I had to run my boat to Chenega for some work obligations last week. My longtime deckhand and captain Jeff asked if he and a couple of friends could catch a ride to Latouche Island for to do a little Alpine mountaineering while I was in town. Never one to discourage high adventure, I told him to get his people and load up the boat. They in turn spent a day and half bagging a couple of peaks and skiing deep, virgin powder where few ever had.
I did fish a number of spots both on the way over and back. Not giving any of them much time but enough to say with some certainty that there is not much life on the bottom in less than 300 feet of water. Not even many rockfish.... lots of barren pinnacles and rockpiles....I have seen this almost everytime I fish early like this...In 300 - 400 feet of water clouds of bait, tons of cod and some smaller halibut. We did anchor and put bait in the water for an hour or so on the way home and caught two small chickens and 30 cod. I gave the halibut to the others since I still have about 30 pounds in the freezer but I did bleed, ice then fillet and skin the cod.......
As much I have been a fish snob about cod in the past I have to say that last nights deep fried cod was some of the tastyest, lightest fish I have ever eaten. I never thought I would be one of those cod lovers but it was really better than halibut. The cod we kept were bright 3 - 8 pounders, no sores or visable worms. I kept the fish very cold and then when I skinned them I put them in the refridgerator and put a little lemon juice on them prior to cooking to firm up the meat. I looking forward to getting some more of the tastey fish!!
Thats all for now, I am not going to fish much again until later in May. Look for a report when I get back on the water again.
Happy Easter!
I did fish a number of spots both on the way over and back. Not giving any of them much time but enough to say with some certainty that there is not much life on the bottom in less than 300 feet of water. Not even many rockfish.... lots of barren pinnacles and rockpiles....I have seen this almost everytime I fish early like this...In 300 - 400 feet of water clouds of bait, tons of cod and some smaller halibut. We did anchor and put bait in the water for an hour or so on the way home and caught two small chickens and 30 cod. I gave the halibut to the others since I still have about 30 pounds in the freezer but I did bleed, ice then fillet and skin the cod.......
As much I have been a fish snob about cod in the past I have to say that last nights deep fried cod was some of the tastyest, lightest fish I have ever eaten. I never thought I would be one of those cod lovers but it was really better than halibut. The cod we kept were bright 3 - 8 pounders, no sores or visable worms. I kept the fish very cold and then when I skinned them I put them in the refridgerator and put a little lemon juice on them prior to cooking to firm up the meat. I looking forward to getting some more of the tastey fish!!
Thats all for now, I am not going to fish much again until later in May. Look for a report when I get back on the water again.
Happy Easter!
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