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Name: Rich Vessel: none Location: Santa Rosa, CA Job:geologist
Posts: 25
| Sitka Mothership Fishing 8/25 - 8/28
Outbound Alaska Charters decided to try a mothership operation this summer out of Sitka, and I was lucky enough to be able to take my brother's spot with his buddies for their annual charter. The mothership enabled us to make 20 minute runs to the fishing grounds instead of 2-3 hours, saving fuel, saving time, and saving our kidneys!
On the afternoon of 8/24 our group of four from California met up with another group of four from Washington at the floatplane dock in Sitka, and we were ferried, three at a time, to the mothership. On the return flights the previous group on the mothership (and their day's catch) were ferried back to Sitka. We learned from talking to them that fishing had been decent, but that weather had been spotty at times. After a late afternoon rehydration session and a great spaghetti dinner, we went to bed in our snug and comfy bunks to get ready for some action the next day.
And action we had the next day....but not quite the kind we had in mind. After a hearty breakfast at 6am, we headed out to the fishing grounds. Now mind, the mothership was moored in a very well protected cove where the water was near-flat and it was shielded from the ocean winds. But we could feel some breeze, and when we got to the open ocean we had blustery, rainy, 8 foot confused seas to contend with. We crept out at 5-6 kts and anchored up for a long and uncomfortable morning of fishing with 50F temperatures, rain, wind, and some queasy guts. By about 1pm we had limits of silver salmon and chicken halibuts, and with our tails between our legs, we worked our way back inside to the warmth, calm, and safety of the mothership. After some food, drink, and decks that weren't pitching wildly, we regained our senses of humor and enjoyed the rest of the day at cards, movies, drinking, and generally BSing.
At 6am the next morning the pilot who had just flown in from Sitka to retrieve our fish from the previous day told us that there was still some wind and chop outside, but not like yesterday. So we breakfasted up, hopped on the fishing boats (beautiful 33 ft aluminum with full pilothouse/cabin) and headed out for another try. On another day we might have found the 3-5 foot chop uncomfortable, but compared with the previous day we were quite content. We made a number of drifts a few hundred yards off of the rocks to pick up our 24 silvers (to 16 lbs), jigged the bottom there for a couple of keeper lings (30-35"), and headed to deeper water to look for larger halibut. We anchored up on a high spot and soaked our bait for several hours, first landing a few yelloweye, then some smaller halibut and 40-lb-class lings, and finally our limits in 40-70 lb halibut. A quick 20 minutes later we were eating hors d'oeuvres and drinking to our hearts' content in the galley of the mothership, getting ready for another of Jennifer and Jesica's nightly feasts.
The third day was a carbon copy of the second, except that the seas were near-calm and we actually saw the sun for 15 minutes in the early afternoon. In addition to the silvers and halibut, I C&R'ed an out-of-season 40 lb king salmon. At the end of the day we motored into a secluded cove to retrieve the dozen or so shrimp pots which had been soaking for 4 days. We got maybe 10 lbs of mostly large "Sitka Sweets" and had a fine time consuming them with fine brews on the stern of the mothership before dinner.
The last day again started with fine cool (50 degree) weather and mild seas. We followed more or less the same plan as day 1, anchoring maybe a half mile from shore and first limiting out on nice sized silvers, then dropping to the bottom for a several hour halibut soak. We came away with a couple more keeper lingcod, the usual chickens, and a couple of nicer sized halibut of 70-80 lbs at the end of the day. Nothing huge but definitely nice quality eating fish. At 3pm we pulled anchor and motored the 2 hrs back to Sitka to drop off our catch and spend our last night at the Westmark Hotel. After a monster steak at the Channel Club, I turned in early so I could catch my 6am flight out the next morning (where my frozen fillets were waiting for me).
The only bummer of the trip turned out to be the flights. On the outbound flight the only routing I could get was through Seattle, Anchorage, and Juneau, with a 2am-8am layover in Anchorage. Not ideal! And then the security gods decided to pat me down (twice) and take away my dangerous fingernail clippers and micro-scissors in Sitka, making me almost miss my early morning flight. All's well that ends well, though, and I made it home that afternoon into California's 100F heatwave by 3:30pm!
Thanks a million to Herb, Steve, and Bruce for running such a fine operation, and to Ralph, Chris, and Albert for sharing this year's charter with me!
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