Sitka Interlude Part 2

June 16, 2012

Arriving back in Sitka we were contacted by Alex Benson and found out that the Cypress String Quartet, who played both opening night and at the Larkspur Café on Wednesday, had taken us up on our offer to take them fishing, so at 0700 on Saturday the four performers showed up.  Alex and I decided to use our boat rather than both boats, since only two of them, Tom Stone and Ethan Filner wanted to fish, so all of us, including Alex Benson got on board Spirit.  Heading south into Sitka Sound, Miriam drove the boat while Alex and I supervised the fishing.  Two fish were hooked but we were unable to land them.  We returned about noon to allow the quartet to practice for their final performance of the Sitka Music Festival, which Miriam, Patrick and Alex attended.  Since the one day licenses were good till 0900 the next day we all agreed to meet the next morning at 0500 for another try.

June 17, 2012

Getting up at 0400 we found an email from the quartet saying they would now have seven people, so we baked some muffins quickly and gathered on Wild Blue.  Departing on schedule, we hooked three king salmon, releasing one that was too small.  Alex and I helped with the fishing gear and Miriam drove Wild Blue while we were fishing.  Both Tom and Ethan were able to catch their daily limit of one king salmon by 0700.  We continued to fish, but with no luck, and finally returned to the dock by 0930.  The rains began and it rained most of the rest of the day.

Miriam, Patrick, Alex Benson (far right) and the Cypress String Quartet & Friends,
"Wild Blue" in background

Mark Daum and Kerry Tomlinson, who we first met three years ago through Patrick’s sister Julie, joined us for dinner on Spirit later that evening.  We had ordered Chinese takeout from Kenny’s Wok (the only Chinese restaurant in Sitka) and they delivered it to the head of the dock.  It was pretty good, followed by a peach crisp that Miriam baked that afternoon.

June 18, 2012

After an 0800 departure from Sitka we headed north to Salisbury Sound and the Kalinin Bay area, fishing along the way, but with no success.  Arriving at the “shark hole” we trolled for an hour and then attempted to head out to Cape Georgiana where there were a large number of charter vessels and where we had had good success last year.  The ocean swell was still too high for us, so we headed back to Kalinin Bay and anchored about 1600.  The rain began and by the end of the evening there were 11 vessels anchored in the bay.  We used our smoker pan and had applewood smoked king salmon for dinner accompanied by baby bok choy sautéed with garlic and teriyaki sauce, rice and a nice salad.

June 19, 2012

0430 arrived too early, but we raised the anchor and were underway by 0500 in calm winds and fog patches.  We tried trolling in all the familiar places, but with no success, so we once again headed offshore.  The swells were even higher than the day before, coming from both southwest and northwest at 8-10 feet in height, and only 11 second period.  The motion of Spirit was so uncomfortable we headed back in and trolled the “Shark Hole”, catching one sea bass, one king salmon, one undersize king salmon which we released and losing another one right at the boat as we tried to get it into the net.  Between Miriam and Patrick we have now caught 6 of the 8 total king salmon we are allowed on our two licenses.  We each have one left to find.

Heading back to Sitka the rain began again after we had enjoyed a brief period of sun.  Docking at Eliason Harbor we made plans to go out again with Alex Benson at 0500 and try one more time to catch some more fish.  We also changed main engine oil and replenished fishing supplies.

Will the rain ever stop?