What is green and white, has two eyes on one side and has never been on my hook? It is a halibut! This fish has eluded my hook for many years. I have been on trips where anglers on both sides of me have hooked up on halibuts or there was a hot halibut bite the day before and after I went out. Well, all that changed June 10th when I went fishing with Kingfisher Lodge and Charters in Sitka, Alaska. As we began our descend through the clouds, the view of the islands and town of Sitka opened up. All the mountains were green and the very top snow covered, there are so many islands in the bay some with private homes or B&B's tucked between the trees. When we landed two guides were waiting for our extremely excited 8 person group. They assisted us with our luggage and tried to get us focused enough to get on the shuttle bus to take us to Shee Atika Totem Square Inn, where we spent our first night.
The first full day in Sitka was spent divided with the 5 "newbies" sightseeing and the 3 "oldies" went on a beautiful waterfall hike and to Fortress of the Bears. We (newbies) visited the Totem National Park, dropped off postcards at the Post Office, walked to the Raptor Center and hitched a ride with Fortress of the Bears shuttle van around town then he dropped us off at Fortress of the Bears. After the bears, we took a taxi to the Sheldon Jackson College Hatchery and Aquarium. If anyone would like my tested "One day Sitka tour map" let me know. ;-) Kingfisher picked us up at 3pm and took us to their lodge where our fishing adventure begins! The accommodations are amazing: 4 bedrooms with a bathroom in each, spacious living/kitchen/dining area, washer/dryer (soap provided) and lastly an incredible view from our balcony. With 7 Lady Anglers and 1 Gentleman Angler we were so comfortable and needed nothing else. Around 5pm delicious appetizers where dropped off in our kitchen and dinner started at 6pm. The food was wonderful, 3 options for your entree, a soup/salad bar, and most importantly dessert which usually included ice cream! Rise and shine was 4:30, breakfast started at 5am, the vans took us to the harbor at 5:45am and we were on our way by 6am each day.
The first day was on the Kaiya with Captain Bryan our end of day count was 9 halibut, 2 yellow eye, a dogface shark, a skate, 3 kings, 1lingcod, at least 20 pinkies and tons of jellyfish on the line. We saw puffins, sea otters and humpback whales. Conditions were unbelievable: flat seas, blue skies, no wind and too much fun. Second day was on the Titan with Captain Paul and our end of day count was lots of miscellaneous rock fish, 4 kings, 4 pinkies, 1 silver, 3 short lingcods, 2 yelloweye, 2 big coppers, several black bass and 1 china rock fish. We had a grey whale 20 ft off the bow of the boat and again flat seas, blue skies and no wind. The third and final day was back on the Kaiya and it was exciting! Sandi reeled in a 200 lb halibut and was it was safely released, a 47" lingcod, a 25lb king, 37" halibut, limits on silvers and pinks, some black bass and chuckleheads and 2 sharks!! Thankfully the weather was amazing for the third day in a row! The fishing was everything I hoped for and definitely would love to go back next year!
p.s. I forgot how to add pics throughout the blog so here's a link to my facebook page for more pictures. It seems you can click on "facebook page" and it will take you there..
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