A testament to our connected age. Fish on deck, a glacier, a spectacular sunset, any photogenic moment is a reason to grab the phone to take a few pics. When a series of beeps reveals coverage the phones appear again. Photos and messages are exchanged with friends and family across the globe. Facebook accounts are updated with the photos of the day.
With fish arranged on the deck for a photo, the camera phones come out
Navigating through the bergie bits in John Hopkins Inlet, Glacier Bay
I know it is common to catch a halibut while trolling for salmon but this year I experienced the opposite for the first time. Yes, I know someone is going to say, that’s not unusual either. But I have to tell you, my experience was a heck of a lot of fun.
White Feeder King; photo by Nancy Zellick
I was anchored in one hundred feet of water and my friends and I had boated maybe six or seven small halibut when my pole took a big hit while I was letting down and had just reached the bottom. The fish grabbed the bait, which was a large herring on a 8/0 x 9/0 double hook leader, and ran. The fish took line and ran maybe fifty yards then changed direction 90 degrees and ran some more. Then it rose to maybe twenty or thirty feet deep and started fighting the line.
When I finally worked the fish close to the boat, I discovered to my surprise that it was a good size salmon. I suddenly remembered reading in the latest Alaska Fish & Game monthly report that a fair number of feeder kings were still hanging around Juneau but you had to fish deep. I probably had one on my line and now I really wanted that fish.
When I hollered to my son to get the net, he was confused. Didn’t I want the gaff since we were fishing for halibut? “Nope, get the net ready,” I repeated. The next try at bringing the fish in, he dipped and missed. I suppose he was shocked at how big it was. I brought the fish in one more time and it was in the net. There were big smiles all around. My next surprise was later when I started to filet the fish. It was a “white king.” The fish was 36 inches but I didn’t measure the girth. The scale read 23 pounds.
This simple double hook setup appeals to both the senses of smell and taste of halibut. The stretchy thread helps hold it together. It uses a large herring and a salmon (Pink or Chum Salmon) belly strip.
Baited hooks to form a halibut “sandwich.”
John Hopkins Glacier, Pentax 6×7 film camera, Ilford FP4 film, photo by Randy Zelick
A new feature on the Nordic Quest this year is AIS. We have added an Automatic Identification System transmitter and receiver to the Furuno navigation suite. This means that other vessels that are equipped with AIS show up on our electronic charts, along with information about their range, course and speed. The Nordic Quest likewise shows up on the navigation charts of other vessels.
It is this feature that seems to garner the NQ more respect when cruising. We show up on their electronic charts, an icon and the vessel name. All large vessels and some smaller boats show up on the AIS, this includes the cruise ships and Alaska State Ferries. It is our guess/observation that because we have AIS, other vessels seem to assume we are larger than we actually are.
Following the Sea Lion out of the ice in John Hopkins Inlet with the Coral Princess ahead
Ahead was the Coral Princess, one of the monster cruise ships that also come into glacier bay. She had stopped miles away from the glacier face, unlike the smaller vessels she was unable or unwilling to get any closer.
“Nordic Quest this is Coral Princess” on the marine radio, “Go ahead this is Nordic Quest”. The bridge crew of the Coral Princess continues to inform us of their upcoming maneuvers, spinning in place and departing the fiord, swinging by Lamplugh Glacier on the way. It quickly became apparent that she was confusing us with the much larger Sea Lion, having seen our AIS icon on their chart.
“I think you have us confused with the Sea Lion, we are the little boat in the back.”
There was an awkward pause in the conversation… “Uh… Roger”
“This is the Sea Lion, we copied all of that” you could hear the chuckle in the Sea Lion radio transmission.
AIS gets you respect from the big boys.
A small lake in the spruce forest near the Glacier Bay visitor center
After a gorgeous day in north Chatham Strait we pulled into Swanson Harbor fairly late and the two state floats were full. Rather than run to Funter Bay and arrive after dark, we decided to drop the hook a couple hundred yards north of the last float, between No Use Ledge and the island. It was good holding at about 60 feet and the water was calm.
The state floats at Swanson Harbor
While we anchored just a bit north of the floats, we noted that the float location was neatly behind a small point, protected from the swell that troubled our sleep. If you are lucky enough to get a spot on the floats, as we did a week later, you will have a very restful night.
Saginaw Bay, photo by Dan Green
Humpback Breakfast Time; Photo by Larry Rogers
