Ninilchik, AK
While here in Alaska I am staying with my friend Darby Lefler and his wife Emily. Darby graduated from my dental school a couple of years ago and is a Pediatric Resident here in Anchorage in the program that I am working with this summer. The work has been a lot of fun and I have been learning a lot about dentistry as I have been seeing patients during my 10 hour shifts Monday through Friday at the hospital.
(I put that little blurb in because I have been accused by a lot of people that I should be working and going to school instead of playing...)
So when you work hard you also have to play hard! Last weekend Darby and I headed over to the Kenai Peninsula to meet to head out onto Cook Inlet for a salmon/halibut combo trip. We met our guide in the Safeway parking lot after a little mix up (he thought we had canceled) and took off for the ocean with his 16 ft aluminum boat in tow. We launched on the beach in Ninilchik using a tractor that dropped us off in the water.
First on the agenda was to see if we could land ourselves a King salmon. I've caught plenty of Silvers back in the day but I've only landed one Jack about 15 years ago, so my main goal this summer was to catch my first big King. Well....unfortunately Sunday wasn't the day. I was able to hook into three but each time I'd pick up my rod from the holder it was the signal to them to spit my hook back out towards me. Darby on the other hand was able to hook and land both that he hooked into. The fist was just barely longer than the limit so he opted to release it in hopes of a bigger fish....which he ended up landing about an hour later.
After the tide change it was off to look for halibut, which turned out to be cooperating much better. During a couple stretches in the afternoon we were catching a fish pretty much within the first 10 seconds of the bait hitting bottom. they weren't big fish by any means but still a lot of fun and work to bring up from the bottom. I'd say that we landing about 50 or so and kept releasing them in hopes of hooking into the bigger boys that are known to be lurking. Unfortunately we didn't find them that day but still had a blast and were able to bring hope some meat for the freezer.
Oh yeah, and the scenery around here isn't too bad either....
I'm still really wanting to hook into a big King this summer and am hearing reports that they are starting to slowly trickle into the rivers around here and the runs should be getting good in some of them during the next week or two. Hopefully I'll have some good pics and stories to share Memorial Day weekend. I have 5 days off in a row to do some exploring and fishing :)
(I put that little blurb in because I have been accused by a lot of people that I should be working and going to school instead of playing...)
So when you work hard you also have to play hard! Last weekend Darby and I headed over to the Kenai Peninsula to meet to head out onto Cook Inlet for a salmon/halibut combo trip. We met our guide in the Safeway parking lot after a little mix up (he thought we had canceled) and took off for the ocean with his 16 ft aluminum boat in tow. We launched on the beach in Ninilchik using a tractor that dropped us off in the water.
First on the agenda was to see if we could land ourselves a King salmon. I've caught plenty of Silvers back in the day but I've only landed one Jack about 15 years ago, so my main goal this summer was to catch my first big King. Well....unfortunately Sunday wasn't the day. I was able to hook into three but each time I'd pick up my rod from the holder it was the signal to them to spit my hook back out towards me. Darby on the other hand was able to hook and land both that he hooked into. The fist was just barely longer than the limit so he opted to release it in hopes of a bigger fish....which he ended up landing about an hour later.
After the tide change it was off to look for halibut, which turned out to be cooperating much better. During a couple stretches in the afternoon we were catching a fish pretty much within the first 10 seconds of the bait hitting bottom. they weren't big fish by any means but still a lot of fun and work to bring up from the bottom. I'd say that we landing about 50 or so and kept releasing them in hopes of hooking into the bigger boys that are known to be lurking. Unfortunately we didn't find them that day but still had a blast and were able to bring hope some meat for the freezer.
Oh yeah, and the scenery around here isn't too bad either....
I'm still really wanting to hook into a big King this summer and am hearing reports that they are starting to slowly trickle into the rivers around here and the runs should be getting good in some of them during the next week or two. Hopefully I'll have some good pics and stories to share Memorial Day weekend. I have 5 days off in a row to do some exploring and fishing :)
Still waiting to hear about a filling or cavity or other dental speak from this little vacay!
ReplyDeleteWow those fish are huge! I am impressed you fit all these sightseeing and Rob-like activities in with these so called 10 hour work days you put in 5x/wk :)
ReplyDeleteI do have Saturdays and Sundays ;) Next week will be even better since I did take some time off...will have 5 days to play over Memorial day.
ReplyDelete