2013-03-29 Shrimp Bay / Klu Bay Trip

As there are no 3 day weekends in my job during the month of March, I had to manufacture one.  I took the last Friday of the month off and made a 3 day weekend out of it.  Fortunately the weather cooperated and was very excellent as the weekend approached.

Here is a map snippet that shows the general route for this trip:

And here is a little more detail of the Shrimp Bay / Klu Bay connection at the very end.  This map snippet also shows a little bit of Orchard Lake, which I attempted to fish.

You can see that you must pass through Shrimp Bay to enter Klu Bay.

I left Bar Harbor at about 7:15 AM in clear, calm, cool conditions.

Almost immediately I saw a photo op.  One of my many faults is that I sometimes am in too much of a hurry to reach my destination and am unwilling to stop for photos.  On this trip I made myself a promise to not do that and to take my time and not be in a hurry to get there.



Eagle on nav aid at Lewis Reef

 I had a devil of a time getting him to turn his head even just a little.

Tongass Narrows was FAC, but there was a lot of debris in the water from recent extreme tides.

About 10 AM I stopped in front of Naha Bay to try some bottom fishing on a halibut hole I know about there.  It was dead calm so did not need to anchor, just drift fished.  Excellent conditions, but not so excellent results.  After an hour and a half of jigging, and sore biceps, I continued on my way.

Passed the entrances to Traitors Cove and Neets Bay in near FAC conditions.

Had a good lunch while underway.  My former step-son Steven and I used to say "There's nothing better than lunch on the boat."

About 1:30 PM I stopped again, this time just around the corner from Brow Point, and tried some bottom fishing again.  Same results as before, so moved on.

About 2:50 PM, just before entering Shrimp Bay, I stopped yet one more time in my quest to have fresh halibut for dinner.  I did manage to jig up a small Turbot, but tossed him back. 

About 3:30 PM I dropped my 3 shrimp pots (on one ground line) in about 460' of water in the middle of Shrimp Bay.  I have done well here in the past.  Who'd have thunk it - shrimp in Shrimp Bay!

There is a pair of side by waterfalls at the tail end of Shrimp Bay, just before you make the turn into Klu Bay.  Here is a shot of one of them:

I have some better shots of the waterfalls later that I took from the raft, so I could get a little closer.

I went through the narrow passage into Klu Bay and tied to the mooring buoy there at about 4 PM.

I had logged 42.4 nm to this point.

These mooring buoys are great.  The USFS has them scattered around at various places, sometimes near a cabin that can be rented, and sometimes not.  The only problem with them is that they are first come, first served, so you can never really count on getting one when you need it.  In some of the bays, like Klu Bay, it's not a big deal, because you can just go anchor nearby.  But in other locations the nearby area is just too deep for a small pleasure craft like mine to be able to anchor.  But this time of year not many boats are about so I was pretty sure I'd get this one.

About 6:30 PM I started on dinner, which this evening consisted of hamburgers cooked on the Foreman Grill, green salad, and chips.

While cleaning up the dinner dishes I watched "I Love You To Death," a comedy with Kevin Kline on my iPad.

After that I played some guitar, and then hit the sack about 10 PM.

A very quiet and restful evening.  When you're on the mooring buoy you don't really have to worry about your anchor dragging.

On Saturday I was up at about 6:30 AM.  It was raining lightly from overcast skies, but it was calm.

After a quick breakfast I got my gear ready for an excursion up to Orchard Lake.  I had done some trout fishing there before, but never this early in the year, so did not really know what to expect.  But it was an adventure, and that's what I came for.

I dropped the raft, mounted the 4 HP kicker, fueled it up, and got all my hiking and fishing gear ready.

The trail head to the lake is right next to the waterfalls in Shrimp Bay.  It's a little more of a raft ride than I would normally take when I am alone, but I prepared well and I did have both the Spot Messenger and the Delorme InReach with me, so I figured if I did get into trouble I could signal for help.

I did make it up to the very end of Orchard Lake, but had to bust through some deep snow on parts of the trail.  Unfortunately it was raining hard, which makes it hard to take pictures.  I did manage to get a few casts in and land some small trout (cutthroats), which I tossed back in.  Here is a pic of the end of the lake where I was fishing.  You can see some skim ice in the back part of the pic.

