Silver Fishing off the Yakobi

NOTE: Continuation of our Alaska adventures from several months ago...

~The Johnson's boat, Yakobi

After supper, a good nights sleep and breakfast the next morning, we all climbed on board Paul's big boat, the Yakobi. It was a nice craft, well equipped and ready for business. The cabin was large enough for the five of us to spread out and enjoy the ride. We untied from the dock and were soon on our way.

~Eddie and Matt

The morning was overcast and chilly, but we were nice and toasty inside the spacious and heated cabin. The weather was much the same the entire time we were there-luck of the draw I suppose. Paul told us to help ourselves to the beverages and snacks. As we settled in and motored across the water, it wasn't long before the lodge was out of view. Other than an occasional boat at a distance, we didn't see another sole the entire day.




After an hour or so we came to a secluded spot. Paul and Yard showed us the preferred way to rig our lines and in no time at all we had caught several fish. It was the first time any of us had fished for Salmon and I know I was surprised at how hard they fought.

~Ty, Matt and "Yard"

Paul suggested we try another spot after we'd hauled in a good number of fish. Aside from the great time we all had fishing, it was fun to just ride around in the boat and see the sites. I don't recall how many whales we saw but it was a pretty common occurrence. None of us ever got tired of seeing these awesome beast break the surface of the water and splash around in clear view of our crew.

~Humpback Whale-one of the many we saw on our trip

We saw Eagles nearly too numerous to mention, often times perched in a tree every few hundred yards or so. On more than one occasion we saw Eagles swoop down over the water with their claws extended, grab their unsuspecting prey and fly off, sometimes to a nearby tree or rock to enjoy their catch.

As we cruised from one great fishing spot to the next, Paul served up lunch which consisted of steaming crab soup and salmon salad sandwiches. If you've never had fresh crab soup made from "just caught" crab meat, you should try it sometime!

We fished a couple of other spots and after a few hours of fishing and occasionally relaxing on deck with a cold beverage, we stowed the gear and headed back to the lodge. Although we had fun on each of our day adventures, it was always nice to get back to the lodge and relax. In the entire time we were there we saw almost no signs of civilization outside of the Johnson camp at Gull Cove. For Eddie and myself it was a nice break from the corporate world at the Walmart and Sam's Club home offices.

~That's a huge Brown Bear in the middle left of the picture at the water's edge