Here is a quick overview of the track for this weekend's trip. You'll recognize the area as I go here often.
In any case wife Lisa and puppy dog Bambina ('Bina') were the designated crew for this weekend's voyage.
I fired up the engines and we pulled out just a little before 9 AM.
The weather was overcast, but calm and warm, with very light NW winds. All in all, pretty good boating weather.
On the way out through Tongass Narrows I lingered in front of the ASD (Alaska Ship and Drydock) facilities which are very near the harbor, and shot a couple of pictures. This is a huge facility and it is still growing.
In this picture you can see the Alaska Marine Highway System state ferry Taku sitting on one of the drydocks. I came up to Alaska for the first time on the Taku in 1965. These floating drydocks are set up to sink down into the water. Then the ship drives in, and divers somehow place keel blocks under it in just the right positions. Then they float the drydock with the ship in it, and there she is, high and dry. It's an amazing process to see. ASD has two of the drydocks, but only one in use in this picture.
This picture shows why wife Lisa decided to come along on this trip. And Bina seems to be enjoying it so far as well.
As we made our way out towards the Pond Reef area we passed a couple of kayaks. They looked like they were enjoying their time on the water today.
As we turned North into Clover Pass I stopped for a bit as I prepared and baited my shrimp pots. I dropped a halibut rod over just for fun while I was working on the pots, but it yielded nothing.
I dropped the pots in my usual spot in Clover Pass.
We stopped for lunch off the North end of Hump Island and had lunch. Again I dropped a halibut line over while we were there, with the same results as before.
We went out to my apparently not so special halibut hole in front of Naha Bay and just drift fished without anchoring for about 2 hours. I sometimes anchor here to bottom fish but on this day the winds were very calm and slow drift took us across the plateau quite well, so did not need to anchor. No fish though.
About 3 PM we moved in closer to Moser Island and Stack Islands and again drift fished, but again no luck.
We left there about 4:30 PM and headed in to the Naha USFS dock for the night. I had my doubts that there would be room for us there, since it is a very popular tie up spot in the summer, and especially over a long Memorial Day weekend. But there was only one other boat there so we were able to tie up for the night.
I got this shot of them as they were leaving the next day. This is Stan and Cheryl Stromme on their 34' metal boat the Miss Claire. They were nice enough to give us a King Salmon fillet from one of the fish they had caught earlier in the day.
Lisa and I and Bina took a walk around "The Loop." I consider it a requirement whenever I tie up here.
Here are a few pics that I shot on that short walk.
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| Lisa and Bina near picnic area |
The Naha River dumps into Roosevelt Lagoon, which is just around the corner to the left in the shot above. This is a right angle turn as the water then dumps out into Naha Bay.
Before the water reaches salt it goes through a rapids, shown here at about a half tide. At a full incoming tide people can bring small skiffs up through here to access the lagoon and the river.
If the tide is such that you can't run your skiff or canoe or kayak through the rapids then you can drag it along this skidway that runs alongside.
Roosevelt Lagoon. Off to the right you can just see a small runabout tied to a section of dock. That belongs to Jerry, the caretaker for the Orton Ranch, which is up the trail aways. He lives up there full time.
And once we got back to the dock I just had to have another picture of the Faraway, because you know I don't have any. I call the Naha dock my second home.
We prepared dinner, which this evening consisted of hamburgers cooked on the Foreman Grill, that wonderfull King Salmon fillet donated by the Miss Claire crew, and veges. A real feast.
Chris Pihl and crew pulled up in his 2452 Bayliner, just like the one I used to have.
Stan came over to see the boat and visit a bit.
There was a beautiful sunset this evening.
We sacked out about 9:30 PM this evening.
About 4 AM I heard a bird shrieking like a banshee very nearby. I tried to ignore it, but it woke me up and I'm sure it woke everyone else up as well. I finally decided to get up and check it out.
When I swung back the curtain and opened the back door, there was a huge eagle sitting on a bucket I had on the back deck. I had been low on hanging bait for the shrimp pots and so had brought along a freezer burned turkey that had been in the freezer for years. I had chopped off some pieces for hanging bait for the shrimp pots and had neglected to cover the bucket that contained the remains. Yikes! My bad for waking up everyone at the dock. Wish I had been prepared with my camera, but I sure did not expect that.
On Sunday morning we were up about 7 AM and had quick breakfasts.
We discussed a project I had in mind which was to pull the Espar D5 Airtronic diesel furnace out for cleaning and glow plug replacement. It was running fine, but I had started to notice a distinct smell of diesel fumes whenever it fired up, and since it had not been cleaned in almost 6 years I knew there must be an accumulation of diesel soot in it. We went down to the engine room and scoped it out. More on that in a later posting.
We pulled away from the dock at about 8:40 AM.
Weather was overcast, but calm.
Saw a little deer on the beach just as we pulled away.
There is a privately owned lodge/home just between the Naha dock and the small village of Loring. We read an article about it a couple of years ago in a magazine. It was built by a man who lived in Oregon, and he acted as his own general contractor for the project. I have heard that he was getting a divorce, so not sure the status of this property at this time. I come by here a lot and rarely see any activity.
Here are a couple of pictures of the village of Loring. I have no idea what the official population is, but I'd say there are fewer than a dozen homes. When I come by here in the winter it is rare to see lights on and smoke coming from the chimney on more than 1 or 2 homes.
Above is the state owned dock at Loring. It is open for first-come first-served moorage. I have stayed there a few times when the Naha dock is full. It is an OK place to hang out for the night, but be sure to tie up facing out towards Naha Bay, because sometimes the swells come rolling in and it can be an uncomfortable place to be.
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| Houses and cabins at Loring |
We motored out to that halibut hole in front of Naha Bay upon which I place so much hope and trust, and anchored there at about 9:40 AM in 240' of water. I only have 245' of chain and rode on the anchor that is on my winch, so for deeper anchoring for halibut fishing I carry a second anchor and rode that has about 500' of chain and rope. I don't have it on a winch so I use a buoy pull system for retrieval. If you don't know how the buoy pull system works I will describe it in a separate posting.
We stayed there for 4 hours, with me checking the lines every 15 minutes, and occasionally changing bait or lures. No action at all - very disappointing. At least the water was calm and I got a lot of reading done.
After pulling the anchor we headed for the shrimp pots. Only got 31 this time. 2 of the pots were pretty tangled up, so that must have had an impact.
The original plan was to go fishing again, and then find somewhere to stay the night. But Lisa was not feeling well, and as any married man knows, "If wifee ain't happy, nobody's happy." So we made the decision right then to cut the trip short and head into port.
On the way into port we saw this cruise ship dwarfing the salmon derby fishing boats in the area. Cruise ships are a common sight this time of year.
We were in the stall by about 6:40 PM, logging about 52 nm for this trip. It was unfortunate that it had to be cut short, but there will be other trips.
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