Piece of Kake
26 July 2013 | Kake/Red Bluff Bay
John/Sunny!!!
This morning we departed "no name" bay (in Rocky Pass) in a patch of fog. Adoncia led the way as we pulled anchor first and headed up into the northern part of Rocky Pass. This part is far less treacherous than the southern part of the pass but there was a strong current that was with us and gave us a 3+ knot push much of the way which made the trip to Kake go quite quickly. The fog cleared and the sun appeared which we were grateful for after a few gray days. Kake was a fuel and supply stop for us. Several of the other boats (the Jeanneaus) have had 2nd fuel tanks added (or had 1 of their water tanks converted to a 2nd fuel tank). As a result they have fuel capacities ranging anywhere from 75 all the way up to 120 gallons whereas little old Adoncia carries only 50 gallons of fuel. Therefore we have to be more fuel conscious and Kake was a necessary fuel stop for us. This is a small mostly native (Tlinget) village and we definitely stand out as we pull in with our fancy boats and head into their stores to make our purchases. They always tend to be quiet, gentle and helpful people that are quick to give a smile if you are kind and pleasant with them. We anchored the boat and I stayed with her since the current was strong and Deb headed into town to get supplies. I scored big as she purchased us 2 "divers" on Jim's recommendation for fishing - something I was clearly needing for trolling. We have discovered that the salmon tend to hang out between 60 and 80 feet deep. It is difficult to get your lure down that deep with the weights we are using and not having down riggers. Divers are weights that are specially designed to dive as you troll, driving the lure down much deeper than the weights we have been using for trolling. The big difference is that there is a lot more drag on the pole with the driving motion and the weight. However, the divers are designed to change their orientation as soon as there is a strike and the drag is greatly diminished allowing you to feel the fish and enjoy the fight. Anyway, after fueling up (which was quite an event as we had to approach this rickety little fuel dock heading into a 7 knot wind and 2.5 knots of current - lets just say we did it but not without a couple new dings in Adoncia's hull :-(. We had an amazing crossing of Chatham Strait (about 15 miles) heading towards Baranof island with 18 knots of wind on the nose and the resultant spray flying up onto the deck and the windows. The island is rugged and beautiful with large snow capped mountains all the way from south to north, as far as the eye can see. The view is absolutely stunning as you slowly approach the island from the east. We took many pictures. Prior to entering Red Bluff Bay we wanted to try out the new divers that John had meticulously rigged on the way across the strait. We caught a nice pink in short order and then John got a real strike and all of a sudden he was in a dog fight with a big fish. This sucker fought John all the way to the surface and she was a beauty. We netted her and discovered that we had caught our first silver salmon (though there was talk that it might have been a king) - what a thrill that was! So we finally entered Red Bluff Bay - the last boat as usual - with our chests thrust out (mine anyway) and began to show off our catch. We gave the silver away to Happy Dance (they seem unable to catch crab, shrimp or any fish other than rock fish) and filleted and cooked our wonderful King Salmon on the barbe. There were several fillets left over from the one fish to go in the freezer. We then stern tied in the most picturesque little bay we have ever anchored in. We are surrounded by snow capped mountains and are staring at a beautiful waterfall cascading down the side of these granite cliffs. Words cannot describe this scene but pictures can and we took many in the late Alaskan evening - stunning!