What did the boat look like?

Now that I’ve done the day by day blow of the trip I can get around to answering some of the common questions people have been asking.

The first is: What did the boat look like.

The first picture on this post has a boat that is very similar in setup as the Emerald Queen and since none of us took a picture of our boat I’ll use this one as a stand in. You can see the stern of a number of boats lined up and the one that has a small inflatable boat strapped to the back of it is very similar to the EQ. As you walk through the sliding doors from the stern into the salon, on your left there is a small oven, sink, counter top and college size refrigerator. On the right is an open area with some cabinets on the right hand wall. The area of that space is about 8 feet wide by 8 feet long but with six adults fishing it was covered with boots, gear of all kinds and foul weather pants and jackets. Going farther into the boat on your right after the sink and small counter top was the steering console and levers to control the engines and propellers. Directly opposite that was a small table and bench seats that all dropped flat to become a sleeping area for the vertically challenged fisherman, Vinny. The second picture on the post is Vinny and I sitting at the table and you can see there’s not much room for more than our two large butts. Behind us is our pantry or pile-o- food, along with the always helpful can of WD-40. Remember, never leave port without your can of wd-40, you’ll never know where you’ll need it. To go any farther in the boat you now need to go down a small set of stairs where on your left was the bathroom and on your right was the spacious state room. The bathroom was more like a long closet with a toilet, sink, and shower all packed into a space about 4 feet wide and 8 feet long. The state room (as Doug like to refer to it) was also 4 feet wide and 8 feet long but had built in bunk beds and a tiny closet. Finally at the end of the 4 foot hallway that separated the bathroom and state room was another sleeping area that was large enough for two adults to sleep comfortably as Art and his son did each night. You might be wondering where I was sleeping and I’ve saved the best for last. My spot was the floor just inside the doors that separated the salon from the stern of the boat, right next to the stove, sink and refrigerator. If you ask me it was not as bad as it sounds as we were all camping on the boat and it was just that I was the one in front of the stove or if it was camping, it would have been the fire.

I’ve added two more pictures so you can round out the cast of characters and get a partial picture of the stern of the boat. One picture is Doug (guy with hat) and Chris holding a nice catch of Lingcod, and the other is Vinny also holding a Lingcod.

I was talking with a friend today that asked for more pictures so I’ll try to put 4 on each post. If there’s something specific that you want to see, use the comment link at the bottom of the post and let me know. I’ll see if I have a picture of what you’re looking for that can be shared.

Goodbye Farewell, Amen:

Today was the last day of fishing and we tried our best to have it end with as many fish as it began. Much to our dismay, that was just not going to happen as they were just not biting today. Art and Chris put the boat on top of multiple points that the fish finder showed large amounts of activity but we just couldn’t get them on the line and into the boat. There was a joke made that they seemed to be running in schools today and we’re hitting the nursery school. The first few fish we caught were embarrassingly small and needed to be thrown back so they could grow up big and strong to be caught at a later date.

The return to the dock had the normal routine, clean, clean, clean some more and then eat. By the time all was done and we were headed to dinner it was about 9:45 and the kitchen at our normal joint was closed. Kodiak doesn’t have much in the way of a booming restaurant scene and our choices at that hour were limited. We almost hit McD’s but at the last minute a phone call to one of the local hotels found their kitchen still open and we were set.

The rest of the evening was spent packing up our gear, clothes, and everything else that needed to be shipped back. We packed the van with the boxes of our stuff, the day’s catch and then crashed for the night. My flight is the first one out so I’m set to get up at 06:30 and head to the airport for a 08:00 flight.

The picture for today is the view from the back of our boat that we would see most mornings. This view helped me remember that I was in ALASKA of all places and you don’t see this anywhere else. The weather forecast came from the maritime daily report over a marine radio but all it took was one look outside to get the real scoop. If this was what we saw we knew there was promise that the weather was on our side.

Now that I'm heading home I'm going to keep the blog going but it won't be the daily fishing activities but more of questions that people have been asking. I'll run through some topics like, fish cleaning, the boat, the rods and reels we used, who went, the Kodiak harbor and town. If there's something you wanted to know and I didn't mention it in the blog, use the comment link at the bottom of the page and I'll see if I can't help.


