First Guests, First Salmon, First Crab, First Halibut, First Clams, First Seal fight….. It all happened this week.  Though we are still setting up we found a little time for fun.

The halibut boat is not yet in service but we were able to launch a skiff at exchange cove and do a little halibut fishing by fire island.  It was just like the old days.  Brian hooked the first halibut of the year, a nice 68 fish!

Mark, Brian & Claire Ackerman with Brians 68 pound Halibut

The salmon are coming in stronger and stronger every day and are hitting spinners pretty hard.  I had one hooked on an orange neon magic.  It was almost in the boat when a seal made a swipe at it.  I tried to horse it in but the seal grabbed it by the tail & took off stripping my line like crazy.  Brian pulled the anchor & Mark took the tiller as we headed off in pursuit.  Brain was banging the boat with a paddle to scare the seal while Mark did his best to stay close.  We knew the seal had to come up for air and if we could stay close enough we might get our fish back if he let go.  The seal surfaced for a quick breath & we saw he had it by the tail.  A few more minutes of yelling, crazy circles, spashing and banging the boat and the seal let go.  The seal was trying to get the fish back but we hauled it aboard just in time.  Most of the time the seal wins so this was a great time of high fives & celebration!

We had a great week with the Ackermans.  Thanks guys for coming!

Next week will bring 11 campers and we still have a few things left to get ready.  The most important thing not complete is the halibut boat.  It is not running right but hopefully a carb kit we are picking up today & Ed’s carburater rebuilding skills will do the job.  Pray that we will get it running.

 

We picked up a little shot of fish on last nights tide.  I went out this morning & caught four ….

 

We arrived safely and the camp was in remarkably good shape.  Setup has gone fairly smooth so far.  We’ve had a few issues getting the bayliner ready to launch but those are about resolved.  The fish are just starting to come but are still pretty light.  In camp setting up we have the Gunkel family, Ed Shoemaker, Mike Roberts, and Jim & Debbie Dahl.  There are three campers in this week as well – Mark, Brian and Claire Ackerman.  Pray the fish come in stronger and that the bayliner will run smoothly.

I’ve got some great footage of the christening of the new boats but will have to wait for good weather to upload the video.  The internet has been a little slow!

Mark

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