Sitka, Alaska Fishing Trip

Our trip is just a matter of a few days away. Myself and 5 other friends will be headed to fish for Salmon, Halibut, Rockfish and Ling Cod. Our flight will take us via Seattle to Anchorage to Sitka and will take about 11 hours of flying and airport time to get there. Our first and last evenings will be spent in a hotel in Sitka. Or flight arrival is late in the evening on Saturday and we will spend Sunday shopping for food and fishing license. Our fishing guide and host is picking us up at the airport when we arrive and will transport us to the hotel and then on Sunday to the float house we will spend our week, located in a river outside of Sitka about 18 minutes by boat ride.




The City and Borough of Sitka is located on the west side of Baronof Island in the Pacific Ocean (part of the Alaska Panhandle). With an estimated population of 8,986 in 2005, Sitka is the fourth-largest city by population in Alaska and the largest city in the United States by area. Sitka is located Southeast of Juneau, Alaska and can be seen in the lower right of the above picture.


Sitka has been voted the most beautiful Alaskan seaside community. This picture and the below picture came from the Sitka Tourism Bureau.

An actual copy of the Sitka Web cam in the early evening hours on May 27, 2009. It was 6:01pm there and 9:01 pm here in Texas.

A picture of the float house we will be staying in for 5 nights. We will be fishing for 5 days Monday through Friday. Below is another picture of the float house and the boat we will be using for our fishing trips.

Wildlife is Sitka’s hidden treasure with Brown Bear, Sitka Blacktail Deer, Sea Otters, Whales, Sea Lions, Puffins and many more all in large abundance right around each turn. Host to World Class fishing of King Salmon and Halibut plus other goodies like King Crab and Shrimp. Sitka is also a popular feeding ground for the large Humpback Whales in late fall and early spring, but frequent the waters nearly year around. St. Lazaria National Wildlife Refuge is only a 30 minute boat ride from town and is populated with tufted puffins, sea gulls, bald eagles and other sea birds. Or guide indicated that we had a good shot of seeing a number of the wildlife mentioned above.

The weather forecast projects lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. This is the rainy part of the year in that region and we were told to be sure and bring rain shoes and clothing as well as be able to layer clothing for warmth in the early part of the day and take off layers in the afternoon.

I will be taking pictures and writing notes about our trip while we are gone. I will post an update on the blog when I return.

You can get me once, but you can't get me twice. Another Sabine Lake Fishing Trip May 22, 2009.

L to R: Rob, Larry and Henry with 3 of our nice trout out of a total of 22 trout and 3 red fish
(The fish in our hands may not be one we caught, this is a staged picture :))

This fishing trip was booked about 3 months ago. It is our pre warm up trip for Sitka, Alaska in two weeks - June 6, 2009 to June 13, 2009. We enjoy fishing with Dickie Colburn on Sabine Lake. This makes the 5th trip I personally have gone on with Dickie as the guide. In total, there were 6 of us fishing on two boats. It turned out to be a great and successful trip for us and a spectacular trip for the 3 other guys on the second boat.

Henry and I left for the trip on Thursday and drove over to Lake Charles for some gumbo, etoufee and crawfish pistolets. Our favorite place to eat is the old Steamboat Bills on MLK Blvd, not the one on the highway. The one on MLK has a lot of atmosphere and the food has always been great. Last time we were there the food wasn't up to par and this time it was worse. I hope it isn't on the way out, but based on our last two visits it will be just a matter of time before it shuts the doors.

Larry and the other 3 guys were at the hotel when we got back and they had brought a grill and cooked sausage, boudin, ribs, a pork loin, 4 huge steaks and corn on the cob. There was enough food for 25 people. It was really good and we enjoyed the evening getting to know the 3 fellows we would be fishing with the next day.

Dickie, our guide, picked us up at 5am on Friday morning. He had called us on Wednesday and told us to get a Louisiana fishing license as we would be fishing in the Louisiana portion of Sabine Lake. We headed out and drove almost an hour to the southern side of the lake and launched near Pelican Island. The boat ride was about 3o minutes. By the time we got to the fishing spot there were 8 other boats and it was about 6:30.