Right on.
J

Doug’s Plug, www.CameraLandNY.com

Saturday July 24th,

You win some, You lose some.

Today’s start was like any other this week and we were all very hope full that if we returned to the last point we fished yesterday our chances of hooking some Halibut would be pretty good. It was the same point where I landed the 57lb Halibut. Man were we wrong, set after set we had nothing. We had two fish in the keeper bucket that were put there early in the morning and then we hit a major dry spell. Art picked some of our set points and the fish were not hitting. Chris then took a turn picking some points with the same result. At one point in time I even took a turn driving the boat and picking a drop point but still nothing happened. The fish were just not biting. Plain and simple, today was a bust when it came to hitting large amounts of fish. It wasn’t like we were not catching fish, they were just too small to keep. The day ended with Doug, Art and Chris catching a couple of very large Lingcod at our last set so the day was not a total bust with no fish.

There was a highlight once we decided to head in and that was I got to drive the boat back to the harbor. Earlier in the day everybody was unmotivated to do much of anything and we were drifting aimlessly so I asked if I could drive the boat and see if I could find a drop point. Art said “Yes” and much to the dismay of the other guys I managed to drive to a point on the GPS that looked somewhat decent. When it came time to drive back to the harbor Art asked if I wanted to drive. I managed to get the boat 90% of the way back to the slip and didn’t crash into anything. Art took care of the last part of the drive as it required tight maneuvers in the harbor.

The fish cleaning part of the night went pretty quick as there wasn’t much to clean. No surprise there. Dinner plans were for Henry’s a local restaurant right next to the harbor. Just as I was about to leave the boat for and walk up to Henry’s there was a special visitor to the harbor, a Sea Lion. An honest to goodness sea lion was swimming around inside the harbor. From what I understand it lives in the waters close by and from time to time comes into the harbor to things out. I couldn’t get in position fast enough and close enough to get a good picture so I have one to post. It looked as though it was about 15 feet long but that is only a guess because it didn’t come out of the water too much. It did splash and roll around while thrashing a halibut carcass around. It was pretty interesting to see one in the wild as compared to seeing one in an aquarium.

That is all for tonight.

Right on.
J

Doug’s Plug: www.CameraLandNY.com

July 24th, The good, The bad and The ugly.

The good: I did it again, actually I did it more than just once today, I landed more fish and another big one. The day started off with me pulling in the first few fish that were large enough to be kept. Then last spot we fished today was one of the best for me as I landed another big Halibut. This one was not as large as the monster one the other day but it was nothing to laugh at. Today’s fish was 48 inches long, weighed 57 pounds and was pulled into the boat in just under 10 minutes. Chris also caught a Halibut to round out our day’s total at 3 fish worth keeping. Another positive point about today’s fishing is that I caught a new species that I’ve not had before. The picture on the blog today is of me catching a Black Rock Fish, and I’ve posted the picture of it so you can see what it looks like.

The bad: This really is not that bad but due to our late arrival in the harbor last night and the large amount of fish to be cleaned we didn’t get asleep until well after 1:00am. Normally we’re all up by about 7:00 am, but not today as we didn’t get up and going until well after 8:30. Our goal is to get out of the harbor as early as possible and now that we had repairs to make it didn’t help that those didn’t get started until well after 9:00.

The Ugly: Unfortunately there was some minor engine repairs that were essential to the boat running properly that kept us from fishing for most of the day today. There are two diesel engines that power the propellers for the boat and one developed a leaking water hose. The leak caused large amounts of water to be sprayed onto a fuse box like part, for that specific motor. The result was Chris had to spend a couple of hours repairing the hose, drying out the electrical box and checking all the wire connections. The repairs were severe enough that they prevented us from leaving the harbor until all the work was done. There was a saving grace to the length of time the repair work took and that was it allowed a run to the grocery store for food.
Another god item for today was a local friend of Doug’s invited us to their house for dinner. Ian (from Island Seafood) invited us to his home for dinner with he, his wife and daughter. It was great to have a chance to eat more Salmon and Ian didn’t let us down on that point. There were three kinds of Salmon prepared and all of them were fantastic.

