300.

Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley.  

~Author Unknown

Memorial Day was made super special in many ways. It may have been the very most memorable for my parents who spent the whole day with 6 grandchildren, age 4 and under. 3 potty trained, 3 in diapers and all requiring much attention. The text I received upon cell phone reception seas was "will not do this again until all kids are potty trained." I laughed out loud in the boat. I guess they didn't grab the extra diapers before driving from Seward to Anchorage meaning that both our 25lb boys were wearing their 5 month old cousins' diapers to bed. At any rate, mom and dad have some funny stories from that day.

The rest of us, Andrew and I, John and Renee, & Bill and Jenna got to wake up early, enjoy a walk into the docks where we were geared up to spend a day on the water. We had been excited about this for a long time. My friend Kevin http://www.profish-n-sea.com/captains_and_crew.asp who I've known since 7th grade became a boat captain and was the one to take us out. Saying that we had fun would be an understatement. We had a blast. Each of us caught our 2-halibut limit and I don't recall more than 30 minutes to pass before someone hooked into something. Whether we kept it or not doesn't matter, there was constant excitement. Sharks, Ling Cod, Rockfish, and 2 Salmon were just a mixture of the things we reeled up. The other not-so-funny at the time thing was that at some point, every one of us felt terrible. Sea sickness came and went, but we all overcame it and brought in the fish. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and the waves just rolled, there was no wind for making choppy seas. I think the rolling waves was what made our stomachs turn, but I wouldn't trade that for wind on the water. 

We saw Sea Lions, Puffin, a whale (I actually didn't see it, the others did, I think I was sick at that point), and some of the most amazing mountains around.

Did I tell you it was great yet?

See for yourself.

Renee's little shark.

She set the bar pretty high with the first halibut pulled in!

Pretty nice!

Andrew caught a few Ling Cod but they weren't in season, so back they went.

Kevin had to shoot Andrew's first halibut. It was huge! 80 lbs 

Here it is!

My first fish wasn't tiny, the biggest one I've ever caught for sure.

John's first catch. None of our fish were under 45 lbs.  

Bill's shark friend. 

Jenna got 2 big ones, this was her first.

Working on my second.

This was me done fishing :).

Jenna's second fish also had to be shot. This time with the "bang stick" it scared all of us!

Holding it from this side since its eyeball is totally shot out!

John's giant Cod.

The look of disgust on my brother's face tells you how most Alaskans feel about Pink Salmon.
We gave it back to the ocean. 

Andrew got his first King Salmon!
 He was a happy man for the entire rest of our time, so proud of this fish for sure. 

Bill's catch!

The ride back, at the bottom of the cliff, you can see the
Sea Lions.

Kevin loading our fish into the wagons.

There you go! 

Not sure which one of the extras in this picture Andrew was more
proud of that day. His fish or his wife. :)

Such a good time. Everyone should catch fish at some time in their life.
Oh and the 300? That's how many pounds of halibut we had once it was all processed.