2015-11 The San Luis Obispo Cowboys Raid Sitka

Monday, July 6th, 2015
We had the exceptional group of San Luis Obispo cowboys crewing again this week.  Caballeros Vince, Marvin and Bob have crewed many times before, and enjoy fishing the wilds of Alaska.   This year they're here for 8 days or so to fish Sitka.  And the fishing has been supurb up to July 4th.  We hope it and the weather holds.

Great weather continues to saturate Sitka.

One change impacted the fishing on July 1st.  The Alaska Fish and Game reduced the yearly King Salmon limit for non-residents from six to three fish.  Looks like we fisherman were just too successful, early this year, so in order to preserve the King Salmon species, we were regulated back.

On Monday evening, the cowboys treated Alex to a great dinner at Sitka's famous Ludwig's Bistro.  We also enjoyed after dinner drinks and desserts at the Rio Room, just above Ludwig's.  The best in Sitka by far.

Tuesday, July 7th
We provisioned up and headed southward, in hopes of repeating our fishing successes at Whale Bay.  A short afternoon troll at Biorka then Legma Islands netted the first King for this crew, but it was a long-time coming, so we pushed on to the Bay.  The evening troll at Whale Bay netted a couple and we set the hook in Rakovi for the evening, just three in the box.

Wednesday, July 8th
The morning pace picked up a bit and by the end of Wednesday we had a nine and processed them. We dined on a salmon for dinner.  We've been fishing on the west and north sides of Krishka Island in Whale Bay which has been just fine.

Deer seem to be dining on Krishka Island kelp this year.

Chef Bob detailed the complete fresh salmon dinner.  It was epic-currean!

Thursday, July 9th
We had pretty good luck this morning, adding another five fish, but the problem started after lunch.  It's that sinking feeling you get when it happens and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

Look Out Below

We had anchored in our lunch spot in about 45 feet of water, inside Rakovi Bay.  As Alex went to haul the anchor and begin the afternoon fishing session, there was a "pop" sound, and the anchor chain began paying out at full speed.  Of course the inclination is to do something to stop it, but that's dangerous.  You don't do anything to stop a freight train, or an anchor chain.  Alex watched helplessly as all 400 feet feed out onto the ocean floor, except the chain stopped at the bitter end as the nylon braid tail-line stretched, but did not part.

The windless was broken, so any chain hauling would need to be performed like the old days..... by hand.  Luckily there were four of us mostly healthy men aboard who were just eager for an upper body workout.... at least that's what we told ourselves.  So it was "Yo, ho, heave ho, and a bottle of rum" as 400 feet of 3/8 inch chain, including a 120 pound anchor,  s_l_o_w_l_y  worked it's way to the surface.  After about 35 minutes of grunting, groaning and sweating, the anchor was aboard and stowed.  We continued fishing for a couple hours, then headed back to town for parts and repairs.

Yo, Ho, Heave Ho pooped out these cowboys!

Blogger Note:  After thorough examination of all cameras, cell phones and video cameras, no record of the face of Bob Silva can be found, and thus his facsimile was not included in this Blog post.