This morning we woke up just before 6am to go pull the setline. As interested as I was in what kind of fish the setline may have attracted over night, I didn’t want to get out of bed. It was pretty cold outside of my covers. Alaska’s humidity makes everything seem damp, and there was dew on the window next to my bed. Chilly.
The little cabin we’re staying in makes me think of the book Little House in the Big Woods. If you’ve read the book, you’ll get the picture. If not, I’ll try and paint it for you. It’s a little single room cabin tucked up against the trees and heated by a woodburning stove. A side note on woodburning stoves: if my future husband doesn’t want a house with a woodburning stove, we’ll have to compromise and just get a woodburning stove. It’s a high value nostalgic investment. Anyways, the little stove keeps the place pretty warm as long as the fire is burning. The trouble is, it has usually burned out by morning time. That’s why, when we woke up just before 6am to pull the setline, it was cold.
For breakfast I think I had a twizzler.
Um, and a Diet Coke. I try to be a healthy person but “when in Rome”. And by that I mean, “When on a fishing trip in the middle of nowhere, with a snack table piled high with junk food.” Not that we haven’t been eating well. The food’s been really good, of the steak and potatoes variety. The best kind for a fishing trip. I’m just starting to forget what a vegetable looks like. Which is a nice excuse to eat a twizzler for breakfast. Besides, I was the last person in our group to wake up and I didn’t want anyone to have to wait for me. I’ve caught more fish on this trip then any other time I’ve come to Alaska, and it’s because the guys we’re here with (friends of my grandpa) are all business about fishing. I’m telling you they have it down to a science. It’s awe inspiring to say the least.
It only took us about five minutes to boat out to the setline. If for this whole post you’ve been thinking, “Ellie what’s a setline” haha, let me explain. Alaska residents are allowed to use a long rope with big hooks attached at intervals, in order to catch bigger fish. It sits on the bottom of the ocean for a day and when you pull it up, if you’re lucky, you’ll have a few nice sized fish on the line. If you’re not lucky, you might snag a small shark or a couple of Skates. Grandpa is an Alaska resident, so he’s allowed to use a setline.
We pulled up next to the buoy and started reeling in the rope.
Pulling up the setline is like ordering a mystery box online. There’s a whole variety of things you can catch and you just cross your fingers as you look into the water that you see something big coming up. It can be a real toss up. Fortunately for us, Alaska decided to play nice. We ended up with a pretty solid mystery box I’d say.
The first big fish that I saw in the water was a lingcod, but I wasn’t cool enough to know that so I think I said something smart like, “Ohhh there’s a BIG one!” One of the guys looked over the side and said, “That’s a Lingcod!” “…yeah I knew that.”
Just like “Jaws”
When a fish gets near the surface of the water and starts thrashing, they can sometimes throw the hook. So for bigger fish, we use a harpoon to make sure they don’t get away. Which I think is very cool. Fishing in Alaska makes me feel like a wilderness survivor. I’m a fan. Really though, I’m all talk and no action because whenever we needed to use the harpoon I just moved to the back of the boat so I didn’t get in anyone’s way while one of the big boys got the job done. Can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen you know.
The harpoon is connected to a buoy, so even if the fish were to throw the set line hook, they wouldn’t be able to swim away. And if it feels like fighting and we can’t get it in the boat, it can tire itself out trying to drag the buoy down. You might compare us harpooning a massive lingcod to this YouTube clip if you want a realistic idea of the process: Jaws. Yeah, that’s right.
It’s a good day when you have to use the harpoon three times.
And we did. After the lingcod came two 80lb halibut. Not bad for a mornings work:) After putting the setline down again we went back to the dock to fillet the fish. Then we took the fillets to the processing shed to be cleaned, vacuum packed, and frozen. Sometimes it feels like we’re in that room longer than we’re out fishing. And then other times it feels like we fished forever and there’s nothing to process at the end of it. As my dad says, “There’s fishing, and then there’s catching fish. Big difference, but both a good time.”
The rest of the day:
We went out again to catch some sea bass, found a good spot for them and ended up maxing out our limit of five each. After processing all of that fish everyone was tired and decided to call it for the day. Evenings in Alaska, (I guess specifically Port Protection) are a little more unorthodox because the cell reception is garbage and right now the WiFi needs to be fixed. It’s delightful. No notifications and slow internet are the perfect recipe for an escape from reality. or, I guess, an escape INTO reality. To fill the evening time, I walked up to the community center to pick out some books.
The community center in Port protection is a small but tidy cabin with four huge bookshelves full of books to borrow. It’s always empty, but never locked. Whenever I go to Alaska I like to pick out a book or two to read while I’m there. They have a lot of old books that I’ve never heard of before so it’s fun to see what I can find.
I picked two books, and then I found an inflated basketball on the outdoor court. I spent around an hour shooting hoops. Let me just add a disclaimer that I’m not good at basketball. Don’t get a picture in your head of Ellie crossing it up on a little court out in the Alaskan bush. I’m not that cool.
I took my time getting home. The boardwalk that leads to the community center cuts through the forest, and it’s lined with salmonberry and huckleberry bushes. They’re both really sour, but in a good, blackberry sort of way. I spent some time picking those as I wandered back to the cabin. You know, wilderness survivor type stuff.
Little house in the big woods
My dad built a fire in the woodburning stove, so it’s nice and warm in our little cabin again. It looked so cozy walking up the boardwalk to it, with the smoke pouring out of the chimney. It’s getting colder outside with the dark, so dew is collecting on the windows again. We were in the boat for so long today that the floor feels like it’s rocking. But it’s kind of a fun little feeling. I guess it just adds to the ambience. I think this is my favorite place in the whole wide world.
If you want to read about more of my adventures, I spent quite some time exploring the island of Oahu this summer. Click here to read about some of my all-time favorite experiences there!
And thank you:) I’m glad you’re here.
