First trip to AK

Da Nag

Da Nag

Administrator
Staff member
Unfortunately it's not in the C-Dory, but finally made it to AK. I've had an itch to come up here since I was a kid...spending the next three days out on a charter out of Sitka.

Stopped by the dock this evening to meet the charter captain, get licenses, etc. Judging by today's catch, it looks like we hit at a good time...saw some absolutely huge silvers on the dock, guessing 25-30 lbs. (oops on edit...kings at 35-45, silvers topped out at 20-25)

The trip came together, thanks to our pal and fellow C-Brat Chivita Dave. I'm sure many of you met him back when he was handling accommodations for the SBS, before he moved up here and started running the Totem Square Inn.

I'll post back tomorrow...hopefully with some nice fish pics.
 
Have a great time Bill! The second week in August is when we always try to go up and we have really good fishing.
We stayed at the Totem Square Inn last time and met Dave. Very nice fellow.
We were just up there in July on a cruise ship. We took a smaller boat out to Redoubt Bay and saw 2 nice brown bears.
Take lots of pictures!

Jeff and Julie
 
Looks like fun but leads me to questions about travel. What are the best , cheapest, and funnest ways to get there? Flying is the fastest but not The funnest. I have never traveled that far by ferry. How is That? What is the lowest cost? Should I stand at the friday harbour dock with a " sitka or bust " sign hung around my neck. Or " will crew for food"any other ideas?
 
B~C":207cywzc said:
the cheapest, funnest way is to hire on at a slave labor camp :)
Click to expand...

Ken- Sounds like you'll be needing a vacation from your "vacation" before returning to teach school this fall!

Hope you're doing OK!

Joe.
 
Got our kings (5), and plenty of silvers (lost count - 15 or so?) Three kings at 25-28, the others a bit under 20. Silvers were smaller today, although we did land one fatty around 20.

Had to toss back two kings after we limited while trying to max our silver quota, including the biggest of the day by far...an easy 35'er.

A few pics, click the thumbnails for full size...

bill_02.thumb.jpg

john_01.thumb.jpg

john_02.thumb.jpg

larry_01.thumb.jpg

robert_01.thumb.jpg
 
Hey Bill! Man...looks like a nice haul and a great time. Sure wish I could of been there with you.

Learn a lot... We may want to consider gettting a few of us C-Brats together for some of this charter stuff in some places. I know I would like to hit the humps south of Vince, LA in the Jan/Feb time frames...and could sure make a trip like you are on now.

We can still have a blast....even if we do not have our boats with us. Man does not live on one boat alone... ya need several options spread about the Nation...

Congrats on your catches. Feel free to fedex a frozen box or two if ya get overloaded.

Byrdman... about to head NW to Oak Harbor...
 
You think the kid was happy yesterday...after 1 hour and 6 minutes of battling this slab, he's one stoked 8 year old.

52 pounds...boat record for the year so far.

robert_montster_01.sized.jpg

robert_montster_03.sized.jpg

thegang_01.sized.jpg
 
Here's a neat photo sequence of a bald eagle snagging a fish out of the water.

Not a "natural" snag. There are a few of these birds perched above a popular fishing spot, and the charter captains toss them a goody every once in a while for our entertainment...the eagles don't seem to mind.
 
VERY cool! :D Looks like a great trip; lifetime memories for that 8 year old. The eagle series is wonderful - thanks for sharing!

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Good pictures. It puts a smile on my face seeing so much happiness.

What volcano is that in eagle 23 photo.

eagle_23.thumb.jpg

It looks like it was active in the not too distance past.
________
Dave dlt.gif
 
It is indeed Mt Edgecumbe and the Natives of Sitka (Sheet'ka) do have an oral history of it erupting. It is considered "dormant" and if you perform a search of "Mt. Edgecumbe" you will find it listed as a participant in one of the top 20 practical jokes of all time. I believe this event is also rated the number one privately financed/performed April Fool's event.

Back in the 70's, "Porky Bickar" hired a pilot out of Juneau to drop several loads of spare tires into the volcano and then lit them on fire. The plume of smoke was easily visible from Sitka and sent quite a shock through the community. The Coast Guard at the time did not have a local aircraft and had to call Juneau to send someone over. When that pilot got here an hour or so later he was said to have proclaimed, "You guys have been had" and flew back home. Porky actually tried four years in a row to perform this feat but the first three years there was too much cloud cover. We have a photo of his success in our lobby and you can see just why so many Sitkans started planning their hasty departure. Since Porky had contacted the FAA, the Fire and Police departments and the local airport to let them know what was going on, it was not hard to determine who had to go clean up the mess. Porky had already planned on this and was able to remove everything relatively easily. He just forgot to call the Coast Guard.

This was just one of the great practical jokes that Porky and his close friends played on each other and the town, and it is one of the reasons this place is still very much a unique spot on the map.

Of course Porky was also the recipient of numerous "pay backs", several of which resulted in Porky getting arrested. The best of which is when, unknown to Porky, the "lady" sitting on the roof of his parade "float" stripped down to "two thimbles and a postage stamp" (according to his very angry wife) while Porky drove through downtown oblivious to what everyone (including his wife's school students) was staring at. To this day Porky's wife Patti still does not find this funny an gets a bit perturbed when you snicker as she tells the story.

Patti does have a pretty good sense of humor though, just ask her about when she shot at Porky because he stole some pickles she had just canned, she does allow laughter while she tells this story.....
 
Back
Top