I've been out halibut fishing with the Clooten family for two days now. It is a riot! We caught 102 pounds of halibut filet on the first day, and 126 pounds of halibut filet on the second day. We've been reeling in way more than this, but by law there is a limit of 2 halibut per person per day, so the goal is to catch the biggest halibut and throw back the little ones, the "chickens". Alana is the reigning champ so far, catching a 60-pound, 5-foot long halibut! Imagine pulling that sucker into a raft!
So this is how the Clooten's fish, it's brilliant: two inflatable rafts, one motor each, and a couple paddles. We load the rafts on the beach with fishing poles, hooks, sinkers, tackle boxes, anchors, ropes, makeshift chairs, some snacks, and frozen herring for bait. We dress in warm layers and multiple wool socks, then boots, rain pants, lifejackets, hats, and gloves. We wheel the rafts to the water, remove the wheels, attach the motor, jump in the raft, paddle over the waves, start the motor, and then cruise for about 30 minutes and four miles out into the 50-mile wide Cook Inlet.
And then we drop anchor and fish! When the fish are biting, there is lots of activity on the raft- reeling fish in, pulling them into the raft where they flop violently all over the floor, then there's unhooking, rebooking, baiting, and changing out sinker weights, all the while rocking in the ocean waves and trying not to get lines tangled. It is so entertaining :) Soon enough, the floor of the raft is full of slimy slippery fish.
When the fish are not biting, well... that hasn't really happened yet! We hit a two-hour dry spell on day two, but other than that there's been quite lot of action.
We've also been catching cod too. Some of the cod we keep for meat and some we use for bait. Since halibut are bottom feeders, sometimes you end up catching skate instead- and you know immediately when you've got a skate. One almost pulled me out of the raft! It stinks to pull up a skate though, which is a large stingray that spreads out its wings and spirals to pull against you. It's like pulling up a barn door from the bottom of the ocean! The skates also have barbs that could pop the raft if you're not careful in unhooking it and keeping it away from the boat. We let Mr. Clooten handle these guys.
Our second day of fishing was also my 23rd birthday! It was really fun being in Alaska on my birthday. The Cooten's went above and beyond and made it really special. Of course, being in Alaska is special enough :) We went out fishing for five hours with two rafts, then we had an amazing dinner of broccoli salad, moose meat lasagna, and halibut lasagna. This is the best meal I've had while camping, ever!
Then I went on a drive to Homer, the Halibut Capital of the World, with Alana, her brother Nate, and her cousin Chip. It was about 8pm, and the sun was beginning to drop in the sky, which gave us some great views of the Cook Inlet, surrounding snow-capped mountains, and Homer Spit. We wandered around the marina and walked along the docks. A sea otter surfaced right near us and played around for a while before disappearing again. We then went over the Salty Dawg Saloon for a birthday drink, met some very colorful Alaskans, played some songs on the juke box, took some shots with local fishermen, and left our business cards on the wall among the other treasures left behind by previous salty dawgs. We returned to camp in Ninilcik at 11pm, had surprise cake and ice cream for Alana's family, and watched the sun set behind the volcanos and paint vivid colors across Cook Inlet.
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