Poor mans AK adventure or, captain license blog, the sequel

welll, I got back home yesterday and allready can't wait to go back next summer. M & the kid flew up and the boss turned us loose for a few days of fishing in the ChillKat, it was great. M & kid flew out and I drove a boat back to Juneau. The boat ride was a super way to end the season, the weather was spectacular, whales where breaching all around as the sun was rising, totally awsome. It was blind luck that ended me up in one of the best operations in the area, not many of these outfits will pay the air fare from Juneau for familly, put them up, give you time off and a boat to fish plus send you home with about 150# of fish.

Fishing with the familly was great, one day we targeted chickens using light gear and jigs in Mud Bay and caught a bunch. A lot folks that are used to using pounds of lead and dropping down several hundred feet and don't much care for hallibut fishing change their tune after catching chickens on light salmon gear & a Point Wilson Dart in 60' of water. The next day we went out in the gulf and caught a nice limit of bigger Hallibut and a box load of black bass, ling, salmon and a huge skate.

I talked to the boss about a brat pack deal and he sounded pretty excited but never got back to me with some numbers, stay tuned

can't wait untill next summer, fishing out of Elfin Cove should be on every fishermens "must do" list, outside in the ocean, inside in protected waters, salmon, bass, hallibut, lings, whales thick as deer on a country road....amazing damn place
 
Ken,

Sounds like you had an AWESOME summer! I envy you! However, I don't know that I would want to be a guide as that would likely take my enjoyment out of the fishing. Hopefully I can join you up there next summer for a week or so. We'll have to see!

I used to love to Ski. At the tender age of 14 I started instructing at Crystal. By the time I was 24 I never wanted to see a pair of ski's again. And at that point I had skied over 400 days! I've only skied twice since then. The enjoyment is definitely gone.
 
thanks, it's good to be back in the city..but I can't wait to get back to the Cove.

I was giving the boat a good washing this morning in preparation for the opening of C-Dory season Tuesday and noticed some major structural issues. It seems that the damn thing has shrunk considerably and the electronics seemed much more aged.....hummmmm......honey, how many fun coupons do we have in the fun budget?
 
I hear you about burn out Gary, the neat thing about the fishing thing is that every day is different, the fishing, the guests....The kid & I where plotting an Ilwaco adventure for this weekend untill common sense got the better of us, so I guess I aint burned out yet :)

it would be cool to see some Brats up there next summer. Don & Dee where going to stop in this summer but life and my getting re-assigned to Pelican kind of screwed it up
 
Ken,

What were your thoughts on the ChilKat? Did you end up liking it? Or were the other boats in the fleet better?

Also, did you get a chance to do any time in the North River? I know a few people down here that just love their NR Offshores. I know I have really enjoyed my old NR Sled.

As I have been working on the 27' I am finding more and more how much I dislike the steps down into the cabin. I haven't even got it in the water yet!
 
end of season boat summary-

Little Hoquim- nice fishing boat, handled and rode a lot like a C-Dory. The new Suzukies that where powering it didn't make it through the season though. It seems that a cylinder block machining error led to their failure. Suzuki was to supply two new replacement engines but down time is not good.

Almar- drove like a sports car and handled big water nicely, it had a poor layout for fishing, small cockpit, hinged cabin door

ChillKat- I liked it, it ate up wind chop and made for an excellent fishing platform. On the bigger water, it would crash and bang and sound like the damn thing was breaking apart. The flat turns made one be very cautious for fear of throwing somebody overboard. One of the reasons I found out that they didn't order a new one was that they had a hard time getting that one done. They recieved it half way through last season after sending a crew over to help get it done. I guess their buying experience wasn't that pleasant...granted it was the first one that they built. The boat had twin 225hp yamahas and would burn about a gph very every knot, I noticed that about 18knts was about 18gph.....28knts= ~28gph. One thing I didn't care for was that it sat pretty heavy in the stern when fishing, it wouldn't be uncommon to have standing water at the back of the cockpit. But,I liked it and hope to get assigned to it next year

North Rivers- these are nice boats, well built but lack the restroom facilities and beam of the other boats. At the first of the season they where talking about getting rid of them, the last I heard they where going to get another 30 footer

Baja Cruisers- big heavy, yanmar powered cats provided a nice ride and decent fuel effeciency...rumor has it that they have a new outboard powered one in the works for next year

lots of Yamaha powered boats up there, the one NR was powered by a pair of mercury verados...wow those where quiet and powerfull, and the controls, wow, smooth

Raymarine seemed to be the most common set up for electronics with webasto and espar heaters keeping things warm

it sounds like they're adding a new Little Hoquim, Baja Cruiser and 30' North River for next year and getting rid of the smaller NR
 
Thanks for the synopsis! I'm surprised they ordered the Almar that way. Almar's are all custom made so they should have been able to customize it the way they wanted it. NR now owns Almar. So I believe the 30' North River is actually an Almar but done in a cookie cutter way. Where as you can custom design the Almar and in the process spend a bit more money.

When NR first came out with the 24' Offshore I wanted to get one. But I didn't want the OB, instead I wanted a Diesel pushing a Hamilton pump. To go that route I would have had to go through Almar and it would have been about $15K more than the NR with a 250HP Yamaha. Neither was going to fly with the better half so I nixed that idea.

I still much prefer a pump over a prop. Even though they are a little less efficient, they are far superior for docking IMHO. Plus the added benefit of low maintenance and you have a good package. I especially like the fact that you don't have the out-drive or lower unit sitting down in the water where a deadhead can rip it off!
 
Welcome back Ken.

Will you be making the Sequim gathering this year? It would be nice if you can and fill us in with more details on your Alaskan adventures.
________
Dave dlt.gif
 
thanks, it's good to be back. I'd like to make the Sequim thing, just have to wait and see how things shake out later in the month
 
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