| ReggaeAlaSka.com | Arctic Yaadie Fishing Odyssey |  |
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It was day like no other.. At least in my mind.
On Saturday, George, Andrew and myself met up for the Alaska outdoor and Halibut
Fishing Adventure.
These guys "Have Been There, Done That" many times before. They had all the
gear for the planned outdoor adventure, all I had to do was show up.
Bull's Eye Charter Company had all the gear we needed for the fishing end of
this adventure.
THE PLAN:
"Dip that thing" We drove out of Anchorage on schedule and got to the Mouth of the Kenai (Kasilof) in a couple hours. Dip netting is the art of standing in waist high or higher cold water, this is summer but the water is still pretty cold. Holding a net, about 4 feet in diameter, which is attached to a pole and wait for an unsuspecting, i.e. "Stupid", Salmon to swim into it. At the point we were, there was as so many people in the water it looked like we were on the beach in South Florida. So, if the Salmon was silly enough or too weakened by it trip to it spawning grounds and came to the shallow part of the water it was bound to get caught in someone's net. After about 2 hours standing in the cold water @ the mouth of the Kenai, George caught our group's only Salmon. We then headed to Soldotna to get some groceries for the dinner that night and snacks for the next day. Next stop the camp ground to set up camp. "The Woods" Luckily these guys are in the military. In less than 15 minutes we were at home in a tent making dinner. We got in the sleeping bags kinda early, 11:00 p.m., being summer it did not seem that late because it was not dark. Andrew & George knew what we were in store for the next day, so they were snoring as soon as their heads hit the ground. I on the other hand being a Alaskan Woods 'Newbie', did not fall asleep quite so easily. I really did not sleep because I was more concerned with 'Bears'. I heard that there are 'Bears' in Alaska. I was pretty apprehensive about being out in their domain. Being the probably the only "Dark" meat in the camp grounds, I kinda figgered that Bears could sniff me out and may want to know what "Dark" meat taste like. :) With every rustle of a leaf or buzz from mosquito floating by, my eyes popped open. Luckily, nothing bigger than mosquitoes buzzed the camp that night. "Phew" "The Deep" We got up early Sunday morning and headed over to the "Bull's Eye Charter Company" to meet Capt. Shaun. We waited for the 2 other people that would be joining our trip and then headed out to get some Halibut. We headed out to deep waters on a boat with two Honda engines. That boat seems like it was flying over the waves. I'm a "Honda" fan (more on that in a another story). I mistakenly took some Dramimine (for motion sickness) before we headed out to sea. I say "mistakenly" because as soon as the boat stopped moving; my head felt lighter than a helium balloon, my legs were wobbly and I just could not stand with the feeling in my stomach. I felt sick from the stuff that should have made this trip 'sick free'. The only relief I had was to put my head against the side of the ship and go to sleep. I was knocked down for about 2 to 3 hours then I got up and decided to try my hand at snagging one of those monster fish. In my somewhat incoherent state I heard them having fun pulling fish after fish on board. I got out there baited my line and let it drop to the ocean floor. After a couple minutes one of those things from the deep took my bait. I was starting to haul the thing in, but I soon realized how weakened I was by my Dramimine experience. So Capt. Shaun ended up pulling it in for me. Turns out that I hooked a 'Skate', a relative to the 'Ray'. It was pretty huge, but not what we were fishing for. It was let go and I baited my line again and in a couple minutes had another fish on my hook. This time it was a Halibut that Capt. Shaun had to pull that aboard again. Damn that Dramimine! I hooked one more after that then went back to my new favorite position: head to wall.
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