Fishing in Alaska

Last night it was decided that we...Mark, CeeDee, Jim, Carla, Matt, Lonnie and I, the whole crew, would go out fishing for Halibut on Jim's boat today. It ended up raining all night and I wondered if we would still go but this morning it was still on. The chef here at Glacier Bay Country Inn packed us each a sack lunch and we (I, most everyone else already had some) went to the Inn's stash of rain geer and water proof boots and each of us outfitted ourselves. Then off we went to Glacier Bay National Park where their boat was docked.

Here I am in the boat waiting for the others to arrive. It was still raining a little off and on but when everyone arrive we all headed out to sea. As we traveled along we saw whale and sea otters. The water was real choppy and rough today and we were being bounced around in the boat quite a bit.

We finally arrive to where Jim and Mark thought we would have the best results fishing.
They then started setting up fishing poles for us. I was assigned a fishing pole and told what to look for if a fish decided to take a bite. The water was still very rough and choppy. After not to long of a time I got a bit and I started reeling it in. About the same time CeeDee also got a bite on her line. Sorry this picture is sideways, I couldn't figure out how to turn it.

It seemed like I was reeling in forever and I was afraid I was going to lose their fishing pole. It was decided that this was a pretty big fish so they quickly got CeeDee's fish in first and then about that time a third pole had a fish on it's line. That one they got in quickly and ended up letting it go because it was to small. I finally decided that I was going to need some help, so one of the guys took over for me. It actually took 2 of them to pull my halibut in. In this picture I look like I am smiling, which I might have been, but believe me I was struggling too.

Here I am with both of the fish we caught. Mine is the BIG one. It measured about 61' and weighted in approximately 127 lbs. It was so heavy that I couldn't hold it up. After we brought in these two we decided to head back in since the water was getting so rough and we had several in our group not feeling very well. After we got back to the dock Mark filet my fish for me. He was a real expert at it, probably because he has done it for so many of their guest this summer. Now hopefully I will be able to get it home.

Thanks Jim and Mark...I had a great time.