Alaska fishing

229 Views 11 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Luckydawg13, 14 d ago

Luckydawg13

Discussion Starter · 16 d ago

Looks like I will be going to Alaska. My wife just booked a cruise for us. I plan to go on a halibut fishing Charter in Ketchikan .any tips on this we have never been to Alaska before not really sure on what to expect or how to pack for this.

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Sam_mcmullin

· #2 · 15 d ago

1. Eat your wheaties
2. Repeat step 1
Other than that make sure to take wet weather gear just in case and its always cooler on the water. No clue about kethikan specifically as i always go out of homer or ninilchik. I don’t know how deep they fish there but we were in the 200-300’ depth range and its quite literally like crankin up a piece of horizontal plywood from the depths. The bycatch can be very interesting as well. Have fun and take lotsa pictures!

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Luckydawg13

Discussion Starter · #3 · 15 d ago

Thanks Sam
I plan on bringing my rain gear did you ship any of your fish back home.

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Sam_mcmullin

· #4 · 15 d ago

I haven’t shipped any home because it’s ridiculously expensive, what i do is spend the money for more luggage when i fly. Or if my 5 yr old daughter goes- she doesn’t get a suitcase on the way home🤣😂. You may check with your cruise company to see about freezer room and the charter company about flash freezing prior to reboarding your ship. They make some pretty good “fish boxes” for shipping/freezing. If you are flying back with a fish box make sure it stays under the weight limit, dimensionally they are fine but some airline chicky made me pull a pound of halibut once and i was just lucky my folks were there to take it back to their house. Also make sure to try some beer battered halibut whilst you’re up there. Does your cruise start/end in Seattle?

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Luckydawg13

Discussion Starter · #5 · 15 d ago

We fly into Anchorage and work back to Vancouver Fly back too. Chicago.

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Luckydawg13

Discussion Starter · #6 · 15 d ago

Once we land in Anchorage we take a train to Seward where we board the ship.

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Sam_mcmullin

· #7 · 15 d ago

Thats some beautiful country. A couple more tips- take dramamine- hard to get unseasick. No bananas on the boat🤣😂

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River_monster91

· #8 · 15 d ago

.44 mag minimum lol

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csurowiec

· #9 · 14 d ago

All my Alaska fishing was out of Seward, so I can't speak to the conditions you may see in Ketchikan but I'll give you an overview. Bring a camera! The scenery is amazing. Where we were, humpback whales, orca, and Dall's porpoise were a regular sight. The water is fairly cold so it can feel far colder out in the ocean than on shore. Rain gear and some polartec fleece will be good to have even in midsummer. The picture below was taken in July or August and you can see what we're wearing. Fishing for halibut, lingcod, and salmon all primarily involves bait but all of them will hit artificials. Halibut is bottom fishing in 100-300' feet of water using 1-3lbs of lead depending on current. Depending on the guide you could dunk bait or maybe they have jigs, and you could jig one up on artificials. Lingcod are kind of an accidental catch while halibut fishing and they will readily clobber an artificial. I fished artificials a lot but that's my thing. I caught a lot of fish on a 16oz diamond jig. The salmon fishing we did was a style called mooching where we were drifting cut bait that was cut and rigged so it would spin in the current. Kind of a cut bait/spoon hybrid concept. I elected to have my catch shipped home. It is expensive but I have more faith in UPS or FedEx getting my package to me on time than in the airlines and them possibly losing my package as checked luggage. If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out.