The "skiff"
Chip's Silver Salmon
Look at that smile!
I was trying to stay dry and warm. I had the dry part down but the warm part, not so much!THE LAST CHAPTER OF OUR ALASKAN ADVENTURE
While we were talking to the camp host she mentioned that you could rent a skiff for the day very reasonably. A skiff is a small aluminum boat with a 25 hp outboard motor. That sounded like a fun thing to do, especially since Chip had wanted to go out fishing again even before we arrived in Ketchikan. Because the season here in Alaska is winding down there are not as many opportunities to charter boats and the ones you can are expensive. The skiff was a nice alternative and 1/4 the price. I was excited at the thought of being able to be on the water and go out exploring the shoreline. We were told of a place to go where we could possibly see bears. :-D The day we made our reservations the weather was clear and sunny and we should have dropped everything and went out right then and there but we made the reservations for the next day. AND when we woke up in the morning it was raining! No worries we were prepared! We packed our lunch, Chip got all his fishing gear together and we made sure to have our rain gear with us. We were on our way to our last adventure in Alaska. We checked in and followed the guy down to where our skiff was waiting. Only problem was it would not start, not a good thing! So rather than get the "very roomy" 16 footer we reserved we had to take out a "less roomy" 14 footer. That's ok at least this one ran! That's pretty important, don't you think? Chip and I were both expecting a short lesson on how to start the engine if it died, put it in forward or reverse or what not to do in this little "life boat" but the guy started the boat and left. JUST LEFT.......... We laughed and figured we would know what to do if we needed to! So we loaded all our stuff into the boat, untied from the dock and proceeded to get the feel of the throttle and the way the boat handled. We were about 1/2 way out of the no wake zone when Chip looked for his tackle box. You guessed it! We left it in the other boat! Back to the dock we went. Chip saddled up to the dock very smoothly, I got out and ran over to get his tackle box. NOW we were really ready! Did I mention it was still raining and getting colder? As we were heading out to where we were told the fish were Chip needed to get his fishing poles ready so I took over driving. The first thing I did was to lean on the throttle and about threw Chip overboard. I laughed, he didn't! Hey, I have never driven a boat with a hand operated motor before. It took me a while to get the direction down too. I was weaving like a drunken sailor and kept turning the throttle too far and would lurch forward. I finally was able to get the boat under control, kind of, and we were off. Chip had his poles rigged and was ready to catch fish. So off we went to where the fish were supposed to be. It was not hard to know where we were supposed to be because there were LOTS of other boats there also. We trolled by all these expensive deep sea fishing boats with their rigging all set for "the big one" and here we are in our little "skiff". Low and behold one of the poles bent and started bobbing. FISH ON!!! Chip started reeling and reeling and reeling. I think the fish actually started towing us around behind it for a minute. Luckily the boat came equipped with a net. That was my job! Chip over powered it and brought up a nice silver salmon. That is the salmon of choice now because they are just started their run. It was at least 20 inches long and maybe 14 lbs. The fish is in the net and Chip is trying to get the hook out of its lip. The fish of course is trying for all its worth to get away. So Chip is trying to get hold of the fish, it's trying to get away, the hook comes out on its own (yay), and then the fish flops off the little bench to the floor right at my feet splattering blood all the legs of my rain gear and the inside of the boat. I am sitting on the back of the boat with my feet in the air, off the bottom of the boat; Chip is leaned over trying to pick it up (what people must have been thinking, hahaha). He finally gets control of it through its gill and holds it up for a better look. What a nice size fish! Then he lets it go. It took a second for it to start swimming after that traumatic event but it did swim away with gusto to live another day, hopefully! The smile on Chips face after that was priceless. He never really expected to catch any fish especially a silver salmon but he did. That smile made the entire trip worth every minute of rain and cold we were enduring! Chip got his poles set and once again I took hold of the throttle, turned it and about threw Chip off his seat. Luckily this time he was sitting and not standing. Do you think anyone could tell we were novices at this whole "skiff" thing? We can both drive a 50 foot house boat like no one's business but this little 14 ft skiff was giving me problems. As we crisscrossing the body of water where the fish and lots of other boats were we watched Eagles flying, fishing and could hear them calling. It was awesome. Of course when an Eagle swooped down for a fish just behind our boat I could not find the bird in the lens of the camera to get it to focus so I missed the shot. And because I was fighting with the camera I miss it all together. Chip saw it though so at least one of us did. We sat by a lake for what seemed hours over a 3 day period in Wrangell waiting for just such an opportunity by an Eagle that was always there but never saw it. Now we see it and I can't get a picture of it. DARN! On one pass through the bay we were busy watching a pair of Eagles when both Chips poles went off together. He wasn't sure which pole to start reeling first. He wanted me to reel one but after getting bit by a Fish and Game officer in Lake Powell once I wasn't going to do that again. In case you had not guessed I didn't have a fishing license. So he managed to get them both in and had caught 2 black rock fish, they are also mistakenly called Black Bass. By the time we made our last pass it had been 4 hours, Chip had caught 1 silver salmon, 1 pink salmon, 3 black rock fish and a minnow. I am not kidding that little fish was about 5 inches long and tiny. How it got hooked on Chips lure is a surprise to me. NOW was the time to go exploring, WRONG! We had gotten so cold from the continuing rain and decided since Chip was just getting over a 3 week cold we would not push it, so we headed back in. Once we got back to the dock we realized we had to put the boat back in between the other 2 boats where we got it from. (I am glad I was not driving NOW) When did they build that dock behind where we got out little boat, that wasn't there when we left was it? Chip started heading for the little slot between the new dock pilings and the floating boats that were not staying put. He nosed our boat in, slow and steady...... By now a dock hand was standing on the dock ready to help us when we got close. Chip had to readjust our direction so he put the boat in reverse and turned the engine. SERIOUSLY when did they add that dock behind us??? We were both on the defensive now trying not to hit that new dock. I had the ore pushing and Chip was trying to use the engines power. The dock hand is patiently watching! All of a sudden our little boat lurched backwards and right into the new dock piling leaving behind a clean spot and barnacles in our little boat. WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED??? You would think we have never driven a boat before! Well, Chip lost his balance trying to get the boat out of reverse and into forward when he slipped and fell into the throttle throwing us both off balance and sending the boat precariously close to hitting the prop on the bottom. On the up side if we went in the water it was shallow! Finally getting control of the "yacht" we were in we were headed in the right direction. Now the deckhand was standing in one of the other little boats next to where we had to go so he could get closer to us and be able to guide us in. He took an ore and with very gentle pressure guided the nose of our boat into its proper spot. Now you know he wanted to laugh, actually I think I saw a little chuckle come out when we were fighting for our lives. Hahahaha We sure laughed when it was all over and are still laughing about it! I think that was the best $100 dollars we spent the entire trip, well maybe not the ENTIRE trip but our Ketchikan stop anyway. That took our minds off how cold we had gotten for a minute anyway. And to top it off the weather started to break. Why didn't it clear up 30 minutes earlier? Oh well, now we know how to drive a "skiff" (kind of) and we will have to do this again sometime! It sure beats paying hundreds of dollars to go out on a boat where you can get out of the weather, someone else has control of where it goes and when it is docked and where and you just get to sit there and enjoy the scenery. After all what fun is that??
GOOD BYE ALASKA............ WE HAD THE MOST AMAZING TRIP!!!!
I hope you have all enjoyed it with us through our blog and pictures!!!
PS: If you ever go to Alaska have a good set of rain gear and rubber boots along, just in case!
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