Hoonah

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Tuesday July 11, 2012 Neka Bay to Hoonah

Rain pounded down all night but lessened by morning. A party of small explorers took Bullfrog and pushed up the Inlet, found the river and went a long ways up into tide flats of rockweed and mussels, and around corners skirting grass flats until it got too shallow for an outboard. Salmon surely spawn up here in the fall along with attendant bears. I dropped into the kayak and drifted back alone, able to see small black-tailed deer. A cabin nestled in the woods looked inviting and I found out later it is a Forest Service cabin available to kayakers and backpackers. Back in Neka Bay I pushed against the rising wind and back onto the Little Liza.

We found a place in the inner harbor alongside a 120’ Westport called Calliope owned by Mike and Lisa Snyder from Yakima. They spend summers in Alaska and live in Sun Valley but we share many acquaintances at home. On the other side of the dock a group of guys on a Nordic Tug from Juneau knew a lot about fishing and we picked up some halibut gear on their recommendation. Right across from us is a young family, Allen and Sheila in a 32’ Bayliner with 3 young boys, who soon made friends with our crew. After dinner while the kids played, we went out salmon trolling and he showed us his technique, successfully as it turns out. He caught a nice big Coho and I got a smaller (but large for its species) Humpie. So now the Bullfrog has been bloodied and we know what works. We returned to the harbor at 10:00 PM cleaned the fish and cleaned up by 11:00 PM well before dark. Allen advised us on fishing and told good Alaska stories. He hails from Chicago and came out to teach. They bought their Bayliner in Seattle, had it shipped to Ketchikan and are on their maiden voyage back to Juneau. Since they are teachers they will have lots of boating summers ahead as a family.

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Photos

Neka River
We explored up the Neka River in the Bullfrog. I floated back in the kayak

Carver in Hoonah
I took the girls back to see the carvers.

Sunset over Frederick Sound
We fished late enough and it was clear enough to actually see the sunset.