Oh yes, and I neglected to mention - never arrive at the trail head to Orchard Lake at a -2.1 tide!  Of course I knew the stage of the tide, but did not know it would be such a challenge to get the raft high enough up the beach to tie it off, even with a long line.  I have small wheels on my raft intended to make it easier to move it on shore, but the rocks were huge and the beach was steep, so it took me awhile, and I worked up quite a sweat.  In hind sight I'd have been better off to come back at a higher tide.  Next time.

Before I left the area I floated the raft near the waterfalls and got a couple of better pictures of them.

I got back to the boat about 1 PM and had a good lunch.

About 2 PM I pulled away from the mooring buoy and motored through to Shrimp Bay and pulled my shrimp pots.  Got a good load of about 140 shrimp, so I reset the pots in the same location.

I discovered when I went to behead the shrimp that a recent basketball injury to my left thumb caused a problem.  About half my left thumb nail had been ripped away during recent basketball play, and I was unable to behead them the way that I normally did - so I used a knife and cutting board this time.  Slower, but just as effective.

Whiled away the rest of the short afternoon, and then had a dinner essentially the same as the night before.  I am a simple man, with simple needs.

After I had cleaned up from dinner I watched "Life of Pi" on the iPad. It was fine, but as an avid reader I almost always think the book is better than the movie, and once again thought so in this case.

Bed at 10 PM - very quiet.

Easter Sunday morning

I was up at 6:30 AM.  Weather was very calm, cool, and partly cloudy.

The bay was absolutely beautiful, and I took a few shots, which I will share with you here.  These were taken between about 6:15 AM and 7:30 AM, just before I pulled away from the mooring buoy.

On this one you can just see a little bit of skim ice in the back of the bay.  The water was so calm in here that the little section between Klu Bay and Shrimp Bay had skim ice in it and I had to slice through it to make my exit.

I pulled away from the mooring buoy at 8 AM.

Pulled the shrimp pots again getting about 90 this time.

9:15 AM headed South towards town.

Light winds in Behm Canal, with very light chop.  Sunny and clear weather.

Had an uneventful but pleasurable ride south in Behm Canal.  The water kicked up just a little in front of Traitors Cove, but then settled down again as I passed Naha Bay.

Got into the stall at about 2:30 PM, with total mileage logged for this trip about 87.3 nm.

Another successful adventure aboard Faraway.

2013-03-17 Naha Day Trip

We can get some stunning weather days in the winter, so you have to be ready for them.

In this case my step daughter Cristina really wanted to go for a day picnic to the Naha.  We have gone here many times before, but never this early in the year.  But the weather was indeed stunning, so off we went.

I left Bar Harbor solo at about 8 AM on Sunday March 17th.  I ran through the Tongass Narrows and into Clover Pass, and then into Knudson Cove Marina, where I picked up the crew:

Cristina
Ryan
Tyler - age 8
Bryan - age 6
Aliyah - age 4

We ran the short remaining distance to the Naha USFS dock at about 11 AM without incident.
No one else was there - go figure.

It is a short walk up from the USFS dock through the woods to the picnic area. It was a bright sunny day, although still cool (it is March after all), and Cristina shot some pics in the woods as we made our way up there.

There is a nice picnic shelter there with a fire pit, and that's where we set up our winter picnic.

Ryan put my raft in the water and ran the picnic supplies around the corner from the boat to the picnic area.  Saves time and hassle of carrying all that through the woods.



Cristina and Aliyah ham it up while the sun still shines.

It's warm enough for Bryan to be wearing a short sleeved shirt!



And of course they were all perfect angels on the ride back to Knudson Cove Marina, (watching Planet Earth).

We pulled out from the Naha about 3 PM, and I dropped the crew off at Knudson Cove, and I continued on to Bar Harbor solo again, arriving about 6 PM.

Another successful voyage on Faraway.

2013-02-16 Carroll Inlet Trip

I always try to take advantage of the three day weekends if I can.  I watch the weather very closely as the weekend approaches, and make all my preparations on the assumption that I can go.  But, I have to be prepared to bail out on the trip at the last minute if the weather forecast is bad.  This is even more important when I travel by myself, which seems to be happening more often lately.

For this trip I went into Carroll Inlet, and stopped at two USFS docks there, Shelter Cove and Shoal Cove.

See this map segment that shows the general route.

I pulled out about 8 AM, in overcast, cool, calm conditions.
There were light NW winds.

This is the first trip I have made using the Delorme InReach.
I had tracking turned on and wife Lisa at home was able to track my progress on the website.
Pretty cool.

We also exchanged several text messages while I was underway using the InReach Bluetooth link to my iPad.  Turns out my data plan on the InReach has a limit on the number of text messages allowed per month - Who knew?

