Up at 3:30 AM to leave for Ninilchik to go halibut fishing. It's windy and cold and we are bundled up against the wind. The ocean is rough and the boat's cabin is damp. At least they cleaned it up some. When Daddy and the boys went before, the cabin reeked!!! The seat cushions are so damp I can feel the wet through my jeans! So I put on my Costco rain suit bibs on, just to keep my legs dry. They are called frogtoggs and feel as light as paper! Just so they keep out the rain!
It took 45 minutes to 1 hour to get out far enough into the ocean to be able to fish. They launch the boats from the beach with bulldozers that back right into the ocean. At the beach they call the waterside Deep Creek. There were 2 other couples on the boat besides us and the captain and first mate. Only 4 can fish at a time because you would get into each other's way. So this 1 lady named Sandy and I didn't fish for a while.
The bait is herring and squid and it really stinks. When you cast off, the line has to go out really far because the ocean is about 130 feet deep. The water is so rough!!! It's hard to stand still. Daddy got sick from the waves and a large cup of coffee shaken up in his stomach.
We can see 3 of the volcanoes from the boat:Mt. Redoubt, Mt. Spurr and Mt. Iliamna. Mt. Redoubt has steam coming up from its top. Maybe it's getting ready to erupt. Way off in the distance there might be Mt. Augustine.
Daddy caught 2 good sized halibut; not as big as what the boys and him caught before, but good compared to what the others caught today. I caught 3, but 1 was tiny and thrown back. The other two of mine were still smaller than Daddy's. One of the other men kept catching ling cod, which are not in season now.
They filleted and freeze-vac-packed our halibut and are keeping it in their freezer until we are ready to pick it up. When we went into town they were catching salmon- sockeye- in the Kenai River right behind the visitor center. We went there to fish; Daddy put on his rubber bibs and went right into the stream. I stayed up on the dock after I tried the water once and got my boots full of water. They'll probably never dry now. We fished there for 6 hours and didn't catch a thing because when the reds come in to spawn, they don't go after bait. You just smack the water with a short rod and a hook on the end. As you pull it through the water it snags the fish, hopefully in the mouth. If you snag them anywhere but the mouth, you have to release the fish. It's only legal to hook it in the mouth. There is a sort of technique to this. Several successful fishermen showed us how to do it; but it's difficult with a casting rod. There were so many people fishing here it's called "combat fishing" because you are elbow to elbow.One girl had caught about 25 fish just today, but she either gave them away or released them back into the river. She only did it for the fun. She gave us 2 really good sized sockeye salmon to keep. Daddy filleted them and I wrapped them in saran wrap and put them in our freezer. They'll be really good eating.
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