Blue Shark in the Boat!

Grayson landed a blue shark on our fishing trip to Seward over the holiday weekend. 

It was pretty neat to see, and the deep blue color of the shark was something you had to see in person to fully appreciate.

Before the trip, we captured a quick picture in front of the sunrise over Resurrection Bay.

On the boat ride out of the Bay, the waters were calm.

But outside of the mouth of the Bay, the sea-state picked up.  Here, Landon hooks into his first halibut.

He landed the first halibut on the boat, and within a half hour, he had a second, becoming the first one on the boat to limit out for the day.

After pulling in a slew of Pacific Cod, I brought in a Yelloweye Rockfish. I've caught a bunch of Black Rockfish before, but this was my first Yelloweye. We don't target these fish, as they don't mature until around 20 years old, and they live to be 150 years old. But they get caught as by-catch occasionally.  After being pulled up from the depth we were fishing at, they wouldn't likely survive if thrown back.

Afterwards, I pulled in a small halibut, and a ling cod (which was too small to keep).

Jolene then hooked into a halibut.  Here she is, pulling her halibut up.

A nice catch.

Landon helped to coach Grayson.  Grayson was the last of us to land a halibut, so he was starting to get anxious.  Then he hooked into something that was giving him a good fight (as seen in his facial expression in this picture).

It was a blue shark.  They are rare in the waters around Alaska. 

It was the first blue shark ever taken by this boat.  They have seen more of them lately, and amazingly, we saw three in one day, including the one Grayson landed.  The other two were spotted chasing the cod we were pulling up to the boat. Fairly amazing, considering they are more of a warm water shark. 

Typically, we might see a salmon shark, and lots of spiny dogfish (a type of small shark), but rarely get to see a blue shark.

So, we made sure to get plenty of pictures.  We are looking forward to trying out some shark steaks.

Then, just a few minutes later, Grayson hooked into another big fish.

But this time it was a halibut, which ended up being the biggest halibut of the day for the boat.

We gave him a few minutes to try and lift it up for the picture....

Before I came over to help him hold it up off the deck.

One of the other fishers on the boat pulled in a bigger ling cod than mine.  Mine was too small to keep, but his catch was big enough.

Looking down the mouth of a big ling cod....looks like something out of Star Wars.

Jolene finished up the trip with a spiny dogfish, to round out the species variety. In total, our family of four landed 7 halibut, 15 Pacific cod, a yelloweye rockfish, ling cod/spiny dogfish (both released), and one blue shark.

A short video showing Jolene manning her fishing line on the fantail of the boat - a good example of just how rough the water was, but it made for a good fishing trip.

The caribou cooler was full, again, this time with fish.

And the freezers are full.  The upright is full of caribou, halibut and shark...

And the chest freezer is full of salmon, cod, and yelloweye.

We found a new cabin we like in Seward.  At one time we were convinced we would need to buy an RV/travel trailer for these type of trips - but with nice little cabins like these becoming more available all over Seward, I think we're good with just staying in a cabin. Here, the boys enjoy the loft.

On the water, Jolene snapped a picture of a nearby mountain goat on the rocks just above the surf.

Spotted at a restaurant in Seward, a very Alaskan way of measuring social distancing.