In my job as IS Manager for First Bank I deal with many vendors, one of which is Open Solutions, based in Glastonbury Connecticut. Our Account Manager from Open Solutions is Dennis Madson. He is based in Utah but travels frequently since he covers many banks on the west coast. Dennis is also an avid fisherman. On this trip I learned that he is also a true died in the wool hard-core fisherman.
Dennis had his wife Dori and 12 year old son Taylor with him for this fishing trip.
Before we left Bar Harbor we unloaded the raft, in order to make the swim step available for playing and landing all the fish we intended to catch.
We pulled out about 7:30 AM on Friday in overcast, but calm conditions, with occasional rain.
I will not provide a lot of detail on the fish caught but suffice it to say that we started trolling (2 lines only) at about 8:30 AM, and quit trolling at about 2 PM. In that time we landed 17 Silvers and 1 Pink. We also caught and pitched back numerous undersized Kings. We also lost several fish, most likely Silvers, due to their aerobatics.
I won't specify our exact location, but it was pretty close to town.
About 4 PM we anchored on what I used to think was a good halibut hole out in front of Naha Bay. We bottom fished 2 lines only for about 90 minutes in absolutely ideal conditions, but nary a hit.
As we sat there not catching halibut we noticed a rainbow back towards the shoreline.
This picture shows what the conditions were like in Behm Canal at this time. Absolutely beautiful.
About 5:30 PM we pulled anchor and headed in to the Naha. We had a lot of fish to deal with.
Here is Dennis and his wife and son at the Naha dock with the day's catch. If you notice the count is slightly off it is because I filleted one on board in order to get the belly strips to use for halibut bait.
We had a very pleasant evening and night at the Naha dock. I was surprised to see no one else there on a good weather Friday in mid August. Taylor was catching small fish from the dock with amazing regularity. These were mostly small rock fish or Irish Lords, but he also brought up one small shark. Way to go Taylor!
On Saturday morning we had a good breakfast of pancakes and fruit, and then walked "The Loop."
Weather was a little breezy with persistent rain.
We pulled away from the Naha dock at about 9:30 AM.
By 11 AM we were trolling in the Clover Pass area. The weather was rainy and breezy. Most of the other boats were clustered just inside Survey Point, and it was a little rolly-polly there due to the winds.
Unfortunately Dennis's wife Dori is prone to sea sickness and so I was trying to stay inside the point and away from the swells.
We hit a few good fish in here but then hit a dry patch with no fish for awhile. Dennis suggested that we needed to go back out where we caught all the fish on Friday. I noted that that area was considerably more exposed to the weather and that might just be a marriage buster. But he said "Dori is a trooper, she won't mind."
So outside we went...
I have to say that this is where I learned how truly "Hard-Core" Dennis is. Conditions here were horrible and if it had been anyone else I would have just called it a trip and headed to town. But he wanted to keep fishing, and fish we did.
Dori could not help with the gear or the landing of the fish because she was "busy."
I could not help because there was no way that I could leave the helm even for a minute in these conditions.
But amazingly Dennis and Taylor hauled in 3 more nice big fat Silvers in those awful conditions. I was up on the flybridge and could not really see them, but I kept expecting to hear a Man Overboard at any moment as they danced on the swim step while netting their fish. But they didn't go overboard and managed to get a few more nice fish in the boat to boot.
About 4 PM we pulled the gear and headed in.
As we approached the harbor Dennis and Dori helped get the boat ready. Weather conditions were horrendous. Torrential rain, poor visibility, high winds and even higher gusts. Backing the boat into the stall was going to be a challenge this day.
Dennis and Dori had the port side lines and Taylor stood by with the boat hook ready to fend us off my neighbor boat on the starboard side if needed.
Faraway has twin engines, with very sensitive single lever electronic controls, and a bow thruster. She is very easy to control - under normal conditions. I bit my lip, took a deep breath, and in we went.
From the flybridge helm I can't see the back deck so I told Dennis to give me a yell when he and Dori were on the finger float with the lines. When he yelled "We've got you Mike" I breathed a sigh of relief and we were in. I could never have gotten her in the stall without their help.
We logged 65 nm on this trip, and came in with a real respectable load of fish.
Another successful adventure aboard Faraway.
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