On my second cast, I caught a really nice trout on a dark plastic bait, bouncing it off the bottom. We fished there for almost an hour, more boats came in, 14 in total, the word must have gotten out. We left that spot and decided to go join up with the other boat. When we got to them we could tell they were in the fish. As we arrived, all 3 fishermen had fish on the line at the same time. Immediately we started drifting and the game was on. Any bait or lure that was used caught fish, it had to be dark colored, light color did not work. The most fish and action was on top water working the floating bait very slow, popping it and reeling very slowly and then pop again. At 9:30 the other guide and his party pulled up beside us and said they limited out on trout. A limit of 10 trout per fisherman for a total of 30 trout. The trout were not small trout, the average was 3 to 4 pounds and some 5 pounds and over were caught. The other boat of guys caught and released almost a 9 pound trout and a couple of 6.5 pound trout before they caught their limit. They wanted to go fish for some red fish and Dickie directed them to an area he knew that had been active recently. We fished for about another hour and our team ended up with 22 trout, I had 6 nice trout and had thrown back a flounder. The bite lasted a little over an hour and half.

Next, Dickie drove us to a reef in the middle of the lake where he had been catching red fish. On the first drift Dickie caught a red fish and I caught a nice drum. Larry and Henry each landed a red fish on one of the several drifts we made. I caught another small flounder. On two occasions I hooked a large fish. The first fish was absolutely fighting for its life and pulled drag for a number of minutes. After about a five minute fight, the line broke and the fish was gone. On the second fish, the hook was bent and came out of the fish's mouth. A lot of fun, I would have liked to have gotten a glimpse of the fish, since we were in red fish country I am almost certain they were both two big red fish.

About 1:30 the catching of fish stopped. We decided to head in and call it a day, cleaning the fish and a drive home was still ahead of us. When the other boat joined us at the loading ramp we learned that they had not only limited out in trout but they had caught their limit of red fish, 3 per fisherman for a total of 9. They said it took a long time to catch the 9 red fish, because trout were hitting their lines and they couldn't keep any more trout. They told us that they released 17 more trout for a total of 47 trout and 9 reds. With the 3 large trout that they released earlier in the day, their count was 5o trout and 9 reds. Our count was 22 trout and 3 reds for a grand total of catch and release for the two boats of 72 trout and 12 red fish. I did not keep count of the number of fish we missed, caught and put back because they were too small. There were a number however, the point being that it was a wild and furious day of fishing. I call it a day, it was only 6 hours of fishing time.

It was a great time, the weather was beautiful, the fishing was outstanding, the food was exceptional, the fishing friends were fun and I got to make some new friends.

Coming up in a few weeks, my blog will report out on fishing in Sitka, Alaska. Hope it is a good as the pre warm up trip turned out to be.

Walt Disney World, Florida

This picture was taken within a couple of hours after we entered the park.
(Double click on pictures to view the original.)


Our trip to Florida was a very enjoyable and memorable trip. This is truly a magical place. The weather was perfect as we had to wear jackets and sweaters in the early morning and after the sun went down. The days were in the low 70 degrees and the humidity was almost none.



We got there in the early afternoon just as one of the parades was coming down main street.

I will be brief and share a few pictures and highlights as I know Amy will be posting to her blog also.

Susie had booked dinner at 3:30 with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. I had never eaten with a bear, tiger, donkey or pig before. All be it, there has been an occasion or two. that a few donkeys have been at the table.



My favorite part of the trip was the happiness that this place brought to all of us. The excitement and joy, the smiles and clapping and dancing to the music and the sheer heart warming feeling that I got from watching everyone's reactions to the various sights and rides.



It also brought back memories of our previous visits with Kristin and Amy. On numerous occasions the sights and sounds are the same as twenty years ago when they were both so small. Now here we are with Amy and Josh as adults and their two boys. We talked about Kristin and I had numerous thoughts of her during the trip, while we miss her dearly this place, as I said. is so magical and it created some very fond and happy thoughts.



We stayed on the grounds at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. It reminded me of Oak Alley in Louisiana.
Looking out from our hotel across the river to the Food center and Lobby at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort.




Magic Kingdom Park just at dusk.


Prior to the Disney World visit, we attended a the wedding for Meredith, a high school friend and family friend of ours. It was an outside wedding, very beautiful and a lot of fun. Below are a few more pictures of the 150 or so pictures I took. I will give them to Amy and Josh to add to the ones they took. I also have over an hour of video that captured some of the highlights of the trip.



