Valdez Halibut Fishing Trip
(Summer of 2002)
During the summer of 2003 while building the house in Fairbanks (Project Bluegrass), dad, Dale, Mike and I took some time off for a fishing trip down to Prince William Sound to fish for halibut. Here are a few of the pictures from the second trip down.
The boat was launched in Valdez. Here we have just finished fueling the boat and are pulling out of the harbor into Prince William Sound.
Captain Hud readies the crew for the fishing. His short educational talk about how to fish for halibut consisted of this.

"Everyman for himself because I don't know what the hell I'm doing."
Dale catches his halbut but after about 30 minutes of fighting he complains about his back getting sore. After another 15 minutes, give or take, he lands his fish without help.
Dad takes some time to cut one of the red snappers he caught. We ate this one for dinner that night while anchored up in Jackson Bay on Glacier Island.

Click the photo above to see the two halibut we caught on this trip. It was quit a chore to get these babies lefted over the side of the boat. Next time we decided we're just going to drag skip them back to the harbor.
The catch was 2 in two days. 175 lbs and 180 lbs. Dales was bigger. But...mine fought harder. Ya..right.
On the way home we stopped off at Groves campground on the Klutina River. A short hike down through the trees and brush put us on the Copper River where we all caught kings. Here, Dale shows off one of his bigger king salmons.

Click on the photo above to see Dale's other king.
Dad proves once again that he is still the master fisherman he was 20 years ago. These kings were all caught on lures. No snagging, no eggs or live bait was allowed.
On the way home, dad and I take a minute to over look the Copper River with Mt. Drum in the background.