Ten days on the boat out of Juneau, our annual family trip fishing in Alaska is complete. This summer it was an all family affair… My mother and father, my brother and his wife, and their grandson Andre. Add Deb and myself for a total of seven aboard the Nordic Quest for ten days of fishing and exploring. The plan was to head south of Juneau, down Stephen’s Passage for the Frederick Sound area.
First stop was Taku Harbor for the night with the following day spent attempting to fish salmon in Stephen’s Passage. A pretty day, but no fish. The only luck we had was a single crab in one of the pots left overnight in Taku.
An afternoon spend fishing Halibut was rewarding as well, plenty of fish landed along with one hundred pound specimen caught by Andre. A halibut that big can not be gaffed and simply lifted into the cooler. Instead I harpooned the fish off the swim deck. My first harpoon shot was a bit off, hitting low, a second was much better, right through the spine behind the gills. Good this too, the fish promptly broke the steel leader. Two harpoon lines attached insured this fish was headed for the freezer.
To our surprise we were skunked on salmon this year. The silvers were a bit later than usual, not yet in the inside waters we were fishing and not yet in the streams. We put down salmon rigs several times and failed to land a single legal fish… Salmon that is. We did pick up one small halibut on a salmon pole. That fish was out of the water mere minutes before being filleted and placed in a frying pan… A halibut taco lunch with fish about as fresh as possible.
A night spent in Sanborn Canal allowed another kayak expedition into a small river. Using the high tide Andre and I rowed two miles upstream through the tide-flats of the river. Again there were no fish, and no bears fishing the stream. A close looks at a pretty river in a very wild place was our reward. Add the mile it took to get from our anchored boat to the river mouth and a couple more miles up the river we did six miles round trip, a nice morning paddle.
Unfortunately the salmon had not yet arrived in the stream, thus we were unable to watch the bears fishing. It looked to be a quiet visit, with only a few bears seen, and not that close. It was also a wet visit, with steady rain threatening to soak the camera gear. We were somewhat disappointed after the effort it took to get here.
Returning to the tide flats changed the story. A large female brought her two cubs by to see the humans. We were treated to perfect viewing of a large sow and two utterly cute cubs as close as 25 yards. Close enough that the 400mm lens was too much and had to be zoomed back. The encounter made the day for us, the hours in the rain and soaked clothing totally worth it.
Tired and with freezers full of fish we stopped in Taku Harbor. Not due into Juneau until the following day we elected to spend the entire day and night in a harbor that is usually a quick stopover. Taku is an excellent harbor, offering two state floats for mooring. We have stopped here so many times, a favorite place to spend a night when leaving or returning to Juneau.
Overlooking the eastern float are the ruins of a large cannery, the main building is gone, only a forest of pilings shows where it once stood. Remaining are number of auxiliary buildings and scattered equipment that tell a tale of a long history. A few cabins line the shoreline, some abandoned, other in good repair. A USFS cabin is available for rent just down the shore from the dock.
Following the pipe I pushed through the brush back to the cannery ruins. It was a bit of a slog, threading my way through thickets of huckleberry, devil’s club and skunk cabbage. Devil’s club was avoided for the spines, the skunk cabbage betrayed marshy ground, that left huckleberry. I made an observation here… Huckleberry without ripe berries is simply wet… Very wet.
The real surprise was a steam engine in the woods behind the cannery. Pushing my way through the bush I looked up to see a ten foot diameter steel flywheel sitting on its mount. The cylinder is still there, the piston and crank are gone. Scattered piping and other parts remain, but little else. Here it sits, covered with moss and with a spruce tree growing through the wheel.
While I hiked, my mother paddled the bay in her kayak. The others played cards or rested. Andre joined me for the second hike around much of the shoreline, a pleasant hike with a good deal more sunshine as the morning’s clouds parted for a bit. After the hike I collected the GoPro camera that had been setup to timelapse the impressive Alaskan tides.
Returning to Juneau we completed the usual routine. Dividing the fish into the coolers, shuttling folks to the airport and cleaning the boat. The end of a family trip is always melancholy,
Hey Andrew,
Thanks a bunch for sharing your annual trip. We sure missed you here, but was glad to here that you and Deb had well deserved time off. Can we have a slide show at one of our WHACO meetings?
We would love to see them. Especially us peoples stuck on da island,
Welcome back
Alohas
Dan
Andrew! It is always a joy to see the videos and photos that you and Deb take. Makes me yearn to go back! Sweet wild country! Loved the bears! Jody