From the water, Seward looks like small coastal town. The
NOAA ship pulled into the harbor on Tuesday night, docked, then moved
to anchor.
Lower right photograph shows crusie ship traffic heading towards port
in Seward in the early morining. Just behind the stern of the
ship is the one of the openings of Resurrection Bay to the Gulf of
Alaska.
I left a message with Eric Clock of
Semaka Charters
asking the slip number for the Seafarer and departure time. Early
Monday morning, Marliee woke me up and told me that I had to be at slip
H-41 at the Seward small boat harbor at 6:45 AM! I figured that I
would have toast and cereal for breakfast, but Marilee made two
breakfast burritos for me. She also drove me to the harbor to get
to the Seafarer on time. It had been about 3 years since I
had seen Eric Clock and about 5 years since I had been on one of his
charters. Eric is my favorite charter boat captain. He is
an Athabascan Alaskan native who is a lifelong mariner, fisherman and
hunter with all of the great stories to go along. The Seafarer is
a 4 year old custom aluminum fishing boat
with a large fish hold, two 200 horsepower Honda V-6 engines and all
fishing equipment and tackle provided. Monday's deck hand was
William
Clock, Eric's younger son. If you do go ocean halibut or salmon
charter fishing, make sure you bring along all of the essential
articles such as proper shoes, a hat, rain gear, sunscreen and
lunch. Admiral Clock starts out the charter with a safety
briefing. His boat has a thermostatically controlled heater in
the cabin as it can be cool on the ocean.
All charter fisherman except for one,
who showed up shortly were already aboard. Monday was a
contingent
from Texas and one doctor from New York, a total of 5 fisherman
incuding myself.. With everyone on board,
we cast off and after a short stop at the fuel dock, we left the harbor
and Seafarer made way at about 25 plus knots towards Cape Resurrection,
some 17 miles away, then out onto the Gulf of Alaska towards Montague
Island another 35 miles distant. The weather was overcast with a
chance
of rain. On a clear day, the view of the mainland is most
impressive with series of mountains rising out of the water. The
run to Montague Island takes 2-3 hours depending on the ocean surface,
which this day was reasonable. In the past, I have experienced
some nasty conditions on the Gulf of Alaska, which causes sea
sickness in some people, but almost never happens to me, except for
this particular
day (Monday). The breakfast burritos, while good, were the wrong
menu for
me. I did get past the few moments of queasiness and eventually
we anchored several miles away from Montague Island. As usual,
all
the other fisherman caught more and larger fish than me. I only
got 2 approximately 30 pound halibut. All fisherman got the 2
halibut limit at two different locations
in about a one mile radius.
After the halibut fishing was over,
we moved about 5 or 10 miles up the Gulf towards home port and fished
for black sea bass. One lady Texan fisherperson seemed to catch a
bass every 5 minutes. After 45 minutes of fishing in the rain, we
moved another mile or two towards home and drifed just off an "A"
shaped rock with a clan of large sea lions. Here, everyone
started catching a few sea bass, and after about 15 minutes, Eric
excitedly said
to raise my rig as the bass were just 15-20 feet under the
Seafarer. I caught about 5 bass in the next 3 minutes! At
about 2:00 or 2:30 PM, we headed back towards Resurrection Bay and the
home port of Seward. Part of the magic of Alaska is the rugged
coastline and abundant wildlife. You are likely to see wildlife
on a fishing charter.
On Wednesday, the second fishing day,
we saw flocks
of sea birds, but the highlight was two humpback whales whom, Eric
guessed, were sleeping. The boat got close enough to see their
strangely shaped heads. After several minutes, we proceeded
towards the fishing area.
After entering Resurrection Bay, Eric
called
his wife Cindy who would meet us at the dock about half an hour
later.
As part of every charter I have
experienced in Alaska,
either the captain or deck hand will filet your fish either on the open
ocean on the way back to port or at the dock. Seward has one
giant fish cleaning station for the charter operators which allows for
easy cleaning of the fish and keeps scavengers away from the fish
spoils. Alaskans seem to have the sharpest knives in the nation
and the professionals can filet a fish in just a few minutes.
Since I was going to be in town for two more nights, I told Eric to
clean my fish last, especially since the New York doctor and his wife
were leaving on the 6:00 PM Alaska Railroad Coastal Classic train to
Anchorage. We posed with the fish at J-Dock Fish Company where
tourists love to watch the spectacle of the fish being hoisted
up. J-Dock Fish Company has a great location at the upper end of
the harbor and just 300
feet from the Alaska Railroad Depot. After my fish was handed
over to me, I called Marilee at Ballaine House who picked me up a bit
later. Back at the bed and breakfast, I cut a nice piece of
fish and along with a package of beer bratwurst, my dinner was
barbequed. Fresh Alaskan halibut is is as good as food gets and I
greatly enjoyed this repast. I had planned to charter fish two
days in succession, but the Seafarer did not have any other fisherman
signed up aside from me. Eric told me that the boat was going to
go out on Wednesday and there was room for me. I agreed and told
him that I was leaving town on the 6 PM Coastal Classic train to which
he replied he would make sure we returned in time. This now left
me a free day in Seward which was to be devoted to relaxation and
packaging my fish. After a lengthy day on the ocean and a tasty,
sleep was very welcome.
Page 8 Alaska Railroad Coastal
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