subject: My Retirement Trip to Alaska [print this page] My Retirement Trip to Alaska My Retirement Trip to Alaska
After thirty six wonderful years I retired from the education field. As a retirement gift, my son, Jeff, offered me a fishing trip to Alaska. He was also having a high school buddy and his dad fly up for the experience.
Since my son was already living in Alaska, the room cost for that part of the trip was cheap.
I arrived a day ahead of Ryan and Hank. We had agreed to share the cost of a rental car so I drove from Wasilla back into Anchorage to pick them up the following day.
My son had arranged for us to stay at a bed and breakfast in Homer. It was owned by a friend of my son's and his wife. They also owned a business during the fishing season that filleted halibut and salmon from private charter boats.
It was a beautiful six hour drive from Wasilla to Homer. The scenery and wildlife were very picturesque. On our drive down we actually saw "combat fishing" where the Kenai and Russian rivers come together.
I was very glad we were going out into the ocean to fish. I had never experienced fishing that close to anyone else except on a charter boat.
When we arrived in Homer we drove out onto the famous spit, found our charter boat office, and registered. Ryan and Hank were very excited that we were going out the next morning at 5:30. They were convinced that if we did well the first day we would go out a second day.
The bed and breakfast that we stayed at was a five star place. The section we were given to stay in had two bedrooms, a full bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room with a very comfortable couch. We were staying at "The Ritz".
We had stopped at the local grocery store and bought food to pack our own lunches and snacks for the boat. We could have purchased sack lunches from the charter service but decided for the money we could get what food we wanted.
The next morning we arrived at the boat and met the captain and our bait girl. We were given the proper safety instructions and told that we were going a good distance out into the ocean. It would take us about two hours to get to the fishing grounds. Once we started fishing, we were each allowed to bring two halibut on board. So we were told to fish wisely.
Our adventure had started as we were leaving the harbor. The captain handed my son, Jeff, and his friend, Ryan, a fishing pole and told them to catch our bait for the day. They were more than happy to do it. Within a period of fifteen minutes they had landed all of the fish we needed for bait.
They asked the captain why there were so many fish in this area. He replied, " this is where the sewer outlet is for the town." Oh Gross!
We left the harbor area, proceeded out into Kachemak Bay, and onward towards our fishing grounds. The fishing grounds were to be in the Gulf of Alaska waters. But to get there we had to travel around the point; which was southwest of Homer and Kachemak Bay.
It was a crisp morning and the ocean was like glass. As the sun rose in the east to reflect off the water, we could see groups of sea otters eating their breakfast. We also saw two pods of Orca Whales swimming. We were close enough to get some excellent photographs. There were also plenty of Puffins flying and swimming around the water looking for food.
We finally arrived at our fishing area. The captain said "Let's fish." Hank was not going to horse around. He had his bait and weight in the water and was letting out line straight to the bottom.
The captain had told us to let our weight hit the bottom and then reel it up about two feet. Then we were to make the bait dance by jigging it up and down with the current.
All of a sudden Hank yelled "Fish on". The tip of his Halibut pole was bending towards the surface of the water. The captain told the bait girl, "this looks like a large fish so be ready."
Hank's line went limp. He thought he had lost his fish.
About twenty to thirty yards from the boat a very large Humpback whale surfaced. As it blew air and water out of the blowhole, the whale made this terrible sound. It was in pain. Hank had hooked the whale in the blowhole opening.
All of a sudden the captain jumped from his perch on the top of the boat to the deck and grabbed a filet knife and cut Hank's line.
He said "I am not going to lose a four hundred dollar pole to a crazy whale."
As the whale started his dive to the bottom, his tail came up high in the air and then slapped against the top of the water. We were close enough to the whale that the entire side of the boat was splashed with water.
We all had something to talk about after that. The captain relayed the "fish story" on his radio and what had happened. Within a half hour the story about the fish that got away or the story about I caught a whale was spread throughout the fishing fleet.
What a super day this turned out to be. As we talked about the "one that got away", we proceeded to catch our limit of halibut. Most of the fish were in the sixty pound range. By themselves they would tire a person out but with a little bit of current the average halibut seemed as large as the whale.
As we fished the remainder of the day, we observed more humpback whales breeching the water, we saw all kinds of sea lions sunning themselves, and we watched a volcano blowing a small amount of smoke off in the distant horizon.
When it was time to call it a day, we told the captain he would see us again in the morning for another glorious day of fishing in Alaska.
If you would like to read more great stories like this go to www.mccainadventures.com. They can be found in my Alaska Adventure: Stories of our Bush Teaching Experience book.
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