A True Alaskan Ling Cod Fish Story

I have taken thousands of people on Charter Fishing Trips in my lifetime and have accumulated some great fishing stories.  However, this is my favorite Ling Cod story.  I will protect the names of the people involved for their own protection.  Mary and her husband George had booked a Charter Fishing Trip with Black Rock Charters.

Mary and George wanted to fish for Halibut and King Salmon while they were in Alaska on a five day sport fishing trip.  Over the course of the first three days of fishing Mary and George caught more Fresh Halibut and Salmon then they needed.  Mary was interested in what other kind of fish they could catch.  I mentioned that we could go Deep Sea Fishing on the outer coast of the Icy Straights to fish for Red Snapper and Ling Cod.

On the fourth day of their Charter Fishing trip; we drove the Quicksilver to the outer coast.  This was a great two hour trip through the Icy Straights and past Elfin Cove.  When we arrived on the outer coast the swells were pretty big, 4-8ft.  Mary and George were seasoned pros and their sea legs came to them pretty quick.  They had their lines on the bottom in no time.

George and Mary caught a few Red Snapper and a couple of Chinese Rock Fish.  We were fishing between 150 and 200ft of water.  Mary is a 65 year old woman, and between the swells, tides and the size of the fish she was getting tired.  I will say that she never had George or I help her reel in a fish.  Mary hooked another fish and started reeling it in, after a little while she said “it feels like my line got heavier.”

I looked at the tip of her rod and it was barley even bending.  I assumed that she must just be getting tired and did not think anymore of it.  At this point she had been reeling in this fish for eight to ten minutes.  Then she complained again that her rod was getting heavier, I offered to take over for her and she gave me a look that could kill.  One thing was for sure Mary did not need help, no matter how long it took her to bring in the fish. 

Well, after about 10 minutes I could see a dark spot coming to the surface.  I looked down into the water and saw a nice 40lb ling cod coming up towards the surface.  I was amazed, Mary was right, this was a large fish.  Well as the fish came to the surface and I hooked it with my gaff I noticed the reason her line kept getting heavier.

Turns out that Mary originally caught a 2lb Chinese Rock Fish.  As she started reeling it to the surface, a 10lb ling cod thought the Chinese Rock Fish was a tasty little treat and bit down on it.  Thus Mary’s line got a little heavier, well that 10lb Ling Cod was to much for the 40lb Ling Cod to resist and it bit down on the 10lb Ling Cod.  Amazing!

Well, if you have ever fished for Ling Cod you know they have a huge mouth and will not let go of that bait regardless of what else happens to it.  You can club a Ling Cod repeatedly and they will not let go of the bait. 

It turns out that Mary was right, her line had gotten heavier.  Each time she mentioned her line getting heavier, she had a new fish on the line.  Mary had caught three fish at one time using one hook!  This is was of my favorite Fish Stories of all time, Mary is also one of my most loyal and hearty fisherman/women; she can hang with the biggest strongest guy any day of the week.

Thanks for the memories Mary!
From all of us at Black Rock Charters!

The Chicken Ranch

The Chicken Ranch

Off and on over the last 10 years of owning and operating Black Rock Charters I have had the service of a deck hand.  Often times I acquire a deck hand out of obligation or to help out a friend or family member who may need a job.  The rest of the time when I do not have a deck hand I do both jobs, Captain and Deck Hand of the Quicksilver.  This works out well because I keep more of the revenue and tips, however, on the cold rainy days in Gustavus, Alaska it is very nice to be warm and dry inside the cabin.

Well, one summer I received the services of a deck hand.  My sister Corrie started dating a guy (Shane) and after a few months they decided to spend the summer in Alaska.  Since, Shane was not qualified to do anything, Corrie asked me to hire him as a deck hand.  Well, I figured that I could pay him next to nothing and get him to do all my grunt work.  Also, what better way to make sure my sister was protected then take this kid out on the boat and show him what real work was.

Shane started the summer of 2003 working as my deck hand.  After a few days and some lost tackle that he threw overboard I decided to take him and my clients to the Chicken Ranch.  If you have never heard of the Chicken Ranch it is probably because you fished with Black Rock Charters at a time when I did not have a deck hand.  I never go to the Ranch without a deck hand.

