# Rockfish, Lingcod and Butts.....



## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

For various sundry reasons I have not been able to get out halibut fishing and put some meat in the freezer. Fortunately my favorite boat was still running this weekend and I was able to get on the next to the last trip of the season. It was the third day of sun in a row&#8230;.haven't had that since May. Got up at 3 am to get ready for the 140 mile drive down to Seward. Just my luck it was foggy for about half the drive&#8230;makes it hard to see any moose on the road. But I arrived relatively safe and headed down to the boat. Was greeted by this cute sea otter who was busy eating breakfast:










There were 5 other passengers and we headed out to Montague Island&#8230;.another 2+ hour ride each direction. It was gorgeous heading out of Resurrection Bay and down the rugged coastline:



















We arrived at the "fishy" area, anchored up and dropped to the bottom looking for halibut and lingcod. We had a couple from Washington DC with us&#8230;.everytime you get a pretty woman on the boat all the crusty old farts turn nice and the crew defers ever rod that is getting bit to her&#8230;what a bunch of dopes.










Normally I do well on these trips&#8230;.and after 4 hours of fishing I had only boated one small, released lingcod and nothing else. Meanwhile the other fisherpersons were racking up a pretty good tally of nice lingcod, several large yellow eyed snappers and a few good halibut. I just couldn't seem to hang a fish&#8230;.or anything at the time. Captain Kevin decided we would make a move and the fun really began. After trying to dislodge our anchor for nearly an hour it became obvious it wasn't coming back in. The skipper found a friend in the neighborhood who needed to head back to port and he agreed to drop his anchor with a marker bouy so we could tie up and fish halibut there. Meanwhile we had to cut our anchor off and marked it with a bouy also&#8230;..captain said it was about a $4,000 dollar loss&#8230;..but he still kept a good attitude.

On the way to the other bouy we drifted a rocky spot for lingcod and my luck was instantly changed. In the first drift I tagged 2 lingcod in the 25-35lbs class&#8230;.had my ling limit in one pass. The biggest was one ugly mother:










On the next pass we had 3 people hooked up with big lings simultaneously










In less than an hour everyone had their 2 fish limit of lingcod&#8230;.including this extremely porky one who had swallowed something big recently:










We cruised over to the other boats' anchor bouy, tied up and I started jigging instead of using bait. A very nice halibut in the 70lbs class hopped on my jig and was boated after a 10 minute fight. I landed a few smaller ones and called the last one my second for the day. Later it was followed by a few nice yellow eyed rockfish. Just as everyone finished limiting out on halibut the Captain grabbed an unattended rod and was hooked into a little salmon shark. First one I have seen in all my years in Alaska. There are very closely related to the mako shark and track down salmon for food. They also are very good eating but we decided to let this one go. It was probably about 150 lbs:





















We then headed back to our "lost" anchor bouy&#8230;.tied it off to the back of the boat and after another hour finally succeeded in breaking it loose of the bottom and retrieving it. This made Captain Kevin quite happy. We then took our long cruise back to port&#8230;.enjoying porpoises just about everywhere and great scenery.



















Spotted this mountain goat grazing on the way in:










Now this is the place to live (house is small in the middle on the water)&#8230;..one of the coves in Resurrection Bay&#8230;well protected&#8230;no access except by boat and great ambience:










So we made it back to port and my fish were hung for a quick pic before filleting:










Brought home about 60 lbs of fillet so I have once again reinforced my position with the family as the mighty provider&#8230;..oh yeah (my wife is rolling her eyes right now). Left the Seward boat harbor for the last time (and only time) this year very satisfied:










Nice drive home crunching corn nuts to stay awake and checking for cracked teeth (sorry bad dental humor).

Brian


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## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

Wow! Great report! Beautiful scenery! It's great to hear you ended up doing well. It's also good to hear you were able to reclaim/restore the mighty provider title!
BTW, how's the foot doing?


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## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

Very darn sore today after yesterday....kind of a good pain, though. Thanks for asking.

Brian


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

What do Butts have to do with it?


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## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

Chaser said:


> What do Butts have to do with it?


No one refers to halibut with that term....it is merely shortened to "butt" or "but" .... now I'm confused.... :shock:

Brian


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Looks like a lot of fun Doc... thanks for keeping us entertained with your stories. Love reading the reports about a place I'll probably only dream about visiting.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Man, I will say you have one CRAPPY life. I mean awesome trips fishing several times a year, you live in a place people only dream about :lol: .... Must be terrible  

AWESOME report. I want to do a similar trip like that before I die. Good job!!!


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Very nice ling and yelloweyes! It looks like there will be good eating this winter. I'm praying that I will be able to get back up there next summer. (please,please,please)


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## Troutsman (Aug 13, 2010)

Great story and pictures. I moved down from Palmer to Utah last November I did get up there and fished off of Montague Island this June and landed a 150# Butt with a lot of rockies and kings. I even managed into a 40+ # ling that we had to through back because of the July 1 reg. I love fishing out there sand always jig when I go out. It makes for sore arms by the end of the day, but, I out fish them **** circle hooks. Why would someone ever invent a device that does not allow you to set the hook when you get a bite??? Anyways, you have officially made me home sick I would be getting back from the brooks right about now with my Bou


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Nice report and pics, reminds me I haven't posted my report from June, been way busy at work. One week off put me months behind.


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