I need to explain a little background information to help make sense of the people we had dinner with tonight. Every year the trip happens Doug makes more and more friends in town. At the end of each day we filet the catch of fish and then take it around the harbor to a seafood processor named Island Seafood Co. Island Seafood then takes the fish, cleans up anything we missed, cuts them into manageable sizes, vacuum packs them and freezes them for shipping to where ever we tell them. We do the initial filet part as the cost is per pound and it saves us some money to do it ourselves. Ian is the manger of the company and lives in town with his wife and daughter.

I also have put up the bear picture from the first day that I was here. The bear was about 15 yards away from us at one point in time.

That is all for today

Right on.

J

Doug’s plugs: wwwcameralandny.com

Wow, Wow, Wow, what a day. I’ll get to the point as quickly as possible so you can understand where all the Wow’s were coming from.

The morning was the usual procedure, bathroom, coffee shop, fish processing company and marine supply store. We also managed to get out on the fishing grounds at a pretty decent hour as there wasn’t much to slow us down today. The weather was rainy, cold and thankfully no waves on the ocean which allowed the boat to stay where we wanted it to without drifting too quickly. Chris was in the driver’s seat today and putting us on top of some locations he chose before coming up here. Most of his choices were based on the geography of the ocean floor, rock piles are good as that is where fish like to hang out. The day was semi successful as we managed to pull in about a dozen Lingcod and Yellow Eye Rock fish.

Then around 7:00 the excitement hit. Some absolutely large fish thought my jig was enticing and took hold. For about 15 minutes I fought with a 145 lb Halibut that had to be harpooned twice just to get it into the boat. If Hollywood wrote a scene about getting a fish into a boat it would happen similar to what we did today. Believe it or not Riley managed to get most of the whole thing on film from the flying bridge above the deck of the boat, so video will come some day. I was doing the rod work, Art was coaching on how to keep the fish on the hook and Chris was making sure I knew how to line up the fish for harpooning. Because a flopping Halibut on the deck is so dangerous, Doug and Vinny mainly kept back.

Yes it was the highlight of my day and one more part that is making this trip a “Once in a lifetime trip”. After the monster was on the boat it was time to call it a day and head back for fish cleaning.

As a side note, we dropped some crab traps yesterday and while part of our group was cleaning fish the other part went to check the traps. It seems that we’re better at catching snails than crabs. The fish cleaning took 4.5 hours so we didn’t finish up until 12:30 and yes it was finally dark by then. Another 30 minutes of cleaning the fish smell away from our hands and gear, and it is now time to call it a day.
The picture for the day is me with the 145lb Halibut, that measured 66 inches long. We didn’t get around to taking the picture until it was dark out so it might be hard to see.

Right on.

J

Doug’s Plugs: www.CameraLandNY.com

Wednesday ( Day 3 )

The day really never did get off on the right foot nor could it right itself. The morning started out fine with the usual trip to the bathroom, coffee shop and today an added stop at the fish processing company. The fish that was cleaned yesterday sat on ice for the night and we dropped it off first thing this morning with the company that will vacuum pack and ship it to our homes. The total haul was approx 115 lbs of usable fillets from all the fish we caught. Not that bad a haul considering it was our fist day out and a two of us were rookies to AK fishing. A quick stop for coffee at our favorite coffee shop, the marine supply store for rubber gloves and a knife and then it was back to the boat. This is where we started to try to find out what the deal was with Bruce and the jigs that were shipped up here last year.

This is where the day was thrown off track and didn’t get a chance to get corrected. The deal is last year some new hooks were ordered and shipped to Art’s friend Bruce’s house. Bruce lives on the island year round and his address was used to ship the hooks to. If all went according to plan the hooks were arrive in time to be used on last year’s trip. The problem is they didn’t arrive on time and the trip ended before they could be put to use. Then they sat in Bruce’s house for a year so that when the return trip was made this year they could be put to use. That sounds well enough but we couldn’t connect with Bruce to get the hooks. I think he was out on his boat fishing/working. After many phone calls and juggling we connected with Bruce and made a trip to his house to pick up the hooks. A quick stop at another marine supply store and we had the remaining rubber parts needed so we could make new jigs to use today.

