah harbormaster) on the radio and she told us there was plenty of space on the transient dock and to come on in.

Hoonah is the principal village for the Tlingit who originally settled Glacier Bay, Icy Strait, Cross Sound, and the Outer Coast. The four original Tlingit clans present are: Chookaneidi, T'aakdeintaan, Wooshkeetaan, and Kaagwaantaan. Numerous other clans migrated to or married into the community, as have non-native peoples. The population in Hoonah is around 750, but in the summer can swell to around 1300 depending on fishing, boating, hiking, and hunting conditions.

Passing the cannery on the way into the harbor:

Hoonah Packing Company ("HPC") built in 1912 was one of eight canneries operating in the area during the early twentieth century, representing Hoonah's major industry at the time. HPC was sold several times until coming to be owned by Wards Cove Packing which also owned Hoonah Trading.

The cemetery on Pitt Island…with both crosses and totems:

Hoonah Harbor:

Here's the marina, looking back toward Airship as we head up to the office (we're in the group of boats on the right side of the waterway, furthest one, facing out):

Sherrie, the harbormaster, gave us a little map and a ton of good tips. The Carver's Den, for instance, (also known as The Huna Tribal House Carving Project) is where carvers are currently working on the house poles, screens and totems that will adorn the Tribal House being constructed in Glacier Bay National Monument. You can go in and watch the carvers and chat with them and ask questions and stuff. They open tomorrow morning at 9am, but also, the cruise ships arrive tomorrow at 9am, so Sherrie recommended we get there right at 9am to have a non cruise ship experience.

We walked around town a bit and then down to Hoonah Trading Company. This is Hoonah Trading as we passed it coming in:

It's the hardware store, grocery store, everything store. We checked out the hardware store first. We had a short list (Loctite threadlocker, some scissors, a few downrigger parts…don't ask), and we found everything we needed (and things we wanted but hadn't found yet): all the parts we needed for the downrigger except a new weight that we'll get at the marine store tomorrow, some grill wipes, a second muffin tin, and a cool portable Eva-Dry dehumidifier for the bedroom (the E-500). This one doesn't plug in to work like our current one, but instead it's filled with bead things that absorb water. When it's "full" the beads change color to signal to you that it's time to plug it in to renew/recharge it. The beads release their water with the plug in heat (I think) and you're ready to go again. Apparently it can work this way for 10 years.

Anyway, the hardware part of Hoonah Trading was fabulous. Oh yeah, and when you walk in, you enter through this long long outdoor-ish hallway of stuff that starts as the parking lot and ends at the water. Pretty cool:

The grocery store of Hoonah Trading Co. is equally well-stocked and we found everything on our short list there as well.

Antlers on the mast of a fish boat:

And you really don't find signs like this in too many places:

We're staying in Hoonah for two nights. The cannery and cannery museum are open tomorrow (as well as the surrounding gift shops…oh hi cruise shippers!), as well as the Carver's Den and the marine store. We plan to do some exploring!

Camp Coogan Bay, AK

Laura Domela — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 04:53:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

It was gray and rainy this morning at our Leesoffskaia Bay anchorage. We thought we'd head around the corner to Camp Coogan Bay to anchor for the night (because new place!) but first we thought we'd do a little exploring (and maybe some fishing) on the way.

There were a ton of fishing boats out today:

Here's a map of our route. You can see where we started in Leesoffskaia Bay and where we ended up right next door in Camp Coogan Bay, with a cruise in and out of Silver Bay and some fishing in between:

As soon as we got near the head of Camp Coogan Bay, Tiffani (expert bear spotter) spotted a brown bear on the shore. The good anchorage area was pretty crowded with crab traps, but we managed to find a spot that was both far enough from shore (even shore at low tide) and far enough from any traps. We were motivated to anchor here because…bears! Right there!

We watched bears pretty solidly all afternoon, more in the evening (there were two or three roaming around eating grass and turning over rocks). There were also deer…probably 10 or so at one point…grazing near the bears. They didn't seem to mind each other.

Photo without bears:

Brown bear and bald eagle in the same photo:

Two brown bears in one photo:

One brown bear, two deer:

Kevin took the drone over to shore and got some great aerial footage of one of the bears. The bear maybe heard the drone once or twice, but never saw it and didn't seem to be bothered enough to stop eating for more than a second or two. Tiffani and I watched with binoculars. Here's the video:

Looking out the other way, which we did once or twice when we were not watching bears:

In the morning, I got up and looked out toward the meadow. Tiffani asked "Are there still bears?"

Yep, still bears:

Low tide this morning put us quite a bit closer to the bears:

It was a beautiful day, so we headed out to fish for a bit before going into Sitka (Mt. Edgecumbe in the background).

We were not the only ones:

We didn't catch anything, but it was such a great day to be out on the water that we didn't much care. Next stop, Sitka!

Oh yeah, and here's our route from Camp Coogan Bay, to fishing, to Sitka:

Warm Springs Bay to Ell Cove

Laura Domela — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 20:48:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We trolled for salmon on the way from Warm Springs Bay to our next stop at Ell Cove, and guess what? Deke caught a 25-inch Coho. Guess what’s for dinner tonight?

Cleaning and filleting while under way:

We arrived in Ell Cove and anchored, then took turns kayaking around the corner looking for bears.

No bears, but otters and eagles:

This one looks like a totem pole:

Lots of fishing boats outside Ell Cove today:

After kayaking we all dinghied around the corner to get a closer look at Kasnyku Falls:

I love these reflections:

We grilled some fresh Coho for dinner, along with a side of penne with pesto and snap peas. Another fantastic day of exploring and adventure with great friends!

Today’s track from Warm Springs Bay to Ell Cove (9.5 nautical miles):

Fishing Pedder Bay, British Columbia

Laura Domela — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 20:51:34 +0000

This morning we got up pretty early and did a few hours of work before we took a mid-day fishing break and went out to look for some salmon in Pedder Bay with our guide, Chris.

Those are the Olympics there in the background, and the Olympic Peninsula.

Straight out of the bay we were treated to a large pod of Orcas as they passed right by us:

We caught four fish: one baby halibut, two wild Coho, and a small Spring Chinook. None of them were keepers, but all of them were fun to catch! Here's a wiggly photo of the largest wild Coho:

Oh yeah, also, we saw two bald eagles chasing and then attacking a huge crane! The crane landed in the water and the eagles kept at him. The crane would duck into the water each time an eagle bombed him, and eventually one of the eagles flew off. The other continued to attack, but pretty soon two seagulls started attacking the eagle and while the eagle was distracted by those seagulls, the giant crane flew off. Super weird and interesting (and we were really glad we didn't have to witness the eagles killing the crane, because for a few minutes that's what it looked like was going to happen). I know, they gotta eat too, and maybe the crane was injured, but I really didn't want to see that. Pretty nice of those distractor seagulls to save the day!

We're back at camp working now, while a nice little deer munches on the bushes right outside our Airstream door:

Odell Lake, OR

Laura Domela — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:13:36 +0000

This is the view from our campsite at Princess Creek. We took our kayak out fishing for a while but didn't catch anything (yet).