polepole:
My bro Allen Bushnell was up in Alaska from 6/13-6/23 so I cashed in on some frequency flyer miles and joined him and Howard McKim from 6/19-6/23. This was to be a laid back trip just hanging with my bros.
I arrive mid-afternoon on 6/19 and Howard and Allen were at the ferry dock (you need to take a ferry from the airport to Ketchikan) in Howard boat. Settled in for the evening and made plans for the next day. The plan was to motor the boat over to Herring cove and try for some kings. Herring cove is at the mouth of a creek that has a hatchery on it. The kings school up here. It sort of reminds me of Moutcha with schools popping up all over the place. We fished the cove hard this morning with Allen and I on kayaks and Howard and Allison fishing off the big boat. I was trolling the downrigger with a variety of spoons while Allen was getting his jig thing on. We got blanked for the morning. >:( Stopped at Mountain point on the way back trying for butts, but all we got were some quillbacks. The quillbacks and coppers were quite pecky this whole trip.
After dinner we took the big boat out for a shot at butts. I managed a 25# model on a Kalin BigN in glow. Then switched over to an 8" glow hootchie with a herring under it. I managed a little guy on this rig, maybe 6-7 pounds. The quillbacks were out again in force.
The next day we went over to Vallemar Bay on the big boat with kayaks on board. Howard has a plot of land over there that he is building a cabin on. While he was working on the cabin, Allen and I launched the kayaks and headed out fishing. We trolled out hoping for a king on the way. At one point Allen stopped and his bait sunk down in 60 feet of water. Bonus butt struck and Allen was on. This is when the fun began. Allen had 2 misses with the net. The butt was all the way in the net but thrashed out before he could secure it. On the 3rd attempt his trailer hook snagged in the net with the butt lying outside of it. I went in for the kill with the lip gripper. Got it lipped but somehow it came off. I knew I didn't get a good lip on it. After the second attempt I had it secured quite well. Reached back for the dive clip to secure it and it thrashed at that exact instant. Ooops. Over I went into the water. The Tom and Jerry show was on ... we felt like rookies. First time I've ever huli'd while on the water and not in the surf. I righted the yak and was back on it in less than 10 seconds. I didn't loose a thing even though I only had one of the rods leashed. The other stayed in the holder. After a few laughs I noticed that the butt was still lipped and the gripper was leashed to the yak. Still managed to land it.
-Allen
polepole:
The next day Howard had a trip booked so Allen and I tagged along. Only one of the 5 was fishing and he (Darryl) hung with Allen and I. Darryl managed a small but and we had the usual assortment of flounder, rockies, and sculpin.
That night we went drive the car back to Herring Cove but the wind was up and we couldn't get the yaks out. Fished from shore, but the tide was out and the kings flushed out of range. No joy.
The next day started with quite the rain storm. Hung out at the house for a bit. In the afternoon, we drove back to Herring Cove and got the yaks out. Allen hooked a nice king in the high teens, but we forgot the net and he broke off while trying to land it. A bit later Allen was on. Managed to borrow a net from a boat heading back to the launch and Allen landed a 25-ish pound model. I tried for the next few hours with no luck. The kings started popping up in school big time right near sunset and we left them that way.
All in a all a nice relaxing trip hanging with good friends. I didn't get a king off the yak and only managed one small butt from the yak. But endless rockfish kept thing interesting.
I'll be back up there in late August for my revenge.
-Allen
rawkfish:
Sounds like a ton of fun!
Nice report!
YakontheFly:
Nice report....
Welcome to the non-Surf Huli club!
Knowing you are a member, makes me feel better about swimming in November... Luckily you didn't lose anything... I am still trying to replace everything I lost.
YotF
ZeeHawk:
Good job Allen's. Alaska is bee-u-ti-ful!