The Ugliest Catch

I spent last week in tiny Gustavus, Alaska. My dad took me on a 5-day fishing adventure where we caught king salmon, ling cod, yelloweye, and (lots of) halibut. If the Discovery Channel had a show on halibut fishing in Alaska it would definitely be called The Ugliest Catch. Not many creatures have an eye that migrates from one side of its head to the other...

Our trip was through True North Charters. We fished from two boats, Pioneer and Judy B, and had two fishing guides, Forrest and Ross. Forrest is The Man when it comes to fishing in Gustavus. Ross is new to the area but had a ton of youthful enthusiasm for fishing brought all the way from Florida. We stayed at a log cabin bed-and-breakfast called the Growley Bear Inn owned and operated by Caroline and her dog Coco. She made sure that we were never hungry, preparing lavish breakfasts and dinners as well as boxed lunches for our fishing excursions. Our stay coincided with that of two very generous veteran anglers from the San Francisco Bay Area. Tom and Roger were in Gustavus fishing for the ninth consecutive year.

My dad started the fishing off by landing a massive 160 lb halibut. My first halibut was around 60 lbs and it helped me realize my arm strength wouldn't be up for much more of a challenge. The bigger halibut are often found in stronger currents where 3-to-4 pounds of lead are required to hold bait on the bottom. Jigging the bait by repeatedly raising and dropping the sinker helps to attract the fish. I found my arms worn out from the jigging motion alone :( On the second day my dad hooked another giant halibut but it was strong enough to entangle the line in the rocks so we didn't get a chance to see exactly how big it was.

We made two successful trips to the "outside" (ocean) in search of king salmon. Landing a king was something my arms could handle because they're not as large and don't require you to touch the rod until they strike. The kings we caught were close to 20 lbs. On our way back from the first day of salmon fishing we each collected one ling cod and one yelloweye. We actually caught a lot of ling cod but most were well beyond the 30-35 inch size you are allowed to keep. The yelloweye are interesting because they basically die as they are reeled in. The gas bladders they use for buoyancy explode as the pressure decreases so you have to keep the first one you catch.

After three days we had already filled five 50 lb boxes of fish (vacuum packed and flash frozen by Pep's Packing), so our final two days were spent trying to limit out with our third king salmon. Poor weather kept us on the "inside" (not the ocean) where there are fewer kings and not surprisingly we came up empty. We also spent time catching and releasing more halibut. For the week I think I brought up four halibut in the 60-80 lb range and several "chickens" (less than 40 lbs). Anything I hooked over 80 lbs was eventually handed over to my dad or Ross because I simply don't have the strength in my forearms :(

It was colder than normal in Gustavus but it only rained one day. Not much to the town, it exists almost exclusively on the charter fishing and sightseeing business. Wildlife was plentiful. We saw dozens of bald eagles, humpback whales, seals, otters, sea lions, porpoises, and even one brown bear on the shore. Snow capped mountains surrounded the area. We were able to see the glow from the lower portion of Mt. Fairweather on our trips to the outside.