Fishing tackle in Craig

July 12, 2007
Time: 1000 Hrs 980.8
Humidity: 65% Temp 20 C Low lying fog, clear sky, no wind.
Lv: Craig
Course: Klawock Inlet > Ulloa Channel > Tlevak Strait > Dunbar Inlet
We are heading south down the west side of Prince of Whales Island. It will take us two days of travel to get to the southern tip of the island. So tonight we will find a quiet anchorage and try our luck at some fishing or crabbing again. I got some more advice on how to catch a halibut… we’ll give it a try and see what happens.
We stop to wait for the tide to turn just before Tlevak Narrows. With my new halibut hook, I put out the line, down to about 10 feet off the bottom. Within about 10 minutes, we have a fish on the line, it is a big one, he is pulling the hook under and around the boat, and I am having trouble reeling in because he is so big, and Jerry gets the net ready, and I am reeling hard trying to keep the line tight, and then the line goes slack! Okay, no problem… I have more bait, put out the line again, circle the boat around to the same spot, but this time all we catch is rock cod, three altogether. We get them cleaned and ready for the BBQ. But I am still mad about the one that got away.
Close to our anchorage, we put the crab trap down with a salmon head and some anchovies. Looks like a good place as there are lots of other traps (commercial fisherman). We are the only boat, there has been very little traffic on the water all day, and all of it was commercial fishermen.
Arv: Dunbar Inlet, Sukkwan Island, on the west side of Prince of Wales Island
Lat: 55 05.18 N
Lon: 132 50.05 W
Time: 1930
Trip: 32.4 nm Log: 3884.6 nm