Fish Picasso would be proud of
I had a blast on Monday, riding high on strong coffee, the promise of 100+ lb halibut, and the warmth that comes from knowing I’m not the hungover one. Louis, John, and the TRL (“Tower Rock Lodge”, not “Total Request Live”) owners, Mike and Mark, laid the groundwork for our entire trip by getting silly drunk and staying up all night. I’m told they killed off a case of wine, and most of a bottle of really good whiskey. Part of me was actually pretty upset that I went to bed so early and missed the real party, but when the two of them crawled onto the halibut charter, white as ghosts later that day, I decided I’d made the right decision. Man, they were miserable.
And yet… the bastards still caught more than I did. The one halibut Lou caught was larger than the two I pulled in combined. I forget exactly how much John caught, but I know I only beat his total if you subtract out the vomit he donated back to the chilly waters of the Resurrection Bay. Dad beat us all by hooking a 100 pounder.
On the drive to and from Seward, we saw 9 moose, and umpteen bald eagles. While on the water, we saw sea lions and at least a half million gulls. Those things can poop like nobody’s business.
All of these pictures were taken by John’s camera, though not all by him. He’d passed out in the cabin for a bit, so I commandeered it and snapped a few since I’d forgotten my camera. Yeah, we were all on top of things this whole trip.
This is a shot of Seward that was actually taken after we got back in and everyone was a little more alert. It’s a good intro to the day though, so I’m starting off here. Just to the left of the photographer is where they weighed and cleaned the wheelbarrow of fish we hooked that day. Quaint, no? Good coffee, too.
This wasn’t posed, by the way. If it were, I’d have looked less pensive and I’d have sucked in my gut.
Dad caught this bugger and he was so big the cap’n actually had to shoot it with that mini-shotgun. The fish my dad catches are bigger than the fish your dad catches. Neener neener.
Right after dad hooked Gargantua the Halibut above, I swooped in and fought twice as long with this 20 pound beast. Hey, the water was cold – shrinkage is natural.
I love this pic.
And I love the next two pics. That’s a borrowed flannel John is wearing. He’d forgotten his jacket.
Again, Lou was a hurtin’ boy, wishing for merciful death… and he still caught a bigger fish than me.
Back in Seward, on mostly dry land, we got to be minor celebrities for a few minutes while they hung up and weighed our haul. A crowd actually gathered, snapped a few photos, and some even asked if they could pose for their own mementos. The 5th and 6th bad boys in the middle (not including us, that is) were caught by a couple of other tourists on our boat named Rena and Dick, but the rest are ours.
It was a long day, and we didn’t get back to camp until later on that evening. I drove back while the boys slept and dad and I talked about how we’d get the 105 pounds of subsequent halibut filet back to Buffalo. (There’s a meat processor up the road from our lodge – we had them freeze some, smoke some, vacuum pack the rest, and then ship it all back so we didn’t have to worry about checking it.)
Click here to read about how we fished for king salmon on Tuesday
And yet… the bastards still caught more than I did. The one halibut Lou caught was larger than the two I pulled in combined. I forget exactly how much John caught, but I know I only beat his total if you subtract out the vomit he donated back to the chilly waters of the Resurrection Bay. Dad beat us all by hooking a 100 pounder.
On the drive to and from Seward, we saw 9 moose, and umpteen bald eagles. While on the water, we saw sea lions and at least a half million gulls. Those things can poop like nobody’s business.
All of these pictures were taken by John’s camera, though not all by him. He’d passed out in the cabin for a bit, so I commandeered it and snapped a few since I’d forgotten my camera. Yeah, we were all on top of things this whole trip.
This is a shot of Seward that was actually taken after we got back in and everyone was a little more alert. It’s a good intro to the day though, so I’m starting off here. Just to the left of the photographer is where they weighed and cleaned the wheelbarrow of fish we hooked that day. Quaint, no? Good coffee, too.
This wasn’t posed, by the way. If it were, I’d have looked less pensive and I’d have sucked in my gut.
Dad caught this bugger and he was so big the cap’n actually had to shoot it with that mini-shotgun. The fish my dad catches are bigger than the fish your dad catches. Neener neener.
Right after dad hooked Gargantua the Halibut above, I swooped in and fought twice as long with this 20 pound beast. Hey, the water was cold – shrinkage is natural.
I love this pic.
And I love the next two pics. That’s a borrowed flannel John is wearing. He’d forgotten his jacket.
Again, Lou was a hurtin’ boy, wishing for merciful death… and he still caught a bigger fish than me.
Back in Seward, on mostly dry land, we got to be minor celebrities for a few minutes while they hung up and weighed our haul. A crowd actually gathered, snapped a few photos, and some even asked if they could pose for their own mementos. The 5th and 6th bad boys in the middle (not including us, that is) were caught by a couple of other tourists on our boat named Rena and Dick, but the rest are ours.
It was a long day, and we didn’t get back to camp until later on that evening. I drove back while the boys slept and dad and I talked about how we’d get the 105 pounds of subsequent halibut filet back to Buffalo. (There’s a meat processor up the road from our lodge – we had them freeze some, smoke some, vacuum pack the rest, and then ship it all back so we didn’t have to worry about checking it.)
Click here to read about how we fished for king salmon on Tuesday
posted by Mike Garvey at
10:59 PM
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