Alaska 2013, Day 31, Homer Day 2

Tuesday July 2, 2013

Today was halibut fishing day.  It was calm this morning so I knew it was a go. I booked through Silver Fox.  I got on the Daze Off with captain Willie and first mate Jim.  Willie is a local eskimo and Jim is a captain of a head boat (Country Club) in Jupiter Florida.  The boat was a ~28', 10' beam twin outboard aluminum boat like a Hewes. There were only 2 other people fishing on the boat.  We were allowed 2 fish each plus the captain and first mate were allowed 2 each also (they took the smallest of the catch). We started by jigging for small pollack outside the marina for bait.  We ran 35 mi west towards St. Augustine (out in the middle of Cook Inlet). We used 1-2lb weights with a large 2" circle hook baited with a whole salted herring, no jig or lure. For the first 2-3 hours we caught nothing but cod, some pretty big (20 - 30 lbs). The crew kept the cod even though they assumed we did not want them.  The crew assumed they would take them, they said they do have worms.  After almost 3 hours we started picking up halibut. Initially only small ones which we threw back then some larger ones started biting. The largest one went maybe 40-50lbs.  I also hooked a giant skate, > 48" across.  It took me 20 minutes to get it to the boat where they cut it free. One of the other fishermen caught one almost as large at the end of the day.  The larger fish all came on a whole butterflied pollack.  In the end we caught 10 halibut and over 12 cod.

 

Cheryl and the kids went to the Wynn Nature Center up top the bluff. They said there was lots of flowers, plants and birds.  They took a guided hike with one of their naturalists.