On the way I dropped my 3 shrimp pots near Hume Island.  Had not set here before, but it was on the way and the depths looked good so decided to give it a shot.

Arrived at the Shelter Cove USFS dock at about 11:15 AM.  No one else was there.

Faraway at the Shelter Cove USFS dock

I am always a little more careful now approaching this dock because one time a few years ago I pulled in and as I approached I thought to myself that something just didn't seem right.  Then I realized that the dock was there, but the ramp had been pulled up onto the bank, so there was no way to get to shore except by raft.

It is about 26 nm from my home port in Bar Harbor North to this dock.

Had a good lunch on board.

About 1:15 PM I geared up and walked up the road.  I took my trout fishing gear in hopes of being able to fish a little in the small lake that is up the road a mile or so.

The USFS has a presence here, even though they have no buildings per se.  They keep some vehicles here for use on the logging roads.  Looks like the USFS had a good year, as there are new Suburbans posted all over the place now.  Someone told me they have switched from Forest Service green to white to save money.  Apparently the green was a custom color which added to the cost of the vehicles.

The road was bare gravel in most places, but in others had snow up to 18" deep.

I did not have ice cleats or snow shoes with me so this much snow really slowed me down.

I made it as far as the first lake, but it was iced up too much to do any fishing.  There was a little bit of open water near the outlet, but I didn't bust my way down there.

Someday I'll have to figure out the name of this lake, if it has one.  I have gotten trout here on previous trips, in better (warmer) weather.

There is a memorial on a big rock just over looking this lake.  I assume that there was some type of accident during construction of the road and that a life was lost.

Carroll Inlet can be quite beautiful on a good day looking north from the log sort yard.

Got back to the boat at about 3:30 PM, with just enough daylight left to prep my two crab pots and set them out in front of the dock in about 100' of water.  I have done very well here in the past.

I took another short walk just before dark over to the log sort yard that overlooks the cove.

I can't imagine a more peaceful, serene place to spend the night.

I was back to the boat by 5 PM, just as it was getting dark.

Dinner this evening consisted of tenderloin steaks cooked on the Foreman Grill, boiled potatoes, and salad.  (Did I mention that I don't do survival trips?)

Had a quiet pleasant evening on board.  Played some guitar, called Lisa on the sat phone, and watched the movie "7 Psychopaths" on my iPad.

Sacked out about 10 PM with light rain falling.

Sunday morning I was up about 7 AM.  Had a breakfast of pancakes.

Pulled out at 9 AM in overcast, cool, calm conditions.

Pulled the crab pots, yielding 1 lonely crab, just legal, but I pitched him anyway.

I ran slowly South towards Shoal Cove.

Went past the USFS dock nearer the entrance to Shoal Cove proper, and dropped the crab pots again.  Then doubled back and went to the dock.

The USCG used to have a big LORAN station here.  I toured it many years ago.  Of course anyone who is a mariner knows that LORAN has now been replaced by GPS as a navigational system, so the LORAN station has been shut down.  The USCG has their own small dock across from the USFS dock that they used when this was an active LORAN station site.

This is Faraway tied to the Shoal Cove dock.  In the woods above you can just see the presence of some buildings.  The USFS has a big "camp" up there, with a big main building, some garages and sheds.  I should have gotten some pics but at the time did not know that I would be doing a Blog.

About 12:30 PM, after lunch, I put on full rain gear and rubber boots and headed up the logging road.  It was raining heavily by this time.  It is a steep climb and not really much to see along the way.  At times I stopped to rest and wondered what I was doing here.

I made it up as far as huge log sort yard.  I explored the yard, which was full of old and abandoned equipment.  Raining much too hard for pictures.  Turned around here and headed back.

When I got back to the boat the rain had slacked enough that I experimented with a couple of shots of myself using the tripod and the timer on the camera.

Dinner this evening consisted of hamburgers grilled on the Foreman Grill.  We use the Foreman Grill a lot on board because we don't have an oven.

Worked on photos for most of the evening, along with some guitar work.

Hit the sack about 10 PM with heavy rain and some wind.

Monday - up at 7 AM.

Fired up right away and pulled out.

Pot 1 had 3 undersized Dungeness and 2 small Tanner crabs (at least I think they are Tanners.)

Pot 2 had 1 undersized and 2 legal Dungeness in it - Yahoo.

Had breakfast underway.

