Trip Recap

Trip Recap:
August 7th,

Now that I've been back for about 2 weeks I can look back on the trip and share some general overall thoughts on the whole experience.

Was it what I thought it was going to be?
Not really but to be honest that was only because I didn't go up there with too many thoughts on what I was getting into. I did know that it was going to be camping on a boat and that is exactly what it was. There were no daily hot shower, there was not much in the way of personal space and it was 6 guys on a 27 foot boat for 7 days. I kind of knew that we'd be spending the whole time fishing but I didn't put too much thought into it and I probably should have. It was 7 days on a boat fishing and I've discovered that I'm not that into fishing. A day or two on the island seeing more of what Kodiak is all about but that is for the next trip. I did think we would be eating more fish but that didn't happen as by the time it came to eat nobody was really in the mood to cook for themselves let alone the group of us. The fish that we did get around to eating was good stuff as you couldn't get it much fresher.

Would I do it again?
That depends on if I get invited back again? Doug and Chris are the regulars as well as Art and Reily as it is their boat. Everybody else are just visitors that happen to be in good standing with Doug and Chris, enough so that they'll ask you to join the trip.

What was Kodiak like:
The amount of area of Kodiak Island that is covered by people and businesses is pretty small. We didn't go much farther from the harbor but as we were motoring out to the fishing area the part of the island with houses on it ended pretty quickly. There was a Wal Mart, McD's, KFC and I think a Taco Bell but that is about it for recognizable establishments. The harbor had a couple of large buildings around it that were for fish processing and there were a few restaurants and bars there as well. The people were incredibly friendly, and it was not just because we were there with Doug and Chris who have become repeat fixtures on a yearly basis.

Did I get a lot of fish?
A lot is an understatement as the total catch was approx 493 lbs of filleted fish. If you totaled the entire catch before the fish were cleaned I'd say it was well over 750 lbs. My take was 114 lbs of frozen fish fillets of Lingcod, Halibut, and Rock Fish. Part of the take was fish cheeks as they're reported to be pretty good eats and we're ready to find out if that is true.

Did I see any wild life?
If you've ever seen a Discovery Channel show on sea life, that is what my week was like. We saw whales that were just swimming along and splashing around. On a couple of days we would be motoring in our out and somebody would say "whale" and we'd stop to check it out. There were about two or three sitings of sea otters swimming on their backs eating that day's meal. Bald Eagles are every where on Kodiak island and mostly sitting in a tree, on a rock or on the rigging of a boat. A brown bear made an appearance on the first day that I was there and it was about 20 feet across the river from us as we were fly fishing. Lastly there was one day when I saw a sea lion in the harbor and about 15 feet off the back of our boat. Art was telling me that it lives in and around the harbor and swims in as it feels fit. It was rather big ( about 20 feet long ) and pretty quick in the water so I think it was given the run of the place without much argument.

Did my back hurt at all?
For those of you that don't know, I had emergency back surgery about 12 weeks before the trip. How I don't know but I ruptured a disk and the fluid managed to lodge itself on my sciatic nerve causing insane amounts of pain. I spent the better part of 4 days flat on my back trying to deal with the pain and finding a comfortable position to be in. Thankfully there was not much in the way of back pain at all on the trip. I did have some pain in my upper back but that was because the fishing caused me to use muscles I never really used before. So all in all, there was not much lower back pain at all on the trip.

Today's Pictures:
I wanted to show the fish cleaning table there are two pictures where you can kind of catch a glimpse of it. One picture is me showing off a Yellow Eye Rock fish and the table is behind me. There is another picture of Chris and Art cleaning fish with Vinney at the end of the table screwing around doing something. There is another picture is of Chris resting on the trip back to the harbor but in the background you can see the beautiful landscape on the island. I don't know the exact numbers but there is only roads and people on a very small portion of the island. The rest is uninhabited. The last picture for today is of me looking kind of dorkish ( I was pretty tired at this point in the day) but in the background is some of the most increadible mountains you've ever seen. The cool thing is that they were everywhere you looked and I'm told that the snow never melts. Pretty cool.

This post is long enought so I'll sign off for now.

Right on.
J


Doug's plug: www.CameraLandNY.com
Ina's plug: www.islandseafoods.com