For the hell-of-it we went Halibut fishing

DAY 15, JUNE 8^TH, 2011   

So most fisherman rise before dawn, but since it does not get dark, we just sleep in and go on an afternoon fishing charter.

 Our boat is the Foxfire, Captain Josh and deck hand Meghan.  Both college students, who come to Homer Alaska for summer jobs to help pay for university. 

        After an hour & 15 minutes we arrive at our location.  Meghan gives us quick instructions on how to fish, and hands me the first pole.  While she is still speaking I already have the first bit, but due to my ignorance, she got away and my bait was gone. No problem Meghan quickly rebates my line with herring and I put my line back in.  Down 150 feet. 

  Another passenger has already pulled out a halibut but both Meghan and Josh say, too small. (Really).  My line gets tangled with another fisherman and again my hook is cleaned off.  I leave the back of the boat and go to the side.  Line goes in and wow, bite.  Josh says you better pull her in.  I turn the crack and turn and turn.  Wow, I had no idea what a workout this was.  Reeling in a 15 lb fighting halibut up 150 feet not easy.  Exhausted I got her, and she is a keeper, Yeah.

 Now we spend the next 2 hours, dropping the line and reeling in fish, mostly 12 pounders that go back in to grow bigger.  The reeling in gets a bit easier with a bit of practice but it still a workout.  Often you reel up an empty hook, not easy either because of the 3 pound weight on the line.  Henry is doing the same, fish up, fish released.   As our time comes to an end and my energy diminishes the hopes for landing “the big one” is no longer a priority.  Finally one we deem big enough to keep. 

First fish I ever caught in my life

My left arm is killing me from trying to hold the line straight while reeling, the right only marginally better.  But it was all with it, we have our bag limit, as Henry pulls in a nice one.

Henry with his two halibuts

  We head into the cabin of the boat, while Meghan the awesome young deck hand, hoses down the boats haul so everyone has a picture opportunity.

 She then begins to filet the fish, 96 seconds she has the average halibut filleted, wow.  The scraps get tossed back into the sea and the seagulls eagerly gulp it up.   

        Our shipmates all had a great day.  One couple from Sweden, only the gentleman fished, he just pulled them up faster then anyone, being the luckiest of all, only stopping when he ran out of energy.  One local man from Soldotna brought up 2 skate fish, apparently bad luck and tossed back.   One person had a cod, also tossed back.  A couple from California, just of a cruise ship were going to give their fish away till I talked them into shipping it home.  A father with two teenagers from Anchorage also had a great day.  Two seniors from Minnesota were going out every day on a different boat, having it frozen and then taking it back with them. 

        Once the boat docked we made arrangements to ship our fish home.  Yes it is expensive, but when you consider the price of halibut it isn’t so bad and we get to eat our own fish, all 35 pounds of halibut fillet.

        And would you believe we ate chilli for supper, just to exhaust to cook dinner.   After a walk with Tico along the beach it is straight to bed, totally exhausted, but what a great day!