Pulled the shrimp pots, yielding a meager 62 shrimp.  I usually get more than 100, and sometimes more than 150, so this was a lower than normal haul, but at least worth the effort.

There were lots of Stripers with green eggs.

On the way home, just passing Mt Point was hailed by the USCG Cutter Chandalar.  They informed me that they would be boarding me for a safety inspection.  I wish I had snapped a pic of the boarding party that came over in an inflatable raft.  There were 6 big guys, fully decked out in Gumby suits, complete with radios, and all kinds of other equipment.  They were so loaded down with gear that they could barely move.

Only two came on board.  Fortunately I had noticed that my flares were expiring and had gotten new flares the day before I left on this trip.  The only minor violation they found was that one bulb in my mast light was burned out.  I did not know that it had two bulbs in it.  They did not cite me for this.  The guy said that judging from the condition of the rest of the boat he knew that I would repair it right away when I got back to port.

I received a "Good as Gold" report.  They call it that because it is on Gold paper and there are no violations noted.  If I get hailed for another safety boarding within a year I can just refer them to this boarding and they will pass me by.

In the stall about 12:30 PM.
Total trip mileage about 55.6 nm.
Another successful safe and enjoyable boat trip in the books.

2013-01-19 MLK Holiday Trip

Martin Luther King Day is usually the first long weekend in the year when I can get out to stretch my legs, and this year the weather was cooperative so I decided to go North into western Behm Canal.

This chart segment shows the general route, with Traitors Cove being just North of Naha Bay in Western Behm Canal.  The Marguerite Bay USFS dock is about 27 nm from my home port in Bar Harbor North.

Weather was calm but with a low hanging fog or mist, with only 2 - 3 miles of visibility.

As I headed into the Clover Pass area I noticed a new eagles nest right across from Clover Pass Resort.  The summer tour groups are going to love that.  Something to show the tourists that is so close and easy to get to.

I dropped my shrimp pots in my usual spot in the vicinity of Salmon Falls Resort and continued North in Behm Canal.

Saw some sea lions cavorting around on the way north in Behm Canal.

Arrived Marguerite Bay USFS dock at approximately 12:30 PM.  No one else was there.

Had lunch aboard.

About 1:30 PM I prepped the crab pots and ran them out to shallow water (about 30') in front of the lagoon.  Had been planning to set them from my raft but discovered that it was a little low on air and that I had left the pump at home.

From about 2 - 4 PM I walked up the logging road to the first bridge.  No matter how many times I've seen it I am always in awe of the beauty of this place.

Magaret Lake from the bridge

The lake has some skim ice on it back away from the inlet.

I was back to the boat by about 4 PM, as it was getting dark.

Faraway at the Marguerite Bay dock

Spent a quiet evening and night on board.

Sunday morning I made the snap decision to pull out, pull the crab pots and head for the Naha for the night.

Got 9 crabs in the first pot (but only 5 keepers) and 2 in the second pot (0 keepers).
In this area the Dungeness must be males 6 1/2" or over in order to keep them.

The second pot had a door that was coming loose and I suspect some escaped through there.

I set my personal use halibut skate (2 hooks only!) in front of Loring.  I've never caught anything of value on this skate as yet, but I keep trying.  It is easy to set and to pull.

Arrived the Naha dock at about noon.  There was one small skiff there.

Faraway at the Naha USFS dock

It's always something on a boat.  My refrigerator does not seem to be kicking on and off as it should.  I tried it on both AC and DC mode for awhile, but neither seems to be working.  Ugh - more stuff to fix or replace.

I did a quick walk around "The Loop" and then had lunch on board.  "The Loop" is a segment of the trail that goes along by the rapids between the salt water and Roosevelt Lagoon, and then circles back to the dock.  I consider it mandatory to do the loop every time I come here.  The main trail itself continues up past the lagoon, and alongside the Naha River itself for many miles.  There are a couple of lakes up there and also some USFS cabins.  There is also the Orton Ranch, which is a compound of buildings and bunk houses owned and maintained by the Baptist Church.  They make it available for church camps and retreats and Cub Scouts, etc.

Roosevelt Lagoon

I set up my Woodland Power Stove and cooked the crabs on the dock.

They look a little worried

I took another quck turn around The Loop about 3:45 PM but it was too dark in the woods for pictures by then.

Spent another quiet late afternoon and evening on the boat.  It is very comfortable.

I worked on my laptop on various projects, then watched The Expendables on my iPad.

Bed about 10 PM.  A quiet evening.

