Alaska. The name conjures up mind-blowing images— majestic snow-capped mountain ranges, glaciers calving chunks of ice as large as buses into pristine waters, grizzly bears scooping up spawning salmon and eagles with their talons locked in flight.

If you’ve been to Alaska, the name also triggers other sensory memories, like the earthy, piney smell of Sitka spruce, the caw-caw of ravens , the cool, fresh smell of glacial air, the shimmer of a salmon in clear aqua waters and the buzzing drone of a bush plane.

Hopefully, that bush plane is coming for me and to transport me to a secluded spot to fish! I’m just a lay-fisherwoman, but I’m still passionate about fishing. I love the dreamy relaxation of being on the water, the thrill of hearing the zing of the line, the reeling in while letting the fish have some line, the fight, the feeling of getting the fish in the net and the pride of ownership.

My first experience of fishing for halibut about 10 years ago was an adventure that was the basis for this passion. I grew up in western Pennsylvania, not exactly the fishing capital of the nation.

My dad dug up some worms from the backyard, and we had a can of corn that we used for bait. Then, he took my brothers and me to the local fishing hole where we rigged bobbers onto our poles, cast our little lines and waited. The most we ever caught were bream or sunfish. My mother and sister wanted nothing to do with handling worms.  

But back to the halibut…I knew nothing about fishing in Alaska, but  I wanted to try. I chose to go on a six pack, or a six-passenger boat, that launched from Ninilchik Beach.

In order to board, passengers must climb a ladder to the boat and then a bulldozer launches the boat. It’s kind of unusual but an adventure. The waters were rough, and as I later found out, this is the norm for waters in Alaska. So, off we went.

We had the option of trolling for salmon and bottom-fishing for halibut. The majority chose to go for halibut only, as it was hard to troll in choppy water. (Note to self: in the future, insist on salmon fishing after spending money for a king salmon license.) 

I’ve been on boats in the ocean before in Florida and New Jersey, heck I even crossed the North Sea in a storm. But, bobbing around in this small boat, I don’t know—something was different.

Since it doesn’t really get dark in the summer, meeting the boat at “the break of dawn” is misleading to say the least. I think I awoke at 3 a.m. in order to meet the boat at 6 a.m.

Needless to say, I was full of coffee and had to use the bathroom by the time we were at sea. Thank goodness there were provisions for women albeit a tiny ”head,” or camper- size toilet, in a closet. 

Warning, a graphic description follows...

Being an old hand at boating on the ocean (see limited experience above), using the head below deck seemed like a piece of cake. After I was done, I almost didn’t make it to the side of the boat quick enough, chumming the water (losing my cookies) to the delight of the hands on deck.

After I made room for lunch, I grabbed my pole and went right back to fishing, feeling 100 percent better! Afterward, I was sitting in the cabin eating sandwiches when the mates told me how awful getting seasick can be. They told me horror stories of people being curled in the fetal position below deck until they were back on land.

I did get to experience the thrill of reeling in a “barn door,” a way of describing the feeling of drawing in a halibut from the depths of the ocean. It makes an 80-pound fish feel like 300 pounds!

I ended up catching the largest halibut that day! We brought our catches in and the deck hands processed and filleted them, put them in bags, vacuum-packed and placed them in freezer boxes. It was up to me to either ship it home or take it on the plane with me. I opted to take it home as baggage and mail my clothes!

With few exceptions, the hotels in Alaska have fish freezers that will easily accommodate many fish boxes. I carried the box with me the rest of my trip and checked in my fish box at each hotel.

I never lost my passion for fishing in Alaska, and each trip I do some sort of fishing. I was a bit savvier on subsequent trips, too. I fished for halibut out of Homer, where I entered the boat from a dock, took Dramamine before a trip and packed lighter so I had less to mail home.

This same year, I caught my first king salmon on the Kenai River and met the man who would become my husband, but those are stories for another time.