Noah stayed with Susie and I while Amy, Josh and Andy went to the rehearsal and luncheon prior to the wedding. We stayed at the Marriott in Buena Vista just a few blocks from where the wedding took place.



Noah and his new sun glasses, you need sun glasses in Florida.



Noah watching cartoons with Granny.






Josh, Amy, Andy and Noah just after the wedding standing on the beach where the wedding took place in Buena Vista, Florida. Amy was a brides maid in the wedding, she looked stunning.





Noah dancing with Sarah.

On our last day we rode the Disney Magical Express bus from the park to the airport. I think these last two pictures sums up the trip.

Noah and Grampy relaxing after a fun week in Florida.



Andy sitting with his Mom on the way to the Airport. A good time was had by all.

Fishing Sabine Lake - Texas/Louisiana Border

Left to right: Henry, Larry and Rob with 3 nice trout.

A fishing trip to remember or maybe not.

This past Monday January 26, 2009 the first fishing trip of 2009 was taken. Henry, Larry and I left home at 4:30 am and traveled two hours just outside Bay City, Texas to meet our fishing guide. We were in the water by 7:30 am, 51 degrees, wind was blowing like crazy and the water temperature was about 58 degrees. The day turned out to be an outstanding big trout fishing trip. Seventeen trout in all for the day all except one over twenty inches and some 5 and 6 pound fish were caught.

Outstanding trip in this case is defined as an outstanding trip for our guide and Larry. The guide caught eleven, Larry landed five and Henry put one in the box. I was skunked.

The day started off fishing under the birds. After chasing birds for a couple of hours, only two small fish had been caught. We moved across the Lake and started drift fishing when the large trout were found. They were caught on Corky's, Catch 5s and Catch 22s. We fished hard all day getting off the water around 5 pm.

It is really interesting how fishing works, the day for me was a comedy of errors. At first I wasn't gettting any distance from my casts. I was fishing with a brand new reel and rod and I couldn't get the distance I needed to get out to where the fish were. The next thing I started fishing with a Corky that was brand new and after about two hours the guide mentioned he didn't think it was working the way it should. The next thing, I changed reels and started getting the distance but I couldn't get a hit to save me. The guide caught fish on every lure he threw. He would catch fish, hand me the lure and put on another. I couldn't get a fish to hit a thing. I watched the guides' pattern, fished right beside him, copied his fishing pattern, used the same lures and I got only 2 hits all day long. One fish I hooked, got it all the way to the boat and before it could be netted it came off.

There are good days and bad days fishing, I have had many more good than bad from a catching stand point. As far as fishing days, everyone of them are great days whether I catch or not.

Susie fixed some of the filets for dinner last night. Pecan Crusted filets in a bourbon cream sauce. The fish were great, I thought the bourbon was a little too strong but really didn't want to complain. When she asked if I liked the fish, I was honest and told her yes, but the bourbon flavor was a little too over bearing. She laughed and said that she trippled the amount of bourbon called for in the recipe.

I wondered why I staggered when I went to take the empty plate back to the kitchen, now I know!!!!!!!!

We have booked our flights for Sitka, Alaska leaving Houston on June 6, 2009 and returning June 13, 2009. I am really looking forward to this trip. We are going to Disney World on February 6th with Amy, Josh, Noah and Andy and I know this will be fun.. Susie and I are also planning a fall trip to Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Massachusetts and Connecticut, maybe New York city if we have time.

Until the next posting, the best to all who read this post.

Sunrise in Indianola, Texas to Sunset in Seattle, Washington

Just for fun, I wanted to take some of my favorite surise/sunset pictures and develop a video with background music. I love the beginning and ending of the day. Is my favorite part of the day the early morning, as the sun comes up or the end of the day, as the sun goes down? If I am alone, my favorite part of the day depends on where I am. In this case my favorite part of the day in Texas is the morning and my favorite part of the day in Washington is in the evening.
In other situations, while not being alone, my favorite part of the day is when that day includes being with my family. Enjoy my test video by:
Double clicking on the picture to the right, watch and listen to the video.

Tennessee and Kentucky Trip November 2008

The intent of this blog was to capture my love for fishing, however Hurricane Ike took away all plans for the normal fall fishing trips during the Flounder run. The Texas Parks and Wildlife recommended to not eat fish out of the Galveston bay system due to pollution. Bait was not to be found as so many fishing boats and bait camps were destroyed and I was concerned about all of the debris under water and the hazard that could bring wade fishing and or danger to any boating activity.

