Alaskan fishing trip

[Adam Gibbs]

Considering putting together a fishing trip to Alaska. More interested in targeting Halibut, Lingcod and Rockfish than going after salmon. Im thinking 3 days of fishing. Think thats enough time to get your fill? Pretty open to locations suggestions as well as guide suggestions. Feel free to share your personal experiences.

 

[Kbhillhunter]

Just got back from a trip we booked through Russel fishing. We did two river trips for salmon and three ocean trips for the three fish you mentioned. Stayed near the Kenai and did our ocean trips out of Homer. Four of us came back with about 400lbs of fish, was a blast!

 

[Crghss]

Just got back from a trip we booked through Russel fishing. We did two river trips for salmon and three ocean trips for the three fish you mentioned. Stayed near the Kenai and did our ocean trips out of Homer. Four of us came back with about 400lbs of fish, was a blast!

How did you get fish home? Just have them ship it?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Talon Lodge in Sitka does a good job. I went with them end of May/early June.

 

[Kbhillhunter]

How did you get fish home? Just have them ship it?

We used coolers as our checked bags and flew it all home. Picked it up Sunday afternoon, took off Monday AM, and got home late Monday night.
Two in our party flew first class so they each had 2x 70lb bags to check, then me and the other guy each checked 2x 50lb coolers.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

If you head to homer best off finding a place to stay with a big freezer. Few of the fish processing places in town with chamber seal ane freeze your fish. I would take them back as extra luggage in fish boxes. Going to cost you roughly 200 bucks to send a 50 pound fish box back next day air.

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[Elk botherer]

How did you get fish home? Just have them ship it?

A lot of major stores in the fishing towns have fish boxes (cardboard box with a styrofoam or other insulation material liner and lid) which can hold 50lbs of fillets. The boxes cost about $25 and we just checked them as baggage at the airport. We flew into Boise and with a two and half hour drive home in 100 degree temps, the fillets were still frozen rock solid. I was impressed and it was pretty easy.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

i would suggest getting the fish boxes with the styrofoam insert and not the ones with the bubble wrap crap inside.

i would suggest seward or homer if you want to be on the road system. In seward you will generally have a longer boat ride to the halibut spots then in homer. Seward is a little more scenic then homer is. If you come up in july/early august and go to either seward or homer you could also go and fish the kenai for reds.

Whittier can be really good as well but you are going to be in for probably atleast a 2 hour boat ride to where you will be fishing. If you decide whittier, seward or homer and want to fish for lings you will want to come up after july 1st.

 

[kalandvogt]

Shelter Cove, in Craig. Fished with them the last few years.

 

[william schmaltz]

Seward or Valdez would be my choice over Homer. Three days of fighting the tide for your 3-5 lb halibut weight is plenty. Don't underestimate how much fun a feeding frenzy of 12-15 lb coho on a 8 ft med-heavy rod can be! I give all my coho away, but one of my most fun days on the water was a clear September day off Kodiak when the halibut and ling cod wouldn't cooperate and we got into SWARMS of giant, aggressive coho.

 

[LostArra]

48 can Polar Bear soft side cooler holds 50# of frozen fish and is a lot easier to handle in an airport than a fish box. I've done both many times and the Polar Bear is the way to go.

Seward or Valdez would be my choice over Homer. Three days of fighting the tide for your 3-5 lb halibut weight is plenty. Don't underestimate how much fun a feeding frenzy of 12-15 lb coho on a 8 ft med-heavy rod can be! I give all my coho away, but one of my most fun days on the water was a clear September day off Kodiak when the halibut and ling cod wouldn't cooperate and we got into SWARMS of giant, aggressive coho.

Agree 100%. I didn't catch any 15# coho but the 8-10 pounders are fun. Halibut fishing can be boring and cranking one up in DEEP water is a workout but it is a fun rodeo when they get close to the surface.

 

[Spike elk]

Plan a couple of extra days in there for weather. We had our charter cancel because of weather. I think there was 3 days straight that they couldn't go out because of rough seas. Was one of the last days of our trip so we could not reschedule.

 

[ToolMann]

I just got off a boat 4 hours ago here in Homer. Went with Maverick Charters. Had a great time. We fished Friday with Cooper Landing Fishing Guides on the lower Kenai near Soldotna. Also a great time. Sad that my vacation is coming to an end.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

it is plenty early to be able to book a charter for next year. If you do decide on homer there are lots of options for charter boats. There are also lots of ways to not have to deal with the ripping currents where you need 3-5 pounds of lead to hold the bottom. There was atleast 1 charter i know of that would fish shallow where all you need is a pound (thats how i fish) i am talking 60 feet or less. Some of the charters will head down to a few bigger islands and fish on the lee side of them which creates a back eddy and you dont need quite as much weight to hold the bottom. Think of a boulder in a river. Valdez is also really scenic and a cool place, but since they have to travel dam near to the gulf for fish, weather can be a bigger factor, the charters also cost more in valdez and in whittier since they have to travel so far to find fish. I know big dans does it in homer and there are other charters that do it out of valdez and probably seward but you could look at going on an over night trip as well. Another thing to keep in mind is that historically you are only able to keep 4 halibut a year off of charter boats. so if you limit out on halibut 2 days you wont be able to keep them your 3rd day of fishing, so that would turn into just a rock fish trip which might be tougher to find. Most charters will combine rock fish with halibut or salmon trip. Stay away from the bigger party boats and get on a six pack boat. If you choose an overnight they generally have 6-10 people on the boat but have plenty of room for everyone.

 

[Adam Gibbs]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not opposed to salmon I guess, especially if we want to fish 3 days but can only keep 2 days worth of Halibut. We just get plenty here in MI so it's not really out of the ordinary for me. I like the idea of a non-party boat. I'd likely be able to get a group of 6 to go.

Do you guys generally look for a outfit that has lodging on site or just stay in motels in town? Any downsides to either option?

 

[kwackkillncrew]

I would suggest looking on air bnb or vrbo for housing. If we arent staying on our boat in seldovia we normally go this route. I havent had any great lakes salmon but my uncle says the salmon up here taste way better. Alot of the charters on the road system dont have housing. If you go to south east to a lodge based style they should have lodging available ( i have never gone this route so not sure but from what i have seen the lodge based stuff in southeast has pretty nice accommodations). There are alot of nice houses on vrbo/airbnb in homer as well as seward and valdez.

 

[william schmaltz]

Depends what you want. If you like to have meals made for you and packed for you each day, go the lodge route. Or if you want to do your own things and hit up a bunch of different restaurants, go the air BnB route. We've stayed at Captains Steve's out of Anchor Point and they were great, but they cater to week long trips. Have also stayed at a lodge in Yakutat and that was fantastic. The lodge route is fun every now and then to just kick back and be catered to. Another option if you want to go out of Seward or Whittier but don't want to do the overnight trip is staying at a place like Port Ashton. There are several fishing companies that work with those guys. You take the boat out and fish, everyone including the crew stays on the island and repeat for as many days as you want. That keeps you right in the heart of excellent fishing with only one long boat ride at the front and back end of the trip.

I grew up on a large Missouri River reservoir that had Chinook. They were cold water fish, but if you cut one of them open and then cut open an ocean Chinook or Coho, there is absolutely no comparison. I now cringe at the pictures my friends share of that tan colored meat on them lake chinook.