The chicken ranch is about 8 miles southwest of Gustavus, Alaska.  The chicken ranch is a breading ground for Halibut.  The water is slightly warmer and sits in about 50 feet deep; there is a huge underwater shelf that drops down to 250 feet.  The smaller Halibut sit and feed on the shelf, the average halibut is 15-30lbs.  It is a great spot to take small kids, or adults on their first day of fishing, because they can be guaranteed to catch Fresh Alaskan Halibut.  Most are too small to keep but you catch so many you would not want to keep them anyway.

Well the story goes like this, I had a group of 4 young guys on the Quicksilver and we got skunked the day before.  It was a bad day for halibut fishing, the tide was rushing in an out and we could not stay on the bottom.  Well, we started the second day and the same thing, high tides and no fish.  The guys were getting bored so I decided to take them to the chicken ranch.  At this point, our deck hand, Shane had not heard of the Chicken Ranch.  He had only fished the deep water where most of the halibut we bring in are keepers.

So, I motored the Quicksilver over to the Chicken Ranch, we had a bucket of fresh bait and were ready for action.  On the way to the Chicken Ranch I had Shane cut and entire bucket of bait, 3-4 times more than I normally have him cut.  He tried to question me about why he had to cut so much bait.  I did not dignify his request with a comment other than to say “you will see.”

On the way to the Chicken Ranch the four guys were inside the cabin with me and Shane was cutting bait.  I told the guys what was about to happen at the chicken ranch.  I told them if the fishing was good they would not be able to get their lines to the bottom without catching a fish.  I also told them Shane was my sister’s boyfriend and I wanted to wear him out.  So we developed a plan to keep bringing in fish as fast as possible for as long as it took to wear Shane out.  Well, these guys could not resist the opportunity to make the boy suffer!

As soon as we got to the chicken ranch, the guys had their lines in the water.  As soon as they hit the bottom they yelled “Fish On,” then started reeling them in as fast as possible.  At first Shane was doing a good job keeping up.  He was able to release the Halibut and re-bait the hook and get the line back in the water.  As soon as that line was back in the water another guy would have a halibut waiting beside the boat.  Shane would release that fish and re-bait only to find another fish waiting. 

This process repeated over and over for at least 30 minutes before Shane started to slow.  At this first sign of Shane slowing down the guys seemed to speed up the catching process.   Not only that they started giving Shane a hard time about being too slow.  I had to go inside the cabin of the Quicksilver to muffle my laughter.  Shane was dripping sweat and covered in water/fish bait.  Around 45 minutes in I had to start cutting more bait we were running out; this was a record trip to the chicken ranch! 

Around the one hour mark Shane started shooting me some pretty evil glares.  I knew he was no longer having any fun and was ready to leave.  Normally, this would have been a good idea, but hey this is my sister’s boyfriend, he should have to prove himself.  So, we stayed for another half an hour until we ran out of bait.  The final total for halibut caught and released in that hour and a half, 96!

Well, most of you are probably wondering what happened to Shane after that trip/ experience with Black Rock Charters.  When we got back to the dock and the clients left, Shane turned to me and said “If we ever go back to the Chicken Ranch, I will quit.”  While that sounded like a nice offer, I think my sister may have been a little sore with me if he quit.  So we never went back to the Chicken Ranch.

Shane and Corrie continued to date for a few more years and then they got married.  So, now every Holiday I get to see Shane and think of the time I nearly wore him out at the Chicken Ranch.  In fact, when I bring up that story he still glares at me like he did that one day at the Chicken Ranch.

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Bartlett River

Last summer I took my family and friends up the Bartlett River fishing for silver salmon.  For those of you who have never fished the Bartlett River, you have leave Gustavus, Alaska and then drive to Glacier Bay National Park.  Then hike two miles down the trail to the river.  Once you get to the river you need to hike up stream for about another mile until you get to the breading grounds.

The week that we went up the Bartlett River the fish were just about to start breeding.  The fish were swarming on the surface; it was just like the Discovery Channel with Salmon all over the surface of the water.  It was a great day of fishing!  It was not more than 20minutes before we all had caught at least one fish.  Within a couple of hours we had all limited out on Silver Salmon.

That was a good thing to because as soon as we limited out, a Momma Black Bear and her cub came down to the river. The Momma bear began showing the cub how to catch salmon.  It did not take long for Mom to catch her first Salmon, but it was the cub that was entertaining to watch.  I am not sure if he was more interested in playing with the salmon or eating them.

Finally, the Mom and her cub had eaten enough and moved on to take a nap.  So we moved on, went home and had a great meal of Fresh Salmon.

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