The departure from the harbor didn’t happen until about 1:00 this afternoon at which point we motored in a different direction than yesterday and went to a cove to drop two crab pots. Once the pots were in the water we headed back across the cove, past the harbor and out to our fishing grounds. We did manage to get in three or four hours of fishing but didn’t get much of a haul of fish. The wind was blowing, the seas were about 2-4 feet and as soon as we would drop our lines the boat would begin drifting. Most of the time we would drift far enough in 15-20 minutes that boat would need to be positioned back on top of where we thought the fish were according to the sonar. After moving a half dozen times and fishing for about 4 hours we decided to head back in.

As we did the other night we cleaned everything, the tackle, the gear, the boat, the dishes, and the fish, everything was cleaned. Since we didn’t make it back to the dock until 8, the fish cleaning didn’t finish until about 10 and by then we were dead beat. Dinner tonight was Art making sushi rolls out of the Yellow Eye Rock Fish from yesterday. Now it is about 12:30 and the boat is down for the night and I will head to la la land myself in about 10 minutes. We plan to be out of the harbor at about 7 or 8 am on Thursday so we can get in a whole day of solid fishing. I’ll keep my fingers crossed on that plan.

The picture for today is the view from right out the back of the boat when we’re in the harbor.
That is all for now.

Right on.

J

Doug’s Plug: www.CameraLandNY.com.

Monday was spent mostly getting everybody on board, the boat situated and Tuesday was the first day of fishing. Over night the harbor emptied out of about half of the commercial fishing boats as there was work to be done and fish to be caught by those that live and work here. Those of us that are fishing for pleasure were leaving the harbor in dribs and drabs but we were getting out.

Fog covered most of everything in the channel betweenthe harbor and open water Chris has been in and out of the harbor enough times to navigate the Emerald Rose out into the open ocean. The new GPS navigation toy was doing its job and about an hour later we were on the top of the fishing grounds that Chris had decided on before coming to AK. A few quick lessons on how to work the rod and reel and we were fishing. The technique we were using is jigging which is letting the lead head jigs ( lure for those non fishers out there ) drop to the bottom and back them off just a little. Bouncing the rod in short jerks makes the jig come to life and hopefully look like lunch for a large fish.

Chris caught the first fish, I caught the second and third and it was off to the races after that. The picture posted is of me holding a Yellow Eye Rock Fish that Art estimated it to be 90+ years old and it came in at 27lbs. Everybody pulled at least one fish onto the boat and some caught multiple. Many hours and a couple of dozen fish later we were done. The 50 gallon trash can we were using to hold the fish was full with Lingcod, Yellow eye rock fish and Halibut all caught with jigs and a small amount of “butt juice”. To add insult to injury we nearly filled the 150 quart cooler as well. By the end of the day most of us tired out and the fishing finally ended at about around 4:00. Chris drove the boat home and we were back in the harbor after about an hour of motoring back.

Next was the cleaning, and we cleaned everything, the boat, rods, reels, fish, cooler, our gear, you name it we cleaned it. With the fish cleaned, and the boat back to order we headed to the dock for dinner at a local restaurant called Henry’s. Last trip of the night was the walk back to the boat and then it was light out.

That is all for Tuesday, I’m not sure what Wednesday will bring. More to come on Wednesday.

Right on.

J

Doug’s plug: www.cameralndny.com

By the way majority of the pictures I'm posting were taken with an Olympus Stylus 850 which has been a great camera. Waterproof as you can take pic's under water, shock and shatter proof. I might be upgrading around Christmas. Call 212 753 5128, ask for Woj and tell him Alaska sent you. He'll know what that means. Good luck.

