Day 70 of Our RV Journey to Canada & Alaska 7/21/14 - Salmon Fishing is What We Did Today

Jesse, Bob and I left at 9:25 am to go get our fishing license.  We bought a 1 day license as we have our day planned tomorrow to do something else so we won't be fishing.  We got to our fishing spot and Bob had a fish and lost it on the first cast.  On his second cast, he caught a fish.  This was before I even got to the rocky bank where we were going to fish.  I thought to myself, "this is going to be a good day".

I found my spot to fish and might have cast & gotten my line out and Jesse caught one.  I kept casting & reeling it in, casting & reeling it in, casting & reeling it in, casting & reeling it in, (and on and on).  Everyone around me was catching fish BUT ME.

Jesse lost his supply of lures so he took off to the store to get more.  While he was gone, Bob's stringer with his 5 salmon he caught somehow got loose and away before he realized it.  He heard a  big splash and looked to see what it was, and realized it was his stringer of fish. Limit is 6 salmon.  So now, Bob's got zero (0) salmon.

I cast and lost the lure in mid air.  Luckily, we had more.  Bob got me fixed up with a new lure.  So I cast & reeled it in & took the sea weed off, cast & reeled it in and took the sea weed off, cast & reeled it in & took the sea weed off,....I know I did this same thing a million times.  The guy next to me told me if I felt any resistance to yank on the rod like I was setting the hook...he said that was what he was doing and most of the time it was just sea weed but sometimes it was a salmon.

Okay, so I try that, and after a few casting & reeling it in & taking off the sea weed, I finally had a salmon and landed it.  Jesse was still gone, so Bob put my fish on Jesse's stringer.

Janet with her salmon.

Bob called Jesse to tell him to get a couple more stringers while he's at the store.

I continue to cast & reel it in & take the sea weed off, cast & reel it in & take the sea weed off.  All the time  we were fishing the water level was getting lower, as we got there probably right at high tide.

Jesse gets back and we all continue to fish.  We were all catching sea weed...and no fish.  We decided that it was probably too shallow now that the water level had become a lot lower so we decided to quit and go back before high tide tonight.

Jesse with his morning
 catch of 2 pink salmon.

Sorry, but no picture of Bob......hated to take his picture & post it with a new "empty" stringer....it would probably embarrass him.

Score this morning was:  Bob 0
                                     Jesse 2
                                     Janet 1

The entire time we were fishing, which was 2 1/2 - 3 hours, there was a group of sea lions all together in the  middle of the bay.  They just stayed there the entire time, and every once in a while we would hear their loud noise they make.  I zoomed in the picture and I counted 10-11 sea lions congregating there.   Here's a picture of them:

Thinking they were having a long meeting

about how they were going to 

gang up on the salmon tonight

at high tide.

Today after we got back from fishing, I was cleaning up our lunch dishes and I just looked up out the door because a dog had barked.  It was a black dog and I noticed another black dog not far behind him.  I got looking and thought that it looked more like a black bear.  I looked a little closer and it was a black bear.  Bob and I both grabbed a camera and ran out of our RV to get a picture.  It was in a grassy area right across the road from our camper.

I fixed dinner tonight for the four of us.  At 8:00 pm we went fishing again since it was close to high tide. We stayed a little over two hours and none of us got a bite.  We took a look to see how many fish was at the weir.  It seemed to me it was even more than last night.  There were several seal lions and some seals there and a lot of sea gulls.  

 

After fishing, and on way back to the campground today, we drove to the 'original Valdez townsite'.  Old Town Valdez was wiped out by the tsunami caused by the Good Friday earthquake in 1964 (March 27).

Thirty-three people that was standing on the harbor dock waiting for a ship to come in, lost their lives.   There is a memorial near the sight.   Though much damage was sustained, only the waterfront was destroyed

Prince William Sound, right off the Valdez Arm was the center of the earthquake which measured 9.2 on the Richter Scale.

Misc. $13.00 Cab/

jl