Good time to go...The Forecast

[Ovis]

Tue
May 11 Partly Cloudy 58°/40° 20 %
Wed
May 12 Partly Cloudy 60°/40° 10 %
Thu
May 13 Partly Cloudy 63°/44° 20 %
Fri
May 14 Few Showers 59°/45° 30 %
Sat
May 15 Rain 58°/45° 60 %
Sun
May 16 Light Rain 59°/47° 60 %
Mon
May 17 Light Rain 58°/46° 60 %

 

[Moosie]

You're not getting Excited are ya

3 more days BUD !!!! What was your Satalite # again ?

 

[Pygmy]

Ovis and Elkgunner....GOOD luck and have a safe trip...Try not to get ET.... ....

We'll be waiting for the stories, and of course, the PICTURES...

 

[Ovis]

Moosie

I'm not even sharing that number with my wife.

Pygmy

Thanks for luck. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to accomodate your pic and story request.

 

[T Bone]

Good luck to both gunner and ovis. Hold out for a couple of fatties. Be safe.

 

[JoseCuervo]

I'll assure you there will be "stories".....

 

[BW]

Best of luck Ovis.

The one piece of data missing from your weather forecast was the most important factor of all...

The winds!!!

I do realize they don't forecast the winds out that far.

I hunted all last week (couple buddies shot a small brownie while I wasn't there at the time

) and we had great weather. The afternoon winds would kick up the chop a bit, but mornings and evenings were very nice.

How are the tides looking?

 

[Ovis]

Thank you T Bone and BW!

BW, here is a list of the tides we'll have...

05/11/2004 Tue 12:37AM LDT 5.1 L 06:37AM LDT 13.5 H 01:25PM LDT 0.8 L 08:14PM LDT 12.8 H
05/12/2004 Wed 02:03AM LDT 4.8 L 07:59AM LDT 12.7 H 02:36PM LDT 1.4 L 09:19PM LDT 13.4 H
05/13/2004 Thu 03:21AM LDT 3.9 L 09:19AM LDT 12.6 H 03:39PM LDT 1.7 L 10:13PM LDT 14.1 H
05/14/2004 Fri 04:24AM LDT 2.6 L 10:27AM LDT 12.8 H 04:32PM LDT 1.9 L 10:58PM LDT 14.9 H
05/15/2004 Sat 05:14AM LDT 1.3 L 11:22AM LDT 13.2 H 05:16PM LDT 2.1 L 11:36PM LDT 15.5 H
05/16/2004 Sun 05:56AM LDT 0.2 L 12:10PM LDT 13.5 H 05:56PM LDT 2.3 L
05/17/2004 Mon 12:11AM LDT 15.8 H 06:34AM LDT -0.6 L 12:51PM LDT 13.7 H 06:31PM LDT 2.6 L

 

[BW]

Ovis,

Those tides are not too bad, but not great either. It's getting dark between 8:45PM and 9:30PM depending on the weather. So those lows are a bit early in the afternoon for hitting the magic hour.

The last couple days should be pretty good. Still, at least it's not hitting high tide around the evening, as that would be the worst.

Although, during my recent brown bear hunt, all the bears were up high near the trees, as the only green grass was up there. None were down below the tide line flipping over rocks. So who can tell what them critters will be doing? Perhaps black bears flip over more rocks than brownies?

Looks like you'll be dealing with a 12ft tide swing overnight. That's a couple more feet than I had up here last week. It took a little planning each night to insure the boat wouldn't get stranded during the night. It only went 'high & dry' once. But, as can happen it was stranded with the bow facing up a steep sandy shoreline. As the water rose, the ass end of the boat didn't have enough floatation to rise up with the tide, and water was coming into the splashwell area. I didn't wait to see if the boat would save itself and float up, I pushed it back into the water right away. Just something to consider, as I've heard of folks boats sinking due to that thing before.

The Anchor Buddy system worked great though, when I set it up correctly. I may buy another, for those rare situations when one is not enough. I may also have been better off that day, tieing the Anchor Buddy off on a forward cleat, probably the same one I made off the shore line to. That would have kept the bow of the boat further into the water, and not allowed it to go so far ashore leaving the stern to possibly flood with the rising tide.

Take it easy...

 

[Ovis]

Thanks for the info BW. These are the low tides we'll be able to hunt. I know this isn't the ideal "witching hour" as you guys like to call it, but we'll work with it.

05/11/2004 Tue 01:25PM LDT 0.8 L
05/12/2004 Wed 02:36PM LDT 1.4 L
05/13/2004 Thu 03:39PM LDT 1.7 L
05/14/2004 Fri 04:24AM LDT 2.6 L 04:32PM LDT 1.9 L
05/15/2004 Sat 05:14AM LDT 1.3 L 05:16PM LDT 2.1 L
05/16/2004 Sun 05:56AM LDT 0.2 L 05:56PM LDT 2.3 L

We are passing on the anchor buddy. We'll have a buoy at the cabin, and we are taking a lightweight canoe along with the skiff. Well just make sure we anchor far enough off shore we won't have to worry about being high and dry. I'm guessing we'll only be worrying about flipping the canoe as we egress BTW, what is the direct emergency number for the CG in Wrangell?

Any tips for some rookie crabbers? I mean it isn't like I have had crabs before :b Reminds me of the saying, it is better to have lobsters on your piano than crabs on your organ Seriously though, I've dropped a few pots for Chesapeake Bay crabs, but I don't know if it is the exact same experience.

I'll be heading out tomorrow night. Thanks for your help in preparing us for the trip. Same goes to you too Muskeg, if you're out there.

 

[BW]

Naturally herring works pretty good, as does salmon or halibut heads. I like the commercial bait which looks like dry dog food. It will last for several days if you pack the bait jar fairly full. It also seem to not attract most starfish. I got some last week at 100ft, but I saw some dungies in the shallow water too. Might want to try the 75ft range.

The Coast Guard number for all of S.E. Alaska is...

1 800 478-5555

...the Wrangle Harbormaster's number is...

874-3736

Channel 16 is the easiest way to contact the CG and be prepared to switch to 22A.

The Marine Operator system is no longer working. That was a very handy deal!

I'm trying to get a flight down that way this week (need the flight time) send me a PM or e-mail with you location, and maybe we'll swing by in the helo. That's if you don't mind revealing your secret area.