July 19 (Day 1)
What a monster of a trip. I left Knoxville at noon on Sunday for a 6 pm flight to Phoenix out of Atlanta. The next leg was Phoenix to Anchorage and then after 6 hours of layover it was Anchorage to Kodiak.
Once on Kodiak I needed to track down Art, who I’d recognize by the sweatshirt that Doug had made up for all of us. Finding Art was pretty easy as the airport terminal gate is about the size of a small gas station mini mart. I’d been up for approx 24 hours with limited sleep sprinkled in so the first order of the day was to get coffee and then some breakfast. Art and I made a side trip in their blue, 9 passenger van to gather our gear that had been delivered days earlier and then it was back to the boat. After a short nap and change of clothes we were headed off to do some inland fishing.
My firs fishing experience on Kodiak was fly fishing and I have to say throwing the line was much easier than I thought. I think it had something to do with how they had my line setup but I wasn’t going to argue, I was actually casting a fly rod. I didn’t catch anything but managed to enjoy myself any way. Our first interaction with the Kodiak wildlife was a huge deposit from a local brown bear. It looked like something a horse would have left, it was so huge. Later in the day the bear decided to make another appearance while we were walking upstream to head home for the day. Yes, we were walking (in our waders) up the stream and the bear was walking downstream. We went to one side, the bear to the other and that was about it, we did take pictures taken and I’ll get those posted as quickly as possible. So our score from the fishing trip was Riley (Art’s son) caught one fish that was worth keeping and we saw a bear. Not bad for the first day in my book.
After a quick drink and some fries at a local restaurant, we hit the airport to pick up the other trip participants, Doug, Chris and Vinny. Then it was back to the boat to start the unpacking process and get some organization to our mess now that our gear has multiplied. Last chore for the day was to visit Wal Mart for fishing licenses and some groceries with the remainder of the groceries to be picked up at the local Safeway.
We’re all pretty beat so that’s all for now as it has been a long day for everybody. I’ll get some pictures of the bear up tomorrow. If the weather permits we should be on the open ocean fishing most of the day on Tuesday.

July 15, ( T-3 days)

The big day is getting closer and closer and now it feels like this trip is actually going to happen. It has been kind of this thing that was going to happen but other than a lot of talk ( and writing ) there wasn't much else going on. Now it's quite the opposite with lots of stuff going on and I'm ready to get this show on the road.

Here's where we are at the moment, my stuff has arrived in Kodiak, Art (the boat owner) is on the island and getting the Emerald Rose ready for our trip. What that means I don't know and can only speculate as I've been told one year it was still in dry dock when the guys arrived. A day was spent installing the drive shaft and putting the boat back int he water. Nice story or the truth, not sure and I won't be able to confirm it until I'm on the island in a few days. Doug and the guys should be heading to JFK or La Guardia on Sunday to fly all the way to Alaska. While they're flying I'm driving to Atlanta to start my hop, skip and plane jump or two to finally arrive in Kodiak.


In one of my earlier entries I talked about bringing my GPS for some entertainment on the boat. I thought it would be kind of cool to see how it navigated in the middle of the ocean. I guess I've been trumped by Doug's bigger and better GPS with Ocean charts, maps of the entire world, a XM radio and small inflatable boat if we really need help. I'll have to share how cool the toy really is but if the fact that it was about three times the cost of mine has anything to do with its capabilities I'm expecting it to make breakfast if asked.

I'm also experimenting with the picture posting capabilities of this blog so I'm adding a picture for the first time. The picture of the embroidered fish is on the shirt, sweatshirt, hat and denim shirt Doug had made up. Let me know what you think.

That's all for now. I'm running out of ideas on what to type so if you've got questions or ideas for topics, please use the "add comment button' on the bottom of the page to send me a note.

July 9Th (T-9 Days)

Stuff to take and stuff not to take, that is the question. Obviously I'll need jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, socks and all that junk one needs to get dressed and stay warm when on a boat. The question I have is what about the toys I need to bring. The GPS, a cell phone, binoculars, a leather man tool, Ipod and any other thing I could need or not need. This is an opportunity to use all the cool tools I've been collecting over the years, thinking I'd go camping or something similar. Now I've got a chance to actually use all that stuff. Who knows maybe the Loran (GPS for boats) breaks and my lowly Garmin will save the day. The engine could blow a head gasket and I could use the Letatherman tool to make a new one out of a wetsuit. There is huge potential here for me to bring the right tool to do the right thing to save the day..... Yeah right, who am I kidding.