In order to keep the blog active I will share another great trip we took in early November. (There are a number of pictures in the body of this posting, if you would like to see some other pictures we took on the trip click on the Slideshow of Tennessee and Kentucky Trip to the right). I took over 200 cemetery photos that I haven't included, if you want to see them, send me an email holtnotesrah@aol.com.

We flew to Nashville and rented a car. The first day we went to the Tennessee State Archives researching books and documents. The Archives Library is located across from the Tennessee State Capital. We spent the whole day researching and then that evening we drove out to the Grand Ole Opry Hotel and Convention Center. The Christmas lights and music were beautiful. Later that evening we decided to take in a Nashville show.

Downtown Nashville, Tennessee from the balcony of our room the first day on our trip

The State Capital of Tennessee

Beautiful lights and music on the grounds of the Grand Ole Opry Hotel and Convention Center

We enjoyed the Dinner and show at the Nashville Theatre

The second day we left Nashville and drove to Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. We spent time in the library and drove around the area where our ancestors lived back in the early 1800's based on census and cemetery records we have identified.


The GPS took us to this location which was part of an original land grant of an ancestor in Montgomery County, Tennessee.

Fall colors were fantastic

We left Tennesse on the third day driving into Todd County, Kentucky researching history on my mother's side of the family. We met a distant cousin there and he spent time showing us where our ancestors lived and owned and ran a general store many years ago. We also spent time in the County Courthouse and we were able to obtain a copy of my Great Grandparents Marriage License on my mothers side. We also visited a number of cemeteries in the area where ancestors are buried.

Tyewhoppety, Kentucky old house and land where our ancestors lived.

Location of the General Store owned by ancestors in Tyewhoppety. The location of the gas pumps can still be seen by the rock on the front of the property.

We left Kentucky and drove South back into Tennessee ending up in Culleoka, Maury County, Tennessee and from there we went to Bedford County, Tennessee home of the Tennessee Walking Horse. We went to the library in Shelbyville, Tennessee and drove around the area visiting numerous cemeteries where family members are buried.

In Culleoka, Tennessee an old farm house built by an ancestor in 1917, the original log cabin was moved. The current owners said the log cabin sat just to the left and behind the current home. A number of out buildings are still there. The home and 75 acres is all that is left from an original land grant of 1280 acres. The family cemetery is about a half mile from the home and the graves date back to ancestors born in the 1700s.

After enjoying Shelbyville and the surrounding area we headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee a very quaint small town in the rolling hills of southern Tennessee. The fall colors were great. We spent the night in a bed and breakfast which was an old house outside Lynchburg. Our host was the daughter of a gentleman who was the General Manager for the Jack Daniels Distillery for many years. She also runs the carriage rides in downtown Lynchburg, Tennessee. Her Brother in law lives next door and he invited us over to his home for early morning coffee and then the 3 of us joined our host for a wonderful breakfast. While in Lynchburg we visited the Tennessee Walking Horse Museum, visited a number of different shops and took a tour of the Jack Daniel Distillery.

Picture of the Jack Daniel Distillery, very pretty grounds, the tour took just about an hour. The next picture is showing the fall colors near Lynchburg as we headed out of town.

We left Lynchburg and decided that we would head to Wartrace, Tennessee. Antother nice small town full of antiques and crafts. We had a wonderful lunch there and enjoyed looking at all of the old relics.

Back road near Wartrace, Tennessee

Bugshuffle road near Haley Tennessee

Late in the afternoon we headed for Haley, Tennessee to visit a family cemetery. It started getting dark and we left the cemetery with the intent of spending the night in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. As we approached the above bridge a car flashed its headlights and both Susie and I said "Why did he do that" just as this came out of my mouth I noticed my lane ended. I swerved to keep from going over into the creek and caught the right front tire on the rock ledge. We went up on the two left wheels and hit the left side of the bridge which knocked us back to four wheels hiting back on the right side and then back to the left ending up dragging the whole underneath of the car to the other side of the bridge. We ended up in our lane about 30 yards on the other side of the bridge and the car stalled. The right front tire was bent sideways and it looked like the axle was broken. After 3 hours, county, state, local police enforcement, volunteer firemen and passers by we were able to get the car towed back into Wartrace. The rental car company brought us another car and took the wrecked car back to Nashville. Fortunately for us, the only thing left open in Wartrace was the Walking Horse Hotel and Restaurant. An old refurbished hotel with an outstanding menu. We were very fortunate to have gone through this ordeal without harm. We learned that a Florida couple had gone off the road directly into the creek, destroying the car and ending up in the Hospital just 5 days prior.

