A Halibut Adventure

8/7/2010

Well, I finally got a few "official" days off. August 6-8! I slept in, read, worked on a crew & personal digital scrapbook of this year at Yes Bay, got some fishing time in and went to Bailey Bay hiking. It was wonderful to not have anything to worry about. (Then again, the lodge was empty of guests for three days, so everyone was kind of bumming).

On my second day off, I got to go Halibut fishing with a couple of guides: Kicker and Batman. (those are their call names. The guide with me is Kicker.) We went out around 9:30 (we had to sleep in, of course!). We went to Belle Island, to a spot they've dubbed "the corral." It was pretty windy and thus wavy, so I was glad when we finally found calm water. (I was putting the Bownine and Wrist bands to the test with me and my motion sickness!)

After a couple of hours jigging for Halibut I got a bite..... Then, I (expertly) set the hook, and reeled....and reeled....and reeled.....I was hooting and hollering a lot too (I'm sure the other lodge boats around the area could hear me loud and clear without the radio)...and then reeled some more. Finally, we could see my catch - a halibut!! (After all, you just never know what you are going to pull up out of the deep - especially at 308 feet of water!) After that Kicker harpooned it, and it took off again trying to swim away. Eventually, Kicker used a gaf-hook to get it half in the boat. Then I got to beat the sh&*t out of it with Kicker's little bat/fish beater. (I almost popped out one of the eyeballs!). However, Kicker decided I wasn't hitting it hard enough and took over for me. Guess my arms were just too tired. Then we finally got it in the boat and into the box. Phew!

After that it started to rain, and since I felt bad keeping the guides out in bad weather on their day off, we decided to call it a day and come back to the lodge.

When we got it back, we had it weighed before processing it & also took the picture that is attached. I couldn't believe that it was 51.5 lbs! That is, hands-down, the biggest fish I've ever caught!

Hope you enjoy the photos...more to come!

Love - Sharon

Misty Fijord Flightseeing Tour

8/4/2010

This morning at 7:30, myself and 4 other crew members got to go on a Misty Fijord flight seeing tour. We flew on the Pirate Airworks plane, with "Huffelpuff" as the pilot. He made sure to poke fun at me (he calls me "streak" because of my hair) when I accidentally fell asleep - due to the Dramamine - mid-flight. The flight was about an hour and 15 min. and we cruised around the mountains, through valleys, and over mountain lakes and streams. It was a perfectly clear and calm morning, so the flight was smooth and the photos were great. I've attached a few.

It's crazy to realize how big the world/Alaska really is, and how many places have never been touched by people.

What a great way to start off the day!

Enjoy!

~Sharon

The Hunt for Goldfish

July 30, 2010

Today I got to skip out of work for a few hours to go fishing. I went with Jaimie, the morning server, and Captain Al. Our mission - get a yellow eye (A.K.A. A Red Snapper). Al took us out to "the main" (basically out to open water in front of the mouth of Yes Bay). He located his secret yellow eye spot on his GPS and we got to work. We had to fish deep - 530 feet, but it didn't take long for us to get our first bites (I think it took longer to drop our lines down that far!). The first time, Jaimie got a 10 lb yellow eye and I got a huge rockfish. The second cast, Jaimie got a smaller rockfish and I lost my fish. The third cast, I got a 9.1 lb yellow eye and Jaimie got a big rockfish. After that (about an hour of fishing) we decided our arms hurt too bad and we should go back to the lodge and relax!

An interesting fact: A yellow eye that big is probably about 60 + years old!

Hope you enjoy the photos!

~Sharon

YBL Hotties

7/28/2010

Check out the new inventory of women's YBL Henley's, modeled for you by Nicky Hack, Lara Cleeland and Sharon Kuehl.

Maybe I'm partial, but I think we make these shirts look damn good!

Not to mention I'm taking full credit for the selection and ordering of them (I decided at the start of the season we didn't have adequate women's clothing, and took it upon myself to go shopping with the boss's credit card.)

Cheers!

~Sharon