Master fisherman! See my BIG "Crab" filled Belly!!!When you read the post under this picture, you need to think of the Gluttonous character from the movie "Austin Powers", Every thing pertaining to crab I looked at and said "I want you in my Belly!"
The worst day on the water is better than the best day in the office!
Not everyone was as happy as I was. It took a little time, but I finally got these "stoic" faced guys to laugh. My father would be proud, the great ice breaker was reciting his little poem that he uses every time we go fishing!"Of all the fishes in the sea I wish I was a bass, I would climb up into the sycamore tree and slide down on my Ass."
Yes it is Corny, but it did the trick, we had a long discussion about the fact, that there were no bass, no sycamore trees and we were not in the sea! At the time, I told them not to be so critical, because while we were in the ocean, there were no F&%King halibut either, so buck up and get a life. Then I did my Jim Carey imitation of the talking butt hole. Sorry, you would have to have been there! Or maybe not!
Heading out for a day of fishing!What a great day for fishing! I do have to preface this post with a couple of comments, first of all I did not get as many pictures as I wanted too, the environment was bad and there were many things going on, second of all to my friends at the lodge who were expecting a big fish feed, sorry, but that 100 lb fish did not come my way today. On a bright note, I did the best of our group!
I was not aware of the fact that the tide played a big role on the fishing success, and it just so happened that today was the biggest tide day of the year, so the fishing today was the worst it could be for the year. On the bright side, I caught my limit, which was 2 halibut, I also caught a King Salmon, but I did not have a stamp for it on my license so I split it with one of the others in my party who did have a "King" Stamp.
Our charter was a 28' boat, they call it a "Six" pack, because you have six fishermen, one captain and a deck hand. They supply all of the gear and even bait your hook. It was myself, two other men that were Friends and a family of 3. It rained all day, but that did not bother me. We first went out about 10 miles into the "Cook" inlet and fished for an hour or two, with no luck, we then headed out about 30 miles into the ocean, the waves were pretty big, and the tiny boat was really bobbing around. The family of 3 got "seasick" and spent the rest of the day in the small cabin puking into buckets. Once we got into the ocean we started hitting some fish, most of them were pretty small, I caught the two biggest fish, one was around 25 lbs and the other was around 20, you have a limit of two halibut per day, the other two guys also caught 2 fish each around 20lbs each. I also snagged onto a nice "King Salmon" around 15lbs.
That was it for the day, come to find out the other two boats from the same outfitter came back completely empty handed, they also came in early because everyone on their boats were sea sick.
I am fortunate, but I have never had issues with motion sickness, and for me it was just like a day long roller coater ride. The other two guys were fairly seasoned fishermen and had no problems either. They had been digging clams the day before, and had brought some great clam dip. I had brought a bottle of wine and 6-pack of Corona and while the other folks were sick in the cabin, we had quite a little party going on on the rear deck. The two guys I was with, George and Jim, were really disappointed in the days catch, the indicated that usually the Halibut are in the 50lb to 75lb range, last year George had caught a 175lb halibut.
After we got a little buzz on, we decided that since the family that was seasick were such good troopers and did not make an issue about returning to shore, that we would share our catch. So in the end everyone got a fish, and George and I split the "King" since he had a "King" stamp on his license and I did not.
I ended up with about 15lbs of Halibut an 5 lbs of Salmon after it was cleaned. The outfitter is shipping it for me. So in the end 20lbs of fish cost about $40.00 per pound, but what the hell, when I eat it I will know where it came from.
In my opinion it was a fantastic day, the others on the boat were not so happy, the two men wished they would have caught something of significance, and the family of three spend over $600 just to lay around and be sick and miserable.
Our captain and deck hand were really nice young men, they did everything they could to put us on the fish, after the first stop when we did not even get a strike, the other passengers were bitching, and they said that if we did not hit fish, they had some (fish) they had caught earlier in the season that they would give us.
After we got back to the cleaning station, I asked George what the normal gratuity for the crew was, he said typically %10 but they were not going to leave a tip because of the bad fishing. The family who were so sea sick, left immediately after they got their fish cleaned and I noticed they did not leave a tip. I thought that was Bull shit! After I made arrangements to have mine shipped, I went back to Mike and Ken, the captain and deck hand and gave each one of them $50.00, at first they refused the money and said that they would not take it because of the bad day we had. I insisted and told them that for me, it was not about the fish, but the experience, and I had one heck of an experience!
Those of you that know me personally, know that I am a fair and honest person, I am spiritual, but not religious, I believe in Karma. On more than one occasion on this journey, I have been met with situations that could have favored me due to the mistakes of others, while I could have saved a few dollars here or there, I always make sure things are proper and correct. When I have been under charged, I make sure it is corrected, when people are slighted by no fault of their own, I try to make them whole. What goes around comes around, I feel blessed with good health, and good travel experience. I will accept fate, if it occurs, bad luck, bad weather and the like. But I feel that good Karma and honesty will keep me from harms way!
Happily sequestered in Homer AK.
Tim
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