North to Alaska: Homer Scenery and Fishing Trip

VIEWS OF KACHEMAK BAY

Homer is located on the south coast of the Kenai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Kachemak Bay to the east and the Gulf of Alaska to the south. It has a long history as a fishing village with salmon and halibut plentiful in the waters of the bay and just outside the boundary of the bay and the Gulf. The east side of the bay is the western side of the Kenai Mountain Range which features the Harding Ice Fields--about 600,000 acres of snow and ice and glaciers! We visited the Exit Glacier over on the Seward side, and we can easily see 4 or 5 glaciers coming down to Kachemak Bay across the way. Here are some views of the bay and the mountains from Skyline Drive up on the ridge above Homer.

Looking southeast to the point at the boundary of Kachemak Bay and the Gulf of Alaska

The Homer airport in the foreground with the Homer Spit reaching out into the Bay

One of the large glaciers coming down from the Harding Ice Fields

The Great Halibut Fishing Trip

Saturday was probably the most perfect weather day we have had since crossing the Alaska/Canadian border! We couldn't have ordered much better weather for our fishing expedition in quest of halibut--Homer is known for its halibut fishing grounds! We were lucky to find a charter--the Dutch Treat--for a full day of fishing.

The two ladies elected to pass in favor of exploring the Farmer's Market, so Ray, Jack, and I rose bright and early to head out onto the Homer Spit to the marina. We stopped at the Boardwalk Bakery for a breakfast sandwich--Ritchie had two gravy biscuits instead!--and cups of coffee: very necessary because we got up at 5:00 a.m.!

Then it was off to the boat where we met Captain Peter and Mate Tory. We were joined by 3 other gentlemen--one was an Australian named Jon who said he was also in an RV. I never did find out what he was doing in Homer, Alaska! After some brief remarks and instructions, we were underway.

Leaving the marina from Homer Spit.

Jack with his coffee and our Australian chap chat at the rear of the boat

After a trip of about an hour, we reached the fishing grounds where the captain gave us further instructions about how we were to fish and how to do the "Halibut Shuffle" each time one of us landed a fish. This involved moving up the rail to the end of the line of fishermen! That way, all of us had a chance to rotate to the end of the boat for the best fishing position. It really didn't seem to matter: we pretty much hooked up a halibut each time we dropped the line in, no matter where we were positioned. So the hooks were baited--with a chunk of octopus and about half a herring!--and sent over the edge with a 2 pound weight attached to get the rig to the bottom of about 100 or more feet of ocean. It was game on: we started pulling in halibut almost immediately!

Ray has hooked up and is pulling up a fish!

Tory, the Mate, pulls Ray's catch aboard

Looks like a keeper, Ray!

This one was on the end of Jack's line--note the chuck of octopus in front of the halibut!

Captain Peter helps Jack get his catch aboard

Hang on to him, Jack! Don't let him get away now!

The charter fishing rules for Alaska and halibut fishing call for only two fish per license per day--one of any size, and one 29 inches or less. So with six guys on board, we could catch 12 fish of the right size. We didn't hook any "dinks", as the captain and the mate called the 29 or less types, at first. We soon had our quota of big ones--we didn't keep every fish we pulled in that was over 29 inches, waiting to bag a bigger fish, so we probably caught 14 or 15 fish before deciding on a "keeper". The ones we rejected were sent back into the ocean to grow some more!
Halibut are bottom feeders and are not really fighting fish, but they don't want to leave the bottom, so once hooked, they have to be pulled up the 100 or so feet to the boat. A 30 pound fish with a 2 lb. weight on the line makes for a lot of pulling and tugging! We took frequent breaks to let our arms recover from the strain!

Ray, Jack, and Jon take a break from fighting the halibut

Ray and Jack rest up for the next fish

We pulled in more fish, trying to land our 6 "dinks"--every one seemed to be 30 or more inches, and since we had our quota of big fish, every one went back into the briny deep! Pull up a big halibut, measure him, and let him live for another day! Exhausting! Hard on the forearms and biceps! But finally, we had our proper quota of fish--big ones and "dinks", so we headed back to the marina which was by now about 1.5 hours away. Of course, we had to have pictures with our catch--Tory, the mate, used all of our cameras to records our trophies!

Ritchie, Jack, and Ray with four of our halibuts!

Two of the "big ones"

After the pictures, Tory set about fileting them out for us. He was pretty expert at wielding that filet knife!

Once back in the marina, we loaded all of our paraphernalia and our bags of halibut filets on a cart and headed for the ramp up to the parking lot. Because the tides in Kachemak Bay run an average of 18 feet, and because we landed a little after low tide, the ramp was sure much steeped going up than it had been coming down!