The next morning we had a great breakfast in the local cafe in Wartrace. We left there headed to Franklin, Tennessee just south of Nashville. With shaken nerves we took our time and wanted to get back into Nashville early enough to spend the night and head to the airport to come home the next morning. The last night in Nashville we spent downtown eating dinner and enjoying all of the different bars where country music wanna be stars were playing.

The last two pictures are of a mansion and property of an ancestor that was part of a 1280 acre land grant. Only 200 acres remain of the original land grant and is still owned by the family. I met the current owner and enjoyed visiting with him about the history of the home and land. A major portion of the land has been subdivided and multi million dollar homes were built. The area is now called Brentwood, many country western stars built their homes in this area.

We had a great trip, and enjoyed the fall colors. We were able to obtain additional documentation about my family history on both my Dad and Mother's side. While I had hope that we would uncover something new and more confirmation about my Dad's side, we did not.

The next planned trip for fishing is Sitka, Alaska. I will be posting information about this trip in the near future.

To all that read this: I wish you and your family a very Healthy and Happy New Year!!!

Galveston Fishing with Josh, Kelly and their Grandfather, Pop

Left to right Pop, Kelly, Josh and Rob. Josh caught this nice Jack Caravelle

Josh and my day started off meeting for breakfast at IHOP and then to Walmart for drinks and snacks for the trip. Kelly and Pop were driving in from Austin and we were meeting at Josh's house for our departure to Galveston. This was Pop's grandsons 4th fishing trip in a row for him. Unfortunately, Chris, Josh's brother broke his foot and I was asked to go in his place. Everyone wished for Chris and I know he would have loved being there. Hope your foot heels fast Chris. Our drive to Galveston was pleasant, I especially enjoyed hearing Pop's views on politics, and hearing stories of his life experiences.



Left to Right Rob, Kelly, Josh and sitting Pop

We fished with Captain Shannon LaBauve on a 24 foot Kenner. Shannon is a great boat Captain and fishing guide. He made our trip worth while and comfortable. We met Captain LaBauve at the Yacht Basin in Galveston and started our half day fishing trip from there. The weather was nice, a light breeze that helped with heat of the day normally experienced this time of year in Galveston. The water was a beautiful greenish blue, clear and a little choppy. The boat ride out to the Jetties took just a few minutes with only a few jolts and bumps.

The fishing started with Pop hooking on to a nice Shark. Kelly was there to help Pop with the fish making sure that the fish got to the boat. Kelly not only helped Pop with his fish, he caught a number of fish himself and to make sure I got in on the action he handed the rod to me to bring in a shark he had caugh. I had lost 3 fish to broken lines and he wanted me to bring in a fish.

Kelly with one of his many sharks. This one is a hammer head and he caught a couple of black tip sharks also.

Josh had a great day of fishing landing a number of Shark, a nice Redfish, a Jack Caravelle and a Spanish Mackerel and caught one shark and as did Kelly, handed the rod to me to bring in a shark he had caught. By this time I had experienced 5 broken lines and no fish caught. Josh also assisted Pop with his fishing, both grandsons were very attentive and wanted everyone to enjoy the trip.

Josh and his nice redfish. This is a real nice fish and gave Josh a good fight.
Josh and Pop, with the nice Redfish Josh Caught. Pop caught a number of shark himself.

Pop really had a successful day himself. I lost count the number of sharks he caught. He showed that he really enjoyed the outing and was already talking about the next year trip with his grandsons.

It was a nice trip, a wonderful day with these 3 guys. We stopped on the way home and ate a nice sea food dinner, returining to Houston a little after 7 pm. Kelly and Pop headed back to Austin/Round Rock.

Thanks Josh, Kelly and Pop for asking me to fish with you. I really enjoyed it. Chris get well and I know everyone missed you on the trip.