Camping and some fish

Friday ... for work I hiked 5 miles up Lemon Creek to one of our stream stations to install a remote sensor and an autosampler.  It was a great day for a hike.  On the way out I saw a medium sized black bear that was foraging on the trail.  I watched it from about 30 yards while it was eating, looking away from my direction.  After about 10 seconds it turned around, looked at me, and then bolted away.

Sampler and other equipment to carry for the hike

On friday after work we packed up the boat and left from North Douglas, heading toward Howard point.  It was very calm for the 20 mile or so run.

Sunset from our beach in Howard Bay

We made it to our camp site a bit before dark.  We made a nice fire and ate some hot dogs and dough boys.  Around 10:30 it finally got dark.  We decided to sleep on the boat and it worked out great.  Although we did have to deal with barking sea lions and gasps from humpback whales.

Today ... we woke up around 7a to a seal peeping out of the water next to the boat.  The weather was phenomenal!  Blue skies warm and calm seas.  At 9a we got our first King salmon of the season.  It was just barely the legal limit of 28 inches and weighed in just under 8 pounds.  I reeled him in while Hillary masterfully netted it.

8 pound King

After trolling for a long while longer we decided to try a little bit of bottom fishing on a large reef in the area.  We started in about 250 ft of water and drifted up into 130 ft.  A soon as Hillary got her line down 250 ft she had a big hit!  Now began the battle of reeling in a tugging fish from hundreds of feet down.  When it became visible she says, "Ahh, what is this?!" 

8 pound Yelloweye rockfish (Alaska Snapper)

The rockfish caught at that depth need to be kept because they will not survive after being released.  They have swim bladders and eye sockets that expand too much from the pressure change.  No worries, they are good eating anyways. 

I wanted a picture with this cool fish too!

We trolled a bit more after the Yelloweye catch, no more Kings, then headed back (about an hour and 15 min ride) to North Douglas, getting back around 430p.

 Big boat in front of big glaciers

Back home with our catch