Today
was a busy day of fishing and harvesting. We headed out fairly early to put the
shrimp and crab pots down, and also because John needed to get cell service
which meant a half hour run out into Wells Passage. We dropped 2 shrimp pots
and also an experimental crab pot drop. Several years ago when we were here we
pulled up a shrimp pot out of 200’ + water and it was full of baby Dungeness,
all about 3” wide at most, so we figured that was decent evidence that the
bigger crab were there too! So down went the pot to 224’ along with 1 shrimp
pot, the other we placed across the bay at a different location The ride out
Wells Passage was beautiful and smooth, and the temperature already warm so a
nice dinghy ride is always enjoyable! We headed back in near our bay and tried
to get on a halibut spot at this morning’s slack but as soon as we let down
sure enough the wind came up and made it super difficult to stay on our spot.
We have had a frustrating time with halibut fishing so far. But the good news
is that we have rediscovered our youth in the delight of a simple peanut butter
and jelly sandwich as today that served as our breakfast! I make strawberry
freezer jam every year so that makes it a lot better than average. John
discovered yet again, that his email didn’t go through so back out to Well’s
Passage we went for another try.
Back
at the boat later that morning, you guessed it, John discovered his email still
didn’t go through. ARGH. So we made a
plan for the afternoon to get back out there to Wells Passage, refuel the
whaler at Sullivan Bay (which was packed by the way) and go ling cod fishing in
Drury Inlet again. Sullivan Bay has new managers and is doing a booming
business – and if you are a boater reading this, make your moorage reservations
ahead of time. They continue offering
meals on certain nights and also lunch, so check their schedule and get on the
reservation list for dinner as well! The manager told us they were sold out for
2 seatings at the Friday night dinner so people are clearly patronizing them
this year, which we are so happy to hear. These small businesses in remote BC
need our business to stay afloat, so to speak. After the 3rd run for
cell service, we had another fun afternoon of ling cod fishing with little
rockfish getting on (released) along with a few big ling cod that got away, and
one smaller one we let go, but I finally landed a nice 12 lb ling – they are so
fun to catch. Afterwards we checked our shrimp pots and pulled in a respectable
amount of shrimp, enough for a couple meals. Interestingly though, one of the
shrimp pots only had small salad sized shrimp, very curious about that because
usually they are mixed in with all sizes. I don’t mind though, they are super
easy to peel and make a nice salad topper. The other shrimp pot had nice big
ones in it. The deep crab pot didn’t yield any male keepers but it did contain
the most enormous female crab I have ever seen, she had to be 8” so that proves
that at least the females are down there, maybe that’s where they have their
babies, hence the babies that we caught a few years ago. Tonight I made crab
stuffed chicken breasts with the 1 crab I caught a couple days ago. I didn’t
want to use up my panko for coating the chicken as I only have 1 box left and
need it for crabcakes, should I find where the crab are up here. We were told
it is an off year for crabbing for everyone, including commercial. But I hear
it is booming at home in the San Juan Islands per my brother Scott who says
they are slaying them right and left.
Anyway, I improvised for panko using crushed ritz crackers instead and
you know what, it was pretty darn good! Just a note for the cooks out there.
John continues to beat me harshly at rummy, he remains 800 points ahead of me
at this point. Frustrating but I try to be a good sport.
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| Sullivan Bay - just packed with boats |
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| There appears to be a new float plane service up here called Friday Harbor Air, never seen them before. Kenmore isn't flying too far north this year we are told. |
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| Visited Jennis Bay at the head of Drury Inlet and the logging business is booming again here, very active operation, this appears to be the log camp. Below is the "marina" and residence of the owner/operators we believe. We didn't stop to visit but that is where we stayed about 15 years ago when we visited here. |
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