Our First Halibut!

Not long after my earlier post about how we were anchored off of Skull Island, fishing for halibut, we caught our first halibut! Kevin got it nicely up to the boat and I had the harpoon at the ready. When the halibut was perfectly positioned, I aimed for just behind the gill plate and went for it. I didn’t get the point all the way through the fish, but I did get a good strike right to his gills so the fish started bleeding out immediately. Anyway, I really don’t like the details of killing stuff, but I do love halibut, so there ya go.

This guy was 43 inches tip to tail, and about 37 pounds. The autopsy filleting begins:

We ended up with about 16 pounds of fillets (including what we’re going to eat for dinner tonight). We portioned it out and vacuum-sealed it into meals for two. Pretty sweet! Now to make room in the freezer!!

The weather improved like crazy today. Look at this shot from our fishing spot:

We returned to Admiralty Cove and anchored for the night. The light on the mountain behind us is so pretty right now:

We dinghied out to check the crab pots and the first one had one of those gigantic starfish (called a Sunflower Sea Star) in it with all the digesting tendrils wrapped around our bait bag, and what we think was a little flounder. The second trap had an even MORE gigantic Sunflower Sea Star in it, two of the small flounders, and a tiny crab. So we moved the traps to the other side of the bay. We’ll see how we do in the morning. But right now: grilled halibut, sauteed spinach, and roasted potatoes!

We’re heading back to Juneau tomorrow for some fireworks, boat washing, and laundry. Woohoo!

Tonight’s sunset:

We really, REALLY love being in Alaska on our boat. Coolest thing ever. For real.