Here is some of the swag I'll bring and maybe I'll use it or maybe it will just be dead weight. The blackberry is coming as it will do double or triple duty as a phone, quick camera, game boy, Ipod, or send the odd email during the insanely long flights. I've got a couple of knives to bring, one straight edge and one serrated. I don't know two different blades but now is the chance to find out if there really is a reason for each to exist. A small flashlight as I've got a feeling I don't want to wander the dock at night without knowing where the edge is and where the water begins. I'll be bringing a digital camera (Nikon Cool Pix) so I can snap a quick shot of our daily mistake or triumph. Lastly a waterproof digital watch that has a light or is back lit. This is actually the one item that was suggested to me by a friend who has been on a trip of this sort to Alaska. My buddy Bernie mentioned there will be a time when everybody is asleep and I'll need to check the time or use a small light to find my way around the boat (bathroom break) where a flashlight will be too much. The suggestion was to get a cheap watch at Wal_Mart that I won't worry about if it gets trashed, but has a good light to it.

That's it for this posting, I really need to get to packing my clothes, all my toys and ship the goods off.

Right on.
J

don't forget, www.CameraLandNJ.com

July 6 ( T - 12 days )

The 4th of July weekend has passed and it is time to get ready for the big trip. I spoke with Doug today about shipping our gear and junk to AK and I need to get on the ball. I guess the fog can roll in pretty quick and prevent deliveries so the farther ahead I can send my stuff the better. I hope to ship most of my clothing so all I've got to travel with is my laptop and an extra pair of boxers. The weather links have it cooler than I thought so it is going to be more jeans and sweatshirts (thanks to Doug I'm covered on that subject) than shorts and t-shirts. A current low of 41 and high of 51 degrees is not anywhere near the current 94 degrees it is in Knoxville so its going to be cold.

I've found out that in past years the boat needed some work to get it sea worthy so I might pack the trusty leatherman tool, not like that is going to do much but it makes my inner MacGyver feel better. Fishing gear and tackle is being provided by those on the trip that have more than me and some to share. I'm also borrowing a set of foul weather gear so I can try to stay dry while fishing. I don't think we're talking massive waves like on the "Deadliest Catch" tv show but who knows...... I certainly don't have a clue.

The roster for this years trip is the following: Art, boat owner, captain and all around boss. If he says it then it's the law. It is his boat after all. Riley is Art's son and second in command as if he says it then his father probably told him to. Doug, mastermind behind the annual trip and the only person I could choose out of a police line up, not that we'll be in one but he's the only person I know. Chris, a friend of Doug's and I think he's been on this trip in the past. Year 2, 3 and 4, I've got no idea but not a rookie like myself. Vinny, fishing friend of Doug's and again I have no idea of how many other trips he's been on but it is more than me. Lastly there is me and if you can't figure it out by this paragraph, I've got no idea who these people are and how many times they've been on this trip. I'll let you know more when I get to Alaska and can't turn back.

That's it for today's posting. If you've got comments and want to add something, there should be a link at the bottom of the posting for you to use. I'm going to try to start adding pictures so you can see my stuff, such as the smoking sweatshirt I received as part of my experience. More to come....

Right on.
J

again my favorite link, www.cameralandny.com

July 4, 2010
(T-14 days)
It’s been about a week or so since my last post and not much has transpired on the trip. I’ve been a little busy with work travel so I have not had much extra time to post to the blog.

My trip to Kodiak Island is a bit here there and everywhere so I’ll attempt to bore you with my itinerary: Start in Knoxville on Sunday July 18th at approx noon and drive to Atlanta airport (4 hours).

Fly from Atlanta GA to Phoenix AZ, 4 hour flight with a 50 minute layover until next flight.

Fly from Phoenix AZ to Anchorage AK, 5 hour flight and arrive at Midnight on the 18th.

Fly from Anchorage AK to Kodiak Island AK, 1 hour jump (yeah for a short flight) and arrive as some insane early hour of the day on July 19th.

Once in Kodiak I’ll probably walk to the harbor and wander the docks until I find the boat I’m on. The name of the boat and length of walk escape me and by the time I get there I’ll be running on caffeine, sugar and airplane sleep, so the walk and search might do me some good. Of course the part of the trip from the Kodiak airport to the boat can be planned out by my buddy Doug but at this moment I’m not so sure so I’m expecting to walk. It’s either walk, more walking, or even more walking, or catch a taxi, if they exist on the island again not so sure of what to expect.

That’s all I’ve got for now, stay tuned for more rambling blog to come, when time permits.

Right on.
J

I can't forget a plug for my favorite camera shop: www.CameraLandNY.com