Captain’s Log: Fishing, Fishing and finally Catching in Salisbury Sound!!!

June 9 – 12

Hi All,

We left Deep Bay after getting just 2 crabs….hmmmm….but, we are going FISHING in Salisbury Sound. I have been assured by Dan, retired commercial troller, that Salisbury will be fishable in strong SE winds….just fish the south shores….Shark hole/bite and Kalinin to Sinitsin or even down by John the Baptist…ok, got it. Our goal is 2 big King Salmon….just about all the room we have left in the freezers!!!

We had to leave Deep Bay early to time a 7:30am slack at Sergious….means John-boy up by 5:15am….shower, coffee, check weather…yeppa, still blowing stink….go get crab traps, stow traps as will not be crabbing in Salisbury….too many otters:))), raise dinghy and voila, meet the Admiral by 7am to raise the dinghy!!! We were about 10 min late to Sergious but no overfalls, but still a 1 kt foul current. We pop out into Salisbury sound….well, not flat calm, wind ~10-15′ E, waves ~1-2’….fishable….so down goes the downriggers et al all by 8:15am, slack is now…..and we fish, and fish, check lines…oops catch a few rockfish….Kathy is piloting and getting tired….we fish for 4 hours, maybe 7+ nm…..see 3-4 other boats, only 1 fish caught…the Admiral says no mas….so we head into Kalinin Bay to anchor….anchor down in 15′, passage beers open all by 1:00pm!!!

6/10: Weather sucks….blowing 20-25kts SE in the anchorage, rain, cold…yuck…but, you know time to fish, basically the same area….Kalinin, shark hole, back east to Kalinin and then over to Sinitsin:))) So out by 9:00amish and fish another 4 hours….more rockfish….ugh. Sometimes I piloted and Kathy watched the poles, but she gets cold as it is still cold, rainy and at times windy!!

6/11: Today we headed over to Fortuna Strait, north side of Salisbury but protected by some islands…hopefully!!! We leave around 8:30am for the 6nm run….as we approach Fortuna, we get into a strong SW swell, 4-6′ on the beam…oh, hello Mr Swell, we remember you…yikes, it’s been several years since we felt the power of open waters!!! We reach Fortuna and get behind the islands, flat calm, but a bit windy, cold and rainy….yeppa, Alaska fishing weather….down goes the canon balls and we are fishing…..wire set @ 55′ & 85′, using green/white hoochie and herring cut plug…..doing 1.7kts against the flood tide, 90-125′ deep waters….this is a small area to fish…maybe 1.25nm long….we make pass 1, no joy, turn around now almost slack and the end of the flood tide and bam….FISH ON….ODG…. FORGOT…about the adrenaline rush….ok John-boy, nice and easy, yeppa, it’s a big one, get the fish to Mystic, Kathy grabs the pole, John takes the net on the swim transom, and voila netting is successful and we have a nice size King….just over 28″, close as <28″ is nonretainable….12-lbs….a beauty!!! We get going again, get the poles in the water….John comes up to pilot and turn boat around….we got into 200′ of water so I’m trying to find the 125′ line and Kathy yells…..hear that, your reel is spooling….jump in the cockpit and yeppa, pole is bouncing like crazy and the reel is spooling….one of the sweetest sounds in the world!!! I fight this one for 5+ minutes….it’s much bigger and strong…makes many dives….THIS IS SO MUCH FUN….FINALLY, it’s tired, gets to the boat, we successfully net….another KING, 32″, 16-lbs!!!!

We caught both Kings on a green/white hoochie at wire depths of 55 and 85′, in 125′ and 160′ of water!!!

Yep….fish for 10 hours over 3 days and catch 2 nice Kings in 15 minutes:)))) I want to keep going as obviously we have finally found the fish and the bite is on around slack…but Kathy is firm, no more room in the freezers….ok, she is right….so we leave and go ~10nm to John the Baptist anchorage for the night. Anchor down, passage beers open by 1:00pm!!! Takes me ~ 1.5 hour to filet the fish, cut into steaks, and do a massive cleanup. Kathy is cooking the last of the crab….and then picking…as well as vacuum packing the salmon steaks….then she has to get everything into the freezers….a few items are sacrificed….mainly bagels and buns. So now the freezers are full of some prawns, picked crab meat and salmon….LIG. After David/Dana visit in July, we are sure the freezers will be emptied enough to do it all over again….LIG:)))

The plan: heading back to Sitka, on Sunday, 6/12….a day earlier than planned. We both need internet, me to do some online banking….it’s now been 29 days since Auke Bay and a decent internet to go online!!!!

Critter Stats:
Salmon: 2 Kings
– 12 & 16-lb caught in Fortuna Strait on green/white hoochie
Whales: 35 Total (29 Humpback, 5 Minke, 1 Stejneger’s)
– 3 Minkes in Salisbury Sound
– 1 Humpback while fishing Shark Bite
Bears: 79: (65 Brown, 14 Blacks)
– 65 Brown; 2 Brown Snug Cove; 3 Coots Cove in Funter Bay; 1 in Salt Lake Bay, 2 in Bells Island/port Frederick; 3 Russell Is; 4 Browns as entered Dundas; 1 in Upper Middle Arm Dundas; 2 Browns N. Chatham before Freshwater; 1 Brown along Tenakee inlet, sitting in front of a remote house; 13 in Crab Bay, 4 along Tenakee inlet, 6 Upper inlet anchorage; 1 on the way out of Upper Inlet, 6 in Long Bay; 7 Rodman; 8 Deep Bay; 1 Kalinin
– 14 Blacks: 2 on north side Geikie Inlet as entered and 3 at Shag Cove, 1 as entered Dundas, 8 at Dundas anchorage
Dungeness Crab: 28; Red Bluff 2, Cannery Cove 2, Upper basin Good Island Inlet 3; Snug Cove 1; Crab Cove/Funter 2 (given to us by locals:))), 1 in Eight Fathom Port Frederick; 0 Swanson Harbor; 1 Pavlof; 0 Crab Bay; 9 in Upper Inlet Tenakee; 0 Long Bay, 6 Rodman, 2 Deep Bay
Prawns: 143 Spotted: 80 Red Bluff, 31 Pybus Bay; 19 Gambier Bay; 5 in Port Frederick; 0 Pavlof; 13 Upper Tenakee Inlet, near Long Bay
Otters: 328; 75 in Rocky Pass, 75 outside Pybus Bay; 20 coming into Bartlett Cove; 5 South Sandy cove; 5 Russell; 75+ Geikie Inlet; 50+ as left Glacier Bay; 25+ in Dundas Bay; 10+ Icy Strait; 5+ Swanson Harbor; 3 Salisbury Sound
Mountain Goats: 20+

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon