Fishing in Alaska
By Dave McDermott

It’s a Saturday morning, and I’m sitting at my desk dreaming about my fishing trips to Alaska. Yes, I love fishing, hunting, golf, water skiing, snow skiing, and scuba diving. My lovely wife says if I take up one more sport, she will take up target practice. I sure wish I knew what she means by that.

Back to Alaska.  I am very fortunate to travel to Petersburg, Alaska, three or four times a year for Salmon and Halibut fishing.  I should be there right now.  My dear friend has a place there, and a fantastic fishing boat (Xta -Sea) is harbored in Petersburg Harbor.  The town is on the Inland Passage of Alaska for those who don’t know where Petersburg is.  It is south of Juneau and north of Ketchikan. The city itself is located on Mitkof Island.  

It’s not necessarily just the fishing that draws me to Petersburg; it is also the beautiful scenery, rugged mountains, whales, sea lions, deer, and, of course, the impressive glaciers. You haven’t lived until you use glacial ice in a cocktail (yes, I have been known to have a cocktail on occasion). 
For those of you who love halibut, let me tell you what it is like to catch them. We fish upwards of 300 to 500 feet deep, using electric reels. We used to use manual reels, but one day, we wised up and bought electric reels because we decided to work smarter, not harder. It has nothing to do with the fact that we are in our mid-60s, wink, wink. Halibut love the bottom structure that provides a bit of a pinnacle to swim up on their dinner… Oops, sometimes their dinner has a hook in it 😊. 

If you want to experience bringing a halibut up from the bottom, I suggest you get a 4x8 sheet of plywood, drill a hole in each corner, tie on 20-pound weights, and sink it to the bottom of a pond. Then, try pulling it up with a lightweight rod. Yup, there is more fight than a piece of plywood, but that should give you an idea of what pulling a halibut into a boat is like. 


The fish we catch range from ten pounds to 120 pounds, and we occasionally see the 200 to 220 pounds. Now that is a fight! Most fish we catch are between 30 and 60 pounds, still giving us a pretty good fight. And yes, we still have to do manual reeling, especially for the bigger ones. When we catch large halibut, we often shoot them before bringing them onto the boat. Smaller ones will get what we refer to as the Willy Mays treatment. Large halibut can severely hurt you and have been known to break your legs. 

A typical day is to fish the tides, sometimes not getting on the water until noon.  Of course, we always stop in front of the cannery to catch our daily bait: Herring or other small fish.  Then we’re off to the happy fishing grounds, sometimes taking up to 90 minutes or more to get to where we want to anchor. Yes, a good Bloody Mary on the way is for good luck.  Ahh, you think it’s not a big boat? It is a 37-foot custom-made Woolridge pilot boat with twin Yamaha 250 horsepower motors. 

We have named all our good fishing spots based on the fish we catch.  There is the nursery (smaller fish), Clay Pipe (bottom structure), Six Fish (guess), Farragut Bay, Big Ones, and so on. We tend to travel further in early summer because the Halibut are still migrating to shallower water. 

Halibut has four sides of meat; the bottom is white, and the top is brown, helping it blend into its environment.  We have all of our fish commercially processed by a local processor, giving us that fresh caught flavor after it has been in the freezer for a year; speaking of the freezer, I typically have 100 to 150 pounds of those tasty little fish at any given time.  The funny thing is that you can’t believe how many friends I have at the start of a new fishing season.  As I say, out with the old and in with the latest, and I give away 50 or 60 pounds every year.  Who wants in line? 

   
Sitting on the back of the boat, beer in one hand, a cigar in the other, and watching your rod get a strike will never get old. Landing the big one obviously adds to the excitement.  Fishing also gives me time to reflect on my life, career, friends, and family.  I am blessed in all of those areas.  I have had a 44-year career in Records and Information Governance, developed lifelong friendships with my ICRM and ARMA colleagues, and traveled the world. I have a wonderful wife of 31 years (she lets me go to Alaska 😊), three wonderful daughters, and four wonderful grandchildren. Who could ask for more? Other than perhaps a few more trips to Alaska. 

So, I would encourage you to visit Alaska, whether to Anchorage, Juneau, or other parts of Alaska. It is worth the trip, even if you don’t fish. Speaking of taking a trip, I’m off to Petersburg in August for ten days to close the season. Hopefully, we will catch some salmon on the trip.  
Here’s to fishing!