June 13, 2012

After using our friend Glen’s halibut rod so successfully we decided to buck up and go buy our own so we could fish for halibut with our guests. David invested $385 on all the appropriate gear, including a harpoon. On Wednesday afternoon, about 30 seconds after he dropped the bait to the bottom, David had such a big bite that the rod was bent so much I thought it would break. 20 minutes later (during which time I was sure the fish would pull David overboard) he hauled aboard a 77 pound halibut! When we got to Auke Bay to clean it, the fish & game recorder told us it was the largest halibut recorded so far this summer in Auke Bay. Congratulations, David!

58# of net halibut x $20 a pound = $1,160, less $385…. looks like a good return on our investment 🙂

This was in addition to three pink salmons and a silver. What a day!

June 29, 2013

One of the coolest things we’ve seen is a group of humpbacks feeding near Hilda Pt. in Saginaw Channel, south of Auke Bay. Their feeding style is called bubblenetting which is social foraging where a number of humpbacks (in this case 5 or 6) work together to gather fish to feed on as a team. One designated whale dives deep and makes a circle of bubbles as she expels air from her mouth. Fish are afraid of the bubbles so won’t go near them, thus being surrounded in this column of bubbles The remaining whales come up through the column with their mouths open and surface in a vertical lunge that can be mistaken for the beginning of a breach. The whales surface with their mouths wide open, thus getting lots of fish, and then they slowly retreat back into the water. You can see the open mouths of three whales in this photo. We suspected bubblenetting was going to start when we saw lots of seagulls all in one area, swooping down to the water. SO COOL!!

We are off to Hoonah this morning, about a 50 nm trip. It is the largest Tlingit village in S.E. Alaska with a population of approximately 800. We have been told it’s a very friendly town in a beautiful setting. After a 75 degree sunny day yesterday we awoke this morning to a light drizzle which we expect will clear later.

Our most exciting sight to date was the humpback whale that surfaced 30 feet in front of our bow as we were cruising up the coast on June 1st. What a surprise! We stopped and watched her for about 20 minutes. What a thrill. We’ve been hoping to see bear but have been told that it will probably be another 3-4 weeks before the salmon are running and the bears come out to fish.

We arrived in Prince Rupert this afternoon and are hoping to cross to Ketchikan tomorrow if the weather dies down a bit. We have had mostly rain and overcast skies but the seas have been calm which is more important! We are blown away by the beauty and vastness of Northern BC: the size of the snowcapped mountains that surround all the bays we anchor in and the quiet and solitude. We can travel all day without seeing another boat and are often the only boat in the inlet. We’ve traveled about 600 miles so far and can’t believe we might be in Alaska tomorrow! We are having a ball!