Note our fishing grounds.......between Homer, Alaska and Kodiak Island. .
Flying from Anchorage to Homer..
Homer, Alaska.... Homer is known as the Halibut Capital of the World, the Halibut Fishing Derby.... as well as the location of the World Infamous Salty Dawg Saloon....
Getting ready to go..... about 5:00am..
Our "home" for the next week or so...... The Venturess.
Venturess, a 73 foot wonder boat........ Great fishing, Great food, Great Friends, Great Captain...
Under way......rockin' and rollin'
Mount Douglas (an extinct volcano, I hope) in the background.
An Orca, "spy-hopping".... checking us out..
Mother Orca, with a one year old juvenile and her new baby... giving a little spurt! This photograph has been published in The Peak magazine and the Arizona Republic newspaper.
A fast moving Orca..
Orca feeding and birds everywhre...
The Sea Lions are moving up on the rocks... and out of the water. Orcas love salmon and sea lions for lunch......
The Sea Lions are moving up on the rocks... and out of the water... and beyond the Orcas reach..
Over one hundred Humpback whales all around us... spurting, blowing and diving...... some sliding down the side of our boat......
Here is a Humpback beauty... going for a dive..... up to 300 feet.....
Another Humpback diver....
More Humpbacks..
Diving to the bottom.....the Humpback is then blowing bubbles to scoot the krill and shrimp to the surface so he can feed.......
Another Humpback....
More and more....... all around us....
Humpbacks surfacing and blowing.......
Every Humpback can be identified by the white markings on the underside of the tail. Each whale's markings are different, similiar to fingerprints. Researchers use this method for identifying individual whales.
Anchoring for the night..
My Halibut...... right at 7 feet long......350 pounds. Took about 45 minutes to reel it in. Broke the reel in the process..... "Beginners Luck!!!!"
The Halibut's tail...... 22" across.. Now that's a Whale of a Tale...
You could place a basketball in the Halibut's mouth........
There are four filets on my Halibut...... here is just one of them...
Typical Halibut Circle Hook.......
Another smaller Halibut..
A few we caught...... each person on board is allowed two halibut per day.
A very strong crewman...... probably about 40-50 pounds.
And another....... the underside is white.... and top side is dark.
This day's catch was a mixture of Halibut, Silver Salmon, Yellow Eye and Ling Cod.
A Yellow Eye...from the deep, deep..
Another Yellow Eye.......
Sun setting around midnight..
Our gang, holding up our Ling Cod......
Ling Cod....... ugggggly, but super good eating...
Puffin bird running to take off...........splash, splash, splash....... Come on, you can do it..
More sea birds running to take off........
Rock Bass (Sea Bass)......... fun to catch......
Silver Salmon...
Grizzlies on the beach ..... Katmai..... Foraging in the rain.
Grizzly on the Katmai ....... note the claws.......