Monday I was up early and had a quick breakfast and pulled out by about 8:30 AM.

Pulled the halibut skate but it was just a tangled mess!

Had to run on radar for a little while in the Clover Pass area due to dense fog.

Had a hard time finding my shrimp pots in that fog.  Could only see a matter of yards.

Got 122 shrimp in my 3 pots, which is a pretty good haul.  Neglected to get pictures though.

10:50 AM headed home in dense fog, running on radar alone.

Fog cleared up around Survey Pt.

In the stall about 12:30 PM.

Another successful trip.

2013-04-12 Margaret Lake Trout Fishing

I had everything ready and left work about 3:15 PM on Friday April 12th and we pulled out by 4 PM.
Crew for this trip consisted of myself, Ryan Gotelli, and his friends Sam and James.
We ran directly for Marguerite Bay, which is a bay in Traitors Cove.
Traitors Cove is in Western Behm Canal.

I had advised them to bring their own food for dinner underway.
I had a Subway sandwhich.

Weather was overcast, with occassional rain, and cool.

Behm Canal was flat calm.

We got to Traitors Cove without incident, and dropped the shrimp pots out in front of Marguerite Bay, within site of the dock, in about 450' of water.  3 pots on one string only.

We also dropped my two crab pots out in front of the lagoon in about 90 - 100' of water.

Tied to the dock at 7:15 PM.

No one else was there.

27.4 nm to this point from home stall.

There was a beautiful sunset.

From the dock at Marguerite Bay

The guys immediately went up the road to try to fish even though it was almost dark.

They built a bon fire up on the landing just up the logging road.

It was a beautiful cold, clear, star filled night.

I slept up in the V-berth, James was on the couch, and Sam and Ryan were up on the flybridge.
I was told the next morning that Sam slept out on the flybridge extension.  He's tough.

Saturday morning we were up early.  It was still cold and clear and there was skim ice around the boat.

We didn't want to take time to cook so I just heated water for coffee and everyone was on their own for a breakfast.

The guys loaded up my folding aluminum cart with gear for the day and prepared to head up the logging road.

Left to right: Ryan, James, Sam

I stayed behind to clean up and secure the boat, and get my own gear ready for the day's fishing.

It's about a mile up to the first bridge and the outlet of  Margaret Lake.
By the time I got there the guys had secured the skiff that we had access to and gotten my 4 HP Suzuki kicker on it, so my timing was perfect.

We loaded all the gear and headed to the far end, the inlet end of the lake with Ryan at the helm.
The weather could not have been more stupendous even if we had been able to order it,

I dropped the guys off at the inlet end of the lake and they prepared for a full day of trout fishing.

I spent most of the day fishing from the skiff, but since we were there the whole day I did go to shore for some of the time.  Sam and Ryan had brought chest waders so they could search around for firewood, and they got a fire going on shore there.  For a time the wind kicked up and it got a little chilly, but then later it died down and it was very pleasant weather.

The lake was beautiful.

Margaret Lake
looking from the inlet end towards the outlet

Ryan and Sam had fly fishing gear as well as spinning gear, while I had only spinning gear.  I think James was using borrowed spinning gear from Sam.

Didn't matter, we all caught cutthroats.

Early in the day

But of course I got the largest one!



23 1/2"

We reluctantly gathered our fish and gear about 5 PM, in order to get the boat put away and have time to walk down the road before dark.

We got to the boat about 6:30 PM.

Ryan and I went out and checked the shrimp pots and crab pots.  Got about 100 shrimp, but only 1 keeper crab, which we gave to the two guys who had showed up in a small boat to also stay the night at the dock.

I cooked hamburgers on the Foreman Grill and we had a late dinner of burgers and macaroni salad.

After that they went up and built another bon fire up on the landing.

We sacked out about 10:30 PM.  I think Sam was inside tonight on the flybridge because it rained heavily in the night (so I am told - I was totally zonked after such an active day.)

Sunday we were up about 7 AM and I cooked a big bacon and eggs breakfast, with coffee and juice.

I walked up to the lower Margaret Lake bridge, but did not fish.  Water was very shallow and fast.  The guys hung around the boat and got their gear organized for the trip home.

We pulled out about noon.  Pulled the crab pots again and got a couple keepers this time, as well as getting another moderate load of shrimp from the shrimp pots.

We saw some seals laying around the rocks at the entrance to Traitors Cove, and Sam got a couple of good shots.

Had an uneventful run back home arriving in the stall about 4:40 PM.