Went fishing with Joe last Sat. We no sooner anchored on the 'buts' when his motor conked out, and could not be restarted. We started fishing and caught a load of P-cod, often double-headers. 4 yr old grandson enjoyed reeling them in. Most were 12-15 lb. Joe radioed for help from his friends and they came out and rescued us CG style. All in all, a great time.

We flew home Sunday, and are now back to the grind of daily life...

We went out last night. The cohos did not cooperate, but I got an undersized king, about 3 lbs, (released) and a 4 lb red (sockeye) (in the freezer).

We were treated by the whales to an extraordinary bubble-netting feeding frenzy. It was an awesome display. As we left to come in, they began breaching all around us. We did see someone camped on an island, not much of a site. For anyone contemplating a camping trip on the ocean, bearing in mind, that when you find a sandy beach that looks great, you will find water in the basement at high tide.

It is looking like I will bring home some coolers of fish at the end of our trip. We fly home Sunday. Hoping to get out with Joe one more time on Saturday. Looking to get out this week for more chum (great for smoking). More later.

We were on an Alaska cruise 3 weeks ago and on a whale watch were treated to a pod of 11 humpbacks bubble net feeding.  Absolutely amazing site!  We definitely want to get back to Alaksa.

Going out with Joe for silvers (coho) tonight!

We went out fishing with Joe last Saturday. Fantastic, blue sky day, almost unheard of in Juneau. We fished Chatham Strait for 'buts', and we found them. SIL caught a 55 lber, shortly after we started. We had 4 yr old grandson with us, and we would put the rod in the rod holder and let him crank in the fish after we had them well hooked and part way up. That was a hoot! He caught all of the bait, and the cod and chickens. We caught 7 'chickens' (15-25 lb 'buts). After SIL caught his hawg, I joked that I would top him by a pound. About an hour or so after he got his, of course, I got one that was 56.5 lbs. In addition to 9 'buts, we got 4 P-cod, so, all in all, a great six hours of fishing.

While we were fishing, we were treated to watching whales feed, and many eagles. We also saw porpoises, and a possible Orca (killer).

It was an amazing day. I asked Joe about 'bubble-netting' a feeding technique unique to AK whales. He said that they think it's dependant on feed. They do it if they need to, but not all the time.

Took a break from fishing yesterday to revisit Mendenhall. Saw the 'Inukshuk Garden', which is often missed by run-of-the mill tourists. Also, got to see Mendenhall and Nugget Falls from the other side of the lake, which is also often missed by tourists on a schedule. We had the grandkids with us, and they enjoyed playing in the sand while we walked around and took pics.

More, as time permits...

Old Salt wrote on Jul 20^th, 2012 at 10:18pm:

I remember it being a little bumpy on the cruise ship one night while running the passage.  The next morning the staff announced that we'd be running through some 17 foot swells.  It would be interesting to see how someone would yak that.

dd

Last night, we (SIL & I), went with an internet friend, 'Joe' on a nice boat ride to do some whale watching and fishing. We were out about 3 hours in the Lynn Canal and saw lots of whales breaching and fished for about an hour or so. In that time, I caught a couple small 'buts' and we caught a boatload of P-cod.

As for canoeing/yaking the Inside Passage, that is the thought I had 8 years ago when we did a cruise. I think it would be almost mandatory to wear a wetsuit, and to be skilled in self-rescue, and, of course, to always wear the PFD. The water temps are in the high 30's-low 40's in the summer. The fishing boats, cruise ships, etc show no mercy if they see a canoe/yak, and the wake can easily swamp such a vessel.

We saw several lighthouses and ship wrecks of yesteryear while we were out. Lots of fun!

Tomorrow, we go out again, and are looking forward to some nicer halibut. The scenery up here is simply spectacular! Lots of glaciers and snowcapped peaks. 'Joe' is trying to convince me to move up here so he can take me fishing more. Wish I could.

As for a canoe trip, yes, it would be lots of fun and no portages. The fishing is fantastic, but you'll have to figure out how to boat the 'buts'. A 50 lber would not fit in a canoe. You would have to shoot it in the water, and tie it up alongside, and then the weight might roll you. Those would be fun problems to solve, and could probably be a whole 'nother thread. We saw thousands of chums running and jumping all over the place. The commercial fisherman figure every jump equals 500 salmon, so what we saw was several 100,000's. We were fishing a ridge about 190-200' deep, but the water gets easily into 1000s of feet deep.

More later. I'll try to post a few pics later...

I was just in AK...well it was one of those Cruise ships, we stopped in Juneau. I wondered what it would be like to paddle, if the ships, seaplanes and boat traffic would make it a hassle. We did a sea kayaking excursion in Ketchikan, no glaciers, but ran in to a solo expedition kayaker on his way to Skagway....that got me dreaming about a new adventure, to my wifes dismay.

Lucky you. Next time (if there is a next time) I want to skip the cruise ship and just go to AK for the outdoor adventure.

Mendenhall Lake is freshwater, not salt. He was kayaking with two other family members, when calving flipped all their kayaks. They had ignored warnings to stay away. The other two were able to self-rescue, but he could not. They were passengers on one of the cruiseships.

Yes, silt is heavier than water, but with currents, it remains suspended. If any of you have visited AK, you know that many of the rivers are loaded with silt, and one of the effects is that you cannot see below the surface. The near shore saltwater around here is also loaded with silt, which is part of what makes paddling a 15' crab canoe challenging. Another challenge is having my 4 yr old grandson along for the ride.

Magicpaddler wrote on Jul 19^th, 2012 at 12:04pm:

While Mendenhall wasn't calving while I was there, I did see calving in College Fjord (further north).  We were treated to a spectacular event (not even witnessed by the park staff/pilot, who boarded ship to help us navigate, in the five years they had been doing the job).  The glacier was pumping out chunks of ice as large as multi-story office buildings.  Needless to say, the waves produced (some in the 6-10 foot scale) were loaded with chunks of ice the size or refrigerators and cars (and larger).  The silt close to the glazier was more the consistency of thick mud that water.  I'm guessing there are places where it comes closer to the consistency of wet concrete.  These are NOT the place for small craft, as the wave action was able to gently move our cruise ship.  I did notice mud being kicked up off the bottom as the ship props put us back "on station," which was some distance from the glacier's face.  Amazing and awesome sight!

BTW:  Mendenhall is a bit inland so you can walk up to "near" the glacial face, so there are no large craft in the water there.  I took a local bus out to the glacier.  The chatty bus driver related that since Juneau has no roads to the outside world, there are only three ways to get there ... "air, ship canal or birth canal."  Looks like Old Salt's clan is using option #3 to expand the family.

dd