The highway to Sterling goes along the coast and rings the Cook Inlet on both sides. Although we were in the middle of June, we noticed a lot of snow, with much of it along the roadside in some areas.
We stopped for dinner in Cooper Landing, since when we called ahead to Anglers Lodge we were told that we'd miss dinner. As it would turn out, we rolled into the lodge at about 9:00 p.m., in broad daylight. The Seward Highway is a beautiful drive, with green mountainous peaks on both sides, pine forests, and very little traffic.
Arriving at 9pm, we checked into Anglers Lodge, bought our licenses and signed the book with Marlene Byerly, one of the husband-and-wife owners. Roger would take us out today on our halibut excursion. After a quick unpack, we hit the sack. We were told that we would leave about 5:15 the next morning, so we needed to get some rest.
We got to Anchor Point on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula and were in the water around 6:00am, again in pretty good light. The weather was cooperating, with partly cloudy skies and fairly calm seas.
We went out about 18 miles from shore in the Cook Inlet. The water was nice, but got a little choppy the further out we went. I didn’t honk over the side of the boat, but wanted to. Roger got us outfitted with poles and the like, and we dropped into about 230 feet of water. We used four-pound sinkers to start with and herring and halibut as bait. Roger would cut them in half and put them on enormous hooks.
I caught the first fish of the day, a flounder. We had no intention of keeping any fish but halibut, though, so he got lucky and lived to swim another day. Over the course of the trip I also caught a sand shark, a few cod and two smaller halibut that were thrown back. The one thing I remember about the shark is the incredibly iridescent green eyes. They looked like something from a sci-fi movie.
Apparently, the limit is two halibut, and both Dad and I got our pair. I caught a 75-pound one, and another that was close to it. I don’t know how much Dad’s weighed. We sent them off to be packed, sealed and sent. Working on those fish is HARD work. At the end of the trip my left forearm was feeling the worst of it.
The lodge is nice. We have a cabin that is split into two rooms. We’re in one, and the next door houses two others. The owners keep a fridge stocked with sodas--Diet Dr. Pepper is the owner’s choice, so you know he can be trusted.
We went fishing with three others, two guys from Nebraska, Dustin and Tony, and a friend of Roger, Becky. Dustin got a lunker with a 65-pounder. They’re being packed now by a local guy.