Bill and Kev's Excellent Alaskan Adventure: Halibut Fishing in Homer

Day 5

Halibut Fishing in Homer, AK. We joined Captain Greg at 6:45 for a day of fishing. Joining us was a tough fishing lady from Orange County California by the name of Veronica. Veronica was there for 3 days of halibut fishing. She warned us on the way out that she was a hurler and that she would be sick. The lady don’t lie. Just after her first hurl, she caught the first halibut ( a nice 15 pounder). I had not even had a nibble and I told her that if she caught another one before Kevin and I landed one that I was gonna make myself hurl just for the good luck factor.

Luckily, Kevin and I hooked fish at the same time shortly after that. Unlucky for me, Kevin had halibut, I had cod. “Fish On” is my new favorite phrase. My second fish on was the ugliest looking fish I had ever caught. Looked like a rock fish, but they had another name for it. e were soon hooking fish while poor Veronica was curled up in the cabin looking green. At the end of the trip she did get her second wind and limited out for the day. I felt really bad eating sandwiches, trail mix, and bark in front of her, but not bad enough to stop. I will tell you about bark later. We anchored off of Seldovia, in Cook’s Inlet to catch fish and never had to move. The night before, Kevin and I were wondering around Homer Spit for food and trinkets, looking at other people’s catches for the day. Except for one really large fish (which I was originally going to claim as mine, but I cannot lie) the catch seamed to be all small fish, less than 10 pounds. But Captain Greg put us on some good fish. Assuming that you can harvest about 50% of your fish in filets, Kevin and my total fish averaged about 20 pounds apiece, with the big one going at about 30 pounds by yours truly (no comments Veronica). So, big fish fry when we get home with plenty of slaw, hushpuppies, and cheese grits.

Back at the dock early, so we drove back towards Anchorage to spend the night at Portage Glacier. If you ever make this trip, stop by Suzie’s Café in Sterling for some good country cooking, heaping platters of hot food served by the nicest people in the world. Oh, and try the strawberry rhubarb pie with ice cream (my diet is going to heck).