Day two, halibut fishing

Fishing in Alaska starts early. Especially if you are two hours

away from the dock.

To get to this little town you have to go through a tunnel

that you share with a train so if you are not there on the half hour

you have to wait an hour to get into the town again.

so of course, HOBL had us there at 5:30 am...

Don't even ask, we didn't have to be there until 7:00am.

The first picture is our charter boat, pretty comfortable.

Thankfully the cabin was heated because it was pretty cold

early in the morning and drizzly.

Our guides, Jeff and Paul were quite impressed that

us girls were not worried that there was no bathroom.

We explained to them that down the bayou, girls

squat over the side of the boat.

He did tell us he had a portalet so we wouldn't be required

to go over the side of the boat.

This little town was awesome in the way that there was only one

way to get into it and it was through that tunnel.

It reminded me of a little town that

Stephen King could have based one of his books after.

The big building in the back of this picture,

the locals call the insane asylum.

It is where all the locals live in the summertime.

Our guide, Jeff gave us a quick safety lesson,

one of those was no bananas on the boat.

Really, he told us if we had bananas we had to throw them overboard

right then. Evidently bananas are bad luck for

halibut fishing and these Alaskan fishermen take it seriously.

Okay, it was early, we look tired but we really were excited.

HOBL and baby boy looked like they were gearing up for an

episode of DEADLIEST CATCH

We saw many, many Otters and their babies on our way

to our fishing spot.

Wish the pictures were better but you couldn't get very close.

...and whales, we saw whales!!!!

So very awesome.

This was a special treat because some people wait

all day never to see a whale.

We saw two or three that day.

Simply beautiful.

Kd caught the first fish.

The weights are so heavy and are down about 300 feet

so she didn't even know there was a fish down there.

We teased baby boy so much because he didn't seem very

happy that his wife had caught the first fish.

He insisted he was excited for her, but

his face showed something different.

He is pretty competitive when it comes to fishing.

HOBL caught the first Halibut right after lunch.

A 60 pounder. Let me tell you these things are not easy

to get up from 300 feet down.

What I didn't know about Halibut fishing

is that when they get close to the top of the water

the guides either shoot them or harpoon them to

assure they don't get off their hooks.

Pretty impressive.

So there is this stance you must have if you are a Riera

to reel in Halibut.

HOBL and the babies have it

and our guides really thought this was pretty comical

because each of them stood this way when reeling in their catch.

Above is HOBL

Then baby girl...

Yep, and even baby boy...

Baby boy caught his first halibut about a 60 pounder.

He went on to catch another smaller one later.

Then HOBL caught another.

There is Jeff, captain thinking he is funny.

But baby girl caught the biggest Halibut.

She hooked a 100 pounder but couldn't reel it in

the 300 feet so her Dad and brother had to take turns

getting it up for her.

So of course, they didn't want to give her full credit for

catching the biggest fish.

However, if you know baby girl, she wasn't going for this

and they get no credit for her catch.

I didn't fish, really went just for the experience to watch these

people who I love so dearly have the most wonderful day.

HOBL was fun to watch.

To see his face when his babies and his dil caught fish

was touching for me. I haven't seen him this happy,

to be able to give this to his children,

in a long time. Priceless for me.

The Riera's caught so many nice fish,

6 halibut and many cod,

that we made the fishing tours website.

www.knotroughingit.com

For baby boy and HOBL this was their favorite day

in Alaska.

Definitely will